ABSTRACT
Personality types and practices are presumed to play a significant role in the improvement of schools' performance. This paper presents the findings from the analysis of quantitative data drawn from a larger study that examined the relationship between headteachers' personality types, instructional supervision practices, and performance. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design to collect data by utilizing a self-developed and Self-Directed Search (SDS) questionnaire that participants answered. A census sampling was conducted with 71 and 37 headteachers from Embu East and West public primary schools, respectively giving 108 participants. The data collected was analyzed using SPSS for descriptive and inferential statistics. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to determine any relationship between personality types, instructional supervision practices, and schools' performance. The findings of the study revealed a significant statistical relationship between enterprising personality types and schools’ academic performance (r =.125*, p<0.05). Further, the results revealed that there is a positive (r=.229, P<0.05) relationship between realistic personality type and holding parents-pupils-teachers’ conferences while among conventional types, there is a negative (r=-0.223, p<0.05) correlation in giving teachers feedback. The significance of this study is that headteachers' personality types do not influence instructional supervision practices, which is a unique finding indicating that other factors influence instructional supervision practices.
Key words: Headteacher, instructional-supervision, personality types, practices, schools’ performance.
Globally, supervision is viewed as an endeavor that headteachers as supervisors carry out in schools to improve instruction. Wanzare (2012) argues that in Kenya, headteachers are responsible for instructional and supervisory duties. Instructional supervision practices involve all those activities carried out by the headteacher to help maintain and improve effectiveness in the teaching and learning process, thus improving academic performance (Archibong, 2013). Nike, (2014) examined headteachers' instructional supervision practices and revealed that those who carry out supervision practices effectively and efficiently boost schools' academic performance. There are scanty studies that address personality types, according to Holland (1997), and schools' academic performance.
Oluremi (2013) affirm that supervision enhances good quality teaching and learning process by checking professional records, giving teachers feedback, and monitoring timetables, leading to good academic performance. Failure to carry out these practices is linked to poor academic performance (Dangara, 2015). The ability to carry out instructional supervision is a demonstration of school leadership. In this study, the education policymakers of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology on policymaking and guidelines should ensure that training in school management is a requisite before one is appointed to a headship position in schools in addition to academic and professional qualifications. Furthermore, during workshops and seminars, education officers sensitize headteachers by equipping them with relevant knowledge and skills in carrying out the assigned tasks. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between headteachers' personality types, instructional supervision practices, and schools' performance in public primary schools in Embu East and West Sub-Counties, Embu County, Kenya. The study was guided by two questions: what are the personality types of headteachers? Moreover, what is the relationship between headteachers' personality types and instructional supervision practices?
The specific objectives were to establish the personality types of headteachers and determine the relationship between headteachers' personality types and instructional supervision practices.
Personality types and school leadership
Personality types are the characteristics shown by the RIASEC letter codes measured by the SDS activities, with the first letter indicating the personality type (Holland, 1997). According to Holland, most people are of six personality types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. Realistic individuals enjoy working with hands or manual activities such as building, mechanics, machinery operation, and athletics. They prefer to work with things rather than ideas and people. Typical realistic careers include electricians, engineers, carpenters, veterinarians, and the military, while investigative individuals enjoy research and mathematical or scientific activities. Artistic individuals enjoy creative activities such as composing or playing music, writing, drawing or painting, and acting in or directing stage productions. Typical artistic careers include musician, actor, art teacher, reporter, and book editor. Holland (1997) argues that social individuals enjoy participating in group activities and helping, training, healing, counseling, or developing others. Typical social careers include teacher, nurse, counselor, and social worker.
