Parents’ Knowledge of the 2014 Education Policy Guidelines in Rukwa Region in Tanzania

The study sought to establish parents’ understanding of the education policy guidelines that guided their involvement in ward secondary schools in Rukwa Region. The implementation of the 2014 Education Policy had raised questions and debate on the parents’ knowledge of the guidelines. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided this study. It employed concurrent mixed method design. Participants included heads of ward schools, chairpersons of school governing boards and parents having children in ward schools in Rukwa Region. The sample comprised 280 participants. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse quantitative data (by SPSS version 22) that were presented in tables. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data which were presented through quotations and paraphrasing. Findings indicated that majority of the parents in Rukwa Region were aware of the policy guidelines but did not implement it proportionately. As a result of that, some parents’ participation in the implementation of the education policy varied pending their understanding of the guidelines. School location had no significant influence on the scores of the heads of schools on parents’ knowledge of the education policy guidelines. Work experience of school heads had significant effect on their scores on parents’ knowledge of the guidelines contrary to education level and school location that had no significant effect. The study concludes that parental involvement in the education policy implementation in Rukwa region was successful only at the communication stage but had average success at implementation stage. The study recommends that concerted efforts should be made by relevant education stakeholders to mobilize parents to actively play their role in the implementation of the education policy.