Supervision and performance in basic schools a private - public comparison of the Birim South district of Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare supervision and performance in public and private schools at basic level in the Birim South District. The study focused on identifying the causes of the low academic standard in the public basic schools and to establish the causes of the relatively high academic performance in the private preparatory schools. One of the questions that the study is expected to answer was how has supervision in public and private schools at the basic level has contributed to the differences in their academic performance. The study involved a total number of 248 pupils with their ages ranging from 10-18 years selected from both public and private basic schools using accidental sampling technique. A total of 98 teachers were contacted from both public and private schools at the basic level in addition to 56 parents sampled with their ages ranging from 20-69 years. Separate questionnaire prepared for pupils, teachers and parents were used for data collection and the findings of the study indicated that pupils in the private schools academic performance is relatively better than their counterparts in the public school owing to effective supervision. It was recommended that there was the need for re-appraisal of the supervisory strategies used in the public school and the supply of adequate physical infrastructure.