PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND PEDAGOGICAL COMPETENCE AMONG TEACHERS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

Musaazi (1982) asserts that the period of pre-service training is too short to sufficiently equip teachers with knowledge and skills to address the ever changing pedagogical demands. In congruence with Musaazi, other writers (Campbell & Thomas, 2013; Zepeda, 2010, Russell, 2012; Mulkeen, 2010) emphasize the central role professional development plays in this era of change where teachers have to continuously. Acquire new knowledge on new curricula, and new skills to meet the dynamic technological demands and enhance quality of pedagogical practices.   In this regard, the study seeks to establish the influence of professional development and pedagogical competence among teachers in secondary schools

This chapter presents background of the study, the problem statement, purpose, objectives of the study, research questions, study scope, justification of the study, significance, Hypotheses, conceptual framework, as well as operational definition of key terms and concepts.

1.1. Background to the study

The section presents, historical background, theoretical, contextual background, conceptual background.

1.1.1 Historical perspective

There is growing concern about teacher classroom behaviors that facilitate learning in secondary schools in Uganda. A great variation exists between what teachers do in the classroom and what they are expected to do as stipulated by the Directorate of Education Standards (DES) and the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) (Ministry of Education and Sports [MoES], 2013). According to the Curriculum Assessment and Examination (CURASSE) (2007), the teachers are not innovative and creative; they rarely use learner centered instruction methods; the concepts that are taught hardly relate to everyday life; and teachers go to classes without lesson plans. Consequently, teaching focuses on cramming to pass national examinations and does   not   enhance   the   development   of   higher   order   thinking   skills   (Uganda   National Examinations Board [UNEB], 2012).  Uncovering factors that enhance quality of teaching and learning is critical to improving the overall quality of education of a country. Musaazi (2006) advises educational planners and administrators to emphasize teacher professional development to bring about desired classroom behaviors from teachers.   Musaazi (1982) asserts that the period of pre-service training is too short to sufficiently equip teachers with knowledge and skills to address the ever changing pedagogical demands. In congruence with Musaazi, other writers (Campbell & Thomas, 2013; Zepeda, 2010, Russell, 2012; Mulkeen, 2010)

In the 1700s, education was not considered a professional discipline or field of study. As a result, education was not given the attention it deserves (Altbach, Reisberg, & Rumbley, 2019). According to Coleman, (2019), early towns especially in the United States turned to existing power structures, such as local government and the clergy, to hire teachers and make judgments about their teaching. This clearly shows that even teacher appraisal was not considered then as an important aspect. However, teacher appraisal is not exactly new as Gargiulo, & Bouck, (2019), points out that teacher appraisal is an old practice.  In the early 1930s the government of Britain in an attempt to improve the quality of education developed different ways of assessing the performance of a teacher. This is in line with Goodwin, 2010, who postulates that in the same period, other European countries like France agitated for quality education by specifically encouraging better teacher remuneration.

World bank report, (2018) indicates that students taught by a qualified and competent teacher were very productive to the country and in return contributed to the economic growth, the report further indicates that better academic performance of student schools generally has long term positive outcomes to the students since the process enabled the students to develop key skills and perform well academically.

In analysis of Lantin American students, the research indicated that Cuba which invests much resources per capita (Overall, 12.8% of GDP) in enhancing teacher competence and education in general has ripped a lot this is indicated by the fact the Cuban children have better understanding and can use the language appropriately than their counterparts in Venezuela and Brazil (Carnoy, Gove, & Marshall, 2007).

The Stellakis, (2018) indicates that when the teachers are given the required technical competence to enhance their teaching capacity and protection of their jobs this leads to better academic performance among the students. Zafarullah, & Pertti, (2017) indicates that better academic performance among children in students is essential and has the potential to spur the future technological and scientific development of the countries and therefore countries in EU are encouraged to increase their expenditure on the enhancing teacher competence, on the same note OECD, (2019) also further indicates that countries with high expenditure in enhancing teacher competence  the teachers well have achieved better academic performance among the students  this has improved the development of these countries.

Provision of education as a social service and public good is a primary responsibility of the government in many countries (Daviet, 2016). However, teacher competence has become a major challenge in many countries around the world. The 2001 UNESCO Report indicated that the world’s sixty million teachers were deemed needing professional enhancement to further their knowledge of content and teaching skills. Relative to their country’s formal teacher education standards, half of teachers in developing countries were unqualified (UNESCO, 2012).

