abubakari alhassan

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Good management in every organization is a necessary ingredient for higher productivity. Where

productivity goes up, the organization becomes important and people are attracted to it.

Performance of teachers and pupils makes a school important. Where performance is high, the

school reaps several benefits which include increased enrolment leading to expansion. Regarding

why performance is low in some schools and high in others has been attributed to host of factors.

P! is a voluntary association of parents and teachers in a particular school established for its

development. his concept of internal grouping arrangement tends to facilitate good school "

community relationship. #n this perspective, obeying the principles of good school " community

relationship, parents are opportune to understand what exist in school their wards attend and the

constraints school experienced in course of carrying out the administrative and instructional

functions. #n $igeria, P! is backed by law in some states making it compulsory for parents and

teachers% while in other states it is voluntary. Whichever way, parents mandatorily pay levies

agreed by the association for their wards attendance in that particular school & #gwe, '((().

he main tasks involved in teacher management and support include%

'. *upervising and monitoring the teacher regarding his punctuality and regularity to school, his

work output and involvement in all other activities outside the academic area.

+. Providing decent housing accommodation and facilities that will improve his welfare

. *upporting the teacher in handling domestic and social problems that may impact negatively

on his work

-. Providing opportunities for the teacher to develop his capabilities and potentials

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ased on this practice, /naohwo and /ferakeya &'(0() note that in public schools it is not well

practiced and needs to be discouraged especially where P! arrogates themselves powers meant

for oard of Governors, usually appointed by the ministry of education to facilitate school

governance. his assertion obviously portrays what is tenable in contemporary struggling

societies where education is corruptly managed under the disguise of dwindling economy. his

postulation provided impeccable background for condemnation of P! being an important

avenue for school financing.

asmania &+1'+), maintained that levy items are mostly consumables that student uses during

school year such as stationery, photocopying and printing paper% or the costs of services such as

bus hire and entry fees that are essential to delivery of the education program. hey suggested

further that levies cannot be used to charge for teacher salaries, or for the cost of relief teachers,

either directly or indirectly, and are not a source of general revenue or be raised to supplement

areas of school funding such as building maintenance, purchase of e2uipment or energy costs.

hese are the obligations of school owners not parents in case of private institutions.

#n this circumstance, #gwe &'((() citing !nderson and 3an 4yke &'(5) highlighted some

functions of P! as applicable to public school &a) promoting better ac2uaintances and healthy

working relations between teachers and parents &b) serves as effective channel of communication

between the school a community &c) advise the school staff, the board of governs or the school

committee on pressing education needs of the community as perceived by parents amongst

others. he oard of Governors functions include &a) budgeting and preparation of financial

statement of the school &b) raising and management of funds, sub6ect to such guidelines as may

from time to time be approved by the commissioner for education &c) overseeing to the collection

of funds and revenues as applicable &d) authorizing and scrutinizing the disbursement of all funds

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to mention but a few. #n some public school the two exist, the oard of Governors stands

prominently. here are deviations of what the P! stands on their roles in relations to the

concept of private school organizations funding.

Perceived Problem

#n the Gushegu 4istrict, structures are in place to ensure that teacher support system is operating

well. he district education directorate of the Ghana /ducation *ervice has the role played

Parent7eacher !ssociations &P!) in ensuring that all the needed logistics are supplied and the

teacher is effectively supervised to work among others. he P! supplies the infrastructural

facilities and other needs that are beyond the reach of the school. he teacher is expected to

locate close to the school he teaches implying that he should live in the community. he

community then takes care of his needs in terms of accommodation and other welfare. he

effective functioning of these management bodies will go a long way to improve performance of

the teacher and the pupils. 8owever, it is observed that most teachers are not living in the

communities their schools are located and they appear dissatisfied with their 6ob. !dditionally,

parents in the community blame teachers for the poor performance of pupils while teachers put

the blame partly on the local community and partly on G/* management for lack of the

necessary support to enable them perform.

Problem Diagnosis

he role played by the Parent eacher association has a direct effect on the improvement of the

academic performance of pupils. he study intends to identify the strategies to improve the

academic performance of pupil through the role of the Parent eacher !ssociation. he study

would use the action research design to identify the causes of poor academic performance of

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pupils and identify the roles that the parent eacher !ssociation can play to improve the

academic performance of pupils.

