TEACHER PARTICIPATION IN DECISION – MAKING: A CASE STUDY OF SOME SELECTED BASIC SCHOOLS IN THE SHAMA AHANTA EAST METROPOLIS

ABSTRACT

This study was about teacher participation in decision-making. It was conducted in the Shama Ahanta East Metropolis. In all, 152 respondents, comprising 143 teachers and 9 heads of schools from 15 schools were employed in the study. Questionnaire and interview schedule were the main instruments used for data collection. The questionnaire was used to obtain responses from the teachers while the heads of institutions were interviewed by use of interview schedule. The data were analysed with the statistical package for social sciences, version 10.0 for windows and responses were reported by frequency and percentages. The findings of this work point to the fact that decision making is an integral part of school administration and is most often done collectively by both heads and teachers. It came to light that teacher participation in decision making affects teacher job satisfaction and willingness to work extra man-hours when they are called upon to do so. However, the data also showed that most heads of institutions in some unusual situation are forced to take decisions without consulting their subordinates. These were situations when collective decision-making will slow down the action needed for a reasonable conclusion. It was suggested that future research concerning decision-making should look at how effective communication and motivation of teacher affect participation in decision making in schools in Ghana.