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)

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)