International Journal of Innovative Research and Development

Abstract

The study investigated the students’ perspectives on courses evaluation at AMUCTA as a case among universities. The low rate of students’ participation in courses evaluation had raised concerns among some academic staff on the university’s self-evaluation and quality assurance mechanism at the institution. However, the factors for the issues of concern among the staff were not known besides the fact that courses evaluation was a compulsory exercise in the institution and no known study had been done on the matter. The study employed concurrent mixed methods research design. Four research questions and hypotheses guided the study. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 228 third year students who were randomly selected. Quantitative data were analysed through descriptive and inferential statistics using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. Qualitative data were analyzed through thematic approach by identification of themes. The findings indicated that the students saw courses evaluation as an important exercise although they had low morale to take part in the exercise. Furthermore, there had been no feedback given to the students from the evaluation reports nor any measures taken on what they always proposed. Students’ demographic characteristics had no statistic significant effect on their rating of the effectiveness of and satisfaction with courses evaluation. The study concludes that the factors for the low rate of students’ participation in courses evaluation stemmed from the AMUCTA environment. Their concerns about the impact of courses evaluation in their studies made them respond to the questionnaires at low rate though the alternative solutions that they provided were viable. Hence, the study recommends to the management to revisit the practice of courses evaluation at the institution and address students’ concerns.

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Abstract

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.

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