Quality implications of learning infrastructure on performance in secondary education: a small scale study of a county in Kenya

Learning infrastructure is a key base for effective teaching and learning in schools. The infrastructure forms a very important component in ensuring successful education. The purpose of the study was to evaluate quality implications of learning infrastructure on secondary education in a County in Kenya. The objective of the study was to explore the quality implications of learning infrastructure on secondary education. The study employed the Production Function Theory. The study adopted sequential explanatory design that was employed within mixed methods approach. The target population constituted of 334 principals, 334 senior teachers and 9 education officers. The sample size constituted of 181 principals 181 senior teachers selected through stratified random sampling technique and 9 education officers selected by saturated sampling technique. Instruments for data collection were questionnaires, interview schedule. Reliability was determined by piloting through the split-half method. The reliability index for the instrument was 0.826. Quantitative data for the study was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis. On the concern about educational facilities; library had the highest Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient (PMCC) of (r = .832, p=.001), this was followed by a correlation of .800 for laboratory. This shows that they had a positive association in the model of educational facilities. Further; there were also positive correlations of .730, .716 and .715 for administration offices and water, administration offices and classroom, laboratory and classroom respectively. This study finding might assist in decision making to the Ministry of Education and all other stakeholders in education in implementing policies that might ensure provision of educational infrastructure for quality education. This study recommends that the Ministry of Education (MoE) and schools revisit their policies related to provision of safety measures and work towards their implementation.