An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Open Performance Review and Appraisal System (OPRAS) to Secondary School Teachers in Arusha City, Tanzania

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of management and supervision process of Open Performance Review and Appraisal System (OPRAS). The researchers adopted survey design to study 10 out of 26 public secondary schools in Arusha City, Tanzania. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 214 sampled teachers of which 197 (92.1%) returned the questionnaire and 17 (7.9%) questionnaires were not returned. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics through mean scores. The study revealed that secondary school teachers perceived that the management and supervision process of OPRAS was not effective. The study also revealed that the heads of secondary schools didn’t coach, mentor and counsel their teachers about OPRAS. Teachers didn’t sign annual performance agreements and account for their performance; the teachers didn’t receive copies (feedback) of their performance development of mid-year and annual reviews and didn’t comment on their performance appraisal report. Furthermore, the discussions on the attainment of teachers’ annual overall performance between teachers and their supervisors were not being witnessed by observers. The researchers recommended that Local Government Authorities and Policy makers in educational sector need to train supervisors on OPRAS so that they may acquire the basic knowledge, skills and competence required for its effective implementation. Heads of secondary schools should coach, mentor and counsel their teachers about OPRAS. Also during appraisal and review process, both supervisors and teachers should be involved and supervisors should provide feedback to their subordinates. Moreover, Government authorities need to be committed to the OPRAS as a tool of measuring teacher’s performance.