Influence of Principals’ Supervisory Practices on Teacher Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Tharaka South Sub-County, Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya

Principals' supervisory practices are vital in enhancing teachers' pedagogical activities and performance.However, in Tharaka South Sub-county, teachers' job performance had been low since many teachers did not cover the syllabus in time, which has led to low academic performance among their students.Thus, this study sought to investigate the influence of principals' supervisory practices on teachers' job performance in public secondary schools.The research was guided by management practice theory and theory of educational productivity.The study applied mixed methodology and adopted a concurrent triangulation research design.Target population was 804 respondents, which comprised 28 principals, 28 Chairs of school BoM, 746 teachers, and 2 Sub-county Directors of Education.A sample of 266 respondents was determined using Yamane's Formula.This consisted of 12 principals, 12 Chairs of school BoM, 240 teachers, and 2 Sub-county Directors of Education.Data analysis began by identifying common themes from the respondents' descriptions of their experiences.Qualitative data were analyzed thematically based on the objectives and presented in narrative form.Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages and inferentially using Pearson's Product Moment Correlation Analysis with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 25) and presented using tables.The study found that many teachers struggle to complete the syllabus on time, impacting student performance in the KCSE exams.Although principals implement various supervisory activities, these have not significantly improved syllabus coverage or academic outcomes.Thus, principals need to improve and continue their supervisory activities.