Recruitment and selection of teachers and its impact on their performance in selected government aided secondary schools in iganga and Kampala Districts between 1995-2002.

Abstract

This report was about evaluating the impact of the selection and recruitment exercise on teacher performance in government-aided secondary schools. The study was carried out from six selected government-aided secondary schools (three from Kampala and another three from Iganga district).

The study adopted a case study research design in which both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. The study consisted of seventy-six respondents: six head teachers, sixty teachers and ten officials from the Education Service Commission. The study used selfadministered questionnaire and an interview guide as the data collection instruments. A review of the relevant written documents was also made to supplement the primary data and the data collected was presented in frequency counts and score tables with varying percentages calculated.

The study findings revealed that the Education Service Commission does not always follow the standard selection and recruitment procedures. This sometimes is out of the constraints that impinge on the efficiency of the commission. The findings also showed that there were no significant differences between the responses elicited from teachers in Iganga district and those of Kampala district about the impact of the selection and recruitment exercise on teacher performance. More so, headteachers and teachers were aware of the ideal procedures in the selection and recruitment exercise. (Advertising the posts, followed by short listing the qualifying candidates, aptitude interviews, oral interviews and selecting the best candidates). Headteachers and teachers were not satisfied with the existing selection and recruitment procedure in the Education Service Commission due to lack of meritocracy, fairness and impartiality.

Not always can the selection and recruitment exercise have a positive impact on teacher performance. An individual’s devotion to work and attributes shape the course of action. There are significant challenges faced by the Education Service Commission in selecting and recruiting teachers. some of them include lack of enough trained manpower to manage the selection and recruitment exercise, the interview contents do not tally with the job requirements, lack of enough funds to facilitate the selection and interviewing exercise, lack of an efficient mechanism of transmitting information and effectively communicating to the candidates, corruption and cheating over the interview questions, centralised system of announcing the vacant posts, and prolonged time lag of short listing the candidates after applying.

The researcher recommended that the Education Service Commission should be given a reserve fund to effectively carry out the selection and recruitment exercise and should always utilise the services of competent personnel who can effectively handle the selection and recruitment exercise. More so, teacher Training Institutions, if possible, should be involved in the selection and recruitment exercise for they know well the competent and incompetent teachers through their performance records. The selection and recruitment exercise should be decentralised to the district levels such that the gulfs created by the centralised process can be overcome and also organise practical interviews in which teacher competence in class can be tested.