Influence of School Managers’ Training on Disaster Risk Management in Public Secondary Schools within Nairobi City County Kenya

Ignatius N. Munyiri^1, , Ruth W. Thinguri¹ and Paul Edabu¹

¹School of Education, Mount Kenya University, P.O. Box 342-01000, Thika, Kenya

Cite this paper:
Ignatius N. Munyiri, Ruth W. Thinguri and Paul Edabu. Influence of School Managers’ Training on Disaster Risk Management in Public Secondary Schools within Nairobi City County Kenya. American Journal of Educational Research. 2019; 7(12):948-956. doi: 10.12691/education-7-12-9

Abstract

Disaster risks are very common occurrences within Kenyan secondary schools. Most disasters afflicting Nairobi City schools of the public category include fire outbreaks, student unrest, terror threats and strikes which have caused harm to humans and property in a number of incidences. Nevertheless, the concept of disaster risk management in secondary schools in Nairobi has so far not attracted much attention of researchers. The study objects were: to investigate school managers’ training mode on DRM, how the training had assisted the school managers in DRM, and the influence of school managers’ training on DRM. Emergent Norm theory and Risk Management theory were used to give guidance to the study. The study was a mixed methodology research employing concurrent triangulation design. The population comprised 282 individuals and sample size of 167 respondents determined according to Krejcie and Morgan sampling table. Data was collected through questionnaires and observation checklists for principals, HODs, BOM and interview guides for sub QASOs. Tools were pre-tested among 10% of the target sample, not part of part of the actual study. Instrument consistency was determined through Pearson product Moment correlation where a correlation coefficient of 0.75 was considered acceptable. Expert judgment by supervisors and peer reviewers was used to test the instruments for validity. Instrument dependability was established by employing overlapping procedures including telephone and face to face interviews during field work. Concurrent triangulation was employed for data credibility. Instrument reliability was calculated using Chronbach’s Alpha. Quantitative statistics was descriptively evaluated and shown in figures and tables. Significance of confidence at 95% level was tested using inferential statistics. Qualitative data was analysed thematically and results presented in tables. Conclusions are anticipated to benefit School managers, Teachers’ Service commission, Parents, Principals, the Ministry of Education, Nairobi County. All ethical issues pertaining to research were observed. The study findings are that: School managers were not trained on management of disaster risks. The school managers were trained on school safety through: Red Cross, In-service and Work-shop programs. 71.3% of school managers said that DRM was negatively influenced by the training on disaster risk management. The researcher concludes as: School managers in public schools in Nairobi City are not trained on disaster risk management. 65% have been trained on school safety. School managers are not prepared to manage disaster risk because they lack appropriate training. The recommendations are that: The Government of Kenya should develop a policy for disaster risk management, a Curriculum on management of risks caused by disaster and train school managers, teachers, students and communities on management of disaster risk.

Keywords:
influence school managers’ training disaster risk management modes of training disaster risk

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	National Fire Protection Association, & National Fire Protection Association. Technical Committee on Uniform Fire Code. (2006). NFPA 1 Uniform Fire Code. National Fire Protection Association.
[2]	FEMA (2010). Bringing Youth Recovery Education to the Forefront: A literature Review and Recommendations. Issue6. [Online]: Retrieved from http://www.citizen/corps.gov.
[3]	Cavanagh, T. (2004), October. Criminalising our schools: Effects on caring and nurturing teachers. Paper presented at the Invited Address (18 October 2004): School of Education, University of Waikato , Hamilton , New Zealand
[4]	Tavares, R. M. (2009). Evacuation processes versus evacuation models: “Quo Vadimus”?. Fire Technology, 45(4), 419-430.
[5]	MOEST. (2001). Report of the Task Force on Student Discipline and Unrest in Secondary Schools. Nairobi: Jomo Kenyattta Foundation.
[6]	NACADA (2002). Drug and Substance Abuse: The Kenyan Context. Nairobi: NACADA News.
[7]	Alexander, D. (2002). Principles of Emergency Planning and Management. Harp ended: Terra, Publishers.
[8]	Savula A., & Atsiaya P (2004). Grilles order to school heads. The Standard p.4. Nairobi: Standard Group
[9]	Ruto, J .S (2009). Sexual Abuse of School Age Children. CICE Hiroshima University, Journal of International Cooperation in Education, Vol.12 No.1 (2009) Pp 177-192.
[10]	Hubbard, D. (2009). The failure of risk management: Why it's broken and how to fix it. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
[11]	Nairobi County Director of Education, (2016).
[12]	Khanka, S. (2011). Human Resource Management. Published by S. Chad &\ company Ltd, New Delphi, India.
[13]	Armstrong, M. (2009). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practices (11th Ed.). London: Kogan page.
[14]	Gichuru, J. (2013). Fire disaster recovery strategies in secondary schools In Nyeri Central District, Kenya. Unpublished M.ED. Project.
[15]	Nderitu, C. (2009). Implementation of safety standards guidelines in secondary schools in Githunguri Division, Kiambu District. Unpublished MEd project, Kenyatta University.
[16]	Nakitto, M. & Lett, R. (2012). The recovery of Ugandan schools for fire. Makerere Medical School.
[17]	UNICEF (2009). Concept Note. Disaster Risk Reduction in UNICEF. Towards safer and resilient communities for children. National Progress Report on the Implementation of the Hyogo Framework of Action 2009-2011.
[18]	Ozmen F. (2006). The level of recovery of the schools for disasters from the aspect of the school principals. Disaster Prevention and Management Vol. 15 No. 3, 2006 pp. 383-395.
[19]	UNISDR, (2008). Disaster Prevention for Schools: Guidance for Education Sector Decision-Makers. Consultation Version, November 2008. Geneva: International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Thematic Platform for Knowledge and Education.
[20]	Orodho, A. (2012). Elements of Educational and Social science Research Methods: 2nd edition Kenezja Publisher, Maseno, Kenya.
[21]	Sallee, R. E. (2011). Closing the Teaching Gap: Professional Development Programs that Work. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, PO Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106.
[22]	Chien, Y. & Wen, C. (2012). "Damages to school infrastructure and development to disaster prevention education strategy after Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan", Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, Vol. 21 Issue: 5, pp.541-555.
[23]	Turkmen, Z. & Tüzün, C. (2010). The Issue of Disasters and Emergencies Training in Turkish Ministry of Education National Primary School Curricula. Istanbul: unpublished but submitted to the Ministry of National Education, September. http://ztscompany.com/EN/articles.html
[24]	Campbell, J. P., DeBlois, P. B., & Oblinger, D. G. (2007). Academic analytics: A new tool for a new era. EDUCAUSE review, 42(4), 40.