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Relationship between Teachers Involvement in Planning and Students Performance in integrated English; a Case study of Quilmes High School, Argentina
No full textThe integrated approach is crucial in teaching the English language and helps learners improve their language skills. The integrated approach does not only enrich learners with their vocabulary but also they learn to use language in a variety of ways. The study examined the effect of teachers involvement in planning an integrated curriculum and student performance. The study utilized the descriptive research design and the unit of observation was teachers. The findings of the study established that teachers were not always involved in the setting of the curriculum, and they were only supposed to implement what has been set by the government and the curriculum developers. Additionally, the study found that teachers awareness of how to teach the integrated curriculum influenced the quality of education and understanding among the students. Besides, the findings of the study established that learner-centered strategies are the suggested techniques; however; the instructors make use of educator- centered. A lot of the lessons were academic, where the educator primarily controlled experiences. Besides, the results of the examination reported that lack of appropriate resources was a severe obstacle to the use of learner-centered techniques. Though all the institutions were well-staffed, other sources like sound- visual aids were a significant obstacle. The study also established that integrated English aims at accelerating the development of children intelligence, thinking ability, and language competences and also helps the learners develop their language proficiency as well as literary expertise. The study concluded that teachers of integrated English are aware of the educator- centered and also a learner-centered mentor- finding out strategies.Teacher-focused approaches highly dominated English classrooms. The study also concluded that teachers were not adequately involved in the strategic planning in and this softens the quality of education provided. Additionally, teachers awareness (possessed knowledge and skills in strategic planning) influenced the quality of education. Moreover, the findings revealed that the teachers performance and measurement strategies used affected the quality of education they provided. The study also concluded that the absence of teaching-learning sources makes educators make use of teacher-centered approaches. The study recommended that the school owners put in place all possible measures to improve teachers motivation if they are looking for quality education. Additionally, the school leaders ought to prepare training to raise teachers awareness in the planning process of the integrated curriculum and their influence on quality education improvement. Additionally, Policymakers should make policies that increase teachers motivation, which was declined in these times.
Keywords: Teachers Involvement, Planning, integrated curriculum, Student Performance, Quilmes High School, Argentin
Sports Games Participation and Students’ Academic Performance in Rwanda: A Case Study of Gatsibo District
No full textThe participation in sports for the learners effectively at school, contribute highly in the students’ performance where playing for the student reduce stress with refreshing their minds that can lead to more academic success. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between sports participation and student’s academic performance in Rwanda. The study, worked descriptive research design which adopted both qualitative and quantitative approaches and correlative research designs. The participants of this study, was 400 obtained by using the combination of random and purposive sampling technique and the research instrument which were questionnaire survey and guided interview. The SPSS software was used to analyze the collected data. The results showed that the participation in sports games for the students can help them to earn more grades, complete home work effectively in different subjects. it was also noted that engagement of learners in sports increase their fitness. The findings of this study, showed that the mean was 1.38 which is very high mean, and its standard deviation is 1.77 means that all sports games were developed in secondary due to that mean which is very high, different teachers and students admired the sports games as main factors encouraged in their schools for academic performance in Rwanda. The big number 80.79% of respondents accepted that the students who involves in sports games participate actively in Teaching/learning activities while the 19.21% of respondents disagreed with the statements. Sport games participation is highly positive correlated with students’ academic performance in secondary schools at r=0.879 as correlation coefficients. This study confirmed a strong positive relationship between sports games participation and students’ academic performance in Rwanda. Therefore, local leaders should create opportunities for understanding the needs, aspirations and frustrations of each staff members, parents and local leaders through mobilization to train all community about sports games towards students’ academic performance by training them on the role of sports in everyday life. The ministry of education should support the teachers, students, parents and the non-teaching staff to provide the all resources needed for sports to enhance the sports games in order to raise the academic performance in Rwanda. This is because sports have been seen to play a major role in improving students’ academic performance since it boasts the morale of young children to attend secondary schools
Keywords: Sport participation, Sport games & Playing, Academic Performance, Gatsibo District, Rwand
Assessing the Extent of Provision of Facilities, Resources and Instructional Materials in Free Compulsory Basic Education in Public Primary Schools in Kitutu Central Sub-County, Kisii County
No full textProvision of quality education is dependent on the availability of learning and teaching facilities. However, the situation in most public primary schools depicts lack of enough facilities, resources and instructional materials. The study aimed at assessing the extent of provision of facilities, resources and instructional materials in Free Compulsory Basic Education in public primary schools in Kitutu Central Sub-County, Kisii County. The study employed descriptive survey research design. The target population comprised of 40 Primary schools in Kitutu Central Sub-County, 4 were used in the pilot study. The sample size for the study included 36 head teachers, 36 parents composed of chairpersons of schools’ Board of Management, 2(CSOs), and 1 Sub-county Director of Education (SCDE).Purposive sampling technique was used to obtain sample size. Data collection instruments included the questionnaires, interview schedule and group discussions. Reliability was addressed by piloting the instrument through test retest in four schools. Validity of the instrument was addressed through expert vetting. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. This study found out that implementation of free primary education is to the extent of tuition, activity, textbooks and stationery, non-teaching staff which do not attract user charges. However, examinations, extra tuition, employment of extra teachers, uniforms, lunch, and school infrastructure attract user charges. In order to increase pupils’ access to public primary schools, FCBE should broaden its scope beyond providing funds for only tuition and instructional materials and include cash for development of infrastructure to ease the burden on parents.
