Management of instructional time and students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in meru district council-arusha, Tanzania

This study sought to find out the influence of management of instructional time on students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Meru District Council. The objectives of the study were to: find out strategies used by school heads and teachers in management of instructional time to improve students’ academic performance; identify activities that influence management of instructional time; find out students’ practices of management of instructional time and their influence on academic performance. The study used mixed methods research approach and a descriptive case study design. The study employed interviews and questionnaires for data collections. Qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis while quantitative data were entered to Epi Data version 3.1 and then were exported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20 (SPSS ). Findings revealed that strategies used by school heads and teachers in management of instructional time influence students’ academic performance in public secondary schools. The main strategies used by school heads and teachers were: follow up on the use of school timetable; supervision of teaching and learning activities; follow up measures for absentees; attending periods as per time table; preparation of teaching materials; and monitoring of students’ academic progress. Moreover, the study found that interruptive activities that occur during learning time impact negatively learning time as well as students’ academic performance. It further revealed that students in public secondary schools had low practice in management of instructional time. The study concluded that, in order to have sustainable improvemet in students’ academic performance, the need of adhering to school timetable is essential so that each activity is done according to time allocated. The study recommends that: School heads should make close supervision so that mechanism established for compensation of untaught periods is implemented effectively; the government should provide enough funds for building new classes and maintenance of other facilities to avoid disruption of instructional time; and frequent seminars should be conducted at school level to provide students with knowledge on the importance of managing instructional time.