Community Participation In School Management: An Assessment Of The Parent Teacher Associations In The Nadowli District Of Upper West Region Of Ghana

ABSTRACT

Community participation in educational management is seen as a measure to enhancing educational provision and quality educational achievement in the face of competing demands on government resources and declining educational achievement. In the context of the Nadowli district, the author assessed community participation in educational management with particular reference to the Parent Teacher Association. The study was a survey of 25 PTAs out of a total of 54. PTA executives, Head teachers, Circuit Supervisors, members of the District Education Oversight Committees and community members constituted the respondent-groups. In all 183 respondents actually participated in the study. The study revealed that community participation in education is multidimensional and varied widely according to both the domain and the extent of participation, as well as in terms of who in the community is engaged. Chief among the various areas of community participation are contributions in cash, labor and materials besides the children parents and the community enroll in school. Community participation in education through the PTA has been embraced in all the basic schools in the district. PTAs are operating within their assigned roles, but the number of trained executives in school management was 56.4 per cent even though their training is a requirement for their operation. In each PTA, the number of trained executives varied from one to five. Hence, PTAs found it difficult to execute their roles of creating a conducive atmosphere for teaching and learning. Nonetheless, PTAs have collaborated strongly with other stakeholders like the head teachers, circuit supervisors, and the community to provide some infrastructure and other facilities. To increase efficiency and relevance of PTAs in the Nadowli District in particular, the study suggests that training in school management should be organized for the rest of the PTA executives who are still untrained in school management and refresher courses once in two years. They should also forge stronger relationships with the other stakeholders in school management to induce the much needed quality in educational outcomes and change in the policy agenda of education.