Housekeeping Chores or Quality Education: The Dilemmas Faced by Lectures in Public Universities in Kenya

Authors

Zedekia Sidha
Justine Magutu

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between task prioritization by university lecturers and quality of university education. It is based on the assumption that universities, like most street level bureaucracies, are chronically under-resourced for the work the public expects them to do. The lecturers must therefore make a choice on which of their numerous activities will be done first, which one second, and which will not be done all together. In making these decisions it is assumed that they would make choices that are in the best interest of the students and the university at large. However, lecturers also have their own interests, which may not always be congruent with those of the students and the University. This paper employs cross-sectional study design and the street level bureaucratic theory to discuss how lecturers resolve the dilemma between pursuits of theirs interests and those of the university in an environment of resource scarcity. The paper concludes that in light of the resource scarcity, university lecturers prioritize housekeeping chores over those activities that are core to the university mandate.

Recommended Citation

Sidha, Zedekia and Magutu, Justine (2017) "Housekeeping Chores or Quality Education: The Dilemmas Faced by Lectures in Public Universities in Kenya," Journal of Educational Leadership in Action: Vol. 5: Iss. 1, Article 7.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.62608/2164-1102.1053
Available at: https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/ela/vol5/iss1/7

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