IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v13y2023i3p21582440231188559.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Improving School Quality in Junior High Schools in Ghana: Teachers’ Myth and Reality of a Decentralization Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher Yaw Kwaah
  • Mikako Nishimuko

Abstract

In the education decentralization processes, community participation in education governance has been argued to be essential for improving accountability to service beneficiaries. Therefore, this paper examined the perspectives of key actors on the impact of an educational decentralization policy on improving school quality education in Junior High Schools in Ghana. Participants in the study were 54 School Management Committee (SMC)/Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) members, 106 teachers, and 11 head teachers in 11 schools drawn from two districts in the Central Region of Ghana. Teachers filled out questionnaires and interviews were conducted with SMC/PTA members using a semi-structured interview guide and with 11 head teachers. The paper reveals that the education decentralization policy, with community participation at its heart, has given schools some autonomy in their decision-making process. However, the involvement of community members in school activities has been limited mainly to financing, with little emphasis on the decision-making process in school governance. The study recommends that there should be adequate support for communities to become more involved in the decision-making process, especially in implementing the School Performance Improvement Plan for Ghana to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher Yaw Kwaah & Mikako Nishimuko, 2023. "Improving School Quality in Junior High Schools in Ghana: Teachers’ Myth and Reality of a Decentralization Policy," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:3:p:21582440231188559
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440231188559
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440231188559
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440231188559?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kamanda, Mamusu & Madise, Nyovani & Schnepf, Sylke, 2016. "Does living in a community with more educated mothers enhance children's school attendance? Evidence from Sierra Leone," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 114-124.
    2. Damon Clark, 2009. "The Performance and Competitive Effects of School Autonomy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 117(4), pages 745-783, August.
    3. Leer, Jane, 2016. "After the Big Bang: Estimating the effects of decentralization on educational outcomes in Indonesia through a difference-in-differences analysis," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 80-90.
    4. Atuhurra, Julius F., 2016. "Does community involvement affect teacher effort? Assessing learning impacts of Free Primary Education in Kenya," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 234-246.
    5. Jeong, Dong Wook & Lee, Ho Jun & Cho, Sung Kyung, 2017. "Education decentralization, school resources, and student outcomes in Korea," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 12-27.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elacqua, Gregory & Munevar, Isabela & Sanchez, Fabio & Santos, Humberto, 2021. "The impact of decentralized decision-making on student outcomes and teacher quality: Evidence from Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    2. Youngran Kim, 2017. "Does autonomy over teacher hiring affect student math and science achievement?," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(6), pages 562-574, November.
    3. Chen, Yuanyuan & Feng, Shuaizhang & Han, Yujie, 2020. "The effect of primary school type on the high school opportunities of migrant children in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 325-338.
    4. Andrew Eyles & Stephen Machin & Olmo Silva, 2018. "Academies 2 – The New Batch: The Changing Nature of Academy Schools in England," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(1), pages 121-158, March.
    5. David Card & Martin D. Dooley & A. Abigail Payne, 2010. "School Competition and Efficiency with Publicly Funded Catholic Schools," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 150-176, October.
    6. Eyles, Andrew & Machin, Stephen & McNally, Sandra, 2017. "Unexpected school reform: Academisation of primary schools in England," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 108-121.
    7. Benjamin Faber & Rosa Sanchis-Guarner & Felix Weinhardt, 2015. "ICT and Education: Evidence from Student Home Addresses," SERC Discussion Papers 0186, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    8. Nicolas Contreras, 2015. "School Autonomy, Education Quality and Development: an Instrumental Variable Approach," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-01161888, HAL.
    9. AlSayyari, Alaa & AlBuhairan, Fadia, 2020. "Prevalence and correlations of school-absenteeism among intermediate and secondary students in Saudi Arabia," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    10. Monica Escaleras & Charles Register, 2012. "Fiscal decentralization and natural hazard risks," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 151(1), pages 165-183, April.
    11. David S. Lee & Thomas Lemieux, 2010. "Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 281-355, June.
    12. Buerger, Christian & Lincove, Jane Arnold & Mata, Catherine, 2023. "How context shapes the relationship between school autonomy and test-scores. An explanatory analysis using PISA 2015," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    13. Anila Channa & Jean-Paul Faguet, 2016. "Decentralization of Health and Education in Developing Countries: A Quality-Adjusted Review of the Empirical Literature," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 31(2), pages 199-241.
    14. Hanushek, Eric A. & Link, Susanne & Woessmann, Ludger, 2013. "Does school autonomy make sense everywhere? Panel estimates from PISA," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 212-232.
    15. Hahn, Youjin & Wang, Liang Choon & Yang, Hee-Seung, 2018. "Does greater school autonomy make a difference? Evidence from a randomized natural experiment in South Korea," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 15-30.
    16. Imberman, Scott A., 2011. "The effect of charter schools on achievement and behavior of public school students," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 850-863.
    17. Gibbons, Stephen & Machin, Stephen & Silva, Olmo, 2013. "Valuing school quality using boundary discontinuities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 15-28.
    18. Zhang, Rui & Qie, Xiaotong & Hu, Yanyong & Chen, Xue, 2022. "Does de-capacity policy promote the efficient and green development of the coal industry? –Based on the evidence of China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    19. Nicholas Bloom & Renata Lemos & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2015. "Does Management Matter in schools?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(584), pages 647-674, May.
    20. Burgess, Simon, 2016. "Human Capital and Education: The State of the Art in the Economics of Education," IZA Discussion Papers 9885, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:3:p:21582440231188559. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.