Assessing Effective Utilisation of Instructional Time by Secondary School Teachers in Northern Region, Ghana

Abstract

This study investigated teachers’ total utilisation of allocated instructional time and its’ effects on students learning in Senior High Schools in Northern Region, Ghana. Despite several conceptual and theoretical models regarding the significance of “time” in effective teaching and learning, little is known on how teachers in Ghana spend their time in the school and how the usage varies across SHS in Ghana. This qualitative-case study investigated teacher use of instructional time and draws its validity from Caroll’s model of school learning (Carroll, 1963) and Bloom’s Mastery learning approach to teaching (Bloom, 1971). The study found that factors that impede total utilisation of instructional time in the selected schools include teacher absenteeism (including maternity and study leave) without alternative arrangement, inadequate preparation, poor teacher-student relationship, teacher involvement in social activities (including social ceremonies) instead of attending to the allotted instructional time, delays at school’s events (including Headmaster’s assembly), and teachers’ attendance to school wide activities (including sporting activities, committee and board meetings). The study therefore recommends effective planning process that accommodates teacher replacement in times of leave, ill-health and other natural phenomenon, and payment of teachers based on instructional time utilisation.

Keywords: Effective; Usage; Instructional Time; School

DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/9-2-12