The Effect Quality of Supervision and Nature of Work on Teacher Commitment in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya

Abstract

The nature of the work performed by employees has a significant impact on their level of job satisfaction. On the other hand, it implies that if the supervisory exchange is deemed beneficial the worker will reciprocate by having more positive attitude towards the supervisor and the workplace, experience greater job satisfaction, improved organizational commitment and the intention to leave or turnover may reduce. The study examined the effect of four job satisfaction determinants on commitment of teachers in public secondary schools in Kenya with the employee's age as a moderating variable. The job satisfaction dimensions studied included reward, career development, supervision and nature of work. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional design, covering a target population of 62,533 teachers drawn from 5210 public secondary schools in Kenya. Stratified sampling involving multi-stage cluster sampling technique was used by selecting 5 counties randomly from the 47 counties which was the first cluster. The number of respondents that constituted the sample size using Fischer's calculation of sample sizes drawn from very large populations was 384 teachers. From each school, a sample of 4 respondents, comprising the head teacher or deputy head teacher and 3 teachers was randomly selected and 96 schools was the total number of schools constituting the random sample for the study. The Counties consisted of 19 schools each randomly selected but the fifth county consisted 20 randomly selected schools totalling 96 schools as the total school cluster sample. Data was collected through the use of self-administered questionnaires that were distributed to respondents at their work stations. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics and inferential statistical tools, - namely frequencies, percentages, mean, Pearson Moment of Correlation and regression analysis. Descriptive statistical tools were used to determine and explain the status of the variables while inferential statistics were to explain the relationships between the variables. The study findings are presented using tables and charts. From the study findings, majority of the teachers disagree with the construct of existence of quality of supervision in their schools. Most of them reported that they had in the past experienced low teacher commitment caused by ineffective supervision. Moreover, the study findings show that many teachers do not have a great dislike for the core nature of their work. The challenges are in work overload and handling of large classes. Most of the teachers would leave teaching for another job implying low commitment to the teaching career. However, although a number of teachers are dissatisfied with other determinants of job satisfaction, they are still committed to the teaching profession for intrinsic rather than extrinsic reasons. In contrast to earlier findings, the teachers are committed but not satisfied with their profession.