Assessing participation of teachers in Decision making in secondary schools of Bunno bedele zone

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to examine the extent of participation of teachers in a school decision-making in secondary schools of Bunno Bedelle Zone. To meet the desired objectives, descriptive research design was applied with mixed approach both quantitative and qualitative data. The data gathering tools employed was questionnaires, semi-structured interview, and focus group discussion. The questionnaire was pre-tested and administered to the sampled respondents. Then, the information gathered through the questionnaire was analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean score, standard deviation. The qualitative data obtained through interview and focus group discussion analysis were expressed in narration. A total of 222 respondents (158 teachers, 8 principals, 56 PTAs, were included in the study. The teachers were selected using simple random sampling while principals and parent Teachers Associations were selected by availability sampling. The collected data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, Mean and Standard deviation. The findings of study revealed that the teachers‟ participation in school decision-making areas in planning, school budgeting and income generation was low. School leaders in encouraging teachers‟ participation in school decision making was ineffective. The study found that financial deficits, leadership styles, lack of training for school leadership, inadequate time for involvement, and lack of confidence among school principals were the major factors affecting teachers' participation in decision-making in schools. It was thus concluded that decision making process in the study was not participatory and transparent. This implies that, less attention was given to teachers‟ contribution for efficient and effective of school performance. The researcher recommended that, in these selected secondary schools, principals need to involve the teachers applying appropriate leadership styles and supervisors, woreda educational expertise and heads provide trainings that can develop the leadership skills of the principals were some of the recommendations forwarded by the researcher based on the major findings.