EDUCATION QUALITY IN OPEN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ZOMBA DISTRICT: PERSPECTIVES OF PARENTS, STUDENTS AND COORDINATORS

Abstract

This qualitative research explored some stakeholders‟ perceptions of the quality of education in open secondary schools in Malawi. The study used perspectives of parents, students and coordinators of open secondary schools in Zomba district. Convenience sampling and purposive sampling were used to select the three open secondary schools and research participants respectively. Data was collected through interviews and focus group discussions. The findings of the study are presented in a form of themes reflecting the research participants‟ perspectives on the quality of education in open secondary schools. Its main argument is that few of the perspectives portray the quality of education as good, while many perspectives portray the quality as poor. Perspectives of good quality of education were reflected through themes such as teachers‟ appropriate qualifications, eagerness of learners to learn and the production of hardworking school leavers. On the other hand, perspectives of poor quality of education were also reflected through a number of themes such as use of inappropriate teaching methodology, lack of inspection of open secondary schools, unavailability of teaching and learning materials, indiscipline of learners, and poor performance of OSS learners at national examinations. One of the recommendations of the study is that teacher-supervisors need to undergo orientation on how to handle OSS lessons so that they should effectively cover the syllabus. Secondly, teachers should be inspected by MCDE personnel once in a while for quality assurance.