Effects of time management on teacher effectiveness in a Maldivian secondary school / Fathimath Himmath

Abstract

The current study aimed to understand the effects of time management on teacher effectiveness among the teachers of a selected Maldivian school. It also attempted to identify the barriers faced by the teachers of this school to manage time effectively. Moreover, the study has identified the specific time management strategies used by the effective teachers of this school. A sample of 7 teachers and 2 leading teachers were selected using purposive sampling technique, to conduct this descriptive qualitative case study with an interpretivist paradigm. Data were collected using one-to-one in depth semi structured interviews and analysed using inductive content analysis.

The findings indicate that time management affects four aspects of teacher effectiveness; teacher well-being, teacher performance, teacher image and teacher relationships. The study has discovered several personal and work-related barriers faced by the teachers of this school to manage their time. Moreover, it was noticed that highly effective teachers were using specific time management strategies like, consciousness, self-retiection, planning, organising and utilizing the free time for future preparations.

The researcher recommends the case study school to share the findings of this study with the teachers to aware them about the effects time management had on their effectiveness and help them overcome the barriers they face to manage time with the strategies identified in this study. It also recommends the teacher training institutions to train the teacher educators with more aspects of time management so that they could provide better education.