Evidence of the problem

he problem identified by the researcher was the poor academic performance of pupils in

Gushegu 49! :unior 8igh *chool. ! thorough analysis of the performance of pupils in the asic

/ducation ;ertificate examination over the past four years indicates a sharp decline in the

candidates< performance indexes. ;andidates find it difficult to get placement for their choice of

schools due to poor performance in the examination.

Cases of the Problem

'. he poor conditions of the classroom

+. #nade2uate teaching and learning materials

. =ack of supervision for teachers

-. >se of wrong methodology by teachers?. =ack of parental interest and support for ward


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+. #dentify the effect of the poor performance of Gushegu 49! :unior 8igh *chool pupils on

the Gushegu ;ommunity.. #dentify the role the parent teacher association could play to improve the academic

performance of pupils in Gushegu 49! :unior 8igh *chool.

Research $estions

'. What are the causes of poor performance of Gushegu 49! :unior 8igh *chool pupilsA

+. What are the effects of the poor performance of Gushegu 49! :unior 8igh *chool pupils

on the Gushegu ;ommunityA

. What role the parent teacher association could play to improve the academic performance

of pupils in Gushegu 49! :unior 8igh *choolA

"ignificance of the "td#

#t is the desire of the researcher that the study will uncover the difficulties teachers face in

executing their duties both inside and outside the classrooms and the support they should give to

the teacher which would improve his efficiency and in the long run improve the academic

performance of pupils.

*pecifically, it is hoped the significance will be seen in the following areas.

'. 8ow the communities can be made to work to support the teacher in the district

+. he knowledge ac2uired from the study will add to the body of literature and give

directions for further research

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he outcome may enable planners to become more informed when considering new policies

regarding the welfare and support of the teacher.

Delimitations

he study covered pupils in Gushegu :unior 8igh school. #t covered improvement of poor

performance of pupils in Gushegu :unior 8igh *chool. *pecifically, it covered personnel from

the district education office, members of the school management committees and parent teacher

association and teachers.

CHAPTER T%O

&ITERATURE RE'IE%

Introdction

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his review intends to bring out some of the views on the role of the Parent eacher !ssociation

as a stakeholder in improving the academic performance of pupils as presented by various

individuals and groups in previous and existing literature.

Poor academic performance in general has attracted the attention of many intellectuals from

different fields of studies. his compels them to investigate the factors of low achievement.

*ome of these are as follows%

!gyeman &'(() in his studies of poor academic performance reported that a teacher who does

not have both the academic and professional teacher 2ualification would undoubtedly have a

negative influence on the teaching and learning of his9her sub6ect. 8owever he further stated that

a teacher who is academically and professionally 2ualified but work under unfavorable condition

of service would be less dedicated to his9her work and thus would be less productive than a

teacher who is un2ualified but works under favorable conditions of services.

!lso, $eagley and /vans &'(B1) were of the view that effective supervision of instruction can

improve the 2uality of teaching and learning in the classrooms.

$evertheless, /tsey, !medahe, and /ld6ah &+11-) in a 6oint study of 51 schools from pre " urban

&+( schools) and rural &' schools) areas in Ghana found that academic achievement was better

in private schools than in public school because of more effective supervision of work.

!nother factor is motivation. ! highly motivated person puts the maximum effort in his or her

work. *everal factors produce motivation and satisfaction. Coung &'(00) examined the 6ob

satisfaction of ;alifonia public school teachers in the >*! and found out that one of the overall

6ob predictors was the salary one earned from it.

Dore so, =ockheed /tal &'((') studies indicated that lack of motivation and professional

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commitment produce poor attendance and unprofessional attitudes towards students which in

turns affect the performance of students academically.

#n addition to the above mentioned the availability and use of teaching and learning materials

affect the effectiveness of teacher


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and teachers performance.

Planning and /valuation findings, on $ational !ssessment of /ducation Progress &$!/P)

achievement in high poverty school &! special evaluation report for the national assessment of

title) on *eptember '((0 based on special tabulation provided by /ducational esting *ervice in

con6unction with $ational ;enter for /ducation *tatistics, on the purpose of examining students

achievement in the >nited *tates, giving >* department of /ducation long standing concern in

the gap more advantage peer, analyzing of recent trend, national and state $!/P assessment

result in reading and math for fourth grade years old students in high and low poverty schools

came out with the following key findings,

=astly, reading presents a more completed picture. he gap in reading performance between

students in high and low poverty school is dramatically larger than the gap in math and $!/P

reading scores have been stagnant, with no significant across levels of school poverty.

