Ghartey, Seth Baisie.
(2011)
The afterglows of whole school development in Ghana: a case study of semi-rural municipality.
PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.
Abstract
It is nearly ten years ago when Whole School Development (WSD) in Ghana was officially ended. Yet, most of its structures, systems and practices continue to function in the country. This thesis is based on data collected from a case study of a semi-rural municipality of the country regarding the reasons for its official ending and why despite its official ending, most of the structures, systems and practices continue to function. The thesis also indicates which of the structures, systems and practices are functioning and how well they are functioning.
The study adopted a qualitative research strategy and a case study design and drew on in-depth interviews with policy makers from the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Ghana Ministry of Education (GES) as well as with policy implementers from the case study site. The interviews were complemented with observation, documentary analysis and fieldnotes.
Key issues that emerged from the study include the desire of those in authority to maintain the status quo in favour of their personal interests which resulted in the official ending of WSD, the development of strong organisational capacity, a sense of responsibility, purpose, commitment, professionalism, a change of mind-set and schools' and communities' realisation of the benefits of WSD, which have contributed immensely to the survival of the structures, systems and practices.
Fundamental issues about the rural areas also emerged. These include the parents' low educational background and poverty, which limit their ability to honour their children's educational needs, despite the institutionalisation of the structures, systems and practices of WSD which were intended to improve the quality of, and access to, and participation in, education. Besides, the data revealed the existence of weak internal structural features, which undermine the children's learning environment and result in an excessive drop-out rate and poor learning outcomes with only a few of the children reaching the post-basic education level.
The findings suggest that there are political, social, physical and economic factors that are inimical to improvement in educational quality in Ghana and which need addressing with a change of mindset that is consistent with improvement to enable education to move towards the direction of the expected standard and quality.
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