STAFF INDUCTION PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES IN GOVERNMENT SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN WOLAITA ZONE

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine staff induction practices and challenges in government secondary schools in Wolaita Zone. The design employed in this study was concurrent embedded mixed method design that includes both the qualitative and quantitative inquires to meet worldviews. For this study, 96 beginner teachers, 8 main principals, 16 vice principals, 3 teacher development process heads, 3 supervisors and 86 mentors with a total of 212 respondents were participated in the sample drawn from 8 secondary schools in Wolaita Zone .Questionnaire was employed to generate mainly quantitative data; whereas interview, FGD and document analysis were employed to generate qualitative data from the selected primary sources. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation were employed to analyze the quantitative data. The researcher administered the questionnaire to 96, beginner teachers and 86, mentors of whom 96.8% and 95.3% from beginner teachers and mentors respectively - filled and returned properly. As results, the practice of induction regarding turnover, increment of the commitment of teacher, improvement of classroom practice, and achievements of students was found to be limited. The findings of this study depicted 73.1% of beginning teachers begin teaching without the feeling of adequate preparation. Work load, classroom management and students’ discipline have been identified as the main challenges of beginning teachers. Findings indicated that the extent to which the novice teachers have given professional guidance and support in schools was not enough to capacitate them in professional competencies .the conclusion indicates the secondary of Wolaita zone demonstrated lack of in-depth knowledge &appreciation of the induction of NQTs. In addition the study concludes that induction is very important in the professional life of every newly recruited teacher; it makes the teacher better on the job. It is highly recommended that mentors should provide advice to their mentees on different aspects such as classroom management, lesson plan preparation, timetabling and the school environment .It is recommended that induction programs receive more priority in schools since the first year of teaching is the most important determiner in the teaching career of an individual.