Influence of Principals’ Management Practices on Students’ Participation in Extracurricular Activities in Public Secondary Schools in Samburu County, Kenya

This study assessed the influence of principals' management practices on student participation in extracurricular activities in public secondary schools in Samburu County. Specific objectives were to determine the influence of principals' mentorship practices on student participation in extracurricular activities, and principals’ motivational practices on student participation in extracurricular activities, respectively. The mixed methods research approach was adopted using an embedded research design guided by the Ecological Systems Theory by Bronfenbrenner (1977). The target population of 8,358 comprised 21 principals, 1,127 teachers and 7,210 students in 21 public secondary schools in Samburu County. A representative sample of 382 comprising 21 principals, 52 teachers and 309 students was ascertained using Slovin’s formula. Three research instruments were used: Questionnaires for principals, questionnaires for teachers and focused group discussions for students, which were piloted and their validity and reliability confirmed and enhanced through piloting. The Cronbach's Alpha exceeded .7 for principals’ and teachers' questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics were generated with the assistance of the SPSS computer programme, while qualitative data were analysed thematically. Data was obtained from 86% of the principals and 100% of the sampled teachers and students, respectively. Quantitative findings show that Principals’ mentorship and motivation practices recorded Peason’s Correlation Coefficient R=.642 and R=.328, respectively. The multiple linear regression model yielded R=.547, indicating a strong positive relationship between the two principals’ management practices and student participation in extracurricular activities. The R² computed was .312, which suggests that the model explained 31.2% of student participation in extracurricular activities in Samburu County. Qualitative data confirmed these results, and based on these findings, the two null hypotheses were rejected and alternative hypotheses adopted. The study concluded that principals’ management practices contributed fairly well to student participation in extracurricular activities in Samburu County. These findings are significant to the Ministry of Education, TSC and teacher trainers who should develop policies and strategies to enhance principals’ management practices in order to boost student participation in extracurricular activities and to realise the benefits that accrue from it. Finally, further research is necessary to assess the influence of student participation in extracurricular activities on academic performance.