article · Journal of Education Management and Leadership (JEML)
Head teachers in public basic schools face conflicts stemming primarily from institutional, work-related, and leadership factors. In the Nkwanta South Municipality of Ghana, survey findings from 103 head teachers show that inadequate funding and poor physical infrastructure serve as the primary institutional drivers of dispute. On the leadership side, conflicts are frequently triggered by poor communication, weak policy enforcement, and the misinterpretation of administrative rules. To manage these disputes, school leaders rely most commonly on collaborative approaches, followed by avoidance and compromise. Resolving these challenges effectively depends on the specific situation and the ability of head teachers to adapt their management responses to prevailing conditions. Improving physical school facilities, ensuring the timely release of educational funds, and providing regular conflict management training are highlighted as critical steps to foster a cooperative school climate.
Unresolved conflicts in educational institutions can disrupt teaching and damage the learning environment. Pinpointing the root causes of disagreement, such as funding delays and poor communication, helps education authorities design targeted leadership training and administrative policies. Equipping head teachers with versatile conflict resolution skills ensures that basic schools maintain a supportive, cooperative climate that directly benefits pupils, staff, and wider community relations.
The abstract does not indicate an immediate commercial application pathway, as it focuses on educational administration and public school governance. However, the findings could inform the development of professional development courses and conflict resolution training modules tailored for public sector school administrators. Such applied training programmes could be delivered by educational consultants or professional training organisations seeking to improve leadership capacity and institutional management across regional school systems.
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This study investigated the sources of conflict and the strategies head teachers adopt to resolve them in public basic schools in the Nkwanta South Municipality of Ghana. The study was guided by Fiedler’s (1964) Contingency Theory and utilised a quantitative methodology based on a descriptive survey design. The study targeted a population of 206 head teachers of public basic schools in the Municipality, from which 120 were selected through proportionate stratified sampling across education circuits to serve as the study sample. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 120 head teachers, of whom 103 returned valid responses, yielding a response rate of 85.8 per cent. Data were analysed using means, standard deviations, frequencies, and percentages. The results revealed that institutional, work-related and leadership-related factors were the main sources of conflicts in public basic schools. Poor infrastructure and inadequate funding were the main institutional sources of conflict, while weak policy enforcement, misinterpretation of rules and poor communication were the main leadership-related conflict triggers. The study further revealed that collaboration was the most frequently used conflict resolution strategy, followed by avoidance and compromise. Drawing on the contingency theory, the study concluded that effective conflict resolution is dependent on situational factors and the head teachers’ capacity to adjust their leadership responses to changing circumstances. The study recommends improved school infrastructure, timely release of funds and continuous training of head teachers in conflict management to promote cooperation and improve school climate in public basic schools.
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DOI: 10.51317/jeml.v5i1.1070
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