Education Quality of Best Public High Schools in South and Central Somalia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore what nine high school principals did to outperform other schools in the South and Central regions of Somalia. The study highlighted the high school principals’ perception of maintaining education quality concerning curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The study focused on the admission process, teaching, and learning performances of the top nine high schools in South and central Somalia. The methodology of this Qualitative study was descriptive phenomenology. The research design and approach were semi-structured open-ended interview protocol that comprised eight interview questions. Purposeful sampling was the sampling method. Nine principals participated in the study and provided the research data regarding the education quality of nine high schools in Somalia. All nine principals in this study maintained their high schools' education quality using a rigorous admission process. They utilized a government-developed official curriculum. Five principals reported that they employed specialist instructors, while six stated that their students actively participated in the learning process during class time. However, all the participants reported that smartphones hindered student learning. A slight majority of five principals (56%) stated that parental interventions were vital to schools' overall learning achievements. Somalia's public schools are far behind in utilizing effective educational technology. The technological literacy of the teachers is vital to effectively employ the accessible educational technology, which encouraged students to incorporate modern technologies in their learning activities successfully. Rigorous admission process, efficient curriculum, instruction, effective instructional materials, employing professional instructors, and active learning are all important components to maintain education quality.