Globally unqualified teachers are found in all fields of study, many secondary school teachers in many countries possess qualifications unrelated to teaching (Orleans, 2007). Uncovering factors that enhance quality of teaching and learning is critical to improving the overall quality of education of a country. Musaazi (2006) advises educational planners and administrators to emphasize teacher professional development to bring about desired classroom behaviors from teachers.   Musaazi (1982) asserts that the period of pre-service training is too short to sufficiently equip teachers with knowledge and skills to address the ever changing pedagogical demands. In congruence with Musaazi, other writers (Campbell & Thomas, 2013) emphasize the central role professional development plays in this era of change where teachers have to continuously be equipped with new knowledge in their respective fields of study.

In other countries, such as Finland and Japan, where students outperform those in the U.S. in a variety of subject areas, collaboration among teachers is an essential aspect of instructional improvement (Mirel & Goldin, 2012). Oftentimes, changes in educational practices may lead teachers to feel as if a new initiative pertaining to teaching practices is something created to do to them and not necessarily with them as professionals, especially if a new initiative is being handed down from politicians who may know little about education and the best interest of students (O Brien, 2014).

1.1.2 Theoretical Perspective

The COACTIV Model of Teachers’ Professional Competence; this theory was developed by Baumert and Kunter (2006). At the theoretical core of COACTIV is a model of teachers’ professional competence that consists of professional knowledge, professional beliefs, motivational orientations and self-regulatory abilities to be key conditions for successfully managing the demands of the teaching profession (Baumert and Kunter, 2006). In mutual interaction, these aspects of competence establish the foundation of teachers’ professional practice. The model further assumes that professional competence is the result of an occupation-specific process of development that hinges on a variety of learning opportunities specific to the teaching profession. The COACTIV Model assumes that teachers are the most important element of the education system because their education and qualification can therefore play a decisive role in optimizing educational processes (Cochran &Zeichner, 2005). This model informs the study by spelling out the concepts of teaching competence among teachers; that is professional knowledge, professional beliefs, motivational orientations and self-regulatory abilities. As such, this theory is adopted to effectively have the yard sticks of assessing the influence of Professional learning communities on teacher competence enhancement on secondary school.

1.1.3 Conceptual perspective

Pupil’s performance is define as, the ability of pupil’s to something (oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 1994) while academic performance refers to the quality and quantity of knowledge, skills techniques and positive attitudes, behavior and philosophy that learners achieve or acquire (Ferguson, 1990). This ability is evaluated by the marks and grades that the pupil’s attain in attest or examination which is done at the end of a topic, school term, and year or education cycle. The scores and grades that each pupil obtains measure the degree of achievement. The quality of the grade and the number of candidates who pass in various grades determine the level of academic performance in a given class or institution in a given period in a particular examination, be it internal or public (Ferguson, 1999).

1.1.4 Contextual Perspective

Pedagogical practices in this study means the various types of tasks, ways of working or types of activities and practices which guide effective teaching and learning (Lakkeal, 2011). Such practices include among others; preparing well in advance relevant schemes of work, lesson notes, and teaching aids; prompt setting an adequate amount of written and practice exercises; prompt and careful evaluation of all written and practical exercises; and undertaking remedial teaching to ensure effective teaching and learning (MoES, 2012).

Uganda follows a 7-4-2-4 model of education, with seven years of primary education, 4 years of lower secondary, 2 years of upper secondary and 4 years of tertiary education. The higher education system is composed of universities, national teachers colleges, colleges of commerce, technical colleges, and training Institutions, and other tertiary institutions. At each level, there is a national selection examination which feeds a centrally administered process of distributing successful candidates among the available next levels (MoES1999).

According to National Assessment of Progress in Education (NAPE); the mean scores and pupils rated proficient in terms of English and Mathematic performance in  Bugiri basing on the research carried out from 1995 to 2014. NAPE indicates that there is generally poor performance in Bugiri district and the rising levels of poverty could be sign as a result of creativity and productivity of the graduates in the area.

