TRANSITIONAL CHANGES AND COPING STRATEGIES IN THE UPGRADE OF COLLEGES OF EDUCATION TO TERTIARY STATUS

Authors: Millicent Essawah Mensah, Felix Senyametor, Emmanuel Dorsah & Regina Mawusi Nugba

ABSTRACT

This study explored the transitional administrative changes in the upgrade of Colleges of Education to tertiary status, a case in the Ashanti region, Ghana. The study adopted a phenomenological qualitative methodology. The accessible population for the study consisted of the three main management members (Principals, Vice principals, and Secretaries) from eight Colleges of Education in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, numbering 24. The purposive sampling procedure was, used to select 12 participants (Principals, Vice principals, and Secretaries) out of the accessible population from four (4) selected Colleges and interviewed. Data collected were analyzed through thematic analysis. The study found that administrators had experienced several changes in terms of leadership relating to decision making, all decisions were formally made by individual principals but now the Governing Councils and the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) have a part to play in major administrative decision making. Changes also included the presence of distributed leadership, extensive participative management practices, and new procedures for financial administration. There was low professional staff development on the part of academic and non-academic staff. The study concluded that the individual colleges have introduced new procedures for financial administration because of the improvement through the changes in the financial management structures that came with the transitions. It was recommended that non-teaching staff like Accountants, College Registrars, and Secretaries should upgrade themselves to fit into the new status of the colleges. The government and the public universities the colleges have been affiliated to should continue to offer more technical and financial support to the Colleges of Education to enable them to cope fully with the transitional changes and challenges to enable them to attain full autonomous tertiary status.

Keywords: Transitional change, coping strategies, upgrade, colleges, education, tertiary status

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