Peer-reviewed article
Examining perceived influence of gender-sensitive leadership practices on educational achievement of senior high school girls from low income households in Bolgatanga municipality
Iddrisu Bariham, Jennifer Nommonyor Tembile ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5This study looked at how senior high school girls from low-income families in Bolgatanga, Ghana, view the leadership practices of their schools in supporting their education. It combined a survey of 270 girls with interviews of 30 girls, school heads, teachers, a Girls Education Officer, and an NGO worker. The girls felt that school leaders were only moderately supportive of their schooling. Social, cultural, economic and structural problems still made it hard for them to stay in school and do well. The researchers suggest better leadership training on gender issues, improved toilets and water facilities at schools, and stronger enforcement of rules against sexual harassment.
Key points
- Girls perceived gender-sensitive leadership practices as only moderately supportive of their education.
- Structural and socio-cultural barriers continued to limit girls' educational experiences despite free SHS policy.
- The study sampled 270 girls for survey data and 30 girls plus stakeholders for interviews.
- Recommendations include strengthening gender-responsive leadership, improving school WASH infrastructure, and enforcing sexual harassment policies.
- The free SHS policy expanded access but did not remove economic and structural barriers for low-income girls.
Limitations
The study is based on self-reported perceptions rather than measured academic outcomes, and its cross-sectional design cannot show cause and effect between leadership practices and achievement.
Abstract
Although the implementation of free senior high school (SHS) policy which has expanded access to secondary education in Ghana, girls from low-income households in Bolgatanga Municipality continue to battle with socio-cultural, economic and structural barriers which posed a significant threat to their education. This descriptive, perception-based explanatory sequential mixed-methods study was therefore conducted to examine SHS girls' perceptions of gender-sensitive leadership practices; identify the perceived barriers affecting the education of girls from low-income households; and explored strategies for improving their retention and perceived educational achievement. The study integrates survey and interview evidence from SHS girls and educational stakeholders. Out of 5634 girls, criterion-based purposive sampling identified 322 SHS girls from low-income households, after which simple random sampling was used to select 270 participants for the quantitative survey, while the qualitative phase purposively recruited 3 heads of SHSs, 3 teachers, 1 Girls Education Officer, 1 NGO staff, and 30 girls from low income households for interview. Four-points Likert scale questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were employed for data collection. Piloting was conducted to test for reliability and validity of the instruments using Cronbach's alpha reliability reporting, member checking, content validity Index reporting, and the triangulation of survey with interview data. IBM SPSS statistics version 27 was employed to analyse the survey data using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation. The qualitative data from interviews were analyse by means of narration, anecdotes and thematic analysis to triangulate the quantitative results. The findings revealed that girls perceived gender-sensitive leadership practices as moderately supportive of their schooling, although structural and socio-cultural barriers continued to constrain their educational experiences. The study recommends strengthening gender-responsive leadership capacity, improving school WASH infrastructure, and enforcing sexual harassment policies to create safe and gender inclusive learning environments for young girls in SHSs.