CONTEXTUALIZED IMPLEMENTATION OF ADVENTIST SECONDARY SCHOOLS’ QUALITY ASSURANCE PRACTICES IN WEST KENYA UNION CONFERENCE
Abstract
This study used a concurrent mixed research design to examine the extent of
quality assurance practices implementation in West Kenya Union Conference secondary
schools. Purposive, simple random, and convenience techniques were respectively used
to identify 160 respondents from 7 accredited and two non-accredited schools (84
teachers, 9 principals, 4 BoM members and 57 students from form 3 and 4) and 6
education directors from Conferences and Union. Questionnaires, open-ended, and
interview guides were used to collect data. The general systems, developmental systems
and thinking systems theories were employed to underpin the implementation of QAP.
The descriptive statistics shows that the extent of implementation and effectiveness of
quality assurance practices were to a moderate extent. Although there was a positive
linear effect between the predictor variables and the effectiveness in QAP; the Pearson
product moment correlation coefficients showed a moderate positive relationship with the
dependent variable. In research question four, failure to follow institutional strategic plan
was the highest predictor affecting the implementation and effectiveness QAP. The
researcher postulated a theory leading to the paradigm ‗Effective Implementation of
Quality Assurance Practices‘ (EIQAP) to fill the gap in the implementation and
effectiveness. The study findings revealed that quality assurance practices were not
effective due to inadequate implementation. The EIQAP has six competencies:
transparency, delegation, timely empowering and equipping implementing teams at all
levels with accountability and prompt feedback. Cost benefit analysis be done for
effective implementation of QAP, adopt and improve on the contextualized instrument
for frequent evaluation and test the EIQAP model for workability.