An Evaluation of How Physical Facilities Influence Teacher Satisfaction in Elgeyo Marakwet County

Abstract

Primary school teachers in Kenya like elsewhere in the world form a vital segment of the basic education as they impart basic knowledge to leaners. Prioritizing the professional needs of such teachers would therefore contribute to the fulfillment of their professional roles. A study was done with one of the objectives focusing on the evaluation of the extent to which school physical facilities influences teacher satisfaction in public primary schools in Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya. The two-factor theory of Herzberg (1993) guided the study. The theory was based on the assumption that dissatisfaction leading to avoidance of work and satisfaction leading to attract one to work do not present end point of a single continuum. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. A survey was deemed appropriated because of the nature of the study which was mainly quantitative and thus, an emphasis was put on the description of the responses and the later generation of the results. Elgeyo Marakwet County was chosen for this study owing to the high-stress levels due to workload and other indicators of dissatisfaction experienced by school teachers. The county has 345 public primary schools with a population of 3,771 public primary school teachers. The study used stratified, purposive and simple random samplings to select participants. A total of 140 participants (where 38 were males and 102 being females) from Keiyo North Sub-County having a total population of 1,295 primary school teachers (221 males and 1,074 females) were sampled from 11 schools with 11 teachers per school to give 121 teachers (24 males and 97 females), 11 head teachers (8 males and 3 females), 7 Curriculum Support Officers (5 males and 2 females) and 1 Sub-County Director (1 male). The study used triangulation of sampling techniques including stratified sampling for selecting the final subjects proportionally from the different strata, proportionate to ensure that minorities are properly represented in the study and purposive sampling to accomplish expertise knowledge of the researcher. The sampled strata included teachers, Curriculum Support Officers (CSOs) and Assistant County Directors. Both questionnaire and interview schedule was used to collect information from a sample of 140 participants, including 38 males and 102 females, whereby 123 were teachers 15 were Curriculum Support Officers and 2 were Assistant County Directors. Data analysis for quantitative data was both descriptive and inferential where multiple regressions was used. As a result, the study sought to review and gave actual facts using both descriptive and inferential analysis on how school physical facilities influence teacher satisfaction in public primary schools in Elgeyo Marakwet County. The study found out that unconducive working facilities, inadequate facilities such as desks, shelves and classrooms were the major physical facilities issues that influenced teacher satisfaction. Finally, lack of proper demarcation of space, poor arrangement of books as well as inadequate space for teacher movement in class was found to be the major issues under the arrangement of the workspace that may influence teacher satisfaction. The study recommended that there is a need for school management to ensure that school physical facilities is conducive for teachers to enhance their motivation and satisfaction level.