Keywords: Facilities, resources, instructional materials, Free Compulsory Basic Education, public primary schools, Kisii Count
International Security, Globalization and Rise of Terrorism
No full textGlobalization is becoming an ever more influential concept of the new international security agenda. Its impact on the evolution of the relations among states in this key area is contradictory. On the one hand, globalization contributes to accelerated development of productive forces, scientific and technological progress and ever more intensive communication among states and peoples. Therefore, objectively it helps humankind to build up the resource base and the intellectual potential for ensuring international security at a qualitatively new level. The growing interdependence of countries and peoples in every sphere helps to generate new political approaches aimed at creating democratic multilateral mechanisms of managing the international system and hence reliable solution of the security problems. At the same time the processes of globalization, which mainly develop spontaneously, without a collective directing influence of the world community, aggravate a number of old problems of international security and engender new risks and challenges. For instance, there is increasing concern that terrorists in the future will carry out catastrophic terrorism with weapons of mass destruction nuclear, chemical or biological. This threat is compounded by the risk that these weapons may spread throughout the world, aided by globalization. Therefore, this paper discusses the interconnection between security and globalization in the context of terrorism in the 21st Century as they affect the day-to-day lives of billions of people globally.
Keywords: International Security, Globalization & Terrorism
The Moderating Effect of Labor Demand on the relationship between Leadership Practices and Turnover Intention of Technical Staff in Kenyan Schedule Operating Passenger Airlines
No full textThe airline industry is facing various challenges. Among these challenges include turnover of highly skilled technical staff, which is emerging to be an issue to the airlines and will continue as a result of high industry growth forecast. The turnover intention of staff is viewed as a direct predictor of actual intention. The turnover intention of employees is heavily affected by leadership practices and industry labor demand factors play a significant role. The objective of the study was to determine the moderating effect of labor demand on the relationship between leadership practices and turnover intention of technical staff in the Kenyan schedule operating passenger airlines. The data was collected from all the 12 Kenyan schedule operating passenger airlines. The target population was 2058 technical staff. The research design used was descriptive cross-sectional survey design. A total of 335 sample respondents were used in the study. The researcher selected the sample using proportionate stratified sampling technique. To determine the sample size, the researcher used Yamane's formula. Open and close-ended questionnaires were used to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis and presentation. The findings from the research indicated that labor demand has a significant moderating role on the relationship between leadership practices and turnover intention of technical staff. The study recommended practitioners to be cognizant of the high labor demand for technical staff which can significantly affect the relationship between leadership practice and turnover intention. Practitioners should also tailor their staff retention strategy based on the labor demand for each job category. Policy makers should also ensure effective policies are in place to ensure the labor demand does not significantly influence turnover.
Keywords: Airlines, Leadership Practice, Labor Demand, Technical Staff, Turnover Intention
Influence of Leadership Styles and Communication on Performance in the case of Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair Company in Saudi Arabia
No full textThe performance of the Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair company has been declining. The company reported a net loss of SAR 535.6 million in 2019 and SAR 381.9 million in 2018. The company's poor performance illustrated that a study needed to be examined to establish the cause of the increase in the net loss. Thus, the study was conducted to examine the effect of leadership styles and communication on performance. The study was based on two theories, namely, trait theory and communication theory. The study was descriptive in nature. The target population was 672 employees from Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair company. The sample size was 251. A simple random sampling technique was used. The study found that leadership styles and communication explained 36.1% of the performance variation within the Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair Company. The study concluded that leadership styles and communication were positively and significantly related to performance. The most notable variable that influenced performance to a large extent was leadership styles because it was found that a unit change of the leadership styles would lead to an increase of performance by 0.115 units while a unit improvement in communication increase performance by 0.094 units when other factors are held unchanged. The study concluded a positive and significant relationship between leadership styles and performance. The study concluded democratic and transformational leadership styles are the most effective. In democratic leadership, a leader invites other members of the team to contribute and participate in the decision-making process before making the final decision. A transformational leader focuses on transforming others to help each other. The study concluded that communication is positively and significantly related to performance. The study concluded that integrated communication includes applying more than one communicating strategy to pass the information from one point or group to another. The study recommended the best leadership style need to be adopted within the company. The most potent leadership style is democratic and thus, the company need to embrace enhancing democratic leadership in all departments. The study recommended the company should also embrace transformational leadership styles. The study recommended that Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair company should rely much on the usage of the various communication styles such as verbal, nonverbal, written and electronic. The study recommended that assertive communication is the best communication style used in the organization. Assertive communication expresses positive and negative ideas and feelings in an open, honest and direct way.
