Causes of teachers’ professional misconduct in Ethiopian secondary schools: Implications for policy and practice

Abstract

This study investigated the causes of Ethiopian teachers’ professional misconduct in secondary schools. The researchers employed a descriptive survey design with quantitative and qualitative approaches and collected the data from 404 teachers, ten principals, and five district education office experts via questionnaires and interviews. The researchers analyzed the quantitative data using percentage, frequency, mean, and standard deviation, while the qualitative data through a reflexive thematic analysis technique with verbal narration. The findings disclosed that multifaceted factors as the causes of professional misconduct of secondary school teachers. Such factors include teachers’ financial constraints, lack of appropriate training on professional ethics, teachers’ negative attitude towards their profession, a mismatch between policy and context, unfriendly working environment, lack of supervision, changes in the curriculum, the community’s unfavorable attitude towards teachers and the teaching profession, student-related factors, poor school leadership, and teachers’ low commitment to their duties and responsibilities. We recommend that since the causes are multiple and interlinked with each other, the move towards searching for a solution requires holistic, integrative, and systematic approaches in terms of policy directions and continuous intervention practices at different levels of the education system.

Keywords:

• community attitude
• economic problem
• leadership
• misconduct
• policy
• secondary schools
• teaching profession

Public interest statement

Teachers play a pivotal role in achieving social progress and preparing a generation in the lights of the goals and aspirations of the community. Particularly, their commitment to maintain the professional code of ethics through exhibiting a sense of responsibility, respect, decency, integrity, and trust is the hallmarks of the teaching profession, decisive to effective teaching and learning. However, research reports indicate that there are alarming rates of professional misconduct amongst teachers and the issue has become a global concern in several countries. Hence, this study tries to explore the factors behind unprofessional conduct of secondary school teachers in Ethiopia to shade some lights on the area and come up with recommendations worthy for policy and practice implications. The study insists collaborative and systematic approach in searching for solutions to the problem among the winder community as the matter of teachers’ unprofessional conduct is not a single entity agenda.

1. Introduction

In modern society, teachers are central to attaining educational objectives and outcomes (Al-Hothali, 2018). They play a pivotal role in achieving social progress and preparing a generation with spiritual, ideological, emotional, and moral values in the light of the goals and aspirations of the community (Kaya, 2019; Mattoo & Bichoo, 2014; Necla, 2016; Nenty et al., 2015; Thoker, 2017. Teachers are the key actors whose professional ethics play a vital role in the achievement of the educational goals of any nation (Betweli, 2013). They are responsible for the highest educational standards and the transmission of national values and norms to their students (Patrinos & Kagia, 2008). Research has shown that teachers’ commitment to the professional code of ethics is one of the hallmarks of the teaching profession (Nabukenya, 2010). Maintaining the code of ethics through exhibiting a sense of responsibility, respect, decency, integrity, and trust (Michael, 2011) enables teachers to ensure the school ethos and morale, which are conducive to effective teaching and learning (Betweli, 2013).

Despite such values, expectations, and contributions attached to teachers and the teaching profession, there are alarming rates of professional misconduct reports amongst teachers (Betweli, 2013). Recently, the issue has increasingly emerged as a global concern in several countries (Betweli, 2020). Teacher misconduct disrupts the normal functioning of the teaching-learning process (Nuland & Khandelwal, 2006) and impedes the success of the current initiatives to improve educational quality in many low-income countries (Anangisye & Barrett, 2005). Previous researchers identified absenteeism, sexual harassment, corruptive behavior, private tutoring, improper dressing, drunkenness, and violence as chronic misconduct problems in primary and secondary schools (Betweli, 2013; Mashaba, 2015; Mfaume & Bilinga, 2017; Ng’oma & Simatwa, 2013). Teachers acted in such misconduct behaviors due to many causative factors such as low salaries and remuneration, poor living and working conditions, the influence of science and technology, poor government and community attitudes for teachers, low level of self-control, disloyalty to the profession, lack of knowledge of the code of ethics, lack of interest in the teaching profession, and infrequent supervision of schools (Al-Hothali, 2018; Mfaume & Bilinga, 2017); Mkumbo, 2012).

In Ethiopia, the government pays due attention to the professional code of ethics as it believes ethically-minded teachers can minimize the gap between poor and good quality education by maximizing the benefits of learning for every child (Ministry of Education [Ministry of Education, 2010, 2015). The government embeds a professional code of ethics in the policy as one of its most significant components (Ministry of Education, 1994), used as a criterion in teacher recruitment, selection, professional development, and career progression (Ministry of Education, 2002, 2020). The government also expects the teachers to be ethically responsible for successful delivery of the curriculum content, knowledge, skills and values by applying active teaching methods, and effective classroom management to maximize time on task (Ministry of Education, 2020).

