Understanding the nexus of school types, school cultures and educational outcomes and its implication for policy and practice

Abstract

The demand for accountable school outcomes (improved learning outcomes, educational outcomes and the well-being of learners) continues to gain research attention. Yet, the evidence suggests that appreciating the interconnectedness of pertinent factors including contextual ones and educational outcomes is crucial. The understanding of the nexus of school type, school cultures and educational outcomes until this study seemed blurry in Ghana. Using an ethnographic case study with school district actors: municipal educators, teachers, and community participants we examined culturally responsive schooling. We leverage on multi-stage sampling approach. A purposive sampling strategy was used to select a District, two school communities’ (rural and urban) actors on one hand and school-level (private–public) actors on the other hand as the units of analysis. Some 117 participants were involved in this study, including two municipal-level educators, four teachers, a Public-School Principal, a Private-School Proprietor (manager), nine adult household members and 100 community members (including community leaders and teachers). By means of community meetings, group discussions, interviews, field observations and document analysis the authors were able to thematically engage an analysis of the available evidence. The study found among other things that (1) Basic public schools in Ghana have advanced universal access priorities, inclusivity and affirmative action for learners’ home cultural capital. (2) Private schools were found to be better promoters of higher accountability for and achievers of learning outcomes. (3) The mission schools are better advocates of community participation that drive school development, morale enhancement and behavioural development in children. Based on these findings, which were hitherto not known, we conclude that there are strong links between the type of school organisation, school cultures and educational outcomes. The study's findings and implications suggest that Ghanaian Basic school districts need to weigh contextual school cultures and types of schools with the goal of fostering collaborative schools that drive the advancement of educational outcomes whiles minimising social inequality.