Browsing by Author "Phinias, Bita William"

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    Causes of indiscipline among public secondary school teachers and their effects on school performance in Gairo district-Tanzania
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2016) Phinias, Bita William
    The purpose of the study was to investigate the causes of indiscipline among public secondary school teachers and their effects on school performance in Gairo district. The study was guided by four objectives, namely to identify common forms of teachers’ indiscipline in public secondary schools, explore their causes and effects on the school performance and finally, investigate the strategies employed in curbing teacher indiscipline in public secondary schools. The study was mainly qualitative utilizing a case study design and a total of 48 respondents selected through purposive, stratified, and random sampling techniques. These included 1 District TSD Secretary, 1 Zonal Chief Inspector of Schools, 1 Districts Secondary Education Officer, and 5 Heads of schools, 20 teachers, and 20 students. Data were obtained through Interviews, Documentary analysis, Focus Group Discussions, and observations and analyzed qualitatively through content analysis. The study revealed that, first, common forms of teachers’ indiscipline involved lateness, absenteeism, sexual abuse, corporal punishment, abusive language, alcoholism, unethical wearing styles, theft, and forgery and corruption which varied by teachers’ gender, work experience, education level, and age. Secondly, some of the causes of teachers’ indiscipline were mainly influenced by social, economical, managerial, science and technology, and other educational factors including lack of professional knowledge, poor living and working environment, influence of science and technology, inadequate salaries and remuneration, infrequent visits by educational officials, poor management of Heads of schools, and poor home and family background. Thirdly, teachers’ indiscipline had negative effects on students’ academic achievement, teachers work performance and school administration. Furthermore, the study concluded that strategies employed by educational officials to curb teachers’ indiscipline in public secondary schools were ineffective in addressing the problem due to various challenges ranging from economical, technological, managerial, political, social, to geographical problems. The study recommends that, first, there is a need for the government to improve teachers’ welfare through living and working condition, salaries and remunerations, incentives and fringe benefits, and science and technology. Secondly, the government should supply educational officials at the national and grassroots levels with required finance and materials to enable effective regular supervision and inspection in schools. Thirdly, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology should ensure that all teacher colleges and Universities train teacher trainees professionally and morally to be fully committed to their duties and responsibilities and teaching professional ethics. In addition, thorough investigation, procedures and vivid evidence in hand should be considered by TSD office and other District’s educational officials before imposing penalties against the accused teachers on account of various professional misconducts. Finally, the study suggested a similar comprehensive study to cover up both private and public institutions including schools, colleges and universities for better assessment and evaluation of teachers’ ethics.