Teachers’ Perceptions on Female Head Teachers’ Leadership Performance in Public Primary Schools in Morogoro Region, Tanzania

Abstract

This study focused on perceptions of existing teachers regarding the leadership performance of female head teachers in public primary schools in the Morogoro region, Tanzania. This study was informed by feminist leadership theory, whereby a mixed research approach rooted in convergent design was adopted under pragmatist philosophy. Convergent design is powerful for getting a comprehensive understanding of a topic by collecting, analysing and presenting quantitative and qualitative data at the same time. Collection of data was done through questionnaires to 378 respondents, and semi-structured interview was done to 15 respondents. The study employed both a simple random sampling technique to select respondents for questionnaires and a purposive sampling technique to select respondents for interviews. Descriptive statistical methods through the SPSS version 27.0 and thematic analysis were used in this study. The study revealed that perceptions of existing teachers regarding the leadership performance of FHS in public primary schools in Morogoro region are positive to the extent of 80% up to 86% of the respondents, as per quantitative analysis. Further, from the qualitative point of view, perceptions of existing teachers regarding the leadership performance of FHS in public primary schools in Morogoro region are thematically positive, pointing to leadership qualities, moral characteristics and roles balancing. The study concluded that negative perceptions of existing teachers regarding the leadership performance of FHS leadership performance in public primary schools in Morogoro are in low rate, but the low rate should not be ignored. In this reality, therefore, the study recommended that educational practitioners, through mass media, should not stop raising gender awareness to teachers, as the little negative perception may be unconsciously transmitted to other teachers and students. Further, educational stakeholders should continue making sure they do their best making strong implementation of gender related policies strongly so as to prevent long-lasting negative perceptions of other teachers and students. Sustainable budgets should be allocated for various gender related workshops and seminars for teachers. Moreover, other researchers who are interested in studying the related topic it is recommended that he/she should do the same study at other educational levels, like secondary schools, teacher training colleges and universities in the Morogoro region. In the same line, it is recommended that other researchers do the related study, which is Appointers’ perceptions on female head teachers’ leadership performance in public primary schools in Morogoro region, Tanzania.