Teacher (anagement and the Role of the Teacher in Edcation Deliver#

When human resource management is poor, employees are seriously de7motivated. eacher

management at the national and sub7national levels is not at its best. #t is contended that in most

of !frica, Ffor almost all administration regarding teacher management, one notes a lack of clear

rules which tend to generate conflict, power vacuum, and overlap and duplication of effort

#/P, +11-@?).

ennel and !kyeampong &+11B) have stated that teacher management tends to be authoritarian,

based on rigid hierarchical structures, which results in limited participation, delegation, and

communication by teachers with respect to ma6or school management functions and when

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teachers are sub6ected to these types of management regimes they tend to have little sense of

self7determination, which seriously undermines 6ob satisfaction and motivation.

>$/*;H Publication on /ducation for !ll '' &'((+) indicates that the teacher is very important

in educational performance and has no effective substitute. he following were mentioned as

some of the ma6or roles performed by the teacher@

'. Playing a central role in the delivery of learning opportunities

+. !cting through schools, teachers serve as the foundation for providing education that will

enable individuals to meet life


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The Role of the Commnit# in (anaging Teachers and Providing "pport

he ;ommonwealth *ecretariat &'((), states that for any school to operate effectively it must

have funds. #t continues that all over the world school education is funded by government but in

some countries schools are heavily dependent on funds obtained from other sources such as

parents, students, community groups, charitable foundations, local authority and individual

business people.

alking about people who have their children in the local educational system, Robbins and !lvy

&'((?) indicate that parents may play traditional role from attending school open days and parent

conferences to serving on school boards and making general policy decisions to becoming a

member of site based management team involved in the everyday running of the school.

*eefeldt &'(0?) suggest that parents< involvement should include decisions on budget, selection

of staff and general operating procedures and thus giving credence to the invaluable

contributions of parents< bodies in school management. !n effective way of getting the parents

involved is making them have a certain degree of autonomy and this involves decentralization at

the local level. Rondinelli and ;heema &'(0) define the concept decentralization in education as

the transfer of responsibility for planning, management, resource raising and allocation from

central government and its agencies to

'. Iield units of central governments ministries &education level) or agencies &school level)

+. *ubordinate units or levels of government

. *emi7autonomous public authorities or corporations

-. !rea7wide regional or functional authorities

?. $on7governmental private voluntary organisations

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#t has been argued that decentralization of school management gives communities, parents and

teachers a stake in local school decision7making. *takeholder participation in school

management is therefore seen as a mechanism that has the potential to promote greater efficiency

in the utilization and organization of resources when decisions are made by those close to the

point where services are being delivered.

ennel and !kyeampong &+11B) support this view when they stated that it is widely contended

that the comprehensive decentralisation of school management functions will result in significant

improvements in teacher recruitment and deployment practices and higher teacher motivation

and overall performance. hey however indicate that the link between decentralisation and

improved teacher performance is often 2uite weak in government schools because education

decentralisation has, in practice, remained 2uite limited in many developing countries &especially

in much of *outh !sia) and that the capacity of parents and local stakeholders to exercise control

over school managers and teachers is limited.

Hzigi &'(BB), indicates that members of the community participates in some of the school

activities such as speech and prize giving days, sporting activities, school social programmes,

staff parties and others. *uch occasions enable the public to see some aspects of school life and

to learn about its achievement and difficulties and to appeal for support, cash or in kind for

pro6ects like libraries, books and others.

he Ghana /ducation *ervice !ct &'((?) !rticle ( subsection + called for the creation of 4istrict

/ducation Hversight ;ommittees &4/H;). #t was empowered to directly participate in the

management of teachers and providing support. *ubse2uent government official policy document

have urged 4istrict !ssemblies, Parent eacher !ssociations and *chool Danagement

;ommittees to take active participation in the management of schools in their locality.

