Brave students are a resource for the country: modalities of student participation in Tigray, Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, as elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), there are efforts to broaden local stakeholder participation in structures and processes of school leadership. Recent policies put students at the heart of school... [ view full abstract ]

In Ethiopia, as elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), there are efforts to broaden local stakeholder participation in structures and processes of school leadership. Recent policies put students at the heart of school improvement, engaging in school self-evaluation, teacher performance appraisal and the school governing body. This paper applies theories of power to the participation and influence of students alongside that of other local stakeholders: management, teachers and parents. The paper draws from ethnographic research at an urban government primary school in Tigray, Ethiopia. Fieldwork at ‘Ketema School’ took place over an eight-month period in 2014, and involved participant observation, informant-led interviews, and the collection of institutional documents. Data collection focused on the meetings of various bodies, and the activities of a single class in Grade 6 and 7. Atlas.ti was used to support inductive analysis of the case data. 

The study identified three important contexts of student participation: positions of peer leadership (monitor and ‘one-to-five’ network leader); gim gima (public evaluation sessions); and meetings of the Parent Student Teacher Association (PSTA). These structures enable students to exercise academic and behavioural leadership, and to express their views on the conduct of teachers and others, which promotes internal accountability within the school community. However, the influence of students is limited by management agendas, and subordinate to the strong external policy context.