Democracy or control? The participation of management, teachers, students and parents in school leadership in Tigray, Ethiopia

Abstract

In Ethiopia, as elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), there are efforts to broaden local stakeholder participation in structures and processes of school leadership. Despite advocacy from the World Bank, amongst others, research in SSA questions the extent to which such reforms reflect genuine democratisation. This study applies theories of power to the participation of local stakeholders (management, teachers, students and parents) based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at a government primary school in Tigray. The study finds that management agendas dominate consultative and decision-making forums; however, these spaces also enable students and others to share their views on conduct within the school community, which serves an important accountability function.

Radical student participation: lessons from an urban government primary school in Tigray, Ethiopia

“…This is exercised in securing individuals' consent to dominant power relations by affecting their values, motivations and sense of place in the world. Three-dimensional power is beyond the scope of the present article; for a discussion of this, see Mitchell (2017b).…”

“…For example, the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE 2010) stipulates the participation of community members in processes of management and evaluation as a minimum standard of educational provision. This is advanced as a means of ensuring local ownership and downward accountability of the school to its community (Barrera-Osorio et al 2009; but see Rose 2003;Mitchell 2017b).…”

School Committee Program to Improve Teacher's Performance in the District of Cipayung City Administration East Jakarta (CIPP Model Evaluation Research)

“…According to Mitchell (2017) that parents can be directly involved in school leadership so that part of parental participation in education. Parents can provide input on school policies.…”

Moulding the teacher: factors shaping teacher enactment of comprehensive sexuality education policy in Ethiopia

“…Teachers are also more and more held to account to communities, similar to health professionals (see Maes et al 2015). Parent-teacher-student associations, for example, may operate as a platform for social control of teachers by the community, and vice versa (Mitchell 2017).…”

“…Indeed, it remained unclear to what extent in practice CSE teacher intervention was likely or how safe it might be for teachers to intervene in the first place. Other research suggests that in practice, such efforts may be limited due to low teacher status and limited support from school management (see Vanner 2017), or high social control (Bhana 2015;Maes et al 2015;Mitchell 2017).…”