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he P!9*D; 8andbook &+11') spells out the participation in teacher management and support

by the stake holders in the community in detail. !ccording to the handbook the *chool

Danagement ;ommittee is a committee designated under the Ghana /ducation !ct of '((- and

constitutes the highest body overseeing education delivery in the school in the local community.

!ccording to the 8eadteachers< 8andbook &'((-), published by the Ghana /ducation *ervice,

the Parent eacher !ssociation is an association of parents and guardians of the children in the

school. *imilar to the *D; it is concerned with the welfare of both teachers and pupils in the

school in the community. #n most of the cases, the *D; and the executive committee of the P!

come together to address issues confronting the school.

!ccording to the handbook, the role of the P! and *D; have been grouped into three "

'. /fficiency in management

+. Juality teaching and learning

. #ncreasing access and participation

Regarding efficiency in management, the document focuses on the proper constitution of the

P! 9*D;, the training programmes that they should have, planning and conduct of meetings,

ensuring good relationship between the school and the community, prepare school performance

improvement plans and ensure the pro6ects are carried out and ensuring that there are productive

links between the school and the 4istrict /ducation Hffice, 4istrict /ducation Hversight

;ommittees &4/H;), government authorities and external agencies.

Regarding the effective way of ensuring efficiency in management by the P!9*D;, a training

programme was organized for them to e2uip them with the necessary skills. !ll P!9*D; in the

district were trained through the ;ommunity *chool !lliance organized by >*!#4 under the

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J>#P* programme in collaboration with the Government of Ghana in +11. he P!9*D; was

expected after the training to bring the whole community up to understand what they need to do

about the school in the community.

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internal relationship between its components and partly by socio economic and institutional

factors in its context. !s a result there are many types of delivery systems.

urner and Irichter &'(B+), state that the delivery system spans a spectrum from centralized

hierarchical systems network to decentralized delivery networks. hey mention indigenous

traditional delivery system and participant system as some of the types of delivery systems under

the decentralized network. he indigenous traditional delivery system is the case where the

owner contributes towards the cost. he actual house cost is within the means of most rural

families. he participant system is where individuals come together to form societies and

contribute to the cost communally. he centralized network comes under the umbrella of

organizations and the state.

his situation is in line with the view of ennel and !kyeampong &+11B) who have indicated that

ma6or improvement in the incentives for teachers in rural schools is identified as the top priority

in nearly every country and that unless this is done, the large ma6ority of children who live in

rural areas will continue to receive poor 2uality education. hey further assert that in the short

term, the provision of good 2uality housing with running water and electricity for teachers is

probably the most cost7effective way of attracting and retaining teachers at hard7to7staff rural

schools. hey feel that in most countries, rural allowances would have to be at least half of basic

pay in order to staff schools with 2ualified and able teachers. !ccording to Dusaazi &'(0?), there

have been a number of occasions where parents have willingly erected school buildings and built

houses to accommodate teachers.

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easier for them to be on time every day. *he felt that it is the duty of communities to support

teachers by helping them with housing and food and preparing farms for them.

#n their study of secondary schools in ;ape ;oast municipality for instance, Hwolabi and /dzii

&+111) concluded that external incentives, specifically Ghana /ducation *ervice packages of

incentives like the est eacher !ward, do not motivate teachers ade2uately enough but internal

incentive packages by way of free meals, bonuses, staff welfare funds from which teachers are

offered soft loans and annual get7together dinners provided by the school


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Daslow


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Roux, #lukana, !veria and ruebody &'((), classify factors which affect staff motivation into

four categories namely personal needs, work situation factors, management methods, and

community values. he positive factors according to them would boost morale and enhance

output while the negative ones would hinder productivity.

8olding a similar view, 8anson &'(('), declares that motivation techni2ues must respond to

three organizational needs "

'. he people must be attracted and retained by the organization

+. People must be induced to conscientiously and effectively perform their tasks

. People must be spurred on to engage in creative and innovative work related actions that

resolve problems increasingly and efficiently.

Regarding staff retention, !desina &'((1), conducted a research among secondary school

teachers on factors affecting teacher retention and it came to light that underpayment, poor

promotion prospects, poor conditions of service, societal disrespect for teachers and government

insensitivity to the plight of teachers were behind.

!ntwi &'((+) declares that in Ghana low teacher retention can be attributed to the negative

change in public attitude towards the teaching profession. he negative change, he notes has

driven some of the best brains away to other occupations that en6oy high societal respect. 8e also

adds poor remuneration as a factor.