Regardless of the government’s attention and expectations, like in most sub-Saharan African countries, teacher professional misconduct has become a severe problem in Ethiopia. For example, the evaluation by the Ministry of Education indicated that teachers’ commitment to assist their students becomes extremely low (Aweke et al., 2017). Teachers also lack interest in their profession (Koye, 2014) and work with poor motivation (Aweke, 2015), and most of them waste much instructional time and want to leave teaching if given an equivalently paid job option (Ministry of Education, 2018, 2020). Considering the teaching profession as a springboard to look for other professions, teachers from non-teaching fields do not exert their maximum effort throughout the teaching-learning process (Koye, 2014). The Ministry of Education further reported that from 347 surveyed primary schools, 12% of teachers were absent without sound rationale; 28% did not enter the class, and 7% did not teach though they entered the classroom. This case is also more severe and rampant in secondary and preparatory schools as many teachers spend time in meetings, administrative tasks, absenteeism, and high teacher off-task states (Ministry of Education, 2018). Furthermore, most teachers do not make their best effort to support students by using the students’ lack of desire to learn as an excuse. Teachers do not show an interest in and commitment to implementing continuous assessment and active learning methods; they do not collaborate with colleagues and effectively participate in professional development activities (Ibid). As far as the researchers’ experience is concerned, there are no empirical studies that reveal the causes of such ethical malpractice by teachers in the study area. The very purpose of this study is thus to explore the contributing factors of teachers’ misconduct in secondary schools in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia, and indicate the policy and practice implications of the issue. Therefore, the study tried to answer a basic research question:

1. What are the factors that contributed to the teachers’ professional misconduct?

2. Review literature

Teachers’ professional code of ethics is a guiding principle in assisting teaching professionals to work with commitment, dedication, sincerity, honesty, and integrity (Sherpa, 2018). It serves as a means to reinforce public trust in the profession and guides teachers to be “good” in their professional conduct (Ida, 2017; Maxwell, 2017; O’Neill & Bourke, 2010). Although the elements that constitute good teachers vary across different nations and individuals due to social, economic, and demographic factors (Ida, 2017), scholars agree that professional ethics is one of the essential items (Peterson & Arthur, 2021; Trošelj & Ivkovic, 2016). Good professional ethics, which comprises teachers’ ethical behavior like honesty, fairness, self-command, exemplary, punctuality, socially positive, and responsibility, enables teachers to become professionally sound (Ida, 2017; Nuland, 2009). Professional ethics also provides a solid rationale for referring to teachers as professionals: when teachers follow a code of ethics correctly, they are referred to as members of a profession; otherwise, they are referred to as technicians (Elliott, 1989 as cited in Peterson & Arthur, 2021). Teachers with a strong professional commitment and ethical responsibilities can predict effective performance and the attainment of quality education (Mwesiga & Philipkireti, 2018). As a result, good professional ethics should be the first and most significant professional quality of teachers (Sherpa, 2018).

Despite the emphasis and expectations placed on appropriate ethical practices, numerous studies have revealed an alarming rate of teacher misconduct, particularly in many developing countries (Anangisye & Barrett, 2005; Betweli, 2013, 2020; Mfaume & Bilinga, 2017prevalence); Mkumbo, 2012; Mwesiga & Philipkireti, 2018). Of course, literature shows that unethical practices of teachers have become a global phenomenon these days (Betweli, 2013). For example, teachers in South Africa disrespect their students, waste time on irrelevant cases, leave the class unsupervised, and fail to cover the curriculum (Mashaba, 2015). In Kenya, Ng’oma and Simatwa (2013) identified lateness, absenteeism, negligence of duty, and alcoholism as serious misdemeanors of primary school teachers. In Tanzania, studies conducted in the last two decades reported several forms of teacher misconduct that embrace high-level absenteeism, unethical dressing, use of abusive language, sexual abuse, corruption, private tutoring, improper dressing, drunkenness, and violent acts (Anangisye & Barrett, 2005; Arnold & Mwila, 2022; Betweli, 2013, 2020; Mfaume & Bilinga, 2017prevalence); Mkumbo, 2012; Mwesiga & Philipkireti, 2018). The bad news is not only the deterioration of teachers’ professional misconduct but rather the alarming occurrence of the issue, the tendency of teachers to continue in their undesired behavior, and the very nature of such misdemeanors are rooted in various but interlinked causative factors (Betweli, 2020). We believe these factors would make the problem extremely serious on a global scale and that solutions would be extremely long, exhaustive, and even futile. When the latter happens, it adversely affects the desired behavioral changes and development of students, as teachers have the lion’s share in shaping such progress (Kaya, 2019; Mattoo & Bichoo, 2014; Necla, 2016). The researchers further argue that teachers would not be involved in such wrong deeds unless forced by different pushing and pulling factors. So, the first step to restoring the desirable professional conduct among teachers at different levels and maintaining it going forward has to begin with identifying such push and pull factors since the identification of the causes of the illness can significantly enable the medication to be successful.

The current trend within different studies across several countries shows the efforts of scholars. For example, Rani (2019) stipulated that the government’s inappropriate policies and administrative decisions, poor institutional environment, and lack of teachers’ knowledge about ethical standards contributed to the causes of professional misconduct. Mashaba, 2015)) reported that changes in the curriculum, financial constraints, stress caused by a high workload, and poor teaching and learning environments are the major causes of teachers’ unprofessional conduct. Burger (2009) identified the following factors that negatively affect the practices of teachers’ professional ethics: stress, financial constraints, substance abuse, lack of accountability, working at the same school for long periods, a lack of mentoring and supervision, family matters, and the HIV plague. Most importantly, the financial problem is a leading factor to teachers’ unprofessional conduct. When teachers face a livelihood problem, they may turn to private classes and entrance exams and disregard educational justice in the classroom, or turn to other occupations, all of which can be detrimental to their professional conduct (Asadi et al., 2020). Other studies found that teachers’ ignorance of the nature and character of the teaching, irresponsibility of parents, looking at the teaching profession as an alternative for temporary employment, low job satisfaction, lack of knowledge of the teachers about their code of conduct, negligence behavior, lack of support from authorities, lack of cooperation among teachers, low salaries and remuneration; poor living and working conditions, failure to fulfill teachers’ needs and demand, irregular promotion; inadequate teaching-learning facilities, poor school management, and poor professional training as the causes to the widespread misconduct of teaching professionals (Anangisye, 2011; Betweli, 2013; Chirwa, 2014; Mfaume & Bilinga, 2017prevalence); Ndung’u, 2017). All such pieces of evidence show the practice of teachers’ professional conduct is affected by multiple and interrelated causative factors, which would have a potential policy and practice implications.