Enterprising individuals enjoy activities that require them to persuade others, such as sales and seek out leadership roles. Typical enterprising careers include salesperson, business executive, and hotel manager. Conventional individuals enjoy maintaining and manipulating data, organizing schedules and operating office equipment, in which careers include secretary, accountant, bookkeeper, mail carrier, and bank teller. People possess attributes of all the six personality types, with one being dominant. The most dominant type influences one's choice of the work environment and consequently the vocation. In choosing a career, people prefer jobs where they can be around others who are like them. They search for environments that will let them use their skills and abilities and express their attitudes and values. According to Holland (1997), people seek an environment aligned to their personality types and engage in activities that utilize their abilities. For example, social individuals fit in teaching; hence, they are assumed to be effective in instructional supervision practices because they are interactive, have good human relations, and like helping others, which translates to good academic performance. Also, enterprising and conventional headteachers are less likely to be satisfied in their work environment. According to Holland (1997), they may not carry out the supervision practices effectively as there is no match between their personality types and the teaching career, thus affecting academic performance.
Leadership is a process of interaction between leaders and subordinates, where a leader tries to influence his/her subordinates' behavior to achieve organizational objectives (Yulk, 2002). Leadership plays an important role in school effectiveness and improvement (Hargreaves and Fink, 2003). Ibukun and Oyewole (1997) argue that characteristics such as intelligence, self-confidence, and initiative contribute positively to any organization's leadership. Nakpodia and Dafiaghor (2011) found that the Kenya Teachers Service Commission (TSC) appoints long-serving teachers to headteachers who are assumed to have experience and leadership competencies. Their promotion is often informed by the exceptional ability to perform as a classroom teacher, achievement in co-curricular activities, a teacher’s professional conduct, moral standing, and initiative, among others (The Republic of Kenya, 2005). Glickman et al. (2001) further argue that for one to be appointed in the position of headteachers, they need prerequisite skills such as human relations and technical skills to carry out instructional supervision roles effectively.
According to Northouse (2018), individuals who are born with certain personalities have a preference for becoming a leader. Such characteristics include intelligence, confidence, responsibility, and sociability. Individuals who possess these personalities can supervise hence can be helpful in supervision practices.
Teklemariam (2010) further states that personality traits can make someone be an influential leader because of how they act; for example, social headteachers can help teachers to carry out their duties effectively because they like teaching and have good human relations, which are related to the ability to lead schools. Egbai et al. (2015) found that headteachers should effectively supervise teachers by ensuring that they are observed regularly, prepare the lesson plans early, use teaching/learning resources strictly, and adequately implement the curriculum, among others. Effective instructional supervision practices help headteachers in improving and maintaining good academic performance in their schools.
A study by Akoth (2015) on the influence of headteachers' instructional supervision practices on pupils' performance in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education performance in Ngong Sub-County, Kenya, found that instructional supervision practices are a combination of process, procedures, and conditions designed to advance the effectiveness of individual teachers and the teaching staff as a whole. Hence, if headteachers are not keen on how they carry out instructional supervision, it creates an opportunity for poor academic performance. On the other hand, if the headteachers are keen on their instructional supervision practices, the teachers' professional performance improves academic performance.
Holland (1997) argues that people can be classified into six personality types; realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. Further, people possess specific attributes of the six personality types, with one being dominant. The most dominant type influences one's choice of the work environment and, consequently, the vocation. Thus, in choosing a career, people prefer jobs where they are around others who are like them. They search for environments that will let them use their skills, abilities and express their attitudes and values (Holland, 1997). Further, Holland (1997) asserts that people are assumed to be most satisfied, prosperous, and stable in a congruent work environment with their interest type.
According to Holland (1997), individuals in a job environment that does not correspond to their personality type are most likely to be dissatisfied. For example, a headteacher who is social enjoys teaching; thus, he/she can be effective in supervision, unlike a realistic headteacher who prefers to work with things. It is assumed that social headteachers would find it easier to carry out instructional supervision as they provide leadership in schools because they like teaching. Investigative, artistic, enterprising, and conventional personality types would experience school instructional supervisors' problems because their personality types do not match their careers. Moreover, people seek an environment aligned with their personality types and engage in activities that utilize their abilities. For example, a person who possesses a social personality type is likely to choose a job that involves interacting with others, such as teaching. Headteachers who fall under the social personality type prefer teaching, giving information, and values helping people. This means that they can help with instructional supervision because they are more satisfied in the school environment as it matches their personality type. A headteacher who an actual personality type who possesses mechanical abilities is more likely to feel comfortable in semi-skilled or craft positions than working with people. Therefore, they are likely to be less satisfied and effective in instructional supervision, where one has to teach, interact with other colleagues and help them solve their problems. Similarly, investigative personality types prefer activities involving observation and analyzing phenomena to develop knowledge and understanding, thus preferring to work with data, and therefore are likely to be dissatisfied to be effective headteachers.
