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Abstract

The purpose of the study was to explore perceptions of teachers on school heads’ involvement of teachers in financial management in public secondary schools in Rorya District, Tanzania. The study was guided by two specific objectives namely; to assess the perceptions of teachers on school heads’ consulting teachers in financial management in public secondary schools and to examine the perceptions of teachers on transparency of school heads in financial reporting in public secondary schools. The study used a mixed research approach and explanatory sequential research design. The targeted population was 848 respondents including teachers, school heads, district education officers, and district financial auditors. The sample size was 100 respondents out of 848 targeted populations selected using both probability and non-probability sampling techniques where stratified sampling and simple random sampling were used for teachers.  Purposive sampling was applied to school heads, District Secondary Education Officers, and District Financial Auditors. Quantitative data was collected through a questionnaire while qualitative data was collected through interview guides. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the quantitative data through the help of SPSS version 21 where data was presented through tables and figures. Qualitative data was recorded using a field data notebook and were analysed thematically. The instrument for quantitative was validated by using both faces and content validity while the correlation coefficient was 0.77. The study found that there was poor consultation of teachers by school heads in financial management in public secondary schools. Also, there was a lack of transparency in financial reporting, decision-making in public secondary schools. The findings show that most teachers have negative perceptions of school heads' ineffectiveness in managing school funds. The study recommended that in order to ensure positive perceptions of teachers by school heads, transparency and accountability principles, effective communication should be observed, and knowledge of teachers on financial management should be increased.