Community participation in quality assurance in secondary school management: The case of school-based management committee (SBMC)

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to determine the extent school-based management committee (SBMC) participates in enhancing quality assurance in secondary school management in Enugu state, Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 1,305 people participated in the study, which included a sample of 843 comprising 281 principals in all the public secondary schools, 281 community representatives and 281 Parent Teachers Association (PTA) representatives were randomly selected form Enugu State, Nigeria. There were 17 local government areas in Enugu State where those public schools were located; a 29-item questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. In addition, the questionnaire was developed using simple English words to facilitate their understanding. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while analysis of variance was used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The findings showed that SBMC enhanced quality assurance in public secondary schools in Enugu State to a low extent. The government should therefore educate the principals on the role of the SBMC to ensure quality in public secondary schools in Enugu State, Nigeria.

Research limitations/implications

It was challenging for the researchers to help the principals understand the rationale and significance of the study. Thus, the researchers spent a great deal of time, explaining the parameters and goals of the study. Another limitation was that additional data from interview and focus group could have added more useful information. Therefore, future researchers should try as much as possible to add focus group discussion and interview in studies similar to this one.

Practical implications

The finding that there are major problems militating against the operation of the SBMC in public secondary schools in Enugu State Nigeria implies that if proper policy is not made to ease the implementation of SBMC, it would be difficult to maintain quality assurance in the secondary schools. In addition, the findings show indication that educational counseling is lacking in the secondary schools in Enugu state, especially on the part of principals, and PTA. Therefore, there is need for the government to make quality assurance counseling available for principal and PTA to ensure quality assurance.

Originality/value

The researchers originated that SBMC enhances quality assurance in public secondary schools.

Citation

Ezenwaji, I.O., Otu, M.S., Ezegbe, B.N., Okide, C.C. and Eseadi, C. (2019), "Community participation in quality assurance in secondary school management: The case of school-based management committee (SBMC)", Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 24-40. https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-10-2017-0069