Exploring Community Participation in Managing the Colleges of Education in Ashanti Region

Abstract

This research examined the extent of community participation in managing the Colleges of Education(CoE) in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, with Epstein (2006) framework on community participation in education being the theoretical lense for the study. To accomplish this, the study was rooted in the pragmatist paradigm where mixed methods approach was adopted and the Concurrent Triangulation design was utilized in the study. Questionnaire and interview were the main instruments used to collect the primary data for the study. A total of 349 questionnaires were distributed comprising 319 CoE students and 30 opinion leaders in the Ashanti Region and these were all retrieved and returned for analysis. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, frequencies, and percentages), whereas qualitative data were analysed using themes. The results from the study suggest that largely, to some extent, communities do not really participate in the management decisions in the Colleges of Education in the Ashanti Region. Though community participation was found beneficial, it was also greeted with some challenges such as ineffective medium of communication at meeting, confusion over the roles of school administrators and community leaders. It was recommended among others that MMDAs in the region should create a strong awareness on the role of the communities and their indigenous knowledge systems in ensuring effective and efficient community participation. in managing CoE in the Ashanti Region