Influence of Principals’ Expertise Power Utilization on Teachers’ Empowerment in Public Secondary Schools in Garissa County, Kenya

Abstract

There is a global concern about the principals’ power utilization. The purpose of this study was to analyse the impact of principals’ power utilization on teachers’ empowerment. The objective was to determine the influence of principals’ expertise power utilization on teachers’ empowerment. The theories used here were the Approach Inhibition of Power and the Empowerment theory. The study utilized a mixed method and the simultaneous triangulating model with a descriptive survey design. The targeted populace was 14,184 which included 41 principals, 780 teachers, 13,339 students, and 24 MoE/TSC officers. The sample was 760 which included 33 principals stratified randomly sampled, 330 teachers, and 384 students sampled using the Fisher formula. The 13 MoE/TSC officers were purposively sampled. Questionnaires for learners and teachers were used while the interviewing schedule was for MoE/TSC officers and the principals. The investigator requested specialists to analyse the validity of the tools. As for reliability, there was a test-retest technique employed. Cronbach’s Alpha was utilized to find the reliability of the instruments. An alpha worth of 0.700 was attained and the instruments were termed consistent. Triangulating was used to assure credibility. In-depth interviewing was embraced to examine the dependability of non-numerical tools. Numerical facts were scrutinized in descriptive and inferential (Chi-square) statistics by means of tables, occurrences, and percent rates. Qualitative data was offered by thematic scrutiny in narrative form and verbatim citing. The study established that expertise power utilization was significant. The study concluded that expertise power influenced teacher empowerment positively. It was recommended that principals should utilize all of this power and that the government should beef up the use of this power in schools. Further research was recommended to be done on this power elsewhere using different participants