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Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies (JETERAPS) (Vol 1 No 1)
| Abstract: This study sought to analyse the perceptions of 24 secondary school principals on the key barriers to secondary school effectiveness in rural Zimbabwe. The perceptions of secondary school principals (n=24), organised in four (4) focus groups of six participants each, on the key barriers to secondary school effectiveness in rural Zimbabwe were solicited. The study was guided by the following questions: Why are rural secondary schools in Zimbabwe ineffective in enhancing learner achievement? The study employed the focus group interview as a qualitative research technique to generate data on the reasons for rural secondary school learner achievement ineffectiveness in Zimbabwe. The researcher began by providing some broad statement to the focus group to steer the discussion in the intended direction. The results of the discussion vividly captured the ill-tempered feelings, anxieties and frustrations of the participants as they repeatedly cited several barriers, chief among which were: lack of meaningful funding; lack of quality teachers; unfriendly rural schools’ environment, and lack of teacher retention. To this end, the study has achieved its primary purpose of highlighting some of the major causes of rural secondary school ineffectiveness in Zimbabwe. Given the fact that there is hardly any rural education research in Zimbabwe, therefore, the importance of this study lies, principally, in its value-addition to the understanding of rural secondary education in the country. Furthermore, the significance of the results of this study seems to lie in the emphasis that rural secondary school learner achievement in developing countries cannot be addressed by a one-size-fits-all approach to rural secondary school effectiveness. |
| Keywords: qualitative research, achievement diversity, learner achievement, data generation and trustworthiness |
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