School Management: Does Competence of the Board Members Matter?

Boards of Management make critical contributions to the teaching and learning process of any school. This book evaluates the competence of the members of the Boards of Management to attain academic outcomes in secondary schools. The study findings show that majority of the Board members had less than post-secondary school level education. Moreover, there was a low percentage of the Board members who were conversant with school management policy documents. Equally, a significant percentage of the Board members and the principals were not adequately trained, and especially in the area of discipline management. Challenges facing the Boards of Management were: unavailability of professional documents, difficulties in formulating policies, and low staff motivation. The study concluded that inadequate or lack of quality management capabilities and / or ineffectiveness of most of the members of the Boards of Management is to blame for dismal academic outcomes in public schools.