Henry Onderi and Andrew Makori
Parental involvement in schools as Parent Teacher A ssociation (PTAs) and Board of Governors (BOGs) is now recognized as a widespread phenomenon. In man y contexts they constitute part of the school governance structure. Their involvement and active support in teaching and learning is critical to sustained educational quality. Their support is a c ritical factor in the success of the school and the ir cooperation with teachers enhances pupils’ performa nce. Parental involvement in schools takes different kinds and forms or aspects. As key stakeh olders in education, they are involved in mobilization of local resources, improving school ma nagement and strengthening local ownership. This article reports on the findings of a study conducte d in the Gucha district of Kenya. The main focus of the study was on school governing bodies’ roles, is sues and challenges. The study, a survey design comprising of heads (30), chairs of BOGs (30) and P TAs (30) set out to investigate the roles of BOGs and PTAs in the teaching and learning process. Thir ty secondary schools which were purposively sampled were involved in the study. Data was collec ted from the heads and chairs of BOGs and PTAs through use of questionnaires whose response rate w as 100%. The questionnaire format consisted of closed, open-ended and rating scale items. While BO Gs and PTAs were considered part of the school leadership team, they perceived their respective ro les differently and operated in an environment characterized by contradictions, challenges, tension s and conflicts which were attributed to role overlap and lack of clear guidelines. The study als o identified lack of training and appropriate induc tion programme and induction pack as challenges that imp eded the roles of the BOGs and PTAs. Also, a majority of the BOGs and PTAs lacked confidence in their roles.
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