The State of Teachers’ Participation in Decision-making in Public Senior Secondary Schools in the Bolgatanga Municipality of Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to find out the state of teachers’ involvement in decision-making in public senior secondary schools in the Bolgatanga Municipality of Ghana. Eighty-four (84) professional teachers and three school heads that had been in their present schools for periods not less than six months were stratified and randomly selected for the study. Two sets of questionnaires were developed one for teachers and the other for school heads. The teachers’ questionnaire had 45 items and the school heads’ questionnaire had 16 items. These questionnaires were pre-tested and administered to the sample. Frequency counts, percentages, and mean were used to analyze the data collected. The study found that teachers were most often in consultative decision-making with their school heads. Also, the teachers were found involved in decision-making involving curriculum and instructional activities, school operations, and decisions that promoted school-community relationship. However, they were not involved in decision-making on student admission and placement, staffing, and financial matters. Moreover, teachers were involved in school decision-making via delegation, school meeting, school Board of Governors, and school committee system. This involved was mainly influenced by factors such as the need for belongingness, the need to work to meet job standards, the need to acquire knowledge, the acceptance of one’s job as a central part of one’s life, and the need to try new teaching methods and acquaint oneself with the use of new equipment.

Keywords: Teacher Participation, decision-making, and demographic characteristics.