Keywords: Leadership styles, communication, performance, Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair, Saudi Arabi
Determinants of Information and Communication Technology Adoption by Religious Organizations: A Case of National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) Member Churches in Nairobi
No full textThe adoption of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) have drastically changed the way people work, relate and communicate in the world today. The religious institution plays a key role in shaping the conduct of people and how they relate with one another. Likewise, technology changes how people relate to each other. As such, adoption of technology in religion is critical if the organization is to reach the surging numbers already hooked to various ICT platforms. This study was necessitated by the fact that technology itself is not value-free. It is presented to religious societies wrapped with cultural values that compliment, challenge or even repel religious attitudes. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the factors determining adoption of ICT by religious organizations with a focus on National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) member churches in Nairobi. The specific objectives of this study were; to establish the congregation characteristics, leadership perception, size of membership and how ethical considerations affect adoption of ICT. Applying the Technology Acceptance Model, the study carried out a cross sectional survey in which various churches were studied. The sample size was 27 NCCK member churches and the target population was 324 church leaders. Simple random sampling was used to give each element of the target population an equal chance of being selected. The data was analyzed using a computerized statistical software and results presented in percentages and frequencies through tables and figures. The researcher conducted a multiple regression analysis to determine the relationship between the independent variable and dependent variable. The study found that the attributes of congregation, leadership perception of ICT, size of church membership and ICT adoption are positively and significantly related, whereas ethical considerations and ICT adoption are positively but insignificantly related. Based on the study findings, it was concluded that these factors influence the adoption of ICT in religious organizations. The researcher recommends that church leaders should take cognizance of their congregation characteristics and develop ICT programmes which serve them best. In addition, the church leadership should take deliberate efforts to change their perceptions on ICT owing to benefits that it may present. These findings may be relevant to both new and existing religious organizations. It will also make pertinent contribution to the existing literature and inspire stakeholders of various faith based organizations to come up with policies and strategies on how to adopt ICT.
Keywords: Congregations' attributes, Leadership perception of ICTs, Size of membership, Ethical considerations, Adoption of ICTs, and NCCK member churches in Nairobi
East African Regional Integration and Tourism Development in Rwanda: A Case of Rwanda Development Board
No full textThe scrutiny that regional integration plays a pertinent role in promoting tourism formed the justification of conducting the current study. The objective of this paper was to establish the relationship between regional integration and tourism development. A correlational research design was applied. The target population was 432 from whom a sample of 208 was chosen using purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Structured questionnaire and interview guide were used as data collection tools. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 was adopted for Data management. The findings revealed an average mean of 4.20 based on effective implementation of regional integration strategies promotion of tourism development in Rwanda like having effective harmonization of policies, single tourist Visa and tourism collective attractiveness. The findings also showed that all in these facilitated the government of Rwanda to get an increased number of visits arrivals that varied from 987,000 in 2015 to 1,700,000 in 2019, number of overnights spent, accommodation capacities and increased tourism revenue that varied from 427million US Dollars in 2015 to 800 million US Dollars in 2019. On the other, the findings established that there is a statistical significance relationship between regional integration and tourism development where harmonization government policies and single tourist visa indicated to be highly correlated as presented by Pearson coefficient of correlation (r = .861 and p-value= .005). The results showed the R Square of .856 which means that tourism can be affected by regional integration by 85.6% and the remaining 14.4% can be explained by other factors. This paper recommended that all partners should cooperate, actively participate in the venture in equal measure and ensure their commitment to common goals.
