Influence of management strategies on academic performance of pupils with emotional and behavioral disorder in public primary schools in Matayos Sub County, Busia county, Kenya

Abstract

With an increasing number of students with Emotional Behavioral Disorder (EBD) being included in the general education classroom with their non-disabled peers, ensuring that these students are not placed into this educational setting without adequate support is more imperative than ever. This calls for certain management strategies to ensure that, the task of tackling issues of learners with EBD is not a preserve of the special education teacher but rather all educators need to get on board and learn the underlying concepts of behavioral assessment and implementation of appropriate evidence-based practices and interventions. The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of management strategies on pupils with emotional and behavioral disorder (EBD) academic performance in Matayos Sub County, Busia County, Kenya. The study was premised on bioecological systems theory by Urie Bronfenbrenner. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The study targeted 30 head teachers and 49 class five class teachers. Thirty class teachers and nine head teachers were sampled. The study data was collected through class teachers questionnaire and head teachers interview schedule. Content and construct types of validity were ascertained through scrutiny by a panel of university lecturers. Using test retest technique, teachers; questionnaire was found to have a reliability coefficient of 0.82. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The study’s three formulated null hypotheses were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The school management initiative of capacity building of teachers in special needs education had the most significant relative influence to the pupils’ with EBD academic performance (β = 0.498) followed by the school behavior support system (β = 0.417) while the parents involvement in pupils with EBD learning had the least influence (β = 0.215). The study recommended that, capacity building of teachers in special needs education should not be left entirely on the government initiated seminars and workshops. The head teacher, school management committee and teachers should collaborate and device an inhouse inservice programme to equip all teachers with essential knowledge and skills to actualize inclusive education. Additionally, the school management committee should spearhead a campaign to scale up parents involvement in their children learning and more so the ones with a form of disability. Further, Apart from making the school rules and regulations explicit and clear to all the school members, class teachers should be proactive and employ the various evidence based behavior intervention methods in order to enhance learners with EBD positive behavior and academic outcomes.