Headteachers instructional supervision
Sule (2013) argues that schools are established to impart knowledge, skills, and values to pupils. A headteacher must set up high-quality education by effectively supervising the teaching and learning process to achieve this success. He/she should help teachers implement the school curriculum effectively to realize the potential of all pupils. The headteacher must establish a culture that promotes academic excellence, equality, and high potentials of all pupils (Thomas, 2010). Marks and Printy (2003) further states that adequate instructional supervision leads to high academic performance, while ineffective supervision practices lead to low academic performance.
According to Mecgley (2015), the supervisor's primary function is to help others become efficient and effective in the teaching and learning process. Instructional supervision aims at headteachers focusing mainly on the teaching staff's key implementers directly through teaching. In this regard, headteachers should give instructional supervision a special place in discharging their duties. Instructional supervision practices of the headteacher enable every pupil to maximize their potentials. Therefore, the headteachers' instructional supervision practices ensure that teachers perform their duties well, hence improving academic performance. Keen supervision is vital for a school to realize its objectives. Ayeni and Akinfolarin (2014) asserted that supervision practices like checking professional records, giving teachers feedback, monitoring timetables, checking to mark of pupils' attendance register, and holding parents-pupils-teachers’ conferences help headteachers maintain and improve their effectiveness in instructional supervision thus improving academic performance. According to Ndinza (2015), primary schools where the headteachers checked professional records and teachers’ class attendance register performed better than schools where this was not carried out.
Further, Samoei (2015) found that the instructional, supervisory roles that include monitoring timetables, setting targets for pupils, and giving teachers feedback lead to improved pupils' academic performance.
Quality of teaching and the level of schools' performance heavily depend on the constant and continuous school-based headteachers' practices. Achieving educational aims and providing quality basic education depends on the headteachers charged with overseeing that schools run smoothly. With the increased number of pupils enrolled in primary schools following the 100% policy recently adopted by the Ministry of Education in Kenya, primary schools' class sizes have increased tremendously. This, coupled with limited resources provided, most headteachers have focused their attention on developing physical infrastructure (Aseka, 2016). Consequently, instructional supervision faces numerous challenges and has become more complex for headteachers. Some schools are likely to experience more problems because of the personal characteristics of the headteacher. The ability to offer the best instructional supervision practice depends largely on the headteachers’ leadership skills. Several studies have examined challenges that headteachers face in instructional supervision, but no study has examined the headteachers' personality types. This study examined the relationship between headteachers' personality types, instructional supervision practices and performance. In Kenya, limited studies have directly investigated headteachers' personality types, instructional supervision practices and performance, yet there has been much concern by various education stakeholders about headteachers’ instructional supervision practices and schools’ performance in public primary schools; hence this study sought to fill the gap.
Theoretical framework
John Holland's (1959) theory informed this study on Vocation Personality Types. Holland defines personality as characteristics/attributes shown by the realistic, investigative, social, enterprising, and conventional (RIASEC) three-letter codes measured by the Self-Directed Search (SDS) activities, the first letter indicating the personality types. Holland asserts that people of the same personality types working together in a job create an environment that fits and rewards their type. He emphasizes that people who choose to work in an environment similar to their personality types are more likely to be successful and satisfied. John Holland's theory claimed that both people and work environments can be categorized and then matched. Holland argues that people tend to act on their dominant interests and seek careers in which their interests can be best expressed. This theory is best for this study because Holland's model offers a technique that can be used to determine the relationship between headteachers' personality types and instructional supervision practices. After all, the dominant characteristics can be observed and measured. Also, the theory can address how personalities can influence the behavior of headteachers.
