Examining conflict management practices in selected junior high schools in the Upper Denkyira West District

Abstract

This study examined conflict management practices in selected Junior High Schools in the Upper Denkyira West District. The research design adopted was a descriptive survey. The sample size of the study was 150. Purposive and cluster sampling techniques were used to select the participants and study locations. The study used a quantitative research method approach. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. The results show that all the participants (100%) agreed that they experienced conflict in their institutions; 86.7% of the participants strongly agreed that mistrust (misgiving) among teachers caused conflict among teachers in the school environment. The commonest conflict management practice among teachers was avoiding style about others, with a mean value of 3.43 and standard deviation of 1.43. All the participants (100%) strongly agreed that poor articulation of the causes of conflict among teachers, differences in values, and lack of professional skills were the main key challenges facing managing conflict practices in schools. The study concluded that conflict management practices should be approached with the idea that conflicts can be good for the team and recommended that training in conflict management should be given to all teachers and headteachers to enable them to turn conflict erupting in their schools into a positive force that can bring positive change.