3. Conceptual framework

We tried to explore the causes of teachers’ professional misconduct in secondary schools in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia, using the conceptual framework adapted from the works of Mashaba, 2015)) and Burger (2009). The above authors identified financial constraints, lack of training, job dissatisfaction, a mismatch between policy and context, poor working environment, lack of supervision, curriculum changes, stress caused by a high workload, work assignments beyond competency, working in one school for a long time, lack of accountability, family matters, and substance or drug abuse as factors for teachers’ unprofessional practice. Using such a frame, we examined whether those factors became a cause for secondary school teachers’ misconduct in the study area or not. Of course, our study provided additional causative factors for teachers’ professional misdemeanor since the qualitative data revealed emerging themes other than the quantitative framework.

4. Methods and materials

4.1. Research design

The researchers employed a survey design with quantitative and qualitative research approaches. A survey research design may be used for descriptive, explanatory, and exploratory purposes (Babbie, 2021). In our case, we used survey design for a descriptive purpose as it helps to describe and understand existing facts, behaviors, and situations of a given phenomenon and the practice of events in larger entities (Gray, 2004; Kothari, 2004; Leary, 2001). We also selected this particular design as it is the best method available to the social/educational researcher who is interested in collecting original data for describing a larger population entity and to observe directly the individual people as the units of analysis (Babbie, 2021). The quantitative and qualitative approaches are vital for a better understanding of the research problem than any other approach (Creswell, 2009, 2012; McKim, 2015); they are appropriate to eliminate the weakness of a single approach (Creswell, 2009; Dornyei, 2007), and triangulate the quantitative and qualitative data (Fernandez & Azorin, 2011). Based on the two approaches, the researchers collected the qualitative and quantitative data sets on a similar point in time. Because, combination use of quantitative and qualitative approaches is worth not only to comprehensive understanding of the event but also very essential to ascertain both the nature and extent of diversity and variation in a studied phenomenon (Kumar, 2011).

4.2. Population, sample size, and sampling methods

The target population of this study was public secondary school teachers, principals, and district education experts who are working in four randomly selected zones of Amhara regional state, Ethiopia, namely: Central, north, west, and south Gondar zones, from which the researchers took 22 sample schools out of 127 secondary schools proportionally using a simple random sampling technique. The total population of teachers in the selected four zones was 9005 teachers (male = 6085, female = 2920). Before we selected sample participants, we determined the representative sample size using Yamane’s (1967) formula,$\mathrm{n}=\frac{N}{1+N{(e)}^2}$ =, $\mathrm{n}=\frac{9005}{1+9005{(0.05)}^2}=383$ where n = sample size, N = Population, e = sample error by taking a 95% confidence interval. To accommodate non-response or non-sense-filled data, we added 10% of the sample of teachers, which make our total sample size of teachers to be 421 (male = 284, female = 137). We employed proportional random sampling technique to select 421 sample teachers found in the 22 selected sample secondary schools. However, data collectors unintentionally reduced the percentage of female teachers during data collection as they distributed more questionnaires to males. Consequently, 421 (324 male and 97 female) teachers were participated in the study. For this study, we also selected ten principals through a simple random sampling technique from the 22 secondary schools and five district education experts purposively (Singh, 2007).

4.3. Data collection tools

The researchers used questionnaires and interview guides to collect quantitative and qualitative data from the participants. We used a questionnaire to gather data from teachers because questionnaires are relatively easy to use, inexpensive, the most plausible alternative for measuring unobservable constructs, and suitable for collecting data from large numbers of participants (Moorman & Podsakoff, 1992; Tharenou et al., 2007). We also preferred to employ questionnaire in this study for its advantage of greater anonymity, which increases the likelihood of obtaining accurate information for sensitive questions, if any (Kumar, 2011). The questionnaire with 14 items (13 close-ended and one open-ended) was used to identify the causes of teachers’ misconduct in secondary schools. We followed five fundamental stages while preparing the questionnaire items: (1) identifying the first thought from the literature, (2) formulating the first draft of the questionnaire, (3) checking the face validity of the questionnaire, (4) piloting the questionnaire, and (5) adoption of the questionnaire. To avoid communication barriers, we translated the items into Amharic, the native language of the participants, and piloted them on 40 teachers, obtaining a Cronbach analysis coefficient of =.78, which is acceptable measure of internal consistency of items appropriate to the intended objective (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007; Field, 2009). We distributed the questionnaires to 421 teachers and found a 404 (95.9%) completed response rate used for the final data analysis. The researchers also conducted a semi-structured interview with ten principals and five district education experts. Interviews are the most commonly employed qualitative data gathering tools to draw out the views, opinions, and expectations (Creswell, 2007, 2012; Merriam, 2009) and to address issues that might not be covered by the questionnaire (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007). The researchers used a semi-structured interview to elicit the interviewees’ opinions on the topic of interest instead of leading the interviewee toward predefined objectives (Merriam, 2009). We held the interview using guiding items in the Amharic language by applying audio-recording for all cases.

