https://agric.unza.zm/index.php/ZJEMAL <p>Zambian Journal of Educational Management, Administration and Leadership (ZJEMAL)</p> The University of Zambia en-US Zambian Journal of Educational Management, Administration and Leadership (ZJEMAL) (ISSN - Print: 2706-7416, Online: 2709-1864) 2706-7416 https://agric.unza.zm/index.php/ZJEMAL/article/view/700 Effective curriculum implementation by teachers is recognised as a lynchpin for achieving educational goals of any education system that leads to improved learner outcomes. In this article, authors make a critique of the effectiveness of Education Standards Officers’ (ESOs) curriculum implementation strategies that were used to support teachers’ effective teaching and learning in Choma district of Zambia. They set the arguement by riding on the six premises of Fullan’s curriculum implementation model against the contemporary backdrop and knowledge that ESOs monitoring and evaluation roles are critical to effective curriculum implementation in schools. In this qualitative study, researchers identified and critiqued strategies that were employed by ESOs in the contemporary milieu of Choma district. Using interview guides and focus group discussions guides, data was collected from head teachers and teachers in five, public secondary schools. Additionally, interview guides were also used to collect information from ESOs themselves. Findings pointed to the fact that curriculum implementation strategies such as formation of subject associations, follow-up visits and the recommendations from ESOs and the use of common schemes of work in schools did not yield desired results in terms of supporting teachers to improve their teaching based on what ESOs identified as areas of need during their school visits. In fact, it was also noted that ESOs missed a golden opportunity to practice clinical supervision and to make lesson demonstrations as they interacted with teachers. Arising from the factors which led to this scenario, researchers make two main recommendations. They first and foremost suggest that the Ministry of Education needs to provide sufficient funding to aspects of curriculum implementation at both the district and school levels. Researchers also recommend that ESOs should consult teachers and their administrators as they come up with curriculum implementation strategies in order to have them aligned with the realities of the schools. Innocent Mutale Mulenga Eugine Mooya ##submission.copyrightStatement## 2022-02-06 2022-02-06 2 1 1 21 https://agric.unza.zm/index.php/ZJEMAL/article/view/701 The visible presence of enormous opportunities inherent in the usage of online marketing in terms of cost-saving and the ability to transmit tailor-made messages to target audiences had made some private secondary school operators in Nigeria embrace online marketing communication as a strategy for reaching present and potential customers individually. The study primarily examines the profound influence of online marketing tools on the performance of private schools in Bauchi metropolis. A survey research design was adopted for the study, and a structured questionnaire was utilised to collect the required data from one hundred and twenty three (123) staff of private schools in Bauchi Metropolis. They were selected through a simple random sampling procedure. The data elicited from the respondents were analysed through mean scores and linear regression analysis using SPSS 22 version software. The study results showed that e-mail marketing has a significant influence on the profitability performance of private schools. It was also discovered that social media marketing has a significant influence on the number of student-enrolments performances of private schools. The study recommended that the managers of private schools regularly exploit e-mail marketing to enhance their firms' profitability. Also, they should adequately utilise social media marketing platforms to boost students' enrollment in their schools. Yusuf Ismaila Mustapha Oluwatoyin Elizabeth Ayeni Asola Kamal Bello Asola Kamal Bello Isaac Aun ##submission.copyrightStatement## 2 1 22 42 https://agric.unza.zm/index.php/ZJEMAL/article/view/702 The scale and nature of truancy in schools continues to raise significant concern among stakeholders in Zambia. As a result, the purpose of the study was to investigate truancy intervention programmes (TIP) available for learners in selected primary schools of Choma district, Zambia. The study was guided by the Social Control Theory developed by Travis Hirschi (1969) to explain disruptive behaviour and conformity to the established social order. The researchers adopted a descriptive research design. Participants were 51, comprising nine headteachers, nine guidance and counselling teachers, nine class teachers, and 24 pupils from nine randomly selected primary schools in Choma district. Data was collected through interviews and was analysed thematically. The findings revealed that truancy intervention programmes used in primary schools include feeding programmes, registration, remediation, extracurricular activities, parental sensitisation programmes, and guidance and counselling. The researchers recommended that the Ministry of General Education should support the counselling and guidance units in the schools for more coordinated intervention efforts in curbing truancy. The school disciplinary committees should also consider forming Truancy Boards to mitigate truant behaviour among learners. Mweetwa Mutale Bibian Kalinde ##submission.copyrightStatement## 2022-02-06 2022-02-06 2 1 43 60 https://agric.unza.zm/index.php/ZJEMAL/article/view/703 This paper details findings of a study which investigated emerging issues from teacher secondment on learner and school performance. The study used qualitative research, employing a case study research design. The sample consisted of 32 participants who were purposefully and randomly sampled. Interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FDGs) and observations were used to collect