Browsing by Author "Ramadhani, Nassoro"

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    The roles of school boards in conflict management in secondary schools in Tanzania
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2020) Ramadhani, Nassoro
    Various strategies of managing teachers’ conflicts in public secondary schools are growing in Africa. However, little is known on the roles played by school board members in resolving conflicts among teachers in secondary schools. The study adopted a multiple case study design, in which the qualitative research approach was used. The study was conducted in four public secondary schools in Kibiti district in Tanzania with a sample of 29 participants who comprise of one (1) District Secondary Education Officer (DSEO), twelve (12) school board members (SBMs), four (4) heads of schools (HoS) and twelve (12) teachers. Purposive sampling was employed to select participants. The data were collected using interviews and documentary review where content analysis was used to analyse data. The study revealed that the source of conflicts among teachers in secondary schools included unaccountability among teachers, differences in the levels of education, involvement of teachers in sexual relationship, lack of transparency in financial matters and favouritism from administrators. The study further found out that the involvement of school board members in resolving teachers’ conflicts in public secondary schools was extremely low. They were involved mainly in students’ conflicts and withdrawn from teachers ‘conflicts. However, there were few participants who reported few incidences where school board members involved. It was also reported that for the few schools that involved school board members in conflict resolution, mechanism applied to resolve such conflicts included: staff meeting advice by the school heads as well as discussion with the two conflicting parties. The study also found several challenges facing school board members in resolving teachers’ conflicts including among others: lack of transparency among heads of schools, financial problem, teachers’ undermining school board members (SBMs), school board members living far from schools, poor communication between schools and school board members (SBMs). The study recommended transparency in all school matters specifically in financial issues should be encouraged in order to reduce mistrust between teachers to reduce biasness which contributes to conflicts. Moreover, school board members should be involved in resolving conflicts among teachers. The study also recommends provision of trainings among school board members (SBMs) to reduce the inferiority complex.