Holland's greatest contribution and his most well-renowned work pertain to his theory (Holland, 1959) of vocational personalities and work environments. The theory's core idea is that most people resemble a combination of six personality types; realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional (commonly abbreviated with the acronym RIASEC). Each type is characterized by a constellation of interests, preferred activities, beliefs, abilities, values, and characteristics. A Holland code (typically the first letters of the three RIASEC the person most resembles) can be generated based on assessments. Likewise, work environments can be categorized by their resemblance to a combination of the RIASEC, and Holland codes are often used to describe them as well. John Holland's career choice theory maintains that people prefer jobs where they can be around others who are like them. They search for an environment that will let them use their skills and abilities and express their attitudes and values. Behavior is determined by an interaction between a persons' personality and environment. Thus, people who choose to work in an environment similar to their personality types are more likely to be successful and satisfied.
A headteacher who is social to teachers and pupils can know their problems and assist where necessary. This ensures that there are good human relations, which can lead to achieving the set goals and good academic performance. Accordingly, congruence-the degree of fit between an individual's personality type and the work environment type is theorized to be a determinant of several important outcomes, including job satisfaction, stability, and performance. The degree to which a person or environment resembles some RIASEC types and not others reflects greater clarity concerning making vocational choices.
Consistent and well-differentiated individuals should have more crystallized vocational identities and, as a result, are expected to make career choices with less difficulty and to be competent, be satisfied, personally effective, and engage in appropriate social and educational behavior. Holland asserts that vocational interests are expressions of people's personalities. Holland's basic assumptions are individuals in a particular vocation have similar personalities, and individuals tend to choose occupational environments consistent with their personality.
Location of the study
The study was carried out in Embu East and West Sub- Counties in Embu County, Kenya. There are 47 counties in Kenya, and in each county, there are two categories of primary schools; public and private. The study was conducted in all 108 public primary schools in Embu East and West Sub-Counties in Embu County, Kenya.
Research design
The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The descriptive survey allows a researcher to gather or collect information by interviewing or administering questionnaires to sampled individuals and collecting information about people's attitudes, opinions, and habits (Creswell, 2014).
Sampling procedures and sample size
The study used purposive sampling to select the Embu East and West Sub-Counties. Purposive sampling targets a group of people believed to be reliable for the study (Kothari, 2011). To determine the sample's size, the researcher conducted a census sampling with 71 and 37 headteachers from Embu East and Embu West public primary schools, respectively, giving a total of 108 participants. The census sampling technique was used because the population was small in number. The researcher achieved this by obtaining the number of public primary schools in Embu East and West Sub-Counties from the County Director of Education Office, Embu County. To fit in the selection criteria, the headteachers must have served in the school between 2015 and 2019 (Table 1).
Research instruments
Holland’s self-directed search
This study adapted the Self-Directed Search (SDS) 4th edition questionnaire (Rosen et al., 1989). The study used only section A that measures occupational interest. This instrument has 66 items that measure interest and area score "like" or "dislike" that ranks six types of personality types in a hexagonal order: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional (RIASEC). The respondent is required to indicate those activities that they like by checking "Like" "L," and for those activities, they dislike by checking "Dislike" "D." The highest score in likes shows the personality type, which is generated by a three-letter code. For instance, a RIASEC scores R = (32), I= (10), A= (25) S= (16), E= (28) and C = (2) where highest scores, R = (32), E = (28), A= (25) give the summary code for the participant (REA). The researcher used the 1st letter to determine the respondent's personality type; in this case, the Realistic personality type “R” has the highest score.
Instructional supervision questionnaire
The instrument to measure headteachers' supervision practices was a self-developed five-point Likert scale questionnaire. Respondents were required to tick (√) one of the options that would best describe them; 1-Never, 2-Rarely, 3-Sometimes, 4-Often, 5-Always. This study always was taken to mean that headteachers carried out the instructional supervision practices effectively while sometimes, often, and never meant that headteachers did not carry out the instructional supervision practices effectively.