4.4. Data analysis

We analyzed the data both quantitatively and qualitatively. The researchers analyzed the quantitative data using frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation and the qualitative data using a reflexive thematic analysis technique. As a procedure, we first repeatedly listened to the audio records and then transcribed them carefully. After reading the transcript, we coded the data page-by-page. We also crosschecked notes and audio records with the transcripts to avoid possible misinterpretation and analysis of the interviewed data. We followed the steps of 1) familiarizing with the data, 2) coding, 3) generating initial themes, 4) reviewing themes, 5) developing themes, and 6) writing up of data analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Nowell et al., 2017). We formatted the questionnaire items with five-point Likert scales: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree 3 =undecided, 4 =agree, and 5 =strongly agree. But, during the data analysis and interpretation, the responses in the “strongly disagree” and “disagree” scales were summarized as “disagreement”, and the responses in the “strongly agree” and “agree” categories were summed up as “agreement.” We interpreted the data analysis by comparing the actual and expected mean, 3.00, which denotes a neutral response. If the calculated mean was below the expected (M < 3.00), we inferred it as a disagreement, representing an insignificant cause of teachers’ misconduct. However, if it was above the expected mean (M > 3.00), we considered it an agreement, understood as a factor that adversely contributed to teachers’ unprofessional conduct. In addition, we used frequency counts and percentage scores with mean values side-to-side to avoid the probability of mean scores representing crude data.

4.5. Ethical consideration

The research project for this particular study was approved in the year 2019 by the College Review and Ethics Committee (CREC) of the College of Education at the University of Gondar. Further, we informed the participants about the purpose of the study and they were participated voluntarily (Creswell, 2007). To maintain anonymity, we used codes for participants’ direct quotes (teacher 1, 2, 3 for teachers; principal 1, 2, 3 for principals; and expert 1, 2, 3 for experts) throughout the data analysis.

5. Results

This section provides data analysis on the cause of teachers’ professional misconduct. We analyzed the quantitative data using descriptive statistics (such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation) and the qualitative data thematically through verbal narrations.

Table 1 shows that of 13 factors of which, 7 are considered as the major causes to secondary school teachers’ professional misconduct in the study area. The mean values for those factors ranged from 3.35 to 4.06, which indicates that the factors highly affected teachers’ ability to act unprofessionally. Most participants (from 55.4% to 76.7%) agreed upon that the factors had contributed to the teachers’ professional misconduct. These factors include financial constraints, lack of training, job dissatisfaction, a mismatch between policy and context, poor working environment, lack of supervision, and curriculum changes. However, factors such as work assignment beyond competency, working in one school for a long time, lack of accountability, family matters, and drug abuse were regarded as insignificant factors to teachers’ professional misbehavior since the items failed to receive the agreed response of the majority of the participants. In terms of the frequency/percentage scores, lack of training is the top contributing factor, followed by financial constraints, the mismatch between policy and context, and job dissatisfaction, which received nearly three-fourths of the participants’ agreement response. On the other hand, substance or drug abuse, family matters, and lack of accountability were not causes for teachers’ unprofessional practices. Similarly, the qualitative data provides a wide range of factors that support the quantitative finding and some additional factors for teachers’ misconduct as an emerging themes, as discussed below.

Table 1. Causes of teachers’ professional misconduct

Items	Teachers (N = 404)				Mean rank order
	Disagreement	Agreement	M	SD
Financial constraints	56 (13.8%)	300(74.2%)	4.06	1.206	1
Lack of training	73(18.1%)	310(76.7%)	3.92	1.269	2
Job dissatisfaction	78(19.3%)	283(70%)	3.89	2.439	3
Mismatch between policy and context	68(16.8%)	285(70.5%)	3.85	1.219	4
Poor working environment	97(24%)	279(69.1%)	3.7	1.356	5
Lack of supervision	93(23.1%)	272(67.3%)	3.61	1.236	6
Changes in the curriculum	134(33.1%)	224(55.4%)	3.35	1.372	7
Stress cause by high workload	157(38.80%)	190(47.1%)	3.14	1.345	8
Work assignment beyond competency	177(43.8%)	180(44.5%)	3.04	1.453	9
Working in one school for a long time	186 (46%)	178(44.1%)	2.95	1.474	10
Lack of accountability	196(48.5%)	148(36.6%)	2.78	1.359	11
Family matters	204(50.4%)	137(33.9%)	2.75	1.321	12
Drug abuse	256(63.3%)	108(26.7%)	2.33	1.422	13
Average score	137(33.8%)	223(55.1%)	3.34	1.420

5.1. Causes of teachers’ professional misconduct

A thorough analysis, coding, and theme development of the qualitative data obtained from education experts, principals, and teachers reveal seven multifaceted factors that contributed to the unprofessional behavior of teachers. Of these, two factors strengthen the quantitative data, while five of the remaining emerge as new factors to teachers’ professional misconduct. Broadly speaking, the factors obtained in this study can be external and internal factors. Internal factors originate within the teachers, whereas external factors are beyond the teachers’ control. The factors we examined here could fall into either of the two categories.

