Characteristics of school heads and their schools

In this paper, the author examines the characteristics of school heads and their schools in 15 African schools systems (Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zanzibar and Zimbabwe). The data for this study were collected in 2007 as part of a major project known as the SACMEQ III Project that sought to examine the quality of education offered in primary schools in these school systems as well as the conditions of schooling in these systems. (SACMEQ is an acronym for Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality). The results revealed large variations in characteristics of school heads among these school systems in terms of their personal characteristics (age and gender), academic education, pre-service training, and special training on school management. Most SACMEQ school systems had large gender imbalances in school head positions in favour of males. In addition, the results revealed considerable variations among these school systems in terms of conditions of school buildings, provision of teachers, provisions toilets, and pupils’ and teachers’ behavioural problems. The most common pupils’ and teachers’ behavioural problems in these school systems were lateness to school, absenteeism, and skipping of classes. School systems with high levels of teachers’ problems tended to have higher levels of pupils’ problems, and vice versa.