Pre-testing the research instruments
The researcher conducted pre-testing to test the validity and reliability of the research instruments. A standardized tool, Self- Directed Search (SDS), was used. The researcher was able to determine the content and construct validity by use of experts in career development. The instrument was pre-tested in five schools that share similar characteristics with those in the sample. The test-retest Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.87 was attained, indicating that the instruments were reliable. This score is similar to that reported by Holland (1997) 0.92.
Schools’ academic performance
A desktop review was carried out to determine the schools' academic performance in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education mean scores between 2015 and 2019.
Data collection procedures
A letter from the affiliating university helped the researcher obtain a research permit from the National Commission for Science, Technology, and Innovations (NACOSTI). The researcher also obtained a consent letter from the County Director of Education, Embu County, before contacting the school headteachers in preparation for data collection. The researcher visited the schools and assured the respondents that the information collected would be treated confidentially. The researcher explained the study’s purpose and administered the questionnaire personally to the respondents for two weeks. Two field assistants were involved in collecting the filled questionnaires.
Data analysis
The edited data was coded and fed into the computer for analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. Demographic data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to get frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation. The Self-Directed Search (SDS) was used to analyze headteachers' personality types. Spearman's rank correlation was used to determine if there was any relationship between personality types and schools' performance, instructional supervision practices and schools' performance, and headteachers’ personality types and instructional supervision practices.
Demographic results
Age of headteachers
From Table 2, the result shows that 15.9% (Mean=0.159, SD=0.543) of headteachers aged between 41-50 and 84.1% (Mean=0.841, SD=0.990) of headteachers aged above 50 years. This implies that most public primary school headteachers range in the age bracket of 50 years and above.
Gender of headteachers
As indicated in Table 3, the result shows that 54.5% (Mean=0.793, SD=0.273) of headteachers were males while 45.5% (Mean=0.661, SD=0.228) were females implying that there were more male headteachers than females in public primary schools in this study. These findings are similar to those by Kinyanjui and Orodho (2014), who found that male headteachers (66.7%) were more than female headteachers (33.3%).
Highest academic qualification
From Table 4, the results reveal that 13.7% (mean=0.136, SD=0.505) had P1, 44.3% (mean=0.443, SD=0.835) had Diploma, 36.4% (mean=0.364, SD=0.755) had bachelors' degree while 5.7% (mean =0.057, SD =0.332) had masters' degree. This revealed that headteachers in the two Sub-Counties were professionally trained and equipped with relevant knowledge, skills, and values on academic matters. These findings are similar to those reported by Eshiwani (1993), who asserts that academic and professional qualifications are crucial in influencing academic performance. Further, these results are consistent with those by Kosgei et al. (2013), who found that all teachers were trained in the teaching profession.
Headteachers’ experience
The results in Table 5 reveal 10.2% of respondents had served as headteachers for 6 to 10 years while 89.8% had served for over 10 years. This implies majority (89.8%) had served as headteachers for over 10 years while few (10.2%) had served for 6 to 10 years, thus adequately experienced to provide leadership for effective instructional supervision practices.
Headteachers’ personality types
The researcher sought to find out the headteachers’ personality types. Table 6 indicates headteachers' personality types.
The result in Table 6 reveals that realistic personality type headteachers were 11.4%, with males being more than females. The investigative personality type was 10.2%. The artistic personality type overall percentage was 9.0%. The results further reveal that social personality types were 48.9%, implying that most headteachers were in social personality type, which is similar (Holland, 1997). The enterprising personality type was 12.5%, while the conventional personality type there was 7.9%. Social personality type had the highest number of headteachers (48.9%), while conventional had the least number of headteachers (7.9%). This implies that the majority of headteachers were social personality types while few were conventional personality types.
Headteachers’ instructional practices
The study sought to find out headteachers’ instructional supervision practices. The results are presented in Table 7.
The result in Table 7 reveals that 75 (85.4%) of headteachers checked the professional records. Moreover, the result reveals that 55 (62.6%) headteachers gave feedback to teachers. Additionally, 72 (81.8%) headteachers monitored timetables suggesting that this was another critical practice of headteachers' practices. A total of 57 (64.7%) headteachers checked the marking of pupils' attendance registers suggesting that it was one of those practices that headteachers observed very closely. Furthermore, the result shows that 59 (67.0%) of the headteachers held parent-pupils-teachers' conferences. These results imply that most headteachers attach great importance to instructional supervision practices, with male headteachers appearing to carry out instructional supervision than females.
