The role of leadership in the management of National Teachers’ Colleges: A case of Kabale National Teachers’ College.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of leadership in the Management of National Teachers’ Colleges. The researcher wanted to find out whether; 1) The College leadership was responsible for the staffing problems in the College. 2) The College leadership was responsible for the condition of the physical infrastructure in the college. 3) The College leadership was responsible for the levels of staff motivation in the College A combination of both qualitative and quantitative research approaches were used to arrive at the findings and conclusion analysed using descriptive statistics. Self -administered questionnaires; interviews, observation and documentary analysis were some of the instruments used in obtaining data. A cross sectional survey design was used with questionnaires, interviews and observations as the major instruments of data collection. A total of 90 respondents drawn from the teaching staff, established non-teaching staff and student leaders all from Kabale National Teachers’ College responded by filling the questionnaires and providing other data. It was found out that the appointments board in the college was not functional or had no properly laid down procedure, the physical infrastructure was not well maintained, and there was low staff morale. Also, it was found that staffing in the college was inadequate characterized by understaffing in some departments and overstaffing in others. The researcher concluded that attrition of staff from the college was very high, the physical infrastructure was not well maintained and the government did not provide enough funds for the development of the physical infrastructure. The researcher therefore recommended both to the government and College leadership that the Appointments board in the College should be revitalized and proper rules and procedures of recruitment should be properly laid down. It was also recommended that the college leadership should try as much as possible to maintain the already established infrastructure and the infrastructure established by the government should take into consideration the minimum standards while also considering people with disabilities and the carrying capacity of the existing infrastructure. It was also recommended that the college leadership needs to emphasize non-monetary rewards so as to motivate the staff, that the government should increase pay for the staff in Teachers’ Colleges and that the college leadership should put in place mechanisms of generating income so as to retain staff.