The instructional time is also known as the contact hour. It is the time frame for interaction between the teachers and the students to do an activity. The instructional time is only the period the teacher meets the class to give them instruction. Any meeting out of this period even though is part of the actual curriculum of the school is not part of the instructional time, e.g. interaction during the break, dining period, games, etc. does not form part of the instructional time.
Activities that contribute to the misuse of instructional Time
Instructional time is misused in several ways. Among them are;
Late starting of classes. This can be caused by a natural occurrence like e a heavy downpour or sickness. It can also be artificial like laziness, traffic, or intentional. Whichever way that it occurs it affects the instructional time.
Early closing of the school. This may be caused by some factors like closing early to attend a program or laziness on the part of the school authority.
Teacher absenteeism. Any time a teacher does not come to school due to one or two reasons; it affects instructional time.
Selection of subjects on the timetable when teachers intentionally neglect some subjects at the expense of others leads to waste of instructional time.
Holidays. Most of the time there are so many public holidays that force school authorities to close down schools. It affects instructional time.
Spending part of the time to organize sporting and cultural activities, e.g. some days are lost to sporting and cultural activities in the term. These affect instructional time. Organizing staff meetings during instructional hours.
Hence any incident that prevents the teacher from meeting a class for instruction accounts for mismanagement of instructional time
