Tugasan:

Berdasarkan artikel oleh Sperandio ( 2000 ) bincangkan pengaruh Kurikulum Tersirat

dalam konteks sekolah di Uganda.

The presence of women in leadership roles at the secondary school level and above contributes
to sensitivity within schools for the well-being of adolescent girls and provides girls beginning to
consider career choices with role models of women decision- makers and leaders.

It is also imperative that women be actively involved in leading educational change given the
vital role that the education system of a country plays in both national development and the
development of a gender equal society. For women to be active participants in the change and
development process, they must be present and provided with the necessary skills and
understanding needed to participate effectively in educational leadership and policy-making at
both school and national levels.

Yet women remain under-represented in educational leadership in most developing countries, of

which the Republic of Uganda in East Africa is one. Uganda has an excellent record of
promoting gender equity in all aspects of life (Wakoko & Labao, 1996; Mutibwa, 1988;
Kwesiga, 1997; Ministry of Gender And Community Development,1997, Ministry of Gender,
Labour and Community Development,1999). The period from 1990 to the present has seen a
rapid growth in the womens movement in Uganda.
In the field of education, attention has focused on accelerating girls full and equal participation
and retention in schools through a number of initiatives including the Girls Education
Movement (GEM) and the National Strategy for Girls Education in Uganda, in combination

with Universal Primary Education (UPE) providing both boys and girls with free primary
education (Ministry of Education and Sports [MoES], 1997). Currently only 45% of the female
population of secondary school age who have passed the primary school exit examinations attend
secondary school, and relatively few girls (less than 10% of those enrolled at the primary level)
access higher institutions of learning due to these low enrolment rates at the secondary level
(MoES, 2006a ; MoES, 2004; Nsubuga, 2006). But Uganda, in common with the majority of
other developing countries, still struggles to meet the goal of 30% representation of women in
leadership roles in education and other areas that the Beijing Platform considered critical for
women to have an impact on decision-making (BPA, 1995, sections 181,182).

In this article I examine the distribution of women within the leadership of the secondary school
sector, both government-aided and private, in Uganda. I use interview data collected during a
month of fieldwork in Uganda in 2006 together with an analysis of documents and statistics
provided by the Ministry of Education and Sports to describe the potential positions available to
women within the context of policies at government and ministry levels. I examine the policies
that earmark positions for women, the requirements women must meet and the processes they
must go through when seeking access to these positions, using as a case study a 2005 recruitment
drive for secondary school administrators. I consider the effect of an expanding private
secondary school sector on the availability of leadership roles for women. I conclude the article
with a discussion, from a critical feminist perspective, of the implications of the current pattern
of women in leadership positions in Ugandan secondary school, together with suggestions for
further research that could inform a model of leadership training for women in developing
countries worldwide.

Under-Representation of Women

The opportunities of women in many sectors of the Ugandan economy have been improved by
the provision of educational opportunities for girls and the acceptance of womens rights in the
workplace, but female representation in the economy still remains low. While the situation has
improved since 1988 when only 3% of government employees were women, Nuwagaba (2001)
noted that men have for decades dominated the administrative and professional jobs while the
few women who managed to secure employment mainly took on low level jobs such as clerks,
secretaries and tea girls. A study of women in educational leadership positions in education
undertaken by Brown and Ralph (1996) indicated that women were making little progress in
achieving equity with men in attaining leadership positions in educational administration and
policy making. The study suggested that women are hindered by both internal and external
barriers which keep them from advancing to leadership. Internal barriers included the effects of
socialization and sex stereotyping. External barriers derived from the structure of the education
system that locked women into low-power, low-visibility, dead-end jobs, and limited their
performance and opportunities as a result. In Uganda, Brown and Ralph argued, women
educational administrators advancement was further impeded by the cultural imperatives of male
dominance and suppression. A study of choices for career development made by female teachers
in Uganda (Kagoda, 2000) confirmed the many barriers women must overcome before assuming
leadership roles in the school system, including family commitments, low self esteem, and lack
of opportunity and encouragement within the educational administration system.