5.2. The teachers’ economic problem

According to the data, teachers’ lives were made more difficult by the alarmingly high inflation rate, unequal pay for teaching duties, and a lack of various benefits within the teaching profession. Due to such a chronic economic problems, teachers in the studied schools fight for survival and get distracted by complicated life questions instead of focusing on their duties in general and the appropriate application of their code of conduct in particular. The data from the participants shows that the current problems that teachers encountered threaten the proper application of a professional code of ethics in the school environment. The participants believe that “teachers are deprived of their economic freedom as their current salary is inadequate for a living, and other forms of benefits are unavailable” [Teachers 1, 7, 14 & 64]. Though teachers are physically present in schools, their professional and routine questions target issues outside teaching-learning and professional ethics; instead, they worry about survival questions and life alternatives. The extracts below confirm the ideas presented so far:

In the current reality of our country, the highest cost of goods in the market is beyond the capacity of teachers. The salary teachers earn is not adequate enough compared to the existing living costs, which makes teachers unable to afford their living expenses for basic needs. Consequently, these days many teachers heard bitterly saying that I can live a better life than where I am now, wherever I go and whatever I do [Expert 4].

Students also recognize the economic concerns of teachers. A school principal reflected this as:

Teachers are among the low-income professional communities. Surprisingly, when teachers ask the students to know their vision (i.e., which profession students would like to be in), no one wishes to be a teacher and join teacher education/training institutions. Students gradually develop this feeling and position from their teachers’ daily expression anger, wearing, and living conditions [Principal 1].

The economic problem of teachers affects the teachers’ professional conduct and their interest in the teaching profession to the extent of having an intention to change it by other best job options. An expert reflected this in the following manner:

Due to the economic burden, the teachers’ interest in their teaching profession has become the lowest ever. They are searching for other professions with better pay; they often see the teaching profession as a temporary job until they get better jobs or engage in other better income-generating activities in the form of self-employment [Expert 5].

The other economic-related factor that aggravated teachers’ professional misconduct is the belief that teachers hold about their salary and duty balance. Accordingly, most teachers believe that the effort required by the teaching duties and the allotted payment in the form of a monthly salary towards such efforts are imbalanced, which leads them not to exert their maximum professional effort on their duties.

In my opinion, the imbalance between teachers’ salaries and the duty of teaching highly and negatively affects the teachers’ professional conduct. It is a fact that teachers cannot complete their teaching duties only at the workplace/the school/classroom level, but they go with such tasks at home too. In this case, teachers must be prepared to teach regularly, preferably around the clock. However, as teachers are in difficult economic conditions, they come to school and do their duties, including the code of ethics, half-heartedly [Principal 3].

All the extracts stated above emphasize that the teachers in the study setting live a persistent life that contributes to misconduct in the teaching-learning practice.

5.3. Attitude of the community towards teaching profession

Teachers are part of the larger community; they work for and with the community. Teachers can affect and be affected by the community they live within. For instance, the community’s support and encouragement matters more in determining the effectiveness of the teachers in the teaching-learning process in the school. However, there are changes in the intimacy between teachers and the community these days. In the past, teachers were respected figures in the community, but now, their dignity and social status have been significantly diminished due to different contributing factors. In this regard, the participants asserted that the community these days has misunderstandings and unfavorable attitude towards the teaching profession and teachers, which in turn contribute to teachers’ professional misconduct. Participants explained different instances that indicate how the community has shown disrespect and a negative attitude towards the teaching profession and teachers, intentionally or unintentionally. We underscored the scenarios below:

The community’s view of teachers and the teaching profession is corrosive. Currently, the community does not provide due respect for teachers as ever before. This circumstance decreases the teachers’ motivation towards their teaching profession in general and to appropriately practice their professional code of ethics in particular, if not misconduct at all. The situation is worse and more discouraging for newly deployed teachers who do not know the community’s context very well. The community’s attitudes are not conducive for teachers to exercise their professional code of ethics as expected [Expert 5].

The teachers’ duty often does not provide an immediate output and outcome, unlike agricultural, health, and other professionals. Consequently, parents and some community members prefer agricultural experts over teaching professionals. This misunderstanding is reflected in practice by the community members on their life occasions. One participant well remembered many such types of cases and reported one as follows:

On one occasion, a farmer invited lunch to an agriculture professional and said, “ብላግብርናያመምህርእንኳንይበላዋል” to mean that “Eat, even that teacher eats it.” In this conversation, there is a tone of regret on the part of the farmer when he invited a teacher for lunch. Although the case is a single event, as an actual example, it serves to show that how the community members provide disregard to teachers compared to other professionals such as agricultural experts. Though such a saying is derived from a misunderstanding about the role of teachers as “mother” professionals for others, the point negatively impacts the emotions and work spirit of teachers and paves the way for unprofessional conduct by a significant number of teachers [Expert 5].

With such misunderstanding, the community members also disregarded other teachers and even their own children with respect to the teaching profession and becoming a teacher. A participant elaborated on his personal experience as evidence of this:

Mr. “X” and Mr. “Y” are friends who met after a long time and talked about family and work-related issues. Meanwhile, Mr. “X,” asked Mr. “Y” if his children had jobs. Mr. ‘Y’ replied, “Yes, thanks to God, all my children have jobs except my first son; he is still a teacher. You see! Mr. “Y” looks at his son as jobless, though he is a teacher [Principal 4].

Many teachers stated in response to the open-ended item that the community gives low value and misunderstanding to the teaching profession [Teachers 1, 16, & 18] and that it looks at the teachers as a poor group of members [Teachers 3 & 4], and as a consequence, some community members refused to give their daughters for marriage to male teachers [Teachers 8 & 96]. Such community attitudes contributed as a factor to teachers’ professional misconduct. Apart from misconduct, some teachers are looking for employment in other NGOs, and governmental institutions, as they believe their dignity as a teacher has been taken away and will never return [Principal 1].