1.2 Statement of the problem

According to Chiu, (2018),  having a well competent quality of teachers is imperative to have an efficient and well-functioning education systems in the country, on another note MoES, (2012) indicates that the practices of Pedagogical Competence include among others; preparing well in advance relevant schemes of work, lesson notes, and teaching aids; prompt setting an adequate amount of written and practice exercises; prompt and careful evaluation of all written and practical exercises; and undertaking remedial teaching to ensure effective teaching and learning. There has been numerous efforts by the government of Uganda to enhance professional competence of the teachers in secondary schools of Uganda. Despite  the  Government’s initiatives  to  improve  the  quality  of  teaching  and  learning  at secondary school, quality of pedagogical practices in public secondary schools remains poor (ESAPR, 2014). The poor quality of pedagogical practices in these schools is manifested through teachers‟ lack of planning for lessons (DES, 2012; UNEB, 2015), using mainly teacher-centered methods of teaching instead of learner-centred methods (DES, 2012), and administering tests and assignments that are not planned to measure learning achievements (UNEB, 2012). and on another note Bugiri district has been facing several challenges as regards to the professional competence of teachers this is indicated by the fact that majority of the teachers do not have lesson plans and they come to class late and in most cases absent  This therefore questions the professional competence of teachers’ and it is against this background that this study intends to investigate into the influence of professional development and pedagogical competence among teachers in Bugiri municipality, Uganda.

1.3 Objectives of the study

1. To establish the influence of Induction of new teachers and teacher pedagogical competence.
2. To investigate the influence of coaching and training on teacher pedagogical competence.

• To examine the Relationship between professional development and Integration of ICT in the teaching.

1.4 Research Questions

1. What is the influence of Induction of new teachers and teacher pedagogical competence?
2. What is the influence of coaching and training on teacher pedagogical competence?
   • Hypothesis of the study

H₁: There is a Relationship between professional development and Integration of ICT in the teaching.

1.5 Conceptual Frame work

Professional development                                     pedagogical competence enhancement

The independent variable is Professional learning communities, while the dependent variable is Teacher competence enhancement. The framework shows that Professional learning communities nurture teacher competence enhancement and measured in form of values, skills and knowledge of teachers (MoES, 2010).

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

• introduction

This section presents the study literature in line with the study objectives as written by other scholars.

2.1 Induction of new teachers and teacher pedagogical competence.

Attitude plays a major role in determining an individual’s personality. This is because attitude determines the way people perceive and act towards other people, objects or events that they interact with. Besides that, attitudes can influence one’s social interaction. That’s why it is important to know what attitude entails, how it comes about and its impact on people. According to Ebersole, Atherton, Belanger, Skulborstad, Allen, Banks, & Brown, (2016)  attitude is durable since it remains across time, he further stated that attitudes are relatively     permanent and persist across times and situations. They further defined attitude as, a relatively enduring organization of beliefs, feeling and behavioral tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols or a general feeling or evaluation about some person; object or issue. Attitudes can also direct our experiences and determine the effects of experiences on our behaviors, when the people have positive attitude towards a specific job they are able to perform well and deliver high results. Yada, & Savolainen, (2017), defines attitude as lasting general evaluation of people, objects or issues.

Attitude is lasting because it persists across time. Judge, Weiss, Kammeyer-Mueller, & Hulin, (2017) says that attitudes are a summary judgement of an object or event which aid individuals in structuring their complex social environment. Attitudes are acquired through learning over a period of time and controlled by individual’s personality and group. Attitude is a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor. Therefore, attitudes are subjective and personal attributes and difficult to measure (Wood, 2015). Attitude has always been a matter of interest to many psychologists. Having a certain attitude in life is critical to people so as to help them live harmoniously and towards a better understanding of the environment.  According to Maio, Haddock, & Verplanken, (2018), attitude is gaining significance because of its influence over an individual’s behavior. The possible reason for the popularity of the attitude concept is that psychologists have argued that attitudes have something to do with social behavior.

Attitudes are believed to influence behavior. The term attitude is often used as an expression covering such concepts as preferences, feelings, emotions, beliefs, expectations, judgments, appraisals, values, principles, opinions, and intentions. In addition, Albarracin, & Shavitt, (2018) says that the attitude component is a function of person’s salient behavioral beliefs, which stands for perceived outcomes or attributes of behavior. Attitude is the readiness of the Psyche to act or react in a certain way. He argues that attitudes always come in pairs, one conscious and the other unconscious. Nolder, & Kadous, (2018) states that attitudes are held with respect to some aspect of the individual’s world, such as another person, physical object, a behavior, or a policy. Therefore, the way a person reacts to his surroundings is called his attitude.

