Conflict Management Strategies used by Early Grade Teachers: A Qualitative Approach

Abstract

This study presents the perceptions of teachers and head teachers toward the causes of conflict and effective strategies to resolve the conflict at preprimary schools. The research examined how conflicts are resolved by head teachers and teachers of preprimary schools. Primary data was collected through interviews with 6 head teachers and 20 teachers from purposively sampled preprimary schools. The results of the study revealed that conflicts are healthy for the institutes. Findings show that differences in beliefs between head teachers and teachers, management style, workload, dissatisfaction, lack of staff training, absence of reward systems for teachers, false information, lack of commitment, poor communication, lack of participation in decisions, and favoritism are the key causes that raised the conflicts between principal and teachers of preprimary schools. The research concludes that existing conflicts can be handled in preprimary schools by using the integrating, avoiding competing, compromising, and accommodating strategies.

Keywords: conflict, heads of schools, preprimary schools