A survey of women in the workforce in Uganda undertaken in 1997 indicated 13.5 % of women
of working age were in the professions (which includes teaching and government service), 6.4%

in business, 3.2% in clerical positions, 1.9% in technical occupations, while 75% were classified
as housewives (Ministry of Gender and Community Development (MoGCD), 1998). The
Hon.Geraldine Namirembe Bitamazire, in her role as Minister of Education and Sports, noted in
a ministerial seminar on education that the Government of Uganda is still committed to. . .
creating an enabling environment for full participation of women in leadership and other
development (Bitamazire, 2005, p.v.). However, staff lists for the MoES issued in April 2005
indicated that while the Ministry at that time was headed by a woman, men still dominated the
higher levels of management and leadership. Women held 30% or more of the positions at each
level of the Ministry, but their total representation (24 of 98 positions at the level of Senior
Education Officer and above) was well below 30 % (see Table 1). Womens representation in the
lower paid positions which include secretaries, office attendants, data entry clerks and drivers
was higher, with 53 of 96 positions held by women. (MoES, 2005).

Table 1. Positions held by women in the Ministry of Education and Sports, April 2005

Position

Female

Male

Ministers

Permanent Secretaries and Under Secretaries

Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner

16

Principal Officers

24

Senior Officers

28

Source: MoES, April, (2005)

Leadership of secondary schools in Uganda suffers from a more pronounced underrepresentation of women. Statistics generated by the Ministry of Education in 2006 for this study
indicate that only 12% of the Deputy Heads and Heads of secondary schools in Uganda are
women (See Table 2). Women occupy 20% of the headships of government schools, and 10 % of
headships in government-registered private schools.

Structural Factors Affecting Female Representation at Leadership Levels

The Secondary School System

Ugandas education system is organized on a national level, and at the secondary level has its
origins in a colonial system of church-founded boarding schools that included a number of
single-sex schools. After completing seven years of primary education, students sit for the
Primary Leaving Examinations and on the basis of their performance and are selected for places
in government-aided secondary schools or find places in private schools licensed by the Ministry
of Education. They complete four years of junior secondary school and two years of senior
secondary school before application to university or other forms of higher education or training.
The numbers of private schools has increased dramatically in the last decade in part as a result of
increasing numbers of students completing primary education, a direct result of Ugandas
decision to fund free primary education to meet universal primary education goals (MoES, 1998,
2004b).

The recent installation of a computerized data base for educational statistics based on a census of
government-aided and private licensed schools undertaken by the MoES in 2004 has allowed for

more accurate recording of the location and numbers of schools, and their staffing. The Ministry
had, as of February 2006, collected data for 732 government-aided and 884 private secondary
schools, as indicated in Table 3.

The Ministry acknowledges another 112 government-aided schools, and many private schools
either unlicensed or who have not yet returned data. Five hundred twenty six private secondary
schools were licensed between January, 2002 and June, 2005, with another 118 registered prior
to licensing between January and June, 2005. Government-aided secondary schools currently
have places for 400,000 out of the 700,000 secondary students who qualify for them, a number
that will rise to1.2 million when the government implements its policy of universal secondary
education, ensuring that the number of private schools will continue to grow (Nsubugo, 2006).

School Leadership

Government-aided secondary schools have a Head teacher and one or more Deputy Head
teachers according to size. Private schools follow the same pattern. In government schools
leadership roles have traditionally been filled by teachers progressing up through the ranks of
posts of responsibility, such as Department Head for a particular academic subject area, or Senior
Mistress responsible for guidance and counseling of girls within the school. Teachers apply for
admission to a pool of heads and deputies for a particular school type (mixed day, single sex
boarding, Ordinary Level where students exit at 16 years of age, or Advanced Level where
students exit at 18 years of age) differentiated by pay scale. The Education Service Commission
(ESC) conducts interviews and appoints candidates who are then posted by the MoES to schools
as vacancies arise. Private schools are free to hire at will and, unlike the government school
applicants, private school applicants are applying to a particular school. Private school positions

do not have the benefit of security of contract and pension rights that are offered by governmentaided schools.

