ABSTRACT
The purpose of the study was to identify the challenges facing teachers, heads of department, principals and the Quality Assurance and Standards Officer in in-service training in Imenti North District of Meru County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to: determine how in-service training of teachers was carried out in Imenti North District; analyse the extent to which the objectives of in-service training were being met; establish the challenges facing teachers, headteachers, heads of departments and the district QASO in the process of in-service training of secondary school teachers and establishing whether in-service training was evaluated. The study was guided by Human Capital Theory by Simmons (1980), which states that an investment in education increases labour productivity by embodying in the labour increased skills and knowledge. The policy implication of this theory was that no single employee is perfectly fit at the time of hiring and so some training must take place. The research employed descriptive survey design targeting all the 230 TSC employed secondary school teachers, HODs and headteachers in all the 38 public secondary schools and the district QASO in Imenti North District of Meru County. The researcher sampled 30% of the 38 public secondary schools to have 11 schools which was considered a representative sample. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the district QASO, all the headteachers, the HODs and 60 teachers from the 11 sampled schools. The district QASO, all the principals of the 11 sampled schools, the 55 heads of departments and the 60 teachers took part in the study giving a sample size of 127 respondents. Of the targeted respondents, 60 teachers, 11 headteachers, 55 HODs and the district QASO responded, a total of 127 respondents, giving a questionnaire return rate of 100%. Questionnaires and an interview schedule were used for data collection. Prior to the actual data collection, a pilot study was conducted to ascertain the reliability and validity of the instruments. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics including percentages and frequencies. The study found out that INSET is carried out in Imenti North District both internally and externally, in-service courses were carried out annually, responsibility was the main criteria used to select teachers for INSET and that INSET objectives should be set and achieved for training to be rated as successful. The challenges that teachers experience during INSET includes lack of time for INSET, lack of sufficient number of inspectors, lack of co-operation from teachers and evaluation of INSET was done immediately after INSET. The study recommends that secondary schools should liaise with Quality Assurance and Standards Office to set up INSET programmes the MOE Inspectors should be trained to have a positive attitude towards teachers; disciplinary action should be taken against teachers who refuse to co-operate during INSET and evaluation should be carried out immediately after INSET so as to improve quality of future INSET. Evaluation was done through questionnaires and oral method.