Abstract:
The main purpose of this paper is to examine teachers’ time management practice in North
Mecha Woreda secondary schools. Hence, 282 samples are drawn from all six secondary
schools. Accordingly, Stratified sampling was used for teachers and comprehensive non probability
sampling
was
used for instructional leaders (department heads, vice-principals and
principals) (218, 50, 8, 6). Hence, Out of 276 questionnaires, 258 had been filled and returned
which makes the response rate 93.4%. In this study, both quantitative and qualitative design was
used. Questionnaire, interview, document examinations and observation were constituted as data
collection instruments. Questioners were asked for teachers, vice-principals and department
heads and interview were conducted only for school principals. Descriptive and inferential data
analyses were generated. One-sample t- test and independent t-test was computed and tested to
measure and analyze the quantitative data. On the other hand, the rest qualitative data like
interview, observation and document examinations was computed through qualitative thematic
analysis. The study found out that the prevalence of teachers’ time management in North Mecha
woreda secondary schools was very low. Meanwhile, the study revealed that teachers attend
school an average of 75.6 percent of the time; in rural schools that have no shelters 63.7 percent
of teachers were late comers; about 25.6 percent of teachers, which is more than 1 in 4 teachers,
were found outside the classroom during their period. Moreover, teachers’ time management has
been characterized by, poor prioritization, failure to accomplish planning, scheduling, and
executing as well. According to the findings, teachers’ time has been greatly wasted because of lack
of time discipline, personal problems, Disorganizations and lastly attitudinal problems respectively. The
researcher recommended that secondary school teachers must give special emphasis about
prioritizing, planning and excusing improving their time management practice.