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Abstract
Our research study is titled "School decision- making Processes and Teachers' Participation in Educational Policy Implementation." The full participation of teachers in school decision making process, will boost their spirit just for the fact that their ideas also count. These will also bring about teachers' job satisfaction since the school climate is conducive for them to teach and implement all the school policies handed to them by their Principal. Teachers are Nation Builders and they are those to easily and effectively implement all the educational rules and regulations. Given that they have direct contact with the students, they are in the best position to know on what to suggest, which will be of help to the educational sector in general and the students in particular. The principal research question is as follows: "To what extent does school decision- making process influence the participation of teachers in implementing educational policy?".The specific research question are: To find out the extent to which teachers’ participation in school meetings influences their implementation of educational policy, to investigate the extent to which teachers’ consultations during school meetings influences their implementation of educational policy and lastly, to verify the extent to which delegation of responsibility to teachers during school meetings influences their implementation of educational policy. These questions were then transformed to hypothesis. The methodology adopted a sample survey design with an accessible population of 525 teachers who have taught for at least three years. The sample size was made up of 350 teachers. 350 questionnaires were administered to 20 randomly selected Secondary schools in the Kumba municipality of Meme Division, South West Region of Cameroon. Also, interview guides were administered as the second research instrument to four principals representing the three schools in order to confirm the quantitative data. The data collected was analyzed using the Spearman Correlation Index and multiple regressions. The result obtained shows that there is a positively high relationship between school decision-making process (teachers’ participation in school meetings, teachers’ consultations during school meetings and delegation of responsibility to teachers during school meetings) and teachers' participation in educational policy implementation; as a determinant from the correlation index of 0,863. From the above, we conclude that the research maintains the view that the full participation of teachers in school decision-making process will significantly influence the implementation of educational policy. A good number of recommendations were given to the Ministry of Secondary Education, Principals and Teachers. Principals should encourage their teachers by fully involving them in school decision making.
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