5.4. Student-related factors

Teacher participants raised three important student-related factors to teachers’ professional misconduct. According to the data, students’ discipline has deteriorated from time to time; they neither respect their teachers nor abide by school rules and regulations, which irritates many teachers and pushes them to act forcefully to make students disciplined. Though teachers intend to bring behavioral change to the students, the way teachers treat the students is unlawful and unprofessional. Participants stated this: “these days, many students violate school rules and regulations [Teacher 112]. Most of them engage in undisciplined acts to which teachers cannot shape this with advice unless they use some punitive actions that negatively affect teachers’ professional conduct” [Teacher 13]. The other student-related factor that contributed not only to teachers’ misconduct but also to their job motivation is the decline in students’ desire to learn. In our experience as teachers, “we noticed that students consider education as recreation and joking [Teacher 63]; their attitude towards learning became negative [Teacher 92]. Most students felt cynical as they would not get employed when they completed their education; they compared the benefits of learning only with the teacher’s salary and said that learning has no advantage other than killing time [Teachers 54 and 90]. As a result, several teachers become demotivated by such students’ pessimistic views, and we do not worry about whether we act professionally or not [Teacher 116]. Other participants also noted that the availability of large class sizes (imbalance teacher-student ratio) exposed teachers to an overload, which became a cause of teachers’ unprofessional conduct [Teachers 3 & 16].

5.5. Training related factors

The participants indicated that a lack of teachers’ knowledge about their professional ethics has significantly contributed to their unprofessional conduct. The issue is deep-rooted in other factors, such as background factors, training institutions, government employment policy, and unavailability of training opportunities in schools. The participants justified their ideas by mentioning such multifaceted factors to the problem in the following way:

A person learns much about ethical behavior from the family, the community, and the elderly. However, these days, significant numbers of family members, including the community, do not pay attention to the ethics of their children, unlike ever before. Children who grow up with such unsupportive parents may be unable to respect codes of conduct when they join teaching profession [Expert 2].

Hiring ‘non-teachinggraduates’¹ as teachers who do not have even a piece of knowledge about professional ethics from the beginning is another problem that adds salt to the wound of professional misconduct. As far as my experience is concerned, this is a typical practice in many districts of the Amhara Region. How can you expect proper implementation of the teaching code of ethics from those untrained individuals? [Principal 3].

Let alone teachers from non-teaching fields, those who join teacher training institutions do not have a deep knowledge base about their professional conduct because training colleges or universities place less emphasis on professional ethics. An interviewee disclosed that:

As most commonly observed, colleges and universities emphasize the knowledge and skills aspect of teachers’ professionalism. Training institutions confirm this by conducting thorough and different assessment and measurement mechanisms. However, they leave aside the ethical component of trainees as they do not give due emphasis nor critically measure the ethics of trainee teachers. When trainees become teachers at the end of their training, they become careless in respecting the code of ethics and give less value to their conduct as teachers were given less consideration while they were in colleges and universities [Expert 2].

The data further indicates that lack of awareness about professional duties and responsibilities [Principal 10], coupled with unavailability of training about professional ethics [Teachers 14 & 59] contributed a lot to teachers’ professional misconduct in the study area.

5.6. Teachers’ attitude towards their profession

The participants confirm that the negative attitude of teachers towards their profession has also played a role in teachers’ professional misconduct. One of the participant teachers stated that “most teachers have a negative attitude towards their profession. How can you be so astonished when such teachers are committing professional felonies?” [Teacher 1]. Other participants strengthen the idea by disclosing that:

Nowadays, in our country, many teachers show a lower interest in the teaching profession itself. In particular, teachers who join the teaching profession from non-teaching applied fields do not provide focus on the practice of codes of ethics. This is because they do not know partly those codes of conduct from the beginning and do not see the teaching profession as their permanent and lifelong profession [Principal 3].

Currently, teachers’ interest in their profession has become the lowest ever. They are engaged in it until they find a relatively better job alternative in terms of income and respect by the community. As a result, they are unconcerned about whether they are respecting their professional code of ethics correctly [Principal 8].

As a school principal for several years, “I noticed the absence of teachers’ love for the teaching profession results in the malpractice of professional ethics in many schools” [principal 10]. “I observe that teachers who join the teaching profession without their interest struggle to accept the professional code of ethics theoretically, let alone to implement it practically” [Expert 4].

5.7. Leadership factors

According to the qualitative data, the leadership practices in the studied schools have become a cause for teachers’ professional misconduct. Interviewees elaborated on the case of how school leaders negatively play their role and become a cause for teacher misconduct in a way that:

You know the proverb saying that … ‘A student seems a teacher and a school seems a principal’. In some schools of our district, some unethical principals and supervisors create improper friendship with similar character teachers to play, smoke, and drink together. Such school leaders do not ask teachers who do not abide by the code of conduct since the principals themselves do not respect the rules. This circumstance demoralizes some ethical teachers and even pushes them to engage in unethical duties [Expert 2].

The partiality of principals and a delayed response to the questions of teachers’ also contributed to teachers’ unprofessional conduct in their responsibilities. Teacher participants reported that “school leaders partially treated teachers [Teacher 28], they provided delayed response to teachers’ demands, and most often they did this in favor of those who have personal intimacy with [Teacher 108]. The low capacity of principals to empower teachers about professional ethics is also a responsible factor for teachers’ unprofessional conduct. In our school, principals do not appropriately coach their teachers on how to implement professional codes of ethics [Teacher 50 & 69], nor do they enforce such professional codes of ethics [Principal 7].

