http://repository.tharaka.ac.ke/xmlui/handle/1/4266 2026-09-05T11:55:46Z 2026-09-05T11:55:46Z WAMUCII, PATIENCE http://repository.tharaka.ac.ke/xmlui/handle/1/4489 2026-07-17T09:52:14Z 2025-11-01T00:00:00Z

PARENTING STYLES AND DEVIANT BEHAVIOURS AMONG STUDENTS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN MOUNT KENYA EAST REGION KENYA WAMUCII, PATIENCE

2025-11-01T00:00:00Z GEOFFREY MBUGI KITHAKA http://repository.tharaka.ac.ke/xmlui/handle/1/4488 2026-07-17T09:47:57Z 2025-11-01T00:00:00Z

ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT AND JUNIOR SCHOOL LEARNERS’ ACHIEVEMENT OF COMPETENCY BASED EDUCATION CORE COMPETENCIES IN LAIKIPIA COUNTY, KENYA GEOFFREY MBUGI KITHAKA Effective administrative management has been instrumental in advancing the successful implementation of the Competency-Based Education (CBE) in junior schools across Kenya. Despite several studies highlighting administrative challenges in Kenya’s education sector, barriers such as inadequate instructional resources, supervision by schools’ management, resource mobilization, workloads of teachers, and limited parental involvement continue to hinder the effective achievement of core competencies in the competency-based curriculum. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the influence of administrative management in junior schools on the achievement of core competencies in the competency-based curriculum in Laikipia County Kenya. The Contingency Theory developed by Fiedler, Paul Lawrence and Jay Lorsch, and the Situated Learning Theory by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger guided the study. The study utilized a descriptive survey design. A target population of 23067 from 242 junior schools comprising 242 headteachers, 21,425 junior school learners, 745 class representatives, 408 junior school teachers, and 5 sub-county directors was used in the study. A sample size of 302 respondents comprising 88 junior school teachers, 51 headteachers, and 160 junior school class representatives was proportionately and randomly sampled, while 3 sub-county directors were purposively sampled and used as respondents in the study. Questionnaires for headteachers, class representatives, and junior school teachers were used to collect data. An interview schedule was utilized to collect data from the Sub-County Directors. A pilot study was conducted in Samburu County, which shared characteristics like those of Laikipia County. Supervisors from the Department of Education at Tharaka University ascertained the instruments’ validity. An alpha coefficient value of 0.855 was established, denoting reliability for the research instruments. Quantitative data was analysed using regression analysis, while Qualitative data obtained from the interview schedule was analysed descriptively and reported thematically in line with the research objectives. The null hypothesis was tested at a 0.05 significance level. Regression analysis established statistically significant influence of instructional resources, parents-teacher collaboration, staffing and BoM on the achievement of CBE core competencies in junior school learners. The p values were: Provision of instructional resources 0.040, parents-teacher collaboration 0.040, staffing 0.029, and 0.034 for BoM, all less than the critical value of 0.05. The study concluded that administrative management in junior schools influenced the achievement of core competencies in the competency-based education in Laikipia County, Kenya. The study recommended that the Government should equip all schools with enough instructional resources, organize induction workshops to sensitize all teachers, head teachers, and parents on the importance of teachers-parents collaboration in shaping learners in real-life situations. The study further recommends that the Teachers Service Commission should ensure staffing is not biased in terms of gender, and equitable distribution of teachers in consideration of their specialized learning areas. The study will be important to policymakers develop policies on restructuring the training of teachers to comply with the needs of Competency-Based Education, develop more strategies for increasing parental involvement. The study's findings will assist the Teacher Service Commission in ensuring factors such as teachers’ competencies are considered in staffing and developing quality induction programs that will equip JS teachers and headteachers with the necessary skills and knowledge on the CBE. The study will be useful to the curriculum implementers by providing useful information to the management of schools to strengthen school management by BoM. The study provides a foundation for further studies.

