The Roles Of School Heads In Supporting Novice Teachers At The Public Secondary Schools In Zanzibar, Tanzania

Abstract

This article informs about the administrative support of schools heads to the novice teachers at the Public secondary schools in Zanzibar, particularly Pemba. The study draws an urgent need of effective school heads who can provide suitable administrative support to the novice teachers. The study employed a phenomenological research design embedded within a qualitative research approach to generate data from thirty six (36) novice teachers. Data were generated through FGDs with nine school heads and semi – structured interview with twenty seven novice teachers. The study unveiled that, major roles played by heads of schools in supporting novice teachers were the use of advisory committee in advising the novice teachers, provision of work facilities, assisting teacher to address their work related problems and attaching novice teachers to the panel leaders. Despite of the role played by heads of schools in supporting novice teachers, novice teachers faced several challenges such coping with educational reforms, teaching methodology, classroom management, workload, commitment, relationship with colleagues at work, relationship with students’ parents, students poor background, insufficient resources, students low motivation, the gap between theory and the actual practice, low salary and work under the pressure from the Ministry of Education. Following these findings, the study concludes that the novice teachers in Zanzibar do not get enough administrative support to address the myriad challenges they face in their transition from teacher colleges and universities to the teaching job. It follows from this conclusion that deliberate efforts are needed to help the novice teachers to bring effective teaching.