Exploring strategies used by school managers in managing upgraded secondary schools in Mazabuka district.

The structure of the education system has been changing from the time Zambia attained its
political independence to date, Lungwangwa (1987). The latest change is the upgrading of
primary/basic schools into secondary schools, in which the Ministry of General Education has
upgraded, established and gazette 447 Basic schools into secondary schools across the country
(MoGE, 2017). This study sought to explore strategies used by school managers in managing
these upgraded secondary schools in Mazabuka district of the Southern province of Zambia. The
objectives of the study were as follows: to explore school managers` strategies in managing
upgraded secondary schools, to examine the challenges school managers face in the management
of the upgraded secondary schools, to establish stakeholders` roles in the running of the
upgraded secondary schools. A Survey Study Design was employed using qualitative strategy in
order to address the issues raised by the research objectives and questions. The four schools were
randomly selected 4head teachers, 8 deputy head and 12 heads of departments were purposefully
sampled. In-depth interviews were used to collect data from head teachers and deputies while
focus group discussion was used to collect data from Heads of Departments. The Interview and
focus group discussion data was analysed using thematic analysis. The major findings showed
that managers used ad hoc methods aimed at keeping the schools and programmes running. The
schools were generally supported by the community/stakeholders whose support ranged from
provision of school fees, desks to capital projects like classroom blocks. However, challenges
still remained impeding smooth running of the schools. The study’s main recommendation was
that the stakeholders to work towards putting up capital infrastructure so that learners learn in
conducive environments and teachers to live and work from motivating environment so that
quality education is enhanced.