5.8. Teachers’ commitment and conflict of interest behavior

The teachers’ personalities are decisive factors to appropriately implementing a professional code of ethics. Indisputably, individual teachers may not have similar behaviors that either hamper or promote the proper practice of professional conduct. In this regard, the data shows that secondary school teachers professionally misbehave due to a lack of personal commitment in one way and conflict of interest behavior on the other.

Based on our random observation in classrooms, we found some teachers who were not wearing uniforms, did not have lesson plans, and were not prepared for class [did not master the session contents]. When we asked them why they failed to abide by the regulations, they said that it emanated from the carelessness nature of such teachers [Principal 2].

Teachers lack the commitment to carry out directives related to the professional code of ethics. Though there are clear directives, teachers did not implement them due to ignorant behaviors [Expert 4]. The main factor is the lack of teachers’ commitment to do so. Most of the teachers in our school are not committed to carrying out the expected duty; they want to work a little and enjoy it more [Principal 8]. This low commitment results in professional misconduct among many teachers within the school environment [Expert 1].

The data also shows that the teachers’ conflicting interest encouraged them to act out unprofessionally. Participants elaborated on the case as:

Almost all teachers have concerned about transfer and promotion. Several teachers claim that the promotion and transfer processes are partial and get a reason to misbehave in their daily routines as a response to their assumption of unfair transfer and promotion procedures [Expert 5].

In the case of school-to-school transfers within a given district, most teachers usually prefer some schools without considering their service years. When they did not get placed in the school they wanted, they thought as if there is an illegal procedure followed by district experts, which in turn motivated teachers to be unethical themselves [Expert 1].

“Because of such teachers’ conflicts of interests, most teachers do not interested to work with their colleagues as a team, believing that somebody else gets favor at the expense of others, either from the principal or any other body [Expert 5].

6. Discussion

The present study confirmed that economic problems, lack of professional training, negative attitude of teachers towards their profession, decontextualized policy and discriminatory directives, unconducive working environment, unsupportive supervision, changes in the curriculum, community attitude towards teachers and their profession, student-related factors, poor school leadership, and teachers’ low commitment had contributed to Ethiopian teachers’ professional misconduct in secondary schools. Previous research has found that poverty or low income in comparison to living costs is a major reason why teachers engage in unprofessional practices (Anangisye, 2011; Betweli, 2013; Mashaba, 2015; Mfaume & Bilinga, 2017). A recent study confirmed that professional ethics is influenced by various factors, of which the economic factor has a greater impact on the professional conduct of teachers (Asadi et al., 2020). According to these authors, the financial constraint for teachers’ livelihood is proved to be one of the major challenges of the education system for many years and still no sustainable solution has been implemented (Ibid). In the present study, lack of knowledge about the particulars of professional conduct and the unavailability of training opportunities to bridge the gap were indicated as the causes of professional misconduct. Similar studies affirmed that inadequate professional knowledge among teachers is identified as a responsible factor in professional misdemeanors of teachers (Anangisye, 2011; Betweli, 2013; Chirwa, 2014; Ndung’u, 2017).

The current study revealed that the negative attitudes of teachers towards their profession play an adverse role in teachers’ professional misconduct. So far, national studies have confirmed that Ethiopian teachers lose interest in and motivation to their profession (Aweke, 2015; Koye, 2014; Ministry of Education, 2018, 2020). Other studies also reported that some secondary school teachers in Ethiopia consider the teaching profession as a bridge to move on to other jobs, disrespect and dislike it (Ayenalem et al., 2022). Anangisye (2011) also found that several teachers did not regard teaching as their chosen profession, which in turn contributed to irresponsible professional conduct. The present study also identified decontextualized policy issues, poor working conditions, frequent curriculum changes, negative community attitude towards teachers, low teachers’ commitment to their code of conduct, and meager school leadership practices as severe causes of teachers’ unprofessional conduct in Ethiopia. Previous studies in different countries and contexts revealed similar factors responsible for professional misconduct among teachers. In this regard, unconducive working and living conditions (Mfaume & Bilinga, 2017), changes in curriculum (Mashaba, 2015), negligence and carelessness behavior of teachers (Chirwa, 2014), and poor school management/leadership practices (Betweli, 2013; Ndung’u, 2017; Ng’oma & Simatwa, 2013) were reported as the main causes of teachers’ professional misconduct. As to Rani (2019), the government’s inappropriate policies and administrative decisions were also ascribed as the reasons for teachers’ unprofessional conduct. Burger (2009) also reported that stress, substance abuse, lack of accountability, lack of supervision, and family matters negatively affected teachers’ professional conduct. Arnold and Mwila (2022) also recently reported that teachers themselves, government, community, environment related issues still become persistent causes for teachers’ professional misconduct. In Nigeria, Akinrotimi (2021) found that poor condition of services, irregular promotion and payment of salaries, poor professional training, societal negative influence, inadequate facilities and instructional supervision were responsible factors for teachers’ misconduct.

7. Conclusions

7.1. Implications

The present study revealed multiple factors that contribute to secondary school teachers’ professional misconduct in Ethiopia. Based on the findings of the study, it can be concluded that multitude of factors internal (teachers poor knowledge of professional ethics, negative attitude and low commitment of teachers to their profession, and inadequate instructional supervision support) and external to the teacher (poor instructional leadership practices, the community’s negative attitude towards the teaching profession and teachers’, low wages) contributed to the professional misconduct. As a result, the move towards searching for a solution to those factors requires an integrative and systematic approach from the concerned bodies.