Orientation and training for new deputy and head teachers was instituted by the MoES in 2002,
and consists of two-week courses covering financial management, human resource management,
communications and similar modules. Beyond this, individual schools may provide funding for
school leaders to take courses with private organizations such as the British Council.

Opportunities for Women

Women seeking leadership positions in the secondary schools must have training for, and
experience in secondary school teaching. Current minimum requirements for a deputy head in a
4 year secondary school include a university degree and a qualification in education at the
diploma level from a recognized university or training institution. In addition, 6 years of teaching
experience are required, of which 2 must be in a position of responsibility in a secondary school
(ESC, 2006).

For women meeting these minimum requirements, there appear to be a number of factors
favoring their aspirations to become heads or deputy heads. These are:
1. The increasing number of single sex girls schools and their preference for female
administrator

sandteachers,

2. The government requirement that each coeducational school have either a female head teacher
or

female

deputy

head

teacher,

3. Government affirmative action policy applied to school leadership hiring requires that a
negotiated

percentage

of

new

hires

be

women,

4. The growth of private secondary schooling which is creating additional leadership positions.
5. An examination of each of these factors follows
Single Sex Girls Schools
Single sex girls schools are still a feature of government-aided schooling in Uganda, despite
governmental intentions that they should become coeducational (Republic of Uganda (RoU),
1992). Many of these schools were founded by missionary groups in the early part of the 20th
century, following the traditional educational practice in Uganda of educating boys and girls
separately. Most of these schools provide boarding facilities and they have continued to maintain
their popularity with parents concerned about the welfare and safety of adolescent girls in
coeducational schools. Research has supported the popular belief that girls in Uganda and
elsewhere in Africa achieve better academic results in these schools where they are not in direct
competition with boys (Sperandio, 1996, 1998; Lee & Lockheed, 1990). The preference for
single sex girls schools has led to an expansion of this school type in the private sector (see
Table 3).
There is a clear expectation that single sex girls schools will be headed by a female
administrator, with at least one female deputy, so these schools provide a group of positions for
which aspiring women administrators will have first option. Parental distrust of male teachers
also encourages the hiring of female teachers for girls schools when possible, again providing
preferential opportunities for women to gain the experience in leadership positions they need to
move up the promotion ladder.

Female Administrators in Coeducational Schools

Growing awareness and sensitivity to gender issues have also benefited women aspiring to
school leadership. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the Ugandan Womens Movement focused
public attention on the state of primary and secondary education for girls, and the harassment of
girls taking place in schools by boys and male teachers that contributed to a high drop-out rate
for girls, particularly at the secondary level. This problem was noted by the Educational Policy
Review Commissions Report Education for National Integration and Development (RoU,
1990). The Commission recommended that In coeducational schools, either the Head or Deputy
Head should be a woman in order to give adequate attention to the special needs of girls
(Recommendation163), and the recommendation was accepted in the Government White Paper
on Education (1992). Officials at the MoES now use this recommendation as a guideline when
allocating vacant school administrative positions to qualified candidates in the pool selected for
them by the Education Service Commission, although noting that many other factors played into
the allocation process (interview 2006).

Private schools are expected to follow similar policies to the government-aided schools, and the
two groups of coeducational secondary schools should, at the very least, provide positions for
female deputy heads/heads equal to the number of coeducational schools, a minimum of 1,470
positions.

Affirmative Action Policies

The 1996 revised Ugandan constitution addresses the issues of disadvantaged groups, and more
specifically, gender equity in all aspects of Ugandan life. Article 32 of the Constitution states
the State shall take affirmative actions in favor of marginalized groups. Article 33 states,
Women shall be accorded full and equal dignity of the person with men. and states that women

shall have the right to equal treatment with men to include equal opportunities in political,
economic and social life. It also acknowledges the legality of affirmative action to redress the
imbalances created by history, tradition or custom (RoU, 1996).