Schulz, Müller, Schemer, Wirz, Wettstein, & Wirth, (2018) expresses that an attitude is a mental or neural state of readiness, organized coming through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence on the individual’s response to all objects and situations to which it is related. It is a tendency to respond to some object or situation.

1. To examine the influence of professional learning communities on educational pedagogy among secondary school teachers.

This has the potential in enhancing hard work among teachers since those who will have to be evaluated as hardworking teachers will therefore view themselves as capable and their effort has been recognized by the school, while on the same note (DeNisi, & Sonesh, (2011) further notes that teacher appraisal becomes a perfunctory ritual activity that is disjointed from the process of teaching improvement and teachers’ professional development. The government attempt to improve on the attitude of teachers so as to maximize on performance in the teaching service has existed for long before the current drive to reform service delivery in the public sector. Since the government pays public servants; teachers inclusive, the salary of workers has been mentioned by many researchers as one of their biggest motivational factors towards their performance. However, teachers in some African countries are one of the least paid groups of workers and in addition to that, (Wang, Zhu, Mayson, & Chen, 2019) observes that the poorest standard of education is mostly in African countries.

Performance appraisal systems is part of the broader public sector reforms aimed at improving efficiency and effectiveness in the management of the public service. In this regard, appraisal and contract reports, therefore, will greatly help the education sector in making key management decisions such as assignment of teachers, deployment to administrative positions, promotion and training programs (Kiplang’at  2016). According to Daily Nation, (2016) in Kenya, Teachers are evaluated on how they prepare schemes of work, lesson plans and whether they follow the syllabus. They are also assessed on the ability to make learning and teaching aids, observance and effective use of time in class, attendance of lessons, staff meetings, participation in co-curricular activities and how they use information technology to advance their skills. In a different context, teacher appraisal in schools in Shanghai, China is not a one-off event. Although the procedure for generating appraisal results occurs at the end of each year, data collection activities for appraisal including lesson observation, student evaluation of teachers and checking teachers’ tasks are conducted throughout the whole year (Ahuja, Padhy, & Srivastava, 2018).

According to Kim, Oh, & Park, (2018), from a broad perspective, performance appraisals are designed to help organizations draw the best out of their employees, by enabling individual employees to perform at optimal levels. However, the execution of such systems is not always easy and the appraisals frequently do not achieve their goals, with the result that both the employees and their supervisors are often dissatisfied with the system. Indeed, as Imran, Haque, & Rębilas,  (2018) argued, performance appraisals often have the opposite of their intended effect. In other words, if the system is not used properly, evaluations can lead to frustration, anger and reduced motivation levels, rather than motivating employees to perform better. Evaluation of individuals in terms of their job performance is a task requiring a quality of managerial judgement which places a considerable responsibility on the managers involved. It is a task that is delicate as well as complex. According to Krishnan, binti Ahmad, & Haron, (2018), the most likely reason for the adoption of staff appraisal is to draw attention to present performance in the job in order to reward people fairly and to identify those with potential for promotion or transfer.

He further ascertained that appraisal programs are designed not only to provide more systematic control of behavior of subordinates, but also to control the behavior of superiors. In his comprehensive summary of performance appraisals in the United States of America (USA), Stilling, Byrd, Mazza, & Bergman, (2018) argued that the history of the USA and its fundamentally individualistic culture has had a significant impact on the workplace and performance management practices. Thus, individual performance, accountability and performance-linked rewards, form an integral part of the process. In the USA, appraisals are primarily used for administrative purposes such as awarding merit raises and informing promotion decisions with the use of performance appraisals for developmental purposes remaining rather limited. According to Ngeno (2013), in a study that focused on the state of teacher appraisal in Kenyan secondary schools, there is need for an improved (facilitating) model of teacher appraisal.

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

The study aimed at professional development and pedagogical competence among teachers in secondary schools. This chapter presents the research methods that will be used to carry out the study. It will cover the research design, Area of study, target population, sample design, sample size, research instrument, measurement of variables, Data Collection Procedure, data analysis and Ethical considerations of the study.

