The phenomenon of strategy implementation is crucial to the improvement of learner performance, and to the effectiveness of schools. Literature reveals that research on strategy implementation has received much attention in business studies. However, little attention has been given to it in schools. It is this gap which this study endeavours to fill. The key research questions for this study aimed at garnering evidence on factors that influence strategic plan implementation. In the empirical study, two secondary schools and three education offices were purposively selected. A mixed methods research design was adopted, and in this regard, data was collected using interviews, focus group discussions, document analysis, participant observation and questionnaires. Data was analysed by means of organising, coding and categorising. The main findings of the study are that the factors that affect School Strategic Plans (SSPs) implementation are largely related to education management at all levels. There is also anecdotal evidence that teacher, learner and external stakeholder factors affect the implementation of SSPs. In all these factors, monitoring was the major factor. One recommendation proposes that the education managers at provincial and district levels and implementers at school levels should all be empowered with skills and knowledge on effective strategy implementation. / Educational Management and Leadership / M. Ed (Education Management)

The phenomenon of strategy implementation is crucial to the improvement of learner performance, and to the effectiveness of schools. Literature reveals that research on strategy implementation has received much attention in business studies. However, little attention has been given to it in schools. It is this gap which this study endeavours to fill. The key research questions for this study aimed at garnering evidence on factors that influence strategic plan implementation. In the empirical study, two secondary schools and three education offices were purposively selected. A mixed methods research design was adopted, and in this regard, data was collected using interviews, focus group discussions, document analysis, participant observation and questionnaires. Data was analysed by means of organising, coding and categorising. The main findings of the study are that the factors that affect School Strategic Plans (SSPs) implementation are largely related to education management at all levels. There is also anecdotal evidence that teacher, learner and external stakeholder factors affect the implementation of SSPs. In all these factors, monitoring was the major factor. One recommendation proposes that the education managers at provincial and district levels and implementers at school levels should all be empowered with skills and knowledge on effective strategy implementation. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

This research was based on ‘Catholic secondary education and identity reformation in Zambia’s Southern Province. Its main purpose was to explore the nature and scope of the undesired identity reformation experienced in Catholic secondary schools in Zambia’s Southern Province as well as suggest possible ways of how the problem can be resolved. The study was guided by the following main research question ‘How has a conflict of values between the evolving Catholic education policies and Zambian national education policies affected the identity of Catholic secondary schools in Zambia’s Southern Province?’ This question formed the main basis for the achievement of the study’s overarching purpose highlighted earlier. A qualitative methodology was utilized to gather data for this research. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews/discussions and documentary/content analysis. Research participants included: the Secretary of Catholic education, the PEO, school headteachers, teachers of RE, parents and grade twelve learners. Key documents analyzed using document analysis were Catholic education policies and Zambian national educational policies. The following findings resulted from the study: a conflict of values is non-existent between Catholic education policies and Zambian national education policies; there are four real/major causes of undesired identity reformation in Catholic secondary schools in Zambia’s Southern Province; the various contemporary challenges experienced by Catholic secondary schools in Zambia’s Southern Province are responsible for the undesired weakening of the school’s ‘academic’ and ‘religious’ mission; RE has experienced undesired changes at the levels of its nature, role and place in the Catholic secondary school curriculum over the years; Catholic secondary schools in Zambia’s Southern Province can be characterized as ‘partially Catholic’; realigning Catholic secondary schools with Catholic education policy involves returning such schools back to Catholic educational practice as recommended in Catholic education policies. The main conclusion of the study was that undesired identity reformation is present in Catholic secondary schools in Zambia’s Southern Province but it is not linked to a conflict of values in Catholic education policies and Zambian national education policies. To resolve the problem of undesired identity reformation in Catholic secondary schools, all study recommendations emphasized an urgent return by the schools to educational practice as recommended in Catholic education policy if they are to regain their lost desired total-Catholic character or identity. / Educational Foundations / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

The study was primary undertaken to critically study the nature of learner performance and teaching in public secondary schools in Zambia, with a focus on four public, co-education, day schools in the Copperbelt region for the purposes of addressing the challenge of poor performance in the Grade 12 National examinations that has characterised public secondary schools in the country. The researcher was guided by the main research question: ‘What is the nature of learner performance and teaching in public secondary schools in Zambia?’ The aim of the research was to establish the factors that negatively affected learner performance and teaching in the selected schools in order to develop effective mechanisms that would improve the education system in public secondary schools both at regional and national levels. The study was undertaken using a qualitative interpretive phenomenological approach mainly propounded by Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), for the purposes of collecting the lived experiences of the 24 purposively selected participants employed in this research: 4 head teachers, 8 teachers and 12 learners. Data collection was based on semi-structured interviews among the two longest serving teachers (male and female) per school and each of the head teachers in all the four schools; and two focus group interviews (from the highest and lowest performing schools) comprising six learners per group of equal gender among the selected Grade 12 candidates from the debate club and school council. The research also included analysis of documents like: school mission statements and visions, schemes and records of work and learners’ record of performance. The gathered information was manually analysed and interpreted. The major findings from the analysed data were that public secondary schools were negatively affected by four main categories of factors: (a) socio-economic factors; (b) the nature of the teaching and learning environment; (c) personal factors relating to the learners, teachers and head teachers; and (d) policy issues relating to learner enrolment and assessment, teacher selection, recruitment and development and highly controlled bureaucratic systems. The study established that improved learner performance is crucial to national development because the quality of an education system is measured by the performance of learners, and is the major drive for many aspects of development. The study also revealed that it was possible to improve learner performance, based on a number of lessons that can be drawn from the international research findings on characteristics of high-performing schools. Finally, the study recommends that public secondary schools in Zambia should revise their approach to enrolment of learners, teacher recruitment and development, and leadership appointment, and should adopt policies that meet the needs of the Zambian context as well as investing in research. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

This qualitative study was done in Livingstone, Zambia, and used focus group discussions to investigate the reasons that youths aged 15 to 24 years see as justifying, or compelling, their non-use of recommended methods for prevention of sexual transmission of HIV. It focused on four methods, namely abstinence, condom use, voluntary counseling and testing, and mutual faithfulness. The study found that non-adherence to HIV preventative methods is linked to variables in the process of adolescent growth and development, to contextual variables in society, to characteristics of products and services associated with these HIV preventative methods, and to disease characteristics of HIV itself. A key conclusion of this study is that to improve the effectiveness of HIV prevention programs among the youths it is essential that factors that hinder adherence to preventative methods are recognized and addressed. / Social Work / M.A.(Social Work)

This qualitative study was done in Livingstone, Zambia, and used focus group discussions to investigate the reasons that youths aged 15 to 24 years see as justifying, or compelling, their non-use of recommended methods for prevention of sexual transmission of HIV. It focused on four methods, namely abstinence, condom use, voluntary counseling and testing, and mutual faithfulness. The study found that non-adherence to HIV preventative methods is linked to variables in the process of adolescent growth and development, to contextual variables in society, to characteristics of products and services associated with these HIV preventative methods, and to disease characteristics of HIV itself. A key conclusion of this study is that to improve the effectiveness of HIV prevention programs among the youths it is essential that factors that hinder adherence to preventative methods are recognized and addressed. / Social Work / M.A.(Social Work)