Determinants of Teachers’ Time-on-Task in Ethiopian Schools

Recent World Bank data suggests that there is a learning poverty in the Low-Income Countries; of which Ethiopia stands at the center stage. Teachers’ time on task is critical for student learning and achievement. Several research investigations have established a strong nexus between teacher instructional use and student learning outcomes. Yet, teachers' inefficient use of time on task has become a grave national concern in Ethiopia. This study has made a modest attempt to examine the role of selected proximal (personal, institutional, and environmental) factors that are believed to affect teachers’ instructional time use. A quantitative research design was used to generate data where a questionnaire was administered to a total of 1,139 teachers (66% females) drawn from a sample of 343 primary schools from nearly all the regions of Ethiopia (except Tigray Region). Findings indicated that female teachers were more resilient to factors that impact teachers' time on task; that teachers with a qualification of bachelor’s degree found it difficult to work in rural areas; that teachers with medium teaching experience (6-10) were more likely to get diverted from using their instructional time; that married teachers with family responsibilities tended to miss their teaching time more than their unmarried counterparts; that rural teachers were more readily wasting their instructional time; that instructional time was wasted while working to meet financial needs, and generally that primary school teachers were negatively affected by factors external to the school and waste instructional time thereof. Furthermore, it was noted that training for teachers could improve their practice but not their instructional time management skills and practices. Primary schools, which were ill-equipped with internal and external resources were repellent to their teachers. Finally, critical measures that would help to address the problems were suggested.