Teachers Perception of the Current Placement of Secondary School Principals in Addis Ababa
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Date
2004-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study examines and describes the major problems of the current placement
procedures of secondary school principals in Addis Ababa and to determine teachers'
trust towards the methods of school principals' placement. To meet the general
objective, six basic questions were designed to get answers in the process of the
study. These are: perception of teachers on education management, strategies and
methods for selection / placement of principal, who are involved in selecting
principals and procedures of selection. The descriptive survey method was used as a
method of research. Availability and a stratified random sampling were employed as
a sampling technique to include both sampled Kifle Ketema (sub-city) and schools
within that demarcation respectively. Based on these research questions, the
literature was reviewed. A survey questionnaire and an interview checklist were
developed and administered to 405 teachers and 17 educational officials including
principals respectively.
The finding of the study showed that there seem to be encouraging indicators of
a favorable out look on the part of sample teachers towards education management
which requires special training; however, teachers participation in the selection and
placement of these personnel was not worth mentioning. On the contrary, the
method of placement employed by and large was found to be officials direct
appointment and sometimes" electoral procedure" was practiced. Currently, since
Addis Ababa Transitional Government came in to power, by way of reassigning civil
servants, the procedure in which teachers' nomination of a pool of candidates in
order to be selected by education officers was replaced by other placement
procedure.
However, the selection procedure in which teachers were involved was found to be
dependent on selectors at education offices alone. Given this, teachers perceived the
selection process so have limited openness, the criteria, and technical assessment
were reported as inadequate and difficult to measure the appropriateness of a school
leader. Accordingly, teachers' are not only distrusted in overall procedures but also
regard the current placement of principals as political appointments. Nevertheless, a
majority of the teachers have an optimistic mind-set towards school community
involvement in the selection of the principal; but for it to function effectively, they
recommend the method to be promotion by job posting and bidding in which the
school community would have been meaningful participation and be empowered for
a decision- making role. In general, based on the findings of the study, it has been
concluded that teachers involvement in the selection /placement of secondary school
principals in Addis Ababa is perceived as only a semblance of participation.
Therefore, the recommendations included: education officials call for teachers' input
should be accompanied by introducing a transparent information channel, consult
school community at every stage of the selection strategies, implementation and
evaluation of personnel policies. By doing so, two options are the recommended
concerning selection/ placement procedures: the prevailing democratic control of the
selection procedure be accompanied by technical assessment; or vacant positions to
be occupied pursue the method of job posting and bidding for promotion so as to
attract competent professionals which the dynamic development of principal ship
jobs demands.
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Keywords
Perception of the Current Placement