The study examined the level of autonomy among basic school teachers in the Central Region of Ghana and the effect of teacher demographic characteristics on the level of teacher autonomy. The explanatory sequential design was adopted. Using the systematic sampling technique, a total of 315 basic school teachers were sampled for the quantitative phase of the study whilst 12 teachers were sampled for the qualitative phase through the purposive sampling technique. Eighteen (18) items Likert-scale was adapted from Pearson and Hall and used for the quantitative phase. A semi-structured interview guide was designed to collect data to further elaborate the study’s key findings. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data whilst the interview was analysed thematically. The study revealed that teachers in the Central Region of Ghana hold positive perceptions about their autonomy with the level of autonomy being moderate. It further established that teacher autonomy is affected by gender positively whilst age and teaching experience affects their level of autonomy negatively. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the Ghana Education Service (GES) and school heads should organize in-service programmes aimed at informing basic school teachers on the extent of autonomy that they have in the process of implementing the curriculum.

According to many studies teachers’ reception has been associated with the smooth operation of the school, the professional development of the teaching staff and the provision of optimal teaching work. Despite its significance and its attention from scholars, though, its implementation at schools has been facing challenges and hardships. The present study focuses on the role played by principals and teachers’ associations upon the reception and acclimatization of all newly appointed teachers in their schools. The findings indicate that the favorable disposition and actions of both principals and the teachers’ association in terms of receiving/acclimatizing any newly appointed teachers should be further enhanced.

Poverty is a clustered and corrosive disadvantage that affects students throughout their lives. The education system has been positioned as an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty. Yet, the education system continues to fail to achieve its potential. We conceptually explore how educational leaders could perceive their responsibility in assisting children experiencing poverty and in leveraging the education ecosystem to fulfill the promise of full capability functioning through self-agency and empowerment. We call for an education leadership shift from an outcomes-based paradigm to a student-focused paradigm that embraces the complexity of poverty, develops students’ opportunities for self-agency and empowerment, and ultimately leads to a higher quality of life. We propose an interdisciplinary model of leadership.

As an educationist over the years, I have experienced principals’ outburst and their tendency to make a scene out of seemly minor issues that could have been addressed with little modesty. This behaviour has led to an uproar amongst parents, teachers and learners about the school principals’ insensitiveness which is attributed to lack of emotional intelligence (EI) competency. The study is underpinned by the transformational leadership theory which aims at pioneering change of attitude in school leadership so that different educational actors could be influenced to achieve the school and overall educational objectives. This qualitative study generated data from five (5) conveniently selected secondary school principals, five (5) parents and five (5) teachers using semi-structured interviews. Using thematic analysis method, the study revealed that principals with EI are able to enhance school performance and satisfy parents. Thus, the study revealed that EI is useful in establishing and maintaining good relationships with different school stakeholders. It is fundamental in managing conflicts in schools and facilitates constructive management of any stressful situations. The study further revealed that principals could acquire this skill through self-enrichment and induction initiatives by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET). It is recommended that before principals are appointed, they should be subjected to multiple aptitude tests to evaluate their knowledge and competencies. Furthermore MoET through its experts should continually induct principals on EI aspects.

This study is aimed to find out the mediating role of work-life balance in the relationship between job stress and career satisfaction. The responses of high school teachers to career satisfaction, work life balance and work stress scales were utilized in the study. The data was analyzed using SPSS 26, Lisrel 8.80 and Jamovi 2.3. According to the results, one of the important determinants of teachers' career satisfaction is the work-life balance; there is a negative relationship between job stress and career satisfaction, and as the job stress increases, the work-life balance decreases. Finally, in the model, it was found that teachers’ job stress has a direct effect on career satisfaction, but also has an indirect effect through work-life balance. Based on all these results, educational organizations need to reorganize the work environment and conditions that will provide career satisfaction and work-life balance to their employees. However, while making these arrangements, it is of great importance to eliminate or even remove the factors that create job stress.

