The Influence of School Heads on Teachers’ Commitment in Public Secondary Schools in Kagera Region, Tanzania

Abstract

Teachers’ commitment plays a pivotal role in the success of any education system and the leadership provided by heads of schools is instrumental in shaping this commitment. Empirical research has consistently demonstrated a strong connection between instructional leadership and teachers’ commitment. In the context of Kagera Region, Tanzania, which has witnessed a decline in various aspects of education and human development, this study built upon transformational leadership theory and employed quantitative research approach, with a cross-sectional design to investigate the relationship between supervisory practices of heads of schools and teachers’ commitment in public secondary schools. The study collected quantitative data from a sample of 240 teachers in the Kagera Region. The quantitative data were collected using two instruments: The Leadership Scale adapted from Carless, Wearing, and Mann (2000) and the Employee Commitment Scale adapted from Mwamatandala and Muneja (2020). The primary hypothesis posited that supervisory practices of heads of schools significantly impact teachers’ commitment. The results revealed a substantial significant relationship between heads of schools and teachers’ commitment, demonstrating the importance of instructional leadership in shaping teaching commitment in schools. The study also revealed an avarage level of teachers’ commitment in performing their duties in schools. This finding raises important questions regarding teacher efficacy and leadership efficacy within Kagera Region's public secondary schools. The results underline the need for targeted interventions aimed at improving instructional leadership practices to boost teachers’ commitment. Pedagogically, the results implicate that qualitative data can provide a deeper understanding about which and how leadership practices influence teachers’ commitment.