The management of the thematic curriculum: a case study of a public school head teacher, Abim District, Uganda

Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Master of Education (MEd)

First Supervisor/Advisor

Dr. Nicholas Wachira

Second Supervisor/Advisor

Peter Kajoro

Department

Institute for Educational Development, East Africa

Abstract

Recently, Uganda has been involved in educational reforms, especially in the implementation and management of school curriculum now called, 'the thematic curriculum' This reform was introduced by government as an initiative to promote the goals and objectives of the new curriculum to achieve the national literacy and numeracy standards in primary school education. Despite this reform initiative, literacy and numeracy competences in public primary schools in Uganda have continued to be generally low. The purpose of carrying out this study therefore, was to investigate the management of the new thematic curriculum by a public primary school head teacher in the school. The study was carried out in a government aided school in Abim district, Uganda using a qualitative case study approach and purposive sampling technique to gain insights into the head teacher's management roles and practices of the new thematic curriculum. The participants were the school head teacher and four thematic class teachers. Multiple data collection methods were used including interviews, observations and document analysis. The study findings revealed that although government has introduced the new thematic curriculum to avert the low level of literacy and numeracy in primary schools, the head teacher and the thematic teachers have not been fully prepared and supported with considerable amounts of the resources needed to implement and manage the new curriculum in primary schools. The main conclusions of this study are; the level of literacy and numeracy in public primary schools have generally continued to be low and, that teachers who are to implement the new reform in schools have been inadequately prepared and supported. This dissertation, therefore, recommends the government to revisit the implementation and management of the new thematic curriculum in primary school education in order to enhance its effectiveness in developing learners’ literacy, numeracy and life skills competences.

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