Participative Leadership Practices (PLP) Used by Public Secondary Schools’ Administrators to Communicate with Teachers in Ifakara Town Council Morogoro – Tanzania

This study examines the impact of participative leadership behaviors on job motivation among teachers in public secondary schools in Ifakara Town Council, Tanzania. Left behind in growing consciousness of leadership as a determining factor for job motivation among teachers. The research was focused on some objectives that guide the research which are: (i) to examine the participative leadership practices utilized by school principals in communicating with teachers, (ii) to identify indicators of participative leadership practices adopted by school principals, and (iii) to test the effect of participative leadership on job motivation of teachers. Even though participative leadership is highly known to develop cooperative environments, evidence on how such practices get engaged within the Ifakara Town council's secondary schools is rare. The research bridges a practical and contextual gap in leadership texts on education by linking participative leadership with the actual teacher motivation outcomes. The principal research problem guiding this study was: To what extent do participative leadership practices impact teachers' job motivation in public secondary schools in Ifakara Town Council? This study aimed to assess the nature, existence, and impact of participative leadership from both the administrative and teacher perspectives. Mixed-methods research design was employed. Quantitative data were collected using structured questionnaires from 200 teachers, and qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews guide with 10 school heads who responded. Representativeness and depth were enabled through stratified and purposive sampling methods. The qualitative data were analyzed thematically and quantitative data were analyzed using statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The research findings were the primary conclusions: initially, school administrators tend to utilize participative leadership behaviors such as staff meetings frequently, open discussion, joint decision-making and one-on-one communication, also school administrators utilize virtual channels such as WhatsApp groups, Telephones, Emails and Suggestion boxes to get teachers' feedback and continue communicating that enhance teaching and collaboration. Secondly, indicators/key characteristics of participative leadership were delegation of work, openness, valuing teachers' ideas, and teachers' involvement in school planning. The results also showed that these practices positively affected teachers' motivation, leading to job satisfaction, sense of belonging when involved in decision-making, professional commitment.