Studies conducted on learners rarely focus their investigations on learner perceptions of pre-service teachers’ classroom management practices. In response to the changing school environments, this study investigated learners’ perceptions of pre-service teachers’ classroom management practices. A survey design was adopted in which 550 grade 11 secondary school learners from eleven secondary schools in the Copperbelt Province in Zambia formed the sample. A Likert scale questionnaire was used to collect data which was analysed using SPSS and also through an iterative process. The study revealed that learners positively perceived pre-service teachers’ classroom management practices. This is indicated by pre-service teachers’ interest in learners’ welfare, possessing good personal qualities, ability to handle learners’ disruptive behaviours, ability to teach effectively, and ability to assess learners effectively. Using an independent samples t-test, it was concluded that there were no statistically significant gender differences in learners’ perceptions of pre-service teachers’ classroom management. Regardless of which institution pre-service teachers came from, learners had a positive impression of pre-service teachers in terms of learner discipline (60%), assessment of learners (66.3%), learner and pre-service-teacher relationship (64.7%), pre-service teachers’ ability to teach (54%), interest in learner welfare (58.5%), pre-service teachers’ personal characteristics (82.6%) and acceptance of pre-service teacher (46.9%).

This study addresses the emergence of unwarranted conflicts and raptured ties within teacher-to-principal and teacher-to-teacher interactions. It highlights the neglect of emotions in relationships, which has been a gap in this research. Unlike existing scholarly focus on cognitive and pragmatic aspects of relationships, this study explores emotional geographies. Its objective is to promote positive relationships between and among teachers and principals by examining emotionality in their political and professional geographies. Furthermore, it seeks to formulate a policy and develop a program that restores ruptured interactions. This research employed an exploratory sequential mixed method. The qualitative analysis involved thematic and reflexive analysis. Statistical methods, such as frequencies and percentages, weighted mean, and Pearson correlation coefficient, were employed for quantitative analysis. The findings identified both positive and negative behaviors in the political and professional geographies. The results of the interviews produced a four-quadrant chart. Positive behaviors were positioned in Quadrants I and IV, and negative behaviors in Quadrants II and III. Pearson correlation coefficient indicated a moderate positive correlation in the interactions of teachers with the principal and interaction with colleagues in both political and professional geographies. This study concludes that addressing emotional geographies is crucial to repairing strained relationships between teachers and principals and among teachers. The formulation of educational management policies and programs is a vital step toward achieving this goal.

The study aims to analyze the relationship between teacher leadership and the organizational happiness of secondary school teachers. The research was designed in the relational survey model. The research sample group involves 358 teachers working in the state schools in the Bakirkoy district of Istanbul province. The Teacher Leadership Scale and the Organizational Happiness Scale were used to collect the data. The social sciences statistics program was used in the analysis of the data. It was found that teachers' teacher leadership and organizational happiness levels were high. There was a low level of positive significant relationship between teacher leadership and organizational happiness. and between the positive emotions sub-dimension of organizational happiness and the total score of teacher leadership. However, there was no relationship between the negative emotions sub-dimension of organizational happiness and teacher leadership. It was concluded that teacher leadership significantly positively affects teachers' organizational happiness.

Some secondary school principals are complaining about teachers’ reluctance to participate in any activities beyond classroom teaching. To understand this phenomenon, the study attempts to explore the inhibiting factors that hinder teachers in selected secondary schools in the Maseru district from supporting and engaging in teacher leadership (TL) activities. This qualitative inquiry is underpinned by the critical theory (CT), which among others aims at revealing the core factors that contributed to teachers’ lack of enthusiasm in performing various TL related activities. Also, to suggest strategies that could pioneer a change in teachers’ attitudes towards participation in school leadership beyond teaching. The study generated data from ten (10) purposively selected secondary school teachers. Using the thematic analysis method, despite participating teachers being able to conceptualise TL, they cited that, factors including; unmanageable teaching loads, inadequate induction, and use of top-down leadership approaches inhibited TL initiatives. To mitigate the abovementioned factors, participants suggested the creation of a supportive school environment, teacher training and recognition.