Assessment of how requests for teachers’ allocation to secondary schools are related to their availability in Iringa rural district, Tanzania

This study aimed at assessing the relationship between requests and availability of teachers in secondary schools. It was a case study of seven secondary schools from Iringa rural district. To address this research problem, three specific objectives were raised focusing on the roles of school heads in requesting teachers for allocations in secondary schools, challenges experienced by these schools in requesting teachers for allocations and the mechanism adopted by these schools to cope with challenges raised. This study adopted for a mixed research approach (both qualitative and quantitative) with a multiple case study design. Simple random sampling was used to select 10 out of 28 secondary schools in Iringa Rural District. Furthermore, purposive and convenience sampling procedures were used to select 103 respondents for the study. Interviews, questionnaires and documentary review were data collection methods for this study. Findings revealed that there was a great challenge of imbalance between teachers requested and received. The case was critical in science subjects where the demand was higher than arts subjects. There was a slight difference in teachers’ availability between schools located in rural and semi-urban areas with more teachers in semi-urban than rural schools. Due to mismatch between requests and availability, the schools employed the following coping mechanisms: part-time teaching, teaching examination year classes, combining classes, adoption of internal motivator and extra time teaching.The study recommends that a long-term plan should focus on production of qualified science and English teachers. Such a plan should go parallel with improvement of salary, incentives and working conditions to motivate them staying where they will be allocated. Lastly, school heads should be fully involved during the whole process of requesting and allocation of new teachers because they know actual demands of teachers in their schools.