Teacher Management Policy Reforms and Principals’ Burnout in Public Senior Schools in Siaya County, Kenya

Principals implement teacher-management reforms while maintaining the daily leadership of public senior schools. This study examined the extent to which policy reforms in teacher management influenced principals’ burnout in Siaya County. The study was anchored on Hobfoll's (1989) Conservation of Resources theory. The study adopted a convergent mixed method design then supported it with cross-sectional survey and phenomenological design. Proportionate stratified random sampling was used to select 161 principals from the seven sub-counties of Siaya County. One hundred and fifty usable questionnaires were returned. Structured Interview Guide was used to collect data from five TSC Sub-County Directors, eight Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) branch executive officials and forty Heads of Departments. The questionnaire and interview guides were scrutinized for content and face validity and were pilot tested. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, multiple regression and thematic analysis. The findings demonstrate that principals experience a very high level of burnout at 4.50 on a five-point Likert scale. Teacher management reforms recorded a moderately strong positive correlation with burnout (r = 0.678, p < 0.05) and a regression coefficient of B = .145 (β = .235; reported p = .020). However, the overall reported mean of 2.500 on a five- point Likert scale indicates limited average endorsement across the teacher-management reform statements, but it does not mean that policy implementation pressure was absent. It shows that the principals are either shy to associate their burnout to teacher management reforms or that different principals experience the reform pressure differently. The study recommends that policy reforms should be implemented having in mind the well-being of the principals who are the main policy implementers to avoid their burnout. Keywords: Teacher Management; Policy Reforms; Principals’ Burnout; Public Junior Schools; Conservation of Resources Theory