Female teachers’ perceptions of the influence of institutional factors on leadership aspiration in public primary schools Kenya: a case study of kericho county

In Kenya the number of primary school teachers by gender is more or less 1:1 however gender gap in leadership in favour of men persists. For instance women hold less than 20% of all leadership positions in primary schools in Kericho County. This research was founded on the Theory of planned behaviour and the Model of Administrative Career Mobility, from which a conceptual framework was formulated. Mixed methods designs were adopted. A survey questionnaire and an interview schedule were used to collect data. The study population consisted of all 461 public primary schools in Kericho County. The study established that there was a weak negative significant relationship between the perception of institutional factors and leadership aspiration with a coefficient of -0.123 at a p-value of 0.05 and accounted for 1.2% of the variation in leadership aspiration. The study concluded that perceptions of female teachers on institutional factors influenced the female teachers’ leadership aspiration. The study recommended that school policies that are based on equal opportunity principles should be developed to create a leadership team in primary schools. It also recommended the development of programs for enhancing the access of female teachers to leadership positions in primary schools in light of their aspiration for leadership.