Teachers perceptions of mentoring on teacher effectiveness in Government aided Secondary Schools in the Acholi sub-region

Abstract

Mentoring is essential in guiding teachers to improve on their teacher effectiveness. It helps teachers to realize their potential in teaching /learning process. The perceptions of teachers of mentoring is likely to affect their views of mentoring on teacher effectiveness. The research used cross sectional survey and mixed methods. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. Data was collected from 462 secondary school teachers and school administrators. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-Square frequency. The study examined teachers’ improved professional opportunities as a result of mentoring, teachers’ career development as a result of mentoring and teachers’ self-awareness as a result of mentoring. The results showed that: mentoring services have guided teachers in improving teaching methodologies(M=4.05), mentoring service is essential for training and promoting career success among teachers(M=4.25) and mentoring has made teachers built their self esteem(M=4.01). The general teachers’ perception of mentoring is good and improves teacher effectiveness in teaching schools. There are no standard measures used to nd out beginning teachers’ perceptions of mentoring in secondary schools. There is therefore a gap concerning standard measures of teachers’ perception of mentoring on teacher effectiveness in Uganda and the Acholi sub-region. the researches were mainly carried out on beginning teachers’ perceptions no study emphasized on the perceptions of regular teachers, yet some of these teachers lack the 21st century teaching skills except a few (Roff, 2012) mentoring programmes increase a beginning teacher’s learning and supports professional growth. It is concluded that, teachers’ perceptions towards mentoring is signicantly strong and this showed that teachers are happy with mentoring services in improving teacher effectiveness in government aided secondary schools in the Acholi sub-region. Researcher recommends that Ministry of Education Science Technology and Sports should create awareness of the impact of mentoring programme in educational institutions.