Improving school feeding through participation: should the teacher be actively involved?
International Journal of Educational Management
ISSN: 0951-354X
Article publication date: 8 January 2018
Abstract
Purpose
Maintaining the success of educational institutions largely depends on the teacher. It is the teacher whose main efforts and contribution help in achieving the goals in education. The purpose of this paper is to examine the current state of the programme delivery and how involving the active participation of the teacher will help enhance effective and efficient delivery of the school feeding programme at the school level.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of ten basic schools were purposefully selected for the study with the use of the case study method. Interviews and observations were made in all the selected schools using a semi-structured interview guide. It was also done for some selected stakeholders within the study area under the school feeding programme.
Findings
There is an indication that teachers as managers and administrators of the school system are not actively involved in the feeding programme leading to an ineffective and efficient delivery. The school children do not get the best from the programme. There is a need to put teachers in charge of operations at the school level. This will improve trust and cooperation between caterers, students and opinion leaders. The structure at the school level should be redesigned making caterers answerable to the teacher. Teachers as implementers in the case of the capitation grant will enhance efficiency leading to the achievement of the goal of the programme.
Originality/value
The study underlines the importance, efficiency and influence of the teacher within the school system, in the operations of the school feeding programme and in the Ghanaian society.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author would like to acknowledge the support and motivation of the author’s Supervisor, Professor Song Wei. He is a mentor and a father. Special thanks also go to the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) for the scholarship awarded to the author to pursue the PhD at the University of Science and Technology of China.
Citation
Iddrisu, I. (2018), "Improving school feeding through participation: should the teacher be actively involved?", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 141-154. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-01-2017-0013
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited