The School–Community Partnership: What are the Nature, Type and Challenges of the Partnership on the Development of Education in Lamu East District, Kenya?

Abstract

The gist of this paper was to examine the nature, types and challenges of schoolcommunity partnership in the development of education in Lamu East District, Kenya. The study is premised on Getzel (1968) social systems theory which generally deals with open systems. The paper adopted a descriptive survey study design. From a target population of 3,021 , a combination of purposive and stratified random sampling was utilized to select a sample of 935 subjects comprising 10 headteachers, 50 teachers , 450 students , 300 parents , 12o community members and 5 Ministry of education officials operating in the study locale. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected using questionnaires and interview guidelines, respectively. The study found that the relationship between teachers and parents was limited to meetings and prize giving days. Also there are no guidelines by the government on school – community partnership. The paper concludes that many parents and community members are reluctant to participate in school activities since the school managers and education officials do not involve parents who have limited academic qualifications in school affairs. Given the overwhelming evidence from credible research findings that schools cooperating with communities around them have a direct impact on overall development, this study strongly recommends direct involvement of communities in almost all aspects of school affairs.(215 words).