School Culture and Pupil Performance: Evidence from Lesotho

Abstract

Introduction School culture is a significant factor in the performance of a school (Moloi 2002). In this chapter, we report on a study that explored school cultures associated with high learner academic performance in two selected primary schools in Lesotho. Here, we use the word " learner " as a synonym of " pupil " or " student " . We obtained evidence from schools rated as high performers in terms of their academic results. The study sought to answer the following questions: 1. What school culture(s) do the two selected schools practise? 2. How do these schools sustain their cultures? From the findings of this study, this chapter attempts to answer one question: What are some of the implications for leadership for learning? In this chapter, we also address eight issues. First, we give some background to the country Lesotho, its education system and the study. We then move on to exam-ine literature on the concepts " culture " and " school culture " . This is followed by a section on theories of school culture. Next, we highlight features of a sound school culture. We then move on and describe the research methodology. After this we report on the findings and then move on to summarising what cultures the two schools exhibit. This is followed by a discussion on what we see as implications for leadership for learning after which we conclude the chapter.