Devolution Of Management And Supervision For Primary Schools In Ghana

The purpose of study was to investigate the devolution of educational service delivery in Ghana, emphasizing on supervision of primary schools and its effect on educational administration and quality. The study seeks to explore the strengths and weaknesses of implementing Ghana’s educational decentralization policy as well as the constraints that impede the local autonomy to implement the decentralization policy in order to come up with conclusions and recommendations to improve the policy implementation approach.The study was guided by four main objectives, with the ultimate goal of finding out whether devolution of education service has enhanced supervision of primary schools at the local level. The study was basically qualitative having quantitative elements involving 10 headteachers, 85 teachers and 20 officers of the Accra Metropolitan education office. It was guided by a survey design whereby objectives were tested using frequency, percentages and the means statistical analysis.The findings of the study revealed that school supervision is effectively being carried out in the Accra Metropolis and this was made possible with the support from the Metropolitan Assembly. It was also revealed that teachers, headteachers emphasized more on internal supervision in relation to external supervision to which they were of the view that it is the most effective means to ensure quality teaching and learning. Also, all respondents were of the view that supervision could affect pupil’s academic performance. However, it was revealed that schools were faced with limited funding and logistics which seeks to affect teaching and learning.Recommendations have been made for policy attention and intervention based on the problems identified. It concluded that although supervision and management of primary schools has been improved in the Metropolis under devolution of educational service delivery, the right balance between the centralized and decentralized system is deemed critical for improved provision of educational services at the local level.