Keywords: Regional integration, Tourism and Tourism development
Psychological Counselling Services and Inmates’ Rehabilitation of Women Prisoners in Miami Women Prisons
No full textGlobally, rates of criminal recidivism are estimated at an average of 50% and, unlike recorded crime rates in the general population, rates of recidivism appear to be on the rise. USA’s rates of recidivism are estimated to be about two thirds, which is higher than the global average. As a result of this, crime by past convicts alone account for a significant share of the current and impending crimes. Studies show that there is a correlation between criminal behaviour and the offender’s mental state, which is important in understanding the high rates of recidivism in USA. This study seeks to investigate the impact of psychological counselling services for women prisoners on inmates’ rehabilitation. The specific objects of the study are: to identify the need for psychological counselling services for inmates; determine the nature of psychological counseling programs available to the inmates; identify the modes of delivery of psychological counseling services and assess the effectiveness of the psychological counseling services offered to inmates. The study target population comprises 856 inmates and 50 prison officers. Stratified random sampling will be used to select 55 first time offenders, 41 recidivists, and 50 prison officers. The study sought to know whether inmates got any counseling therapy during their previous incarceration. The findings in revealed that majority (58%) of the inmates had not got any counseling therapy during their previous incarceration while 42% of the inmates indicated that they had received counseling therapy during their previous incarceration. Majority had not got any counseling therapy an indication of the power of counseling in rehabilitating inmates. The study sought to understand whether prison officers participated in offering counseling to the inmates. The findings revealed that majority (57%) of prison officers did not participate in offering counseling. Further, the results indicated that 43% of the prison officers participated in offering counseling. This is an indication of the need for more counseling sessions for inmates. For those prison officers who answered “yes” above, they were asked to indicate whether they had formal training to offer counseling to the inmates. The findings in revealed that majority (55%) of the prison officers had no formal training to offer counseling. Further, the results indicated that 45% of the prison officers had formal training in counseling. This is an indication of the need for more training programmes in counseling to equip prison officers with necessary skills in counseling. Study findings reveal that there still exists a big demand for psychological counselling services for inmates in various prisons. This is informed by the fact that the ever growing population of inmates in correctional facilities creates the need for educated counselors who have the knowledge, skills, values, and motivation to work with correctional clients. Findings further confirmed that individual counseling services were preferred than group counselling services and that content coverage adequacy was average in USA. In terms of effectiveness reducing reoffending and focusing on women needs were identified as major strengths of the programs. Key recommendations for this study include: Management of Prisons to train and deploy qualified staff to address the ever increasing demand for psychological counselling services by inmates; management of Prisons to ensure that all inmates have access to counselling therapy services; there is a great need to develop a clear policy on psychological counselling therapy programs aimed at guiding how various psychological programs are managed starting from the allocation criteria into the program; government policy makers to allocate more funds and resources towards psychological counselling therapy programs; and psychological counselling therapy programs to be customized based on inmates needs so as to address the real underlying problems.
Keywords: Psychological Counselling Services, Inmates’ Rehabilitation, Women Prisoners, Miami Women Prison
Monetary Policy and Retail Interest Rates in New Zealand: Comparison of Small and Large Banks
No full textMonetary policy rate has remained a major potent monetary policy tool used by monetary authorities in setting targets and direction of other rates and in driving the movement of other macroeconomic aggregates in both developed and developing countries. The paper determined the effect of monetary policy changes on retail interest rates in New Zealand. The study disaggregated data based on various categories of banks as large and small. The study used panel data for the period 2003 to June 2016. Several theories have been advanced to describe the transmission of monetary policy rates to commercial bank retail interest rates. Key among these theories include the Keynesian, New Keynesian, and Monti-Klein Model. It is upon these theories that this study was based. The study employed non-experimental research design using panel data for the period 2003 to June 2016. This study made use of secondary monthly data for the period 2003 to June 2016. The data consisted of treasury bill, interbank, lending and deposit rates. The treasury bill, lending rate, deposit rate of large and the interbank rates were collected from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand website. Lending rate for small banks was regressed against, interbank rate and Day Tbill. The value of R square was 0.346, indicating that 34.6 percent of the lending rate is caused by changes in interbank rate and Day Tbill for small banks. In a similar regression to determine the effect of monetary policy rate on lending rate of large banks in New Zealand, it was found that the value of R square was 0.471, indicating that 47.1 percent of the lending rate is caused by changes in interbank rate and Day Tbill for large banks. The effects of monetary policy rate on lending rate for large banks was high than the effect of monetary policy rate on lending rate for small banks in New Zealand. The short run model indicated that the goodness of fit for the short run model is satisfactory. The error correction parameter was -0.147 for small banks and shows how much of the gap created by a change in market interest rate is closed in one month and is expected to be negative for equilibrium to be restored. The error correction parameter value was lower an indication of lower response of retail interest rate to monetary policy change than that of large banks. Small banks thus have a slower response of market rate to policy rate as compared to large banks. Further, the error correction parameter was -0.367 for large banks and shows how much of the gap created by a change in market interest rate is closed in one month and is expected to be negative for equilibrium to be restored. The error correction parameter value was high an indication of faster response of retail interest rate to monetary policy change as compared to small banks. Larger banks thus have a faster response of market rate to policy rate as compared to small banks. Small banks had a high mean lag an indication that small banks experiences slow responsiveness of retail interest rates to monetary policy rate change as compared to large banks. The study therefore recommends policy recommendation to guide deposit and lending rates in New Zealand. The study also recommends expansion of banks asset base.
Key words: Monetary policy, retail interest rates, New Zealand small, large bank