Investigating School Administrators’ and Education Standards Officers’ Monitoring and Evaluation of Teacher Performance in Nyimba District of Zambia

Abstract

This study aimed at establishing whether there were any particular challenges that faced school administrators and Education Standards Officers (ESOs) in Nyimba district in their Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of selected secondary school teachers’ performance. The objection of the study was to investigate the major challenges to monitoring and evaluation faced by school administrators and Education Standards Officers, if any. This study was conducted within the framework of mixed methodology using an embedded mixed design, the study collected data from 68 participants drawn from six secondary schools and the District Education Board Office in Nyimba. The data were collected using questionnaires and interviews. The findings were that most teachers were faced with the challenges of inadequate teaching and learning materials at their schools, minimal feedback by ESOs, inadequate staffing of ESOs and minimal motivation of teachers. Moreover, some teachers feared to meet standards officers due to inadequate preparation. On the other hand, the district was also faced with inconsistent funding from the government and therefore making timely inspections in distant schools almost impossible. My recommendations for addressing the challenges that emerged from the findings included continuous professional trainings where Education Standards Officers and teachers in Zambia are inducted on professional ethics, shared vision, timely school visits by standards officers, the incorporation of ICTs into monitoring and evaluation, awarding of hard working teachers, recruitment of additional standards officers and the undertaking of cluster monitoring and evaluation teachers in schools.