Making schools effective for improvement in Jomoro Municipality (Ghana): What junior high school headteachers do.

This study investigated school effectiveness practices of headteachers in the Jomoro Municipality. A sequential explanatory mixed-method design, underpinned by pragmatism, was employed in the study. Census frame was used to involve all 52 headteachers in the quantitative phase of the study, whilst maximal variation was employed to select 10 headteachers for the interviews. A closed-ended questionnaire and a semi-structured interview guide were used to gather data for the quantitative and qualitative phases of the study respectively. The quantitative data was analysed using mean and standard deviation, whilst the qualitative data was used to support the discussion when necessary. The study revealed that the strategic planning and leadership practices of the headteachers included encouraging staff self-evaluation and developing improvement plans to guide schools' activities. It also emerged that the instructional leadership practices of the headteachers included organising regular meetings to review instructional progress and regular visitation of classrooms to observe teaching and learning. The study concluded that the instructional leadership roles of the headteachers contributed immensely to improving the professional practices of teachers and overall school improvement efforts. However, most of the headteachers hardly organise continuous professional development programmes on instructional leadership due to inadequate funding. The study, therefore, recommends, among others, that the Jomoro Municipal Education Directorate should reinforce instructional leadership practices and policies in the schools for improvement to occur. The Directorate could also supplement the government's effort by writing grant proposals to funding organisations, both within and outside Ghana, to raise funds for the organisation of in-service training programmes for teachers.
Key terms: Headteacher, instructional leadership, school improvement, school effectiveness, strategic planning.