Role of Board of Governors and Parent Teacher Associations in District Public Schools in the Context of Conflicts and Challenges

Abstract

Sharing governance in schools to facilitate and support the schools at grass root level yielded Board of Governors (BOGs) and parent teacher association (PTAs). At present it has become a recognized phenomenon. In one or the other way parents constitute part of the school governance structure. Their involvement and active support in teaching and learning is critical to sustained educational quality. The main focus of the study is on conflicts and challenges associated with the role of Board of Governors (BOG) and Parent Teacher Association (PTA).This study is survey design comprising of heads (30), chairs of BOGs (30) and PTAs (30), and was conducted in the thirty Districts of Punjab, Pakistan to investigate the role of BOGs and PTA in the teaching and learning process. A questionnaire was served on heads and chairs of BOG and PTA in thirty purposively sampled mixed schools. The questionnaire format consisted of closed, open-ended and rating scale items. While BOGs and PTAs were considered part of the school leadership team, they perceived their roles differently and operated in an environment characterized by contradictions, challenges, tensions and conflicts, which were attributed to role overlap and lack of clear guidelines resulting in roles overlap. The study also identifies lack of training and, appropriate induction programme and induction pack as challenges that impede the roles of the BOGs and PTAs. Also a majority of the BOGs and PTAs lacked confidence in their roles.