The present study thus has dual implications for policy makers and implementers in the short and long terms. For instance, causes of teachers’ professional misconduct related to inadequate supervision, poor leadership roles, and unconducive working environments can be resolved by practicing regular supervision, efficient and impartial good governance at school levels. However, causes that are deeply rooted in teachers and the community attitude towards the teaching profession, the balance between teacher salary and cost of living, students’ desire to learn, and teacher training institutions cannot be addressed within a short-term action; rather they require a holistic approach such as policy-wise directions, integrative and continuous interventions at different levels of the country in general and the education system in particular. For example, the teachers’ claim about their salary is not to mean that it is extremely low, as it is even better than the average civil servants’ salary in the country. The core point is that, due to the heightened living costs, teachers cannot afford to cover their basic needs. That is why many teachers consider the teaching profession as an alternative career, even to the extent of developing hatred towards it. This shows that the teachers’ economic demand for living requires a radical change as it will equally bring favorable attitudinal change towards their profession.

7.2. Recommendations

Depending on the findings of the present study, it is valuable if the Ethiopian government cooperatively with different stakeholders: (a) devise mechanisms through which teachers living and working conditions can be improved including but not limited to introducing and implementing a well thought-out benefits for teachers such as overtime fee, housing and transport allowances to the extent of covering health expenses; (b) provide a special emphasis on the short and long-term professional training of teachers, particularly for the ethical aspects of teacher professionalism; and (c) closely work with the community to raise the social status and prestige of teachers and the teaching profession through continuous and deliberate awareness creation and media campaign programs. Finally, we recommend further study to explore how the community and students view teachers and the teaching profession and advanced study to predict which causes of highly contributed to teachers’ professional misconduct.

8. Limitations of the study

This study has limitations: it does not include data from students and community members in exploring factors to secondary school teachers’ professional misconduct. It does not also show the extent to which the identified factors predict and/or correlate to the existed unprofessional conduct of teachers. It simply describes the perceived causes of professional misconduct. In the future, it needs to conduct a study on the same area from cause and effect perspective of the issue.

Declaration

We declare that this manuscript is our original work which has not been published previously, and is not under simultaneous review elsewhere.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Kindu Ayechew Ayenalem

Kindu Ayechew Ayenalemis a PhD student in Educational Leadership and Management at University of Gondar, Ethiopia. He published articles in teacher collaboration, attitude, professional code of ethics, and quality of adult education in reputable journals. He is now actively participated in two university funded research projects.

Muluken Ayalew Gone

Muluken Ayalew Goneis assistant professor and a PhD student in Curriculum and Instruction at Bahir Dar University. He taught more than eighteen years in Gondar Teacher Training College, Debre Tabor and Gondar Universities.

Menber Enyew Yohannes

Menber Enyew Yohannes(PhD) is an assistant professor in Educational Planning and Management. She has worked more than 30 years as primary school teacher, secondary school director, and university lecturer. She published articles in educational leadership.

Kindie Abeje Lakew

Kindie Abeje Lakew(PhD) is an assistant professor in Educational Planning and Management. He is a well-established researcher who published different articles in educational leadership and teachers’ attitude to their profession

Notes

1. Non-teaching graduates: in Ethiopia, almost in the past two decades including now, employing non-teaching or applied field first-degree graduates as teaching professionals is a common practice as a strategy to reduce shortage of teachers in secondary schools. Although a Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching (PGDT) program is designed and practiced in different modalities to improve the pedagogical skills of those non-teaching /applied field graduates, the program does not have any specific professional ethics component that acquaint those groups with professional code of ethics.

Appendix

Questionnaire Prepared to be filled by Secondary School Teachers

Part I: Information on Demographic Variables

Items from 1 to 4 requests your background information. Hence, Please provide your response as per the nature of the item either by writing short answer or circling one of the given alternative.

1. Sex A. Male B. Female

2. Educational Level A. BA/BSc/Bed B. MA/MSc/MEd C. specify if any __________

3. Age __________________ years old

4. Teaching Experience in years ________________________________________________

Part II: Causes of teachers’ professional misconduct

The statements below are related to the causes of teachers’ professional misconduct. Decide whether you strongly disagree (SD=1), Disagree (D=2), Undecided (U=3), Agree (A=4) or Strongly Agree (SA=5). Circle one of the alternatives that best describes your level of agreement or disagreement.

Table

No.	Possible causes of teachers’ professional misconduct	SD	D	AD	A	SA
1	Stress cause by high workload	1	2	3	4	5
2	Financial constraints	1	2	3	4	5
3	Lack of accountability	1	2	3	4	5
4	Substance or drug abuse	1	2	3	4	5
5	Working in one school for a long time	1	2	3	4	5
6	Poor working environment	1	2	3	4	5
7	Lack of training	1	2	3	4	5
8	Job dissatisfaction	1	2	3	4	5
9	Assignment work beyond once competency to perform	1	2	3	4	5
10	Changes of curriculum	1	2	3	4	5
11	Family matters	11	2	3	4	5
12	Lack of supervision	1	2	3	4	5
13	Mismatch between education policy and context	1	2	3	4	5

• 14. Would you please mention and explain other factors that contribute to teachers’ unprofessional conduct? __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________