School improvement practices of basic school headteachers in the Gomoa West District of the Central Region of Ghana.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the School Improvement Practices of Basic School Headteachers in the Gomoa West district of the Central Region of Ghana. Theoretically, the study was based on the Lezotte (2010) Principles of Effective School Model and Marzano (2003) School Effectiveness Model. The study sought to establish headteachers’ views on four of the domains of the School Improvement Programme (SIP) adopted from the school effectiveness modules of Lezotte (2010) and Marzano (2003). These were Instructional Leadership Practices of Heads, Creating Conducive School Environment, Setting High Expectations of Academic performance among Students and Reviewing Students’ Academic Progress. Sequential Explanatory Mixed- Method design, underpinned by Pragmatism, was used for the study. The study also adopted the Census Frame technique by involving all the 82 Public Basic School Headteachers in the Gomoa West district in the quantitative phase of the study, while Homogeneous Sampling Strategy, a Purposive Sampling technique, was used to select 9 of the headteachers for the interviews in the qualitative phase. A structured questionnaire was used to gather data for the quantitative phase of the study, while a semi-structured interview guide was used to collect data for the qualitative phase. The quantitative data was analyzed first, using descriptive statistics such as means and standard deviations, using SPSS Version 26. The qualitative data was then analyzed using thematic analysis and the findings were used to verify that of the quantitative phase. The study revealed that basic school headteachers in Gomoa West conduct regular inspection of teachers’ instructional documents, visit classrooms to observe teaching and learning activities, give frequent feedback, conduct in-service training to improve the performance of their teachers and enhance their professional growth. According to the study, basic school heads in Gomoa West create conducive school environment by removing threats and discomfort from the school environment and ensure that cordial relationships among teachers, learners, parents and other members of the school community are established. The study also concludes that the practice of basic school heads in setting high expectations of academic performance among learners and regularly reviewing learners’ academic progress were also paramount in making their schools successful. The study recommends, among others, that Heads of Basic Schools in Gomoa West district sustain the academic success of their schools by encouraging teachers to give termly outlines of topics to learners to boost self-study prior to instruction. It is also recommended that Basic School heads in Gomoa West district prioritize leading their teachers in reflective practices after lesson delivery to identify shortfalls so as to avoid repeating them. The study also recommends that the headteachers ensure that teachers use ability groups in class and reshuffle regularly based on learners’ performance.