2025-11-01T00:00:00Z NTAARI, JANE K http://repository.tharaka.ac.ke/xmlui/handle/1/4487 2026-07-17T09:42:44Z 2025-11-01T00:00:00Z

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFICACY OF CHURCH STRATEGIES IN INCULCATING MORAL VALUES AMONG THE YOUTH IN THE METHODIST CHURCH IN KENYA, MERU REGION NTAARI, JANE K Over time, the Methodist Church in Kenya Meru Region has established a Youth Ministry in a bid to inculcate moral values among the youth. This is in cognizance of the fact that youth play a significant role in the church and society. Although the inculcation of these moral values continues, moral decadence among the youth in the Methodist Church in the Kenya Meru Region still persists. This study therefore assessed the efficacy of Church strategies in inculcating moral values among the youth in the Methodist Church in Kenya, Meru Region. The objectives of the study were to examine the efficacy of youth seminars, to investigate the efficacy of games and sports, to assess the efficacy of schools and colleges' Christian programmes, and to analyze the efficacy of church initiation programs in inculcating moral values among the youth in the MCK, Meru Region. The study was guided by the moral development theory developed by Lawrence Kohlberg in 1958 and falls in the category of cognitive-moral-reasoning theories. The theory was suitable for this study because it clarified what influences the moral decisions at each level of moral development, something that the church can take advantage of to ensure inculcation of moral values among the youth. The study targeted members of the six synods of the Methodist church in Kenya, Meru Region, specifically the youth and the clergy. The study used a descriptive survey research design. There were 8,577 respondents considered in this study, comprising 8,326 youths and 251 members of the clergy from the MCK Meru Region. The sample size for the study was attained through stratified random sampling. The instruments for data collection included a questionnaire for the youth and an interview schedule for the clergy. Data analysis was done through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 27 and presented through descriptions, tables and pie charts. The study findings revealed that many churches in the MCK Meru Region have programmes for youth. The study also revealed that many youth take part in the various church programmes. However, it was clear from the study findings that some youth do not participate in the youth programmes in their churches. Further, the study findings showed that various youth programmes are effective in inculcating moral values such as peace, respect, obedience, love, honesty and cooperation. It was observable that the value of sexual purity was lowly rated in most programmes. The study is significant as a contribution to the body of knowledge in the discipline of Religious Studies in the area of ecclesiology and psychology of religion. Additionally, the findings and recommendations of this study are useful to the MCK Meru Region as they point to what needs to be adjusted so as to be able to effectively inculcate moral values among the youths.

2025-11-01T00:00:00Z BIRITHIA, BETTY M http://repository.tharaka.ac.ke/xmlui/handle/1/4486 2026-07-17T09:39:26Z 2025-11-01T00:00:00Z

UNCOVERING POWER DYNAMICS AND IDEOLOGIES IN HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPALS’ DISCOURSE IN IMENTI-NORTH SUB-COUNTY KENYA BIRITHIA, BETTY M Language is a tool that can be used for communication purposes but it is also a means through which inequality in the distribution of power is created and perpetuated and through which this inequality can be remedied. High school principals play a central role in shaping the behavioural climate of their institutions through their speech whereby they communicate values, norms, and expectations. However, Principals do not merely communicate information; they structure interactions, assert power and regulate behaviour through language. This study sought to uncover the high school principals’ power dynamics and ideological inclinations through the lens of critical discourse analysis complemented with speech act and politeness theory. The approach allowed an in-depth examination of the specific linguistic tools that are employed in high principals’ speeches and also unearth the ideological underpinnings present in their discourse. Specifically, the study was guided by these objectives: to establish the linguistic features used in high school principals’ of Imenti North discourse that reflect institutional power relations, to explore how language use in high school principals’ of Imenti North discourse reveal underlying ideologies and to examine how discourse of high school principals of Imenti North potentially shapes students’ actions and responses. The study subscribed to descriptive research design which entailed detailed descriptions and analysis of the content of high school principals’ speech to unearth the power dynamics therein. Stratified random sampling coupled with purposive sampling were employed to arrive at 12 schools of Imenti North-Sub County in Meru where 20 orally delivered speeches by the principals were collected using an audio recorder. The data was then transcribed, coded and thereafter 76 texts were extracted which were discussed in line with the study’s objectives then presented thematically. This study is significant for it gives insights on language use in high school principals’ speeches and contributes to the growing field of educational discourse analysis. The study findings revealed that the discourse of high school principals is rich with linguistic features that assert and reproduce power. Through imperatives, modality, rhetorical tropes, surveillance metaphors, transitivity and authoritative speech acts, principals maintain institutional dominance. The study also revealed that the high school principals’ discourse shape students by embedding meritocratic, neoliberalism, religious and disciplinary Ideologies in their everyday speech. Through authoritative commands, moralizing narratives, speech acts of reward and punishment and strategic use of politeness and face threatening strategies, principals construct a disciplined, achievement-oriented student identity. The study sheds light on understanding the ideological work of language in educational leadership thus contributing to the growing field of educational discourse.

2025-11-01T00:00:00Z