Exploring the factors affecting teachers’ job performance in Kofi Agyei Senior High School in the Kwabre East Municipality

Abstract

The performance of teachers is crucial to students’ academic performance and success in education. Poor performance of teachers is a global phenomenon that cannot be ignored by various stakeholders in education. It is because of this that the study sought to explore factors affecting the performance of teachers at Kofi Agyei Senior High School in the Kwabre East Municipality in the Ashanti Region of Ghana from the perspectives of the teachers. This study made use of a qualitative method of research. Data were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Oral interview sessions provided the data used for the study. A simple random sampling procedure was employed to select 12 participants for the study out of about 70 teachers in the school. The data in the form of recordings through interviews were transcribed. The final output was presented in the form of texts and direct quotes from respondents. The findings of the study revealed and concluded that inadequate classroom blocks affect teachers’ job performance. Similarly, the small nature of the school’s staff common room also affects their job performance it also revealed that high workloads negatively affect teachers’ job performance. Finally, the study revealed that the community's sense of ownership also promotes school-community relationships and affects teachers' job performance. The study concluded that though there are challenges, the working conditions of school facilities are satisfactory, and support the work they do as teachers. It also concluded that large class sizes are difficult to be controlled by teachers and affect teachers’ job performance. Finally, it was concluded that the School-community relationship is very important to the work of teachers. In line with the findings, the study recommended that provision for more structures like classroom blocks should be provided to reduce class size and teachers’ workloads. Working conditions of teachers must be improved and finally, the Parent- Teacher Association (PTA) should be strengthened since it increases the community's sense of belongingness.