Demographic factors and teachers’ observance of their code of conduct in secondary schools in Mayuge District
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Date
2015-10
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Publisher
Kampala International University. College of Education, Open and Distance Learning
Abstract
All professionals are proud to have a Professional Code of conduct and Practice which is a most important identifying feature of their profession. Consequently, this study investigated the relationship between the demographic factors and teachers’ observance of their code of conduct (that is; respect, integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, service, equality) in secondary schools in Mayuge District Eastern Uganda. The specific objectives of the study were to establish the relationship between teachers’ gender, age, working experience and qualification and how they affect the observance of their code of conduct in Mayuge District, taking a sample of 80 respondents of the academic staff from 21 secondary schools both private and government aided, namely among others Bunya SS; Sarah Nitro HS; Luubu SS; Rena College Mayuge; Tawheed Academic Institute; Kaluba HS; Malongo SS; Buway SS; Kigandalo SS. The study took both a descriptive and cross-sectional survey design with qualitative and quantitative approaches. The survey was used purposely to easily get the details from the respondents. Data was collected from 21 schools and 60 teachers and head teachers using questionnaires and oral interviews.
The respondents were selected using simple random sampling and for head teachers it was purposive since they were few. The findings of the study were that the relationship between teachers’ gender and their observance of their code of conduct was this was represented by the significance value for the correlation which was equal to 0.000, which was less than the level of (sig 0.05).meaning that teachers’ gender has strong impact on their observance of their conduct. Findings on objective two indicate that the relationship between teacher’s age and their observance of their code of conduct was significant. This was represented by the significance value for the correlation which was equal to .000 less than the level of significance (0.O1),commonly used by the social scientist, meaning that teachers’ age has greater influence on their observance of their code of conduct in Mayuge District. The study further revealed that teachers have a positive attitude towards the teachers” code of conduct. It was recommended that different authorities such as the schools administration and district education department should avail to teachers’ personal copies of teachers’ code of conduct, irrespective of their gender, age, or area of qualification. In terms of professional collegiality and collaboration, the study recommended that teachers should work with the interest of sharing, developing and supporting good practice to maintain the highest quality of education experiences for learners and Work in a collaborative manner with learners, parents/guardians, school management, and other members of staff, relevant professionals and the wider school community, as appropriate, in seeking to effectively meet the needs of learners. Supervision by the district inspectorate department especially in collaboration with Education Standards Agency, should be strengthened and inspectors be more regular to stop teachers from conducting themselves in a manner that may bring service to disrepute. The study further recommended that the recognized teacher organization (UNATU) in the district should jointly with district education department constitute the ethics committee at the district level, comprising representatives of teachers and eminent educationalists to deal with complaints referred to it by the schools where the teachers have failed to improve their conduct in spite of efforts made by the school administration. A study be done in USE aided secondary schools in Mayuge district on conflict between private interest and professional duty.
Description
A thesis research report presented to the College of Higher Degrees and Research Kampala International University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of a Masters Degree in Education Management and Administration
Keywords
Code of conduct, Secondary Schools, Mayuge District