Influence of strategic human resource development on academic performance of high schools in Busia Sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

Strategic Human Resource Development (SHRD) has been emphasised as a key contributor to ensuring organisational effectiveness and the maximum return from their most important asset; the people. Organisations that are seeking not only to survive, but to maximise operational effectiveness in an ever changing environment, need to ensure that at all levels, the human resource development strategy is aligned with broader strategic imperatives, and that sufficient emphasis is placed on the human resource development function. In Kenya, Schools and other organizations sanctioned by the ministry of education have engaged their teachers in a number of development programs in form of workshops, seminars, refresher courses and in-service trainings. However, the impact of these strategic development programs has not been established. This scenario raises basic policy concerns about the influence of the strategic human resource development on the performance of the schools. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of SHRD on performance of high schools in Busia sub-county. The specific objectives of the study include; To determine the influence of SHRD on KCSE mean score in high schools in Busia Sub County; To establish the influence of SHRD on KCSE performance in sciences & mathematics in high schools in Busia Sub County; and to assess the influence of SHRD on the number of students obtaining mean score of B+ and above in high schools in Busia Sub County.The study will adopt a descriptive survey design. The sample size of 82 teachers out of a population of 104 teachers consisting of principal, deputy principals, senior teachers and heads of department from17 high schools in Busia Sub County was arrive at using Fisher’s model.The data was collected using questionnaires, the collected data was organized, edited, and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The open ended questionnaires were analysed through descriptive and textual analysis.Correlation analysis showed that the degree of correlation between the independent and the dependent variable was .550(moderate). R-square showed that approximately 30.2% of the variations in KCSE mean score was attributed to SHRD. Summary of the findings: KNEC examiners training is significant and made the strongest unique contribution in explaining the dependent variable, when the variance explained by all other variables in the model is controlled. SMASSE training and benchmarking initiatives made contributions but were insignificant. The recommended areas for further research include; determining whether benchmarking activities in schools are strategically and structurally organized in line with institutional requirement; to determine the cause of poor implementation of SMASSE in schools. The findings of this study will be valuable to the schools in developing innovative strategies for both short term and long term teacher training and development programs. It is anticipated that the application of the findings will improve the performance of high schools and teachers beyond current status. It will further enable the teachers and high schools to be better positioned to achieve the education goals in the realization of the vision 2030.