Abstract
This research examined the influence of private and public schools on pupils‟ proficiency in mathematics and English language subjects. The theoretical model that supported the study was the bioecological model of human development. The sample comprised 16,481 Primary 3 and 14,495 Primary 6 pupils from 448 and 426 schools respectively. The research design was a descriptive cross-sectional survey. Schools were sampled using a stratified random sampling technique. Data were analyzed using a multilevel modeling technique. The significance or otherwise of the influence of school type on pupils‟ proficiency in both subjects was assessed at p < 0.001. The results showed that many pupils performed below the minimum competency level in both subjects uniquely because they attended public schools. Conversely, many pupils were found to be proficient in both subjects exclusively because they attended private schools. The research findings suggest that the type of primary schools pupils attend in Ghana significantly mattered for their academic success and the progression from one grade-level to another. The results imply that learning opportunities are not equal for all pupils. This has implications for the effective implementation of the primary school curriculum in the country. To improve upon the academic achievement of primary school children in Ghana, first, there is the need to eliminate the achievement gap between private and public schools.
Highlights
Education is an effective means of reducing poverty by equipping individuals with relevant skills, competencies, knowledge, and values (Bashir, Lockheed, Ninan & Tan, 2018; UNESCO, 2018; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2020).providing children with a good quality education is of prime importance because of its social, economic, health, and other areas of our wellbeing (Hanushek & Woessmann, 2015; Peeta, Fink & Fawzi, 2015)
Whereas most of the studies and reports we reviewed focused on finding the magnitude of the differences in academic achievement between private and public schools, others sought to establish the correlations between school types and quality of academic achievement (e.g. UNESCO, 2018; Hattie, 2009; MOE, 2016a; Tooley & Longfield, 2014)
The average age for the P6 pupils from the private schools was smaller (12.6) than the public school pupils (13.8)
Summary
Education is an effective means of reducing poverty by equipping individuals with relevant skills, competencies, knowledge, and values (Bashir, Lockheed, Ninan & Tan, 2018; UNESCO, 2018; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2020).providing children with a good quality education is of prime importance because of its social, economic, health, and other areas of our wellbeing (Hanushek & Woessmann, 2015; Peeta, Fink & Fawzi, 2015). In the Ghanaian context, successive performances by pupils in different waves of the national education assessment tests confirm that many are unable to attain the expected grade-level competencies (Ministry of Education [MOE], 2013a; 2016a) Many of these children exit the primary level of education with a low level of knowledge which eventually leads them to drop out of school. These studies contend the academic achievement of pupils from SSA is lower than those in non-SSA countries, with similar socioeconomic conditions and backgrounds (Sandefur, 2016; Bashir et al, 2018; Mullis, Martin & Loveless, 2016) This may be the case because a majority of children in SSA live in extreme poverty and have limited access to educational resources to support learning (Zakharov, Tsheko & Carnoy, 2016; Blampied et al, 2018). The proportion of between-school variance in achievement is bigger for countries within the SSA and varies according to subjects and gradelevels
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