SCHOOL TYPE INFLUENCE ON THE LEVELS OF STRESS AMONG THE SECONDARY SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS IN NAKURU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

The stress level among the secondary school administrators is relatively associated with the amount of work in different type of schools. Different type of schools receives different student with varied abilities hence the level of expectation by the education stakeholders vary from type of school to the other. This expectation is all focused on the school administrators who are expected to achieve both physical structure of the school and the academic achievement in relation to the ability of the students they receive. This study was interested in examining the influence of type of the school on the level of stress among the secondary school administrators in Nakuru County, Kenya. The study used analysis of variance ANOVA to test on the difference in the mean stress score among the secondary school administrators. The study used a descriptive research design. The target population was 1200 respondents who consisted of 400 secondary school principals, 400 deputy principals, and 400 senior teachers. A sample of 588 respondents was selected using purposive and proportionate stratified random sampling. The sample consisted of 196 principals, 196 deputy principals and 196 senior teachers. The study used questionnaires to collect the data, and focus group discussion was used to access the levels of stress among the School principals. The study found that the type of school significantly influenced the level of stress among the secondary school administrators since the p-value = 0.000, which was less than 0.05 significant level. The study further found that the secondary school administrators in Nakuru County in Kenya, have been applying different mitigation strategies to cope with stress. The study recommends that Ministry of Education, Teachers Service Commission and the School's Board of Management should keenly monitor class size and stress management programs in secondary schools to reduce stress among secondary school administrators. Article visualizations: