Abstract:
This study was carried out to ascertain ways of improving school-community partnership for sustainable quality assurance in secondary school administration in Nsukka Education zone of Enugu state. Five research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research. A sample of 400,made up of 278 principal/ teachers and 122 PTA executives, was used for the study. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire titled “Improving School-Community Partnership Questionnaire”, developed by the researcher. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviations while the null hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics.The findings of the study revealed that the ways community members can actively participate in decision making include: involving the communities in setting best alternative course of action , regular consultations with community development unions on school programmes and activities, allowing the community to take part in determining subjects offered in the school, allowing the community to take part in deciding school levies and amount charged. The study revealed that school-community partnership can be improved through active participation of community in the provision of infrastructural facilities, provision of furniture, rehabilitation of school infrastructural facilities, provision of instructional materials and provision of recreational facilities. The study also revealed that the school-community partnershipcan be improved by the communities recruiting adequate number of staff to fill existing vacancies giving incentives to boost teachers’ morale and rewarding outstanding staff. The findings also revealed that school-community partnership can be improved through community provision of fund for procurement of equipment, provision of funds for the renovation of dilapidated buildings, sponsoring school co- curricular activities, and sponsoring school academic competition Based on the findings, the researcher recommended that government should encourage the operation of the school based management committees in the schools for the mobilization of the host communities in school administration for sustainable quality assurance, there is need for the Ministries of Education to spell out areas which communities can be involved in decision-making process in schools, that the state government should sensitize all communities on the need for increased participation in school administration, especially in the provision of facilities and instructional materials
