Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the desired and actual levels of teachers’ participation in decision-making process in Ethiopian secondary schools. For this, the study employed a cross-sectional survey design collecting data from sampled secondary school teachers (n = 258) found in Assosa Zone, Benishangual Gumuz Regional state, Ethiopia. Stratified sampling method was applied to select participants from eleven randomly selected secondary schools located in the seven districts and one town administration of Assosa Zone. The data were collected from sampled teachers using a standardized self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test. The findings of the study indicated the presence of significant differences between teachers’ desired and actual levels of participation in decision-making in their respective schools. This means that the teachers’ participants reported more desire to involve than they actually did so in decision-making process. The researchers therefore, concluded that the decision-making process in the studied schools did not seem participatory and the efforts made by school management to empower teachers were not satisfactory. To cope with these challenges, the researchers recommended the need to conduct further study in order to scrutinize the major reasons for the low participation of teachers in decision-making. This would enable schools to devise effective strategies in order to enhance educational experience of students through improving teachers’ levels of participation in decision-making.

Key words: Decision-making, teacher participation, Ethiopia.