Personality types and instructional supervision practices
Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was carried out to determine the relationship between headteachers’ personality types and instructional supervision practices, shown in Table 8.
Realistic personality type and instructional supervision practices
The result in Table 8 shows that there is no statistically significant relationship between realistic personality type and instructional supervision practices; checking professional records, giving teachers feedback, monitoring timetables, and checking pupils' attendance register with coefficient r=-0.121, p>0.05; r =0.092, p>0.05; r =0.147, p>0.05; r =0.085, p>0.05, respectively. This indicates that the realistic personality type does not influence these instructional supervision practices. The result shows that realistic personality type influences holding parent-pupils-teachers' conferences with coefficient score r =0.229, p<0.05, implying that headteachers who are realistic always held parent-pupils-teachers' conferences. Holland (1997) argues that realistic individuals enjoy working with hands or manual activities, such as building, mechanics, machinery operation, and athletics. They prefer to work with things rather than ideas and people. Artistic headteachers carry out supervision practices, possibly because they are responsible for all the activities that take place in schools.
Investigative personality type instructional supervision practices
There was a negative (r =-0.424, p=<0.05, r =-0.223, p=<0.05) correlation between conventional personality types and checking professional records and giving teachers feedback, respectively. Holland (1997) argues that conventional individuals enjoy maintaining and manipulating data, organizing schedules, and operating office equipment, suggesting that conventional headteachers carried out supervision practices, possibly because they must carry out instructional supervision (Samoei, 2015).
Artistic personality type instructional supervision practices
The result shows that there is no statistically significant relationship between the artistic personality type of headteachers and instructional supervision practices; checking professional records, giving teachers feedback, monitoring timetables, checking to mark of pupils' attendance register, and holding parents-pupils-teachers' conferences with a coefficient (r =-0.113, p>0.05; r =0.068, p>0.05; r =0.138, p>0.05; r =0.061, p>0.05; r =0.059, p>0.05; r =0.052, P>0.05), respectively. This means that there is no relationship between artist personality type and these instructional supervision practices. Holland (1997) asserts that artistic individuals enjoy creative activities, such as composting or playing music, writing, drawing or painting, and acting in or directing stage productions. This suggests that artistic headteachers carried out supervision practices, possibly because they are charged with overseeing that school activities run smoothly (Wanzare, 2012).
Social personality type instructional supervision practices
Further, result reveals that there is no statistical significance relationship between social personality type and instructional supervision practices; checking professional records, giving teachers feedback, monitoring timetables, checking marking of pupils’ attendance register, and holding parents-pupils-teachers’ conferences (r =-0.008, p>0.05; r =0.055, p>0.05; r =-0.134, p>0.05, r =0058, p>0.05; r=-0.070, p>0.05). This means that the social personality type is not related to instructional supervision practices. Holland (1997) asserts that social individuals enjoy teaching. Therefore, if a headteacher is social, he/she can be outstanding in instructional supervision because his/her personality type matches his/her career hence lead to good academic performance.
Enterprising personality type instructional supervision practices
Moreover, the result shows that there is no statistically significant relationship between enterprising personality type and instructional supervision practices; checking professional records, giving teachers feedback, monitoring timetables, checking to mark of pupils' attendance register, and holding parents-pupils-teachers' conferences with the coefficient of (r =-0.027, p>0.05; r =-0.009, p>0.05; r =-0.117, p>0.05; r =-0.091, p>0.05; r =-0.097, p>0.05). This means that there is no relationship between enterprising personality type and instructional supervision practices. Holland (1997) argues that enterprising individuals enjoy activities that require them to persuade others, such as sales, and seek out leadership roles suggesting that enterprising headteachers carried out supervision practices, possibly because they are internal school supervisors (Wanzare, 2012).
