Teacher Utilization and Its Impact on Junior High School Students’ Performance in the Kassena Nankana Municipality

Purpose: The study examines the pattern of BECE performance in the Kassena/Nankana municipality to identify the efficacy of teacher utilization in public basic schools in Upper East Region of Ghana. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research adopted a quantitative approach to answer research questions descriptively. The population was teachers in selected schools within the Kassena/Nankana Municipality. The study used quantitative approaches to collect data from 99 teachers from ten junior high schools in the municipality. Data on the performance of 2015–2019 BECE were acquired from five urban and five rural schools. The study used three basic sample techniques: convenience, purposive, and random sampling. Primary data for study was collected using a standardized questionnaire to evaluate the impact of teacher utilization on BECE performance in selected schools and the Hausman Specification Test and a random effect model. Findings: Teacher to student ratio remained high in core subjects. There were disparities in competences of teachers at the urban and rural areas. While there was higher concentration of qualified teachers in the urban schools, with effective teacher utilization especially in the junior high schools, the rural schools continued to lack teachers in the Kassena/Nankana Municipality. Some teachers were made to handle other subjects outside their field. Research Limitation: The study focused on public basic schools in the Upper East Region of Ghana but was not extended to the entire other regions of the country. The ideal would have been appropriate to cover many districts in the northern region of Ghana and beyond. Practical Implication: Teacher utilization, knowledge level of teachers and possessing required certificate in subject areas have significant positive impact BECE performance over 2015–2019 while that of workload recorded significant negative impact. Higher workloads on teachers in both urban and rural schools in the municipality was realized. Teacher to student ratio was high in core subjects. There were disparities in competences of teachers at the urban and rural areas. There was higher concentration of qualified teachers in the urban schools while the rural schools continued to lack teachers in the Kassena/Nankana Municipality. Municipal Education Directorate should pay much attention to teacher utilization between urban and rural schools to ensure workloads are not far below or above the recommended work load of a teacher. Social Implication: Performance rate increases when teacher utilization in both urban and rural schools adhere to recommended principles and further achieve expected results and equally quality standard of education leading to positive impact in society. Originality/Value: The significance of the study among other things is that it would be useful to educational policy makers in formulating policies that would ensure effective implementation of the curriculum by providing the right resources, physical and human and enacting legislations to promote the achievement of educational goals in the country.