| dc.description.abstract | Disparities in public boarding secondary schools are attributed to unique school’s cultures adopted by
each school that affects and guides behaviours of the entire school population positively or negatively. A culture
helps members to understand the environment and determine how to respond to the values, beliefs, and norms of
the organization manifested by artifacts, collegiality, norms, ceremonies, and rituals. The purpose of this study was
to establish implication of school culture on students’ academic performance in public boarding secondary schools
in Kisii Central Sub County. The study objectives were to; Establish implication of school cultural norms and
Determine implication of ceremonies on students’ academic performance. The study employed a structuralfunctionalist approach to Organizational Culture rooted by Malinowski, Radcliffe-Brown, Parsons, and Schein.
Related literature was reviewed in line with the research objectives and guided by research questions. Concurrent
Nested design employing Mixed Method Approach was adopted and utilized for this study. This study was
conducted in Kisii Central Sub County in public boarding secondary schools. The target population was made up
of 7 principals, 49 HODs, 80 class teachers, 164 student leaders, 7 BOM chairpersons and 7 PA chair persons.
Saturated sampling was used to obtain a sample population constituting; 6 Principals, 42 HODs, 72 class teachers,
144 student leaders, 6 BOM chairpersons and 6 PA chair persons. Data collection instruments were
Questionnaires, Interviews schedules, FGDs, Document analysis and Observation protocol. Reliability was
addressed through piloting in 1 school which was randomly sampled from the target schools and test- retest was
employed together with McMillan and Schumacher strategies to establish reliability and validity. Validity of
instruments was further enhanced through expert vetting by two supervisors. Descriptive statistics such as
frequencies and percentages was used to describe and summarize quantitative data in form of tables to show
trends. Thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data and focused on the discussion of the themes and
sub-themes as they emerged. The findings of the study may benefit researchers, principals, MOEST officers as it
would be a source of knowledge on the implication of school culture on students’ academic performance. The study
establishes that school ceremonies should be vetted and those that work for the school’s attainment or promotion
of school’s core function should be promoted while those that are retrogressive should be in consultation explained
to the stakeholders and persuaded to embrace the decisions of avoiding them.. The study suggested further study
on implication of school culture on students’ academic performance in private schools or any other contexts and
settings to establish if the findings of this study are robust for generalization and adoption. | en_US |