Conventional personality type instructional supervision practices
Additionally, the result shows that there is no statistically significant relationship between conventional personality type and instructional supervision practices; monitoring timetables, checking pupils' attendance register, and holding parents-pupils-teachers' conferences with a coefficient of r =-0.128, p>0.05; r =0.034, p>0.05; r =-0.060, p>0.05, respectively. There was a negative (r =-0.424, p=<0.05; r =-0.223, p=<0.05) correlation between conventional personality types and checking professional records and giving teachers feedback, respectively. Holland (1997) argues that conventional individuals enjoy maintaining and manipulating data, organizing schedules, and operating office equipment, suggesting that conventional headteachers carried out supervision practices, possibly because they must carry out instructional supervision (Samoei, 2015).
Personality types and schools’ performance
To determine if there was a relationship between headteachers' personality types and schools’ performance, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was established as shown in Table 9.
Results in Table 9 show no statistically significant relationship between realistic and investigative personality type and schools' performance r =0.111, p>0.05, and r =-0.102, p>0.05, respectively. The finding in this study revealed that realistic and investigative personality type does not influence schools' performance. Additionally, results reveal no statistical significant between artistic and social personality type and schools' performance r = -0.118, p>0.05, r =-0.160, p>0.05, respectively. Further, conventional personality type was not statistically significantly related to schools' performance r =0.075, p>0.05. However, the enterprising personality type r =0.215*, p<0.05 was found to influence schools' performance.
Instructional practices and schools’ performance
To determine if there was a relationship between instructional supervision practices and schools’ performance, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was established as shown in Table 10.
Results in Table 10 show a negative (r =-0.210, p<0.05) relationship between checking professional records and schools' performance. This means checking professional records negatively influences schools' performance even though they help headteachers identify teachers' preparedness. Additionally, results reveal no statistical significance between giving teachers feedback and schools' performance r =-0.152, p>0.05. This implies that giving teachers feedback does not influence schools' performance even though feedback, problems, and weaknesses are identified and addressed, thus improving the teaching and learning process. Results reveal no statistical significance between monitoring timetables and schools' performance r =-0.022, p>0.05. This means that schools' performance is not influenced by monitoring timetables, even though by monitoring timetables, headteachers ensure that all the teachers' workload is genuinely shared among the teachers. Further, there is no statistical significance between checking the marking of pupils' attendance register and schools' performance, and holding parents-pupils-teachers' conferences with a coefficient r =-0.111, p>0.05, r =0.028, p>0.05, respectively.
This study sought to examine headteachers’ personality types, instructional supervision practices, and schools’ performance in public primary schools in Kenya. The specific objectives were; to establish the personality types of headteachers and determine the relationship between headteachers' personality types and instructional supervision practices.
This study found that 54.5% of headteachers were males, while 45.5% were females. This implies that there were more male headteachers than females. These findings are supported by Kinyanjui and Orodho (2014), who found that male headteachers (66.7%) were more than female headteachers (33.3%). Further, this study found that 84.1% of headteachers aged above 50 years. This finding is supported by Nakpodia and Dafiaghor (2011), who argue that headteachers are appointed according to age and experience. This study found that the majority (89.8%) headteachers had been headteachers for over ten years, while few (10.2%) headteachers had worked as headteachers for 6 to 10 years. This means that teachers who have served for a long time have high chances of being appointed to headship positions. This finding is supported by Gaziel (2007), who argued that school headship was carried out by teachers who had been in the profession for a longer time; hence, they had gained ample experience and effectively carried out their supervision roles.
Further, the result reveals that realistic personality type headteachers were 11.4%; investigative personality type was 10.2%; artistic personality type overall percentage was 9.0%; social personality types were 48.9%; enterprising personality type was 12.5%, while the conventional personality type there was 7.9%. Social personality type had the highest number of headteachers (48.9%), while conventional had the least number of headteachers (7.9%). This indicates nearly 50% of headteachers belong to social personality types, which implies it is assumed they can interact well with teachers and carry out instructional supervision practices effectively.
