Teacher competence, psychological capital, organisational citizenship behaviour, work-life balance and teacher engagement .

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to establish the relationship between teacher Competences, psychological capital, Organisational Citizenship Behaviour, Work-Life Balance and Teacher Engagement in a few selected Secondary Schools in Former Kabarole District. A cross sectional survey design was adopted and data collected through the use of both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The researcher used the convenience random sampling design, and questionnaires were distributed to a representative sample of 264 respondents. The Bivariate correlation results revealed a positively significant relationship between teacher competences and Organisational citizenship behaviour(R=.42, P ≤ .01), psychological capital and organisational citizenship behaviour (R=.40, P ≤ .01), and work-life balance and teacher engagement (R=.25, P ≤ .01). The ‘adjusted R square’ results from the multiple regression analysis showed an 8% explanation of teacher engagement. The most predictor of teacher engagement is work-life balance with a Beta= .272, t= 4.375, sig= .000, psychological capital and organisational citizenship behavior respectively. The F=5.689, P= .000 values indicate that these variables are statistically significant predictors of Teacher Engagement. The research therefore recommended that Management in secondary schools should endeavour to put in place flexible work arrangement to enable teachers strike a balance between their work and non work lives. School managements should also equip and support teachers with the necessary skills and competences that enable them to be psychologically competent, and nurture O.C.B and other aspects that foster teacher engagement. Schools (both primary and secondary), vocational and higher institutions of learning are advised to impart vital skills like public speaking to their students. In addition to the content offered by the curriculum, trainees like teachers, need to be equipped with leadership skills and ethics. Therefore proprietors of institutions of learning need to develop a vision for their centre that is beyond the curriculum and policies laid down by the ministry of education and sports to put their trainees at an advantage in the East African job market. Various skills have been diagnosed as missing in most of today’s graduates thus explaining the vice in our society such as teachers’ disengagement that has manifested in form of, teachers having sexual relationships with their students while others defile and rape their pupils as well as students, corruption, theft, violence and other forms of moral decadence.