data which was analysed thematically. It was revealed that most of the teachers that taught the senior classes at the school where the study was conducted from were underqualified. In addition, the school administrators, that is, the head teacher and the deputy head teacher, were also found to have held low qualifications for their respective jobs. In terms of the learner performance, it was revealed that the learner performance both in the ECZ grade nine examinations and the end of term examinations were low. The study recommended that the Ministry of General Education should employ qualified administrators (utmost, first degree level qualification) and should be assigned to secondary or combined Schools; qualified teachers (utmost, first degree level qualification) should be deployed to teach secondary school classes in secondary or combined (secondary section) Schools; the Ministry of General Education should equip upgraded secondary or combined schools with adequate learning and teaching materials in order to improve performance. Daniel L Mpolomoka Blessed Muzovu Mpasela Rose Chikopela ##submission.copyrightStatement## 2022-02-06 2022-02-06 2 1 61 76 https://agric.unza.zm/index.php/ZJEMAL/article/view/704 The study investigated democratic leadership style to determine its applicability and influence towards the creation of conducive teaching and learning environments in two private and two government owned colleges of education in Zambia. Democratic leadership style has demonstrated to be one of the most effective leadership styles whose efficacy in various organisations is conspicuous in good performance, job satisfaction and motivation of workers, among others. Using mixed method approach, data was generated from 372 participants randomly and purposively selected from principals, vice principals, academic and non-academic staff, Ministry of Education officials, directors and student populace. Employing explanatory sequential design, quantitative data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) tool version 23 and Pearson’s chi-squared test to assess the significant levels of variables as well as get inferences while qualitative data was analysed thematically. The findings illuminated peripheral use of this style of leadership leading to the creation of poor to moderate teaching and learning environments, not conducive for effective teaching and learning. The principal’s ineffective utilisation of tenets of democratic leadership in their administration of colleges has resulted in inept application of democratic leadership. The researcher, therefore, argues that the tenets of democratic leadership should be utilised appropriately for effective administration of the colleges. Trinity R Chikwanda ##submission.copyrightStatement## 2022-02-06 2022-02-06 2 1 77 94 https://agric.unza.zm/index.php/ZJEMAL/article/view/705 There has been substantial discussion, research, and debate concerning the challenges to academic freedom within higher institutions of learning. This stems from the fact that universities often serve as centres of political and intellectual dissent, and as a result political regimes, societies and universities themselves are thus hesitant to grant universities the freedom and autonomy that may cause instability. Academic freedom at the University of Zambia (UNZA) and other Zambian universities is not extensively documented or understood. Therefore this paper seeks to explore the challenges of academic freedom at UNZA by employing a qualitative phenomenological hermeneutic design to collect data on the lived experiences, perceptions and views of the 30 purposively selected participants: 15 academics and 15 academic leaders. The paper was anchored on the theory of social capital and resource dependence. Quantitative data was analysed using thematic analysis. The following major finding resulted from the study: academics and academic leaders experienced various challenges in exercising academic freedom, causing UNZA not to completely realise its mission of creating knowledge through scholarship and research; it was revealed that academics and academic leaders were implicitly violated and controlled by the university management and government through heavy academic responsibilities, financial restraint, lack of academic freedom policy, and freedom of expression. All of these factors hindered the enjoyment of academic freedom at UNZA. However, the participants submitted that they had not experienced any severe or gross violation or limitation of their academic freedom. Various strategies Sibeso Lisulo Peggy Nsama Mwansa Mukalula Kalumbi Webster Hamweete ##submission.copyrightStatement## 2022-02-06 2022-02-06 2 1 95 115 https://agric.unza.zm/index.php/ZJEMAL/article/view/706 The aim of the study was to assess how educational policies and practices have provided for play in early childhood education (ECE) in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) Article 28 (1) and 31 using Basil Bernstein’s classification and framing. This study departs on the Bernstein’s (1975) assumption that the concepts of classification and framing are useful “for the analysis of transmitting agencies”. With this in mind, this study problematises ECE policy and play in line with the UNCRC Articles 28 and 31 as both a philosophical and sociological problem. The findings presented a shifting construction of discourses owing to conflicts, lack of understanding and competitions pointing alluding to power struggles which characterise policy. The findings were of particular interest with regards to the classification and framing of problematising play in ECE policies in line with the UNCRC. The intertextuality among the policy texts was strong in unison with the UNCRC thereby having weak classification and framing of play in ECE presenting integrated codes. This made it difficult to sustain and protect the discourses on play practices in ECE. Mwansa Mukalula Kalumbi Victor J Pitsoe ##submission.copyrightStatement## 2022-02-06 2022-02-06 2 1 116 128