Moreover, this study found that the majority of headteachers carried out instructional supervision in their schools; 85.4% of headteachers checked professional records; 62.6%) of headteachers gave feedback to teachers; 81.8% of headteachers monitored timetables; 64.7% of headteachers checked pupils’ attendance register; 67% of headteachers held parents-pupils-teachers’ conferences. These findings are supported by the Republic of Kenya (2004), who argues that the headteachers' role is to monitor all school activities to boost schools' academic performance. Further, these findings are supported by Mecgley (2015), who argues that the supervisor’s primary function is to help teachers become efficient and effective in the teaching and learning process.
Furthermore, this study found a significant relationship between headteachers in the realistic personality type and holding parents-pupils-teachers' conferences (r =0.229*, p<0.05). This implies that headteachers who were realistically held more parents-pupils-teachers' conferences than other personality types. Holland (1997) argues that realistic individuals prefer to work with things rather than ideas and people; hence, realistic headteachers carry out supervision practices, possibly because they are responsible for all school activities (Republic of Kenya, 2004). This finding is supported by Ayeni and Akinfolarin (2014), who argue that it is the role of headteachers to maintain and improve their instructional supervision effectiveness, thus improving academic performance. There was a negative (r =-0.424, p=<0.05, r =-0.223, p=<0.05) correlation between conventional personality types and checking professional records and giving teachers feedback, respectively.
Holland (1997) states that conventional individuals enjoy maintaining and manipulating data, organizing schedules, and operating office equipment, suggesting that conventional headteachers carried out supervision practices, possibly because they have to carry out instructional supervision (Samoei, 2015).
Additionally, the enterprising personality type (r =0.125, p < 0.05) significantly influenced schools' performance.
According to Holland (1997), enterprising individuals enjoy activities that require them to persuade others such as sales and seek out leadership roles. Typical enterprising careers include; salesperson, business executive, and hotel manager suggesting that enterprising headteachers influenced schools' performance possibly because they are responsible for all the activities in schools (Mecgley, 2015). Additionally, there was a negative (r =-0.210, p<0.05) correlation between checking professional records and schools' performance. This means checking professional records do not influence schools' performance even though they help headteachers identify teachers' preparedness. Further, there was no statistically significant relationship between the artistic personality type of headteachers and instructional supervision practices; checking professional records, giving teachers feedback, monitoring timetables, checking to mark of pupils' attendance register, and holding parents-pupils-teachers' conferences with a coefficient (r =-0.113, p>0.05; r =0.068, p>0.05; r =0.138, p>0.05; r =0.061, p>0.05; r =0.059, p>0.05; r =0.052, P>0.05) respectively. Holland (1997) asserts that artistic individuals enjoy creative activities, such as composting or playing music, writing, drawing or painting, and acting in or directing stage productions; suggesting that artistic headteachers carried out supervision practices, possibly because it is the role of headteachers to maintain and improve their instructional supervision effectiveness, thus improving academic performance (Ayeni and Akinfolarin, 2014).
Furthermore, results revealed no statistical significance between social personality type and schools' performance (r =-0.160, p>0.05). Holland (1997) argues that social personality types enjoy teaching suggesting that there are other factors that affect school’ performance.
Headteachers’ personality types do not influence instructional supervision practices. This is a unique finding which implies that other factors affect instructional supervision practices, such as teaching experience. Therefore, headteachers should be equipped with relevant knowledge, skills, and values for adequate supervision. Headteachers’ instructional supervision practices are considered very crucial in improving schools’ academic performance.
From the findings of this study, this paper recommends further research to focus on the headteachers' personality types and instructional supervision practices as well as the perception of teachers on the headteachers’ instructional supervision practices on academic performance. This paper also recommends further studies to assess the contribution of principals' personality towards the students' performance in secondary schools. Finally, the study recommends that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology should ensure that training in school management is a requisite before one is appointed to headship positions in schools in addition to academic and professional qualifications.
The authors have not declared any conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
The authors appreciate the immense support from the two supervisors and other experts from the University of Embu. They acknowledge the office of the County Director of Education, Embu County, as well as the public primary school headteachers for their invaluable contributions to support this study.
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