Effectiveness of ward education officers’ supervisory roles on enhancing teachers’ work performance in public secondary schools in Arusha District Council, Tanzania

Abstract

The study was looking at the role of Ward Education Officers (WEOs) in ensuring the improvement of performance of teachers at public secondary schools in the Arusha District Council in Tanzania. The massive growth of secondary schools due to national education policies requires high supervisory practices to provide quality education. The actual performance of the students in academics is very poor while WEOs are present, which indicates that there is a need to have a new approach at the supervisory level. The study was governed by the Clinical Supervision model (CSM), which encourages teaching by use of systematic steps, and Total Quality Management (TQM), which is based on the principles of continuous improvement and focused on quality assurance in different aspects. A concurrent triangulation design was used to collect data from 135 respondents who were DSEOs, WEOs, heads of schools, and teachers by using simple random and purposive sampling. The study demonstrates that WEOs have crucial responsibilities of monitoring the number of enrolled students, examining school management systems, and providing teaching assistance to teachers. The WEOs face some challenges during the implementation of their responsibilities, which limit their service delivery since they lack adequate transport, lack training, and work in poor facilities. The study revealed that WEOs should have resources and encouragement to accomplish improved teacher performance, which will result in increased student outcomes. Also, the study suggests improving the effectiveness of WEO by providing superior logistical assistance, enhancing ongoing professional growth, and resolving the issue of supervision.