FACTORS INFLUENCING PROFESSIONAL COMMITMENT OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN TRANS-NZOIA WEST SUB-COUNTY, KENYA
Abstract
This study established factors influencing professional commitment of public secondary school teachers in Trans-Nzoia West sub-county, Kenya, based on the theory of good policy, effective medium theory, and the theory of Teleologism and Deontologism. Descriptive and correlational research designs were used with stratified random sampling. Cluster sampling technique was employed where all the109 teachers from 10 randomly selected county schools, 58 teachers from the extra-county school and 67 teachers from the national schools who were present during the time of data collection participated in the study. 192 questionnaires were returned giving a response rate of 82%. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test for independent samples, Mann-Whitney U test, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis. Findings were: Public secondary school teachers were positive towards their professional commitment, have positive belief about student learning and value system, tend to have a positive attitude towards teaching profession, and rated their school culture as excellent with means of 3.67, 3.46, 3.72 and 3.98, respectively. Female and younger teachers, those who have served between 6 to 10 years, and who hold bachelor‘s degrees are more committed to the teaching profession with p-values less than 0.05 (0.000). There is a significant direct relationship between teachers‘ professional commitment and their attitudes towards teaching profession, beliefs about student learning, value system, and their evaluation of the school culture accounting for 83.6% of the variance in professional commitment. It is recommended that schools continue to find ways to enhance teachers‘ attitudes towards the teaching profession, beliefs about student learning, and value system, and the school culture inorder to boost the teachers‘ professional commitment.