Effect of teachers’ professional knowledge and practice on pupils’ learning outcomes in public primary schools in Kakamega County, Kenya

In the year 2012, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) in Kenya launched the Performance Contract (PC) policy in the teaching service. Teacher PC was launched to correct the failure by the Ministry of Education to achieve targets outlined in the Kenya Education Sector Support Project (KESSP) of 2005-2010. Appraisals of the PCs are guided by predetermined set targets using the Teacher Professional and Development (TPAD) tool. Despite PC having been in place over the last thirteen years, there has been little change in learning outcomes in Kakamega County public primary schools. The purpose of the study was to establish the effect of teachers’ achievement in professional knowledge and practice PC target on pupils’ learning outcomes. The learning outcomes examined were academic achievement (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education-KCPE), pupil retention rates and pupil completion rates. This study was guided by the New Public Management (NPM) theory. A correlational research design with a mixed-methods approach was adopted for the study. Eighty-two (82) schools were selected from the 13 sub-counties of Kakamega County using multistage random sampling. Four key informants involved in Teacher PC supervision (2 Curriculum Support Officers, one Sub-County TSC Director and the County TSC Director) were also purposefully selected and interviewed. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from the head teachers and teachers in the selected schools. The professional knowledge and practice PC target achievement scores and learning outcome scores over the past six years (2018-2023) were obtained from the selected schools and the records at the County Ministry of Education office. Quantitative data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation and multilinear regression analysis. Qualitative data was analysed thematically using the NVivo 14 software. The results showed that only 39% of the teachers achieved good professional knowledge and practice PC target scores (>74.5%). The associations between achievement in professional knowledge and practice with learning outcomes were poor (KCPE performance: r=.159; P= 0.7640; retention rates: r= 0.285; p=0.585; completion rates: r=-0.079; p=0.061). The linear regression models revealed weak, statistically insignificant relationships for all the learning outcomes (P>0.05). Further analysis showed that the majority (78.1%) of the teachers had a poor attitude towards the PC initiative and disagreed with regular PC assessment. The study concluded that teacher achievement in professional knowledge and practice PC target did not meaningfully predict KCPE performance among the sample schools. The study recommends TSC should review the appraisal questions on professional knowledge and practice to ensure they are comprehensive and effective in enhancing pupil learning outcomes. There is a need for further research to establish the effect of teachers’ professional knowledge such as subject-specific pedagogy on other pupil learning outcomes such as creativity, problem-solving and communication skills.