Accountability of Education and Secondary School Performance in Tandahimba and Mtwara Districts, Tanzania

Abstract

This study sought to establish level of accountability of education actors in relation to current status of education delivery and its resultant academic performance of secondary schools in Tandahimba and Mtwara Districts, Tanzania. The study was underpinned by Principal-Agency Theory and Public Choice Theory and it employed the cross-sectional explanatory design through questionnaire as source of data from 229 respondents who were sampled from the population of 563 education administrators. Furthermore, seven district level officers were purposively selected for in-depth interview while 10 teachers and 10 parents were conveniently selected to participate in the focus group discussion. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics whilst qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. The quantitative findings indicate that education actors were accountable in their roles. However, the qualitative findings revealed that heads of schools and school management teams were not accountable for involvement of parents in school management; some heads of schools were burdens to schools since they did not have managerial skills, experience and knowledge. The findings are in line with the theoretical thinking of public choice theory, which proposes that lower accountability of education actors compromises delivery of quality education in secondary schools. Based on the findings, this study recommends that the local government should enhance the accountability of head of schools and school management teams by involving community and parents in the management of schools. Moreover, heads of schools have to be trained after being appointed so as to impart them with managerial knowledge and skills so as to regulate their performance and eventually their accountability.