INFLUENCE OF TRAINING PRACTICES ON JOB SATISFACTION OF SECURITY PERSONNEL IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BARINGO COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

School security personnel form a vital segment of the human resources in school and they play an important role in maintaining a safe and peaceful environment in learning institutions. They watch over school property, identify and look into any suspicious events, observe and defend entry, scrutinize every person that comes in and out, document and report incidences of lawlessness in school, and report any violations to the institution’s authority as well as prevent violence of any kind, enforce the school rules, and exert force where necessary. Prioritizing their professional needs is therefore commendable to ensure that they fulfil their daily policing roles.  The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of training practices on the job satisfaction of security personnel in public secondary schools in Baringo County. The scarcity of current literature necessitated this study since most studies on secondary schools focus on the teaching staff while the category of non-teaching staff, especially security personnel has been largely neglected. The study was guided by the Analysis, Design, Develop, Implementation and Evaluation (ADDIE) Model. The model postulates that for any training to be conducted, an organization needs to conduct training needs analysis (TNA), determine the training method, develop a programme, implement by conducting training and evaluate the effectiveness at the end of training. The study employed a cross-sectional descriptive survey research design and the target population comprised 508 school security personnel in public secondary schools in Baringo County. The Slovin’s formula was used to get the sample of 224 security personnel. A questionnaire and an interview guide were used to collect data. These research tools were validated and then tested for reliability. The researcher sought opinions from experts in human resource management to make sure that the items were fair and comprehensively covered the domain under study. Cronbach Alpha was used to test reliability. The reliability of the instrument was 0.831 which was above the 0.70 threshold of acceptable reliability. Qualitative data was analysed thematically based on the objectives. Quantitative data was analysed by use of both descriptive (means, percentages as well as frequencies) and the Pearson product moment correlation as well as the multiple linear regression. The findings showed that training practices (β3= 0.323, p<0.05) had a statistically significant influence on security personnel's job satisfaction. Therefore, training was found to be a major predictor of job satisfaction. It is recommended that school boards of management (BoM) provide regular training for security personnel to enhance their skills and enable them to be more productive.