Utilization of Teaching Manpower in the Junior High Schools of Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam District, Ghana

Abstract

In The study investigated the extent of teacher utilization problems in the junior high schools (JHSs) in the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam District. It specifically sought to find out whether there were differences in teacher utilization with respect to gender, ownership of school, number of subjects taught, teaching experience, qualification, professional status and rank in the Ghana Education Service. A sample of 192 teachers made up of 160 teachers and 32 head teachers provided data for the descriptive study. Two set of questionnaires were designed for heads and teachers with reliability coefficients of 0.78 and 0.81 respectively. The SPSS was used to analyze data collected by using statistical tools such as frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, Chi-square test, t-test and Pearson’s correlation. All the analyses were at a significance cutoff of 0.05. The study revealed that although majority (88.8%) of the teachers were under-utilized in terms of teaching load, they were over-worked in the areas of teaching-related and co-curricula activities. There was a statistically significant association between subject(s) taught and teaching load of the teachers, and both male and female teachers had comparatively equal teaching load. Also, the junior-rank teachers had greater and heavier teaching workload than their senior-rank counterparts. It is recommended that additional Mathematics, Integrated Science, ICT and English teachers should be posted to the District’s junior high schools to augment the existing teacher population.