ESTABLISHING HOW THE HEAD-TEACHERS’ MENTORSHIP ROLES AS INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERS INFLUENCE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE NEWLY DEPLOYED/TRANSFERRED TEACHERS IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Abstract

The study investigated how the mentorship roles of head-teachers as school cultural builders influence the performance of the newly deployed/transferred teachers in Lufwanyama District. The study was anchored on Kram’s Mentor Role Theory and Path-Goal Theory. A mixed methods research approach and a descriptive survey design were adopted. The target was public secondary schools, head-teachers, HODs and teachers. Purposive sampling was used to select 16 public secondary schools and 16 head-teachers. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were adopted to select 33 out of 112 HODs, and 93 out of 311 teachers. Questionnaires were used to collect data from teachers and HODs, while interviews were used to collect data from head-teachers. Quantitative data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 and presented in frequencies, tables and percentages. Qualitative data were categorized into various themes and reported in form of narratives and direct quotations. The findings revealed that the mentorship roles of head-teachers were important in determining the performance of newly deployed/transferred teachers. However, it was established that most of the head-teachers do not adequately coach newly deployed/transferred teachers and do not effectively supervise and examine teachers' lesson notes in order to build their professional abilities. The study concluded that effective mentoring of newly deployed/transferred teachers was hindered by factors including mentors' inadequate knowledge and skills in mentoring, head-teachers' work overload and head-teachers' insufficient leadership abilities. It was recommended that the government should give mentors the training they need to support newly deployed/transferred teachers. This would enhance teachers’ performance in public secondary schools in the Lufwanyama District. Article visualizations: