School-community collaboration in the administration of basic schools in Dunkwa-on-Offin Municipality of the Central Region of Ghana

Abstract

School-community collaboration focuses on improving quality through the localization of education delivery. It refers to the global trends of enhancing the quality of instruction, strengthening and decentralizing decision-making, and mobilizing local resources for sustaining improvements. The purpose of the study was to explore school-community collaboration in the administration of basic schools in Dunkwa On-Offin. The research paradigm used was interpretivist and a qualitative approach was used. The exploratory research design was embraced and it helped answer every one of the sorts of exploration questions that were presented in this investigation. The study was conducted in Dunkwa On-Offin Municipality. schools within Dunkwa On-Offin Municipality as the target population. A purposive sampling technique was used for the selection of the teaching staff, non-teaching staff, education officers, PTA, and assembly members from the community. Thematic and content analysis were used to analyze the data collected. The following were revealed in the study: there is the establishment of the existence of school-community collaborations; The challenges to school-community collaboration comprise absenteeism, arguments or oppositions during meetings, financial constraints, low value of education, delays or refusals of call-ups and PTA meetings, free education being propagated by the government and the use of mobile phones by students despite making parents aware they are prohibited. The students and their teachers suffered from the misgivings of the community, and school collaboration was also revealed, and respondents saw the need to improve school-community collaboration. It is, therefore, important for major stakeholders (government, GES, PTA, etc.) to embrace school-community collaboration for effective and efficient school administration of basic schools.