The role of school development committees in the implementation of decentralisation in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Under neoliberal inspired educational decentralisation, the government of Zimbabwe transferred powers previously vested in the higher tiers of the education system to individual schools and local communities through school development committees. The study was therefore undertaken in order to investigate factors that influence the implementation of educational decentralisation by school development committees. A qualitative research approach that focused on purposively sampled participants was chosen for this study. The study was carried out in the interpretivist research paradigm which facilitated access to semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions from two different cases whose contexts varied substantially. One is an affluent school (Oxford) and the other is a poor school (Havana)1 . Data obtained from the foregoing methods were triangulated with review of documents. Data analysis was qualitative using a thematic approach to elucidate emerging patterns. Findings suggest that shifting power and authority to schools increased roles and responsibilities for school heads, teachers and school development committee members in both schools. One of the findings is that the professional expertise and socio-economic status of parents and school development committee members of Oxford Primary School curtailed any autocratic tendencies by the school head. The study also found that the introduction of neoliberal market orientation into the school sector created new roles, such as that of entrepreneurial manager for school heads. Another compelling finding is that the neoliberal-induced withdrawal of government education grants affected the financial position of Havana Primary School more negatively than that of Oxford Primary School. This has led to a highly differentiated structure of schooling between the two schools which institutionalised educational inequality and widened disparities. The findings are particularly relevant for policy makers as they provide insights into educational decentralisation. The research’s original contribution is that it has to some extent, through practice-based findings at the micro-level, focused on the specific factors related to the implementation of educational decentralisation according to the lived experiences of various education practitioners; thus providing an in-depth

1 Havana and Oxford Primary Schools are pseudonyms.understanding of processes. Even though the prescripts from which educational decentralisation is crafted are the same, its implementation differed across two public schools by virtue of their unique contexts. The research has shown that educational decentralisation as a government policy has not fostered equality and the protection of vulnerable children from discrimination. The research highlights the seriousness of implementing educational decentralisation in order to increase participation in decision-making by stakeholders in the education enterprise. Specifically, this research could be taken forward through a series of new projects that would consider educational decentralisation and its effects on the professional roles of district school inspectors, school heads, and teachers