An Exploration of How Education Stakeholders Perceive the Implications of Grade Repetition in Secondary Education in Western Uganda: A Qualitative Multiple-Case Study

Author

Patrick TumwineFollow

Date of Degree

12-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Program

Education

Advisor

Dr. Norman St. Clair (Committe Chair)

Advisor

Dr. Alison Buck (Co-Chair)

Advisor

Dr. Grace Gutierrez (Committee Member)

Abstract

Grade repetition is one of the bottlenecks to Uganda’s vision of producing skilled human capital to transform the nation’s status from peasant to middle class. This study explored how education stakeholders perceived the implication of students’ grade repetition at a secondary school level. I employed a qualitative approach with an embedded multiple-case study design, through which cross-case synthesis on each school’s perspective revealed similarities and differences in understanding grade repetition at a secondary school level. Individualism-collectivism theory guided the study, to understand how students realized educational expectations through an interplay of educational and cultural influence on a school’s instructional process. I purposely selected 10 participants from four secondary schools (two private and two government), including four teachers and four administrators with at least 5 years of instruction, and two Parent-Teachers Association (PTA) chairpersons. I triangulated data collection through interviews, observation, document analysis, and focus group discussions and thematically analyzed the data through codes and categories to condense the voluminous field data into five themes without losing their intended meaning and focus. Study findings revealed a lack of standardized educational controls in regional schools as they raced for national examinations, ignoring the students’ individualized needs. It established how schools’ safeguards of their image and status led to more student expulsions for not meeting percentage pass marks, disparaging averages, and slow learners, impacting students’ emotional and psychological well-being. As schools overlooked government directives to satisfy their missions and belief systems, they widened the gap between rich and poor in accessing preferred schools. This study recommended the government’s intervention with financial controls and enhanced supervision to create equal access to desired schools for well-to-do and low-income families and support students’ holistic education. Schools’ academic decisions also should reflect students’ gender differences for inclusion.

Recommended Citation

Tumwine, Patrick, "An Exploration of How Education Stakeholders Perceive the Implications of Grade Repetition in Secondary Education in Western Uganda: A Qualitative Multiple-Case Study" (2024). Theses & Dissertations. 438.
https://athenaeum.uiw.edu/uiw_etds/438