3.2 Research Design

The study will adopt a cross-sectional survey research design because of the nature of the variables that is at hand; to produce data required for quantitative and qualitative analysis and to allow simultaneous description of views, perceptions and opinions at any single point in time (White, 2000). The study will also use qualitative and quantitative methodologies for data analysis. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies will be used in professional development and pedagogical competence among teachers in secondary schools. Quantitative research will consist of those studies in which the data concerned could be analyzed in terms of numbers while qualitative described events, persons and so forth scientifically without the use of numerical data. Quantitative research is based more directly on its original plans and its results are more readily analyzed and interpreted. Qualitative research is more open and responsive to its subject. (Christina Hughes, 2006).

3.3 Study Population

The study will be carried out in Bugiri district secondary schools.

3.4 Determination of the sample size

It is impossible to study the whole targeted population of the study and therefore the researcher took a sample of the population this is also further supported by Mugenda and Mugenda (2003) who notes that a research should choose a sample out of the whole targeted population. A sample is a subset of the population that comprises members selected from the population. Using Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) table for sample size determination approach, a sample size of 181 respondents were selected from the total population of

Table 1: Showing Population and Sample size of respondents

Source:

3.5 Sampling techniques and procedure

Purposive sampling, also known as judgmental, selective or subjective sampling, is a type of non-probability sampling technique where the researcher chooses a sample based on what they think in other words they use their personal judgment (Palys, 2008). The study will use Purposive sampling technique because it saves time and also enables the researcher to get information from the right people who had knowledge and skills regarding the subject topic. This technique will be used in selecting, teachers, Head Teachers the researcher will use this technique because these respondents hold enough knowledge and skills regarding the study topic.

The researcher will use simple random sampling technique, According to Amin, (2010) a simple random sample is a subset of individuals chosen from a larger set (a population). Each individual will be chosen randomly and entirely by chance, such that each individual has the same probability of being chosen at any stage during the sampling process, and each subset of individuals had the same probability of being chosen for the sample.

3.6 Data collection methods

The section presents data collection methods which include questionnaire survey, interview and documentary review.

3.6.1Questionnaire Survey

Questionnaire Survey method will be used to obtain the opinion of the respondents regarding the topic under study, according to (Onen & onen, 2013) states that questionnaires are important in research because the respondents are given time to think and they don’t feel intimidated. Questionnaire gives the respondents ample time to respond to the questions when ready and they can be kept for future references. This method will be used in getting information from teachers.

3.6.2    Interview

Face-to-face interview is a data collection method when the interviewer directly communicates with the respondent in accordance with the prepared questionnaire (Polak  & Green, 2015).

This method enables to acquire factual information, consumer evaluations, attitudes, preferences and other information coming out during the conversation with the respondent. Thus, face-to-face interview method ensures the quality of the obtained data and increases the response rate.

Interviews will be used because they fetch a variety of ideas needed for the study and give a deeper understanding of the topic. The method will be used to get information from Head teachers

3.7 Data collection instruments

For each deployed data collection method, there is a corresponding data collection instrument that will be used. The study will use Questionnaire Guides and Interview Guide

3.7.1    Self-administered Questionnaire

The questionnaire shall be designed in a manner that motivates respondents with simple structured questions with the option of providing any addition information to the structured questionnaire as an option to obtain relevant data from them. The questionnaire is structured with both close-ended and open-ended questions. It has a Likert scale 1-5 indicating the level of a respondents’ agreement or disagreement, where 1 represents Strongly Disagree and 5 strongly Agree.

3.7.2    Interview Guide

The researcher will use an interview guide to collect data in order to find out the vivid picture of the participants’ perspective of the topic. Interviews are an effective qualitative method for getting people to talk about their feelings, opinions and experiences. They are also an opportunity for us to gain insight into how people interpret; professional development and pedagogical competence among teachers in secondary schools.

3.8 Data quality control of instruments

The data collection tools will be pre-tested on a smaller number of respondents from each category of the population to ensure that the questions are accurate.

3.8.1 Validity

Validity is defined as the extent to which results can be accurately interpreted and generalized to other populations (Oso & Onen, 2008). While Borg & Gall, 1989 as cited in Onyinkwa, (2013) validity is defined as the degree to which results obtained by the research instrument correctly represented to the phenomenon understudy and Mugenda & Mugenda, (1999) as the accuracy and meaningfulness of inferences which are based on the research results.

