Roles of Social Media Platforms in Managing Teacher Conflicts in Public Primary Schools

Daniel Paul Maduhu & Daniel Kosia Mokoro
Tumaini University Makumira
Department of Education
Email: danielmaduhu44@gmail.com/ danielkosia@yahoo.com

Abstract: The study explored the role of social media platforms by administrators in managing teachers’ conflicts in public primary schools. The study used The Human Relations Theory which was developed by Elton Mayo in 1930 and the contingency theory which was developed by Fred Fiedler in 1960s. The study adopted convergent parallel design under mixed method research approach. The sample size of the study was 100 respondents from a target population of 1174. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used for selecting heads of school and teachers respectively. Instruments for data collection were questionnaires and interview. quantitative data were analysed using descriptive while qualitative data were analysed thematically supported by verbatim quotes. The study found that social media was the most important in managing teachers’ conflicts on improving collaboration, sharing information and enhancing transparency among teachers in the school. Also, the study concluded that social media is the best channel of solving teachers’ conflict in public primary school because majority of the teachers agreed that social media simplifies information sharing which leads to improved collaboration and transparency. The study recommended that Itilima District education officers should introduce workshops and training programs on using social media to help in managing teacher’s conflicts.