Conflict management practices of basic school teachers and headteachers in the Atwima Kwanwoma district

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate conflict management of Basic School Headteachers and Teachers. The objectives of the study were to identify the causes of conflict in basic schools in Atwima Kwanwoma District, determine conflict management practices adopted by teachers and headteachers of selected basic schools in the district, identify roles played by conflict management in attaining institutional performance, ascertain the challenges encountered by teachers and head teachers in managing conflict in selected basic schools in the district. The sample size of the study was 140 teachers from a population of 220. Purposive and cluster sampling techniques were used to select the participants and schools respectively. Descriptive survey was used to analyze the data. 86.7% of the participants strongly agreed that distrust among teachers caused conflict among teachers in school environment. The commonest conflict management practice among teachers was avoiding with a mean value of 3.43 and standard deviation of 1.43. And 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. Based on the findings of the study, it is therefore recommended that training in conflict management should be given to all teachers and head teachers to enable them to turn conflict erupting in their schools into a positive force that can bring positive change