Causes and management of conflicts in secondary schools of gambella national regional state

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess causes and management of conflicts in secondary schools of Gambella National Regional State. It examined the view of teachers and principals on conflict, the causes of conflicts, the strategies or mechanisms to resolve conflict, the role of school principals, cluster supervisors and WEOs in managing conflict and challenges encountered during conflict resolution in the study area. To accomplish this purpose, the study employed a descriptive survey method, which is supplemented by qualitative research. The study was carried out in proportional allocation to give equal chance for all Woredas of the region followed by lottery method to selected ten (33.3%) secondary schools of Gambella Regional State. Then, 163 teachers were selected using simple random sampling techniques. 10 principals, 10 vice principals, 9 cluster supervisors and 9 WEOs were included in the study by using purposive sampling techniques. 20 department heads and 20 school boards of managements were also included by using simple random sampling techniques. Questionnaire was the main instrument of data collection. Interview and document analysis were also utilized to substantiate the data gained through the questionnaire. Percentage was employed to analyze the quantitative data, while qualitative data which was obtained through open ended questions, interview and document analysis were analyzed using narration. The results of the study revealed that, conflict in these schools viewed as a destructive and teachers are afraid of being victim out of conflicting situations. Dissatisfaction with the decisions made by school leaders, dissatisfaction for working on tasks, improper allocation of benefits and rewards, communication barriers, poor collaboration and relationship between teachers and school principals, lack of management skills, informal relationship of individuals in the same departments with their leaders, unfair evaluation of teachers performance appraisal by their leaders and the presence of individuals who disturb the relationships of department members were the sources of conflict in these schools. On the other hand, the ability of school leaders to manage conflicts and their overall competency to do other managerial activities were very poor. That is, lack of inventing options for mutual gain, improper use of dominating and poor application of scientific steps to resolve conflicts were the problems of conflict resolution strategies. The role of school principals regarding team building and role negotiation as well as the inclination to see or treat all teachers equally was very poor. The role of cluster supervisors and WEOs to guide the problem solving process and be an active member of the interactions in school was also found to be low. Unable to tolerant teachers and school principals each other in conflict resolution process and any conflict considered as a destructive in most teachers due to lack of viewing conflict as a natural, inevitable and a challenge for a change were the challenges to manage conflict in these schools. From the result of the findings, it is possible to conclude that, there is gap of collaboration among the top to the bottom educational leaders in conflict management. Finally, recommendations were drawn based on the findings. The point of the recommendations include: training opportunities on conflict management decision making program for stakeholders such as school principals, teachers and school board of managements through seminars, workshops and discussion forums, develop school level policy and guidelines for conflict management particularly conflict resolution strategies. Moreover, suggestions were forwarded to alleviate/solve the factors that hinder proper implementation of school conflict resolution strateg