! document issued by the Ghana /ducation *ervice ;ouncil on conditions and scheme of service

and the code of professional conduct and duplicated by the Ghana $ational !ssociation of

eachers &G$!) in $ovember +111 mentioned what is expected of a teacher and his welfare

when entering into the service, issues concerning his postings and transfers, remunerations due

him and the entry points, fringe benefits and working conditions he is entitled to, leave options

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available to him, how grievances should be addressed, and the expectations re2uired of him in

the service.

Regarding the community


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Introdction

his chapter is made up of research design, population and sample selection, research

instrument, data collection procedure, limitations and data analysis.

Research Design

!ction Research is the research design used for the pro6ect. !ction research is a kind of research

activity in which the researcher works collaboratively with other people to solve a problem. #t is

an approach which aims at improving a problem related situation through change. #t also enable

both the researcher and the pupils to develop appropriate intervention strategies aimed at finding

solutions to the problem identified in the teaching and learning situation, action research is an

essential aspect of the teacher professional


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!ccording to the ;ambridge =earner 4ictionary &+111), population is defined as all the

people living in a particular country, area, or place and sample is a small amount of

people or things taken from a larger group and used in tests to provide information about

the group.

Gushegu has about four public primary schools. #n Gushegu 49! :unior 8igh *chool, the

population of pupils is three hundred and eighty six &05). he school has about thirteen

teachers. he researcher however limited the study to form three pupils. he total number

of pupils in Primary Iive is fifty 7five &??).

#n selecting the sample, the researcher used the simple random sampling method to create

a sample for the study. he simple random sampling techni2ue was employed because

most pupils performed poorly in class. he total number of pupils selected for the study

was twenty &+1) pupils. he researcher also sampled ? teachers from the school and '1

parents. he headmaster and the chairman for the P! in the school were also identified

for interviewing.

Research Instrment

he researcher used three different instruments with the aim of obtaining perfect and

comprehensive results as each of the instrument had its limitation. Ior instance interview which

is face to face interaction between the interviewer and the interviewee with the aim of collecting

information has its limitation. his cannot be used where each of the researcher not interviewee

are not prepared to respond during the interactions with the interviewer.

With observation in which the researcher collects information about pupils through watching,

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listening and recording cannot study the opinion and attitude directly despite the fact that it can

be used where other instrument fails. !lso it cannot provide information about the past.

=astly test was conducted to collect information about pupils< performance in all the sub6ects

before and after the intervention.

Data Collection Procedre

his aspect is made up of pre " intervention, intervention and post " intervention.

Pre + intervention

Hbservation and interview were used to gather information about the pupils. est was used to

collect information about pupils relating to their academic achievements. Hbservation was used

to determine the attitude punctuality of pupils towards schools.

Interventions

he P! in their general meeting resolved that through the motivation of teachers, there would

be a significant improvement in the performance of their wards. he association therefore

approved that measures should be taken to look at the accommodation problems of the teachers

who have been posted from other regions of the country to render their service to the people of

Gushegu.

!lso, the basic teaching and learning materials which were not available in the school for

teaching and learning to on efficiently were provided through the funds raised by the P!.

he P! also paid visits to the school to interact with the teachers and to address any problem

they faced which is within their 6urisdiction.

he P! also organised compulsory extra tuition sessions for the pupils. his was aimed at

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providing addition income for masters who were committed to improve the performance of

pupils.

eachers who had interest in farming within the community were supported with tractor services.

his measure was aimed at improving the teacher retention ratio in the community.

Post intervention

ests were organized again and the results showed improvement in pupils< academic

performance as compared to previous scores. #t is the researcher


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est in terms were used to analyze the data of this piece of work. ests were marked and were

grouped in tens e.g. 1 " '1, '' " +1 etc. in such a way that any student whose marks falls

between the average range of marks in each sub6ect was recorded in the range of marks in

relation to the sub6ects. his procedure was done before and after intervention.

he data collected was analyzed using simple percentage and tables. his statistical instrument

aided in the determination of the intensity of the problem and the effectiveness of the

intervention strategies.

CHAPTER ,OUR

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PRE"ENTATION O, RE"U&T" AND DATA

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