Effectiveness of Teachers’ Code of Ethics and Conduct in Addressing Poor Attendance among Public Primary School Teachers in Rungwe District, Mbeya region

This paper aimed at assessing the effectiveness of teachers’ code of ethics and conduct in addressing poor attendance among public primary school teachers in Rungwe District in Mbeya region. The study employed a case study research design. and used qualitative research approach. In this study, head Teachers, discipline teachers and other teachers), pupils, Ward Education Officers, TCS officer District Education Officers were used as the population in this study. The schools included Nyanga, Iloto, lumbe and Suma. Convenience sampling technique was used to select participants. An estimated sample size for this study was 39 participants; where by 4 teachers and 4 pupils in each primary school, 4 school head teachers, District Education Officer (DEO), Data were collected using focus group discussion and face to face individual interview. Interview involved open ended questions on pupils and school supervisors and focus group discussion involved four teachers from each school thus there were five group discussions. Data was analyzed and presented by using thematic analysis approach. It was found that teachers were aware of the existence of teachers’ code of ethics and conduct. It was also revealed that there were cases of absenteeism among teachers in public primary schools in Rungwe Mbeya region. Although the teachers were aware of the existence of teachers’ code of ethics and conduct, they had inadequate knowledge about the applicability. The few cases where teachers’ code of ethics and conduct was applied in absenteeism cases, it brought fear, positive moral changes and brought positive results. In addition, the cases of absenteeism damaged teacher profession, questioning their moral behaviors and ethical conduct. Trainings on the knowledge and applicability of teachers’ code of ethics and conduct was done twice per year and this affected the overall performance of pupils as the applicability of this code of conduct and ethics was limited but rather based on theoretical. All teachers should be provided with hard copy of teachers’ code of ethics and conduct as it will improve availability, access to the content and improve knowledge attainment. This will reduce absenteeism and improve overall pupils’ performance.