Effect of Teachers Working Conditions on Academic Performance of Pupils in Public Primary Schools in Kuresoi South Sub County, Nakuru County, Kenya

Many primary schools face “a teacher motivation crisis†as a result of low accountability, ineffective policy environment and management, low pay, low vocational and occupational status, poor working and living conditions. Working and living conditions affect teacher morale and motivation and thus their performance. The key factors are workload, classroom conditions, management support and distance at work, housing and travel affects Teacher morale and motivation. The high cost of travel contributes to teacher absenteeism and lateness in schools while very large class sizes are the norm for most teachers in countries such as Kenya. The purpose of this study was to establish the effect of teacher working conditions on the academic performance of pupils in public primary schools in Kuresoi South Sub-County, Nakuru County, Kenya. To achieve this objective, the study the study adopted an ex-post facto research design. The target population of the study was 91 public primary schools, 91 head teachers, and 784 primary school TSC teachers in Kuresoi South Sub County, Kenya. Simple random sampling was employed in the selection of the study sample in which 273 participants were randomly selected from a target population of 875. The 273 participants were drawn from the 91 schools and this provided for at least 2 teachers in every school, and the Head teacher. The main tool for data collection was the questionnaire. The data from the questionnaire was processed by editing, classifying, and coding before being analyzed by the computer using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24.0. Descriptive statistics used encompassed measures of distribution in the form of frequencies and percentages, measures of central tendencies represented by the means, and measures of dispersion in the form of standard deviations. Inferential statistics took the form of Spearman rank correlation and multiple regressions. The results indicated that teacher working conditions had a positive and significant influence on academic performance. The study concluded that the working conditions of teachers in Kuresoi South Sub County were not good. The study therefore concluded that poor or bad teacher working conditions had negative academic performance of pupils. This was supported by a positive and significant relationship between teacher working conditions and academic performance. The study recommended that the school should provide lunch and tea to teachers, provide houses to teachers, and provide teaching/learning resources as well as adequate infrastructural facilities. Overall, it is recommended that good teacher working conditions should be emphasized as doing so brings about improved academic performance.