An analysis of school community conflict management strategies in selected primary schools of Livingstone district.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyse school-community conflict management strategies in selected primary schools in Livingstone District. The objectives of the study were to find out if conflicts existed between the school and the community, to establish the types of conflicts that existed and to find out the strategies which management used in resolving these conflicts between school and community in selected primary schools of Livingstone District. The study embraced a qualitative descriptive design and homogenous purposive sampling was used to select a total number of 102 participants. Twenty four teachers were subjected to semi structured interviews while 18 members of the parent teacher committee (PTC) and 60 pupils were subjected to focus group discussions. Data was analyzed qualitatively using thematic analysis. The findings of the study showed that there were conflicts between schools and communities. The common types of school-community conflicts were government policy related, land boundaries, partisan political inclination, school fees , social life, matters of faith, pride, immorality, academic failure, unruliness, technological material and property acquisition. The conflict management strategies included; home visitations for conflict mediation and arbitration, annual general meetings, admission of guilty on both sides, intervention of government authorities, disciplinary measures and involving civic, traditional and church leaders. This study recommended that there was need for the schools and the communities to understand the types of conflicts which existed between them. The government should set up periodic training in conflict management strategies tailored specifically to the school management and PTC. Parents and teachers should have more regular meetings to resolve the conflicts.