School Culture: Implications to School Improvement and Performance in National Examinations in Kenya.

Abstract

Schools as learning environments are no longer viewed as formal organizations such as factories or manufacturing industries but as learning communities with a system of shared beliefs, values and norms amongst teachers, students and parents aimed at improved performance in national examinations. School culture and the roles played by principals, teachers, students and parents can hence determine the level of performance of each school in national examinations. School-based reforms geared towards improved academic performance in national examinations in secondary schools are likely to succeed if they are meaningfully linked to school culture. In new schools, creating a unique school culture will be an important component of high performance. The culture of a school and inherent characteristics of performing schools can hence be considered as tools for improving schools and performance of students in national examinations. Taking improvement-effective approach, this study focuses on the implication of school culture on performance in Kenya certificate of secondary examinations in order to improve schools and performance in national examinations. The study is therefore is limited to principals, teachers, of secondary schools and students and parent in those schools. This study will enable secondary school principals to conduct research in their own schools using the stated instruments across all subjects so as to profile and identify the structure of the culture of their schools in order to work out deliberate plans with teachers in changing schools systemically through creating a strong culture where performance oriented programs are instituted and tested in order to improve p-performance of students. The study also calls upon policy-makers to make it a policy for all teachers to undergo compulsory training in courses on school culture that have to be introduced in order to professionally empower them so that they can grow in it and influence it towards better performance in national examinations. This article after discussing the concept of engineering school culture, it presents improvement-effectiveness approach as the most appropriate to conceptualize school culture in order to maintain and improve performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination in Kenya. How a culture of a learning community can be measured is discussed. The application and implications of the approach in Kenya is discussed and recommendations and conclusion presented. This study is important for it provides necessary data to improve and maintain high performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examinations in Kenya today.