PhD in Education Administration & Management

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11951/809

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Browsing PhD in Education Administration & Management by Subject "School"

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    Factors Affecting Technical Efficiency in Universal Secondary Schools in Western Uganda
    (Uganda Christian University, 2025-06-11) Richardson B.E. Balinda
    This research investigated the factors affecting technical efficiency in Universal Secondary Schools (USE) in Western Uganda. As the government increases investments in the public sector to enhance social service delivery, the USE policy has significantly improved accessibility to secondary education, promoted equity, reduced inequality, and empowered girls. However, concerns about the quality of educational outputs, particularly in the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) results, threaten the policy's objective of developing essential human capital for national growth. By applying a systems theory framework—viewing schools as interconnected systems—and efficiency theory, which emphasizes maximizing outputs from inputs, this study aims to determine the proportion of technically efficient USE schools, identify intrapersonal factors influencing technical efficiency, and assess institutional factors affecting efficiency levels. Utilising a pragmatic philosophy and an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach, data were collected through surveys and interviews across four sub-regions in Western Uganda, targeting 275 USE schools for quantitative data and interviewing 20 headteachers and 15 external education officers. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in STATA quantified efficiency levels, while log-binomial regression in SPSS analyzed the factors affecting technical efficiency. Thematic analysis was employed for qualitative data. Findings reveal that 65% of USE schools in Western Uganda are technically efficient at variable returns to scale (VRS), with a mean technical efficiency of 0.960. However, 35% exhibited decreasing returns to scale (DRS), resulting in approximately 15,000 students missing out on the four-year sponsored UCE, highlighting inefficiencies and confusion among stakeholders. Significant intrapersonal factors affecting technical efficiency include the setting of strategic goals (P-value=0.019), informal staff conversations (P-value=0.012), and program monitoring (P-value=0.045). Institutional factors, such as the use of electricity (P-value=0.041) and budgetary allocations, were also significant. The study provides quantitative and qualitative recommendations for school managers and policymakers to optimize resource utilization and enhance systemic functionality in USE schools. Quantitative measures include a School Resource Optimization Model (SROM), an integrated quantitative and qualitative linear programming model, and a benchmarking framework. Qualitative recommendations emphasize continuous capacity-building programs for school staff, strategic stakeholder engagement, and policy revisions from decentralized to centralized governance.