Amin, (2005) recommended minimum CVI of 0.7 to be used. Validity was tested using content validity index which involves judges scoring the relevancy of the questions in the instruments in relation to the study variables.

The formula for Content Validity Index will be;

CVI =

Where CVI = content validity

n= number of items indicated relevant.

N = total no. of items in the instrument

In this study, validity will be achieved by establishing content validity. The researcher achieved content validity by using the experts to assess the validity of the research instrument. The experts especially research supervisors and consultants from Kyambogo university will be given data collection tools to assess whether the items in the instruments are valid in relation to research topic, objectives, and questions. From the instruments they will declare some items valid and others invalid. Those declared invalid will be dropped, others adjusted, while the valid ones will be maintained.  Then content validity index (CVI) will be computed by dividing the number of items declared valid by total number of items/questions in the data collection instrument.

3.8.2 Reliability

According to Mugenda and Mugenda, (2003) reliability is the measure of the extent to which research instruments are able to provide the same results upon being tested repeatedly. Crobach’s coefficient alpha (a) as recommended by Amin, (2005, P.302) will be used to test the reliability of the research instrument. The instrument is deemed reliable if reliable of 0.7 and above is obtained and therefore, it will be adopted for use in the data collection.

Formula for reliability is

=      ()

Where  = alpha reliability co efficiency.

K=Number of items included4 in the questionnaire

= sum of variance of individual items

= variance of all items in the instrument.

3.9 Procedure of data collection

The researcher will obtain an introductory letter from Kyambogo university seeking permission and enable easy access of information by the researcher from Bugiri secondary schools researcher will go ahead and administered questionnaires and interviews selected respondents however the consent of the respondents will be sought before being given questionnaire and the respondents will be informed that the study will be strictly for academic purpose

3.10 Data analysis

Mugenda and Mugenda (1999) and Mbaaga (2000) both defined data analysis as a process of bringing order, structure and meaning to the data gathered to create information out of it. Data analysis will therefore, done with quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative (Questionnaires) and qualitative(interviews) will be analyzed separately and then combined during discussion of the findings.

3.10.1  Quantitative Data Analysis

Data processing will be done by entering the data into a statistics package for social sciences (SPSS) version 24.0 in line with the research questions. Data analysis will be done by also using this statistics package for social sciences (SPSS) to formulate frequency tables where the percentages, frequency, mean, variance and standard deviation will be obtained.

Under quantitative analysis, process included editing, classification, coding and presentation. Data was summarized in frequency tables, percentage; data will be analysed with the use of statistical package for social scientist (SPSS). Quantitative data will be collected through structured questionnaires and it will be cantered into a computer, tabulated and analysed.

Spearman’s correlation coefficient and regression analysis is recommended by Amin (2005, P.378) will be used during data analysis in order to test the strength, degree and direction of the study topic. The formula will be used for this study because it is compatible with SPSS program in addition to being appreciated in analysing data under which the data is arranged.

3.10.2 Qualitative Analysis

Qualitative data will be analyzed using content analysis and it will involve gathering and analyzing data based on the content, where by the raw data collected from the field will be read through to enable the researcher to get familiar with the data. At this process the study will use noted cards to organize the available data to accelerate further analysis. Data will be then evaluated and analyzed to determine its accuracy, credibility, usefulness and consistency which will aide acceptance or rejection of the research hypothesis.

3.11Measurements of variables

A five point Likert ordinal scales ranging from; strongly agree which was assigned 5, strongly Agree, 4 agree, Not Sure assigned 3, Disagree allocated 2 and strongly disagree allotted 1 to obtain responses on the variables. The Likert ordinal scale has been used by numerous scholars who have conducted similar studies such as Bowling, (1997).

3.12Ethical considerations

The researcher will ensure that before giving questionnaires to the respondents their consent will be sought and when they are accepted to participate in the study, they are given questionnaires.

Confidentiality of the respondents ‘information will be assured and the researcher will also inform them that the study is strictly for academic purposes and therefore, they should not fear giving information.

Only respondents who will be selected will be given questionnaires and only those meant to be interviewed will actually be interviewed.