Neither the MoES or the ESC appear to have written policies defining affirmative action for
hiring, but there is a clearly understood policy that 30% of applicants hired for school position
should be women (interviews with MoES and ESC officials, February 2006). An examination of
the process involved in the hiring of 56 heads and 56 deputy heads for O level secondary
schools in 2005 illustrates the way in which affirmative action policies were applied.

The Education Service Commission constructed an initial shortlist of applicants for interview
after subjecting all applicants to an aptitude test. The scores were ranked according to their
performances and an acceptance point set for successful candidates. However, women were
given preferential treatment (on the basis of affirmative action) and the acceptance level for
women was 6 points below that for men. Had the acceptance level been the same for male and
female candidates only 6 women would have qualified for interview for head positions instead of
the 25 who were interviewed.

The final selection criteria were based on the candidate performance during interviews when
each candidate was ranked to establish an order of merit. The commission also considered the
gender issue at this point, deciding that at least 30% of the successful candidates to be appointed
must be female. To come close to this figure, further adjustments were made, with a lower scale
of interview points used for females than men, and a lowering of the years of service in
secondary schools required for female candidates to 6 years rather than the 8 required for men.

Growth of Private Schooling

The rapid growth of private schooling is generating new administrative positions as previously
discussed, and if Ministry policy is followed, this will result in increasing numbers of leadership
positions for women. The government is intent on introducing Universal Secondary Education,
and free secondary education will benefit girls in particular, bringing a higher percentage into
secondary schools. This in turn can be expected to create an increased need for school leadership
seen as being empathic to the needs of girls.

Discussion

The reasons for the under-representation of women in leadership positions in these schools, or
lack of women taking advantage of the vacancies that are occurring as the system expands,
clearly requires explanation given the apparently favourable environment for women aspiring to
secondary school leadership that exists in Uganda today. Drawing on the literature analysing a
similar under-representation of women in the USA, Australia, and the UK (Brown & Irby, 2005;
Eagly & Carli, 2003; Gentry, 1996; Grogan & Brunner, 2005; McKay & Brown, 2000;
Shakeshaft,1989, 1999), and in developing countries (Luke, 1998; Chisholm, 2001) three
possible

explanations

for

this

situation

present

themselves:

1. There is a lack of women who have the minimum qualifications needed for application for
leadership

positions,

2. There is a lack of interest by qualified candidates in leadership positions,

3. There are hidden barriers to women applying for, and being appointed to leadership positions.

A discussion of these phenomena in the context of the Ugandan education situation follows.

Gaining Qualifications

The numbers of women who applied for the 2005 head and deputy headship vacancies but failed
to meet the number of years of service requirement, suggests a very limited pool of qualified
female applicants. The Annual School Census data for 2004 indicates that 29% of teachers at
secondary school level in Uganda have a first degree, with less that 2% having postgraduate
degrees. Of the remaining 71% of female teachers, 96% had secondary education only (MoES,
2004).

In order to meet the six years of teaching in a secondary school, applicants would have been
among those women in secondary schools in 2000. The school census for that year indicates that
there were only 1,934 women with the necessary academic qualifications in schools at that time
(see Table 5).

Table 5. Academic Qualification of Teachers in Ugandan Secondary Schools,

This is explained in part by the limited number of girls completing an education to degree level,
(despite affirmative action policies to accept girls into tertiary education) and the even smaller
proportion of those who, on completion of the first degree, would opt for a career in secondary
education.

Disinterest in Education as a Career

Secondary school teaching has long been a devalued profession in Uganda, often taken up as a
last option by graduates who fail to find positions in Ugandas limited and highly competitive
job market. Ugandas economy is largely dependent on agricultural production and only 12% of

the labor force is in the formal sector, of which 26% are employed in government service (UBS,
2006). Secondary school teachers are classified as government officers with the rank of
educational officer.

Having a first degree in Uganda significantly increases the probability of employment, from
34.1% for a student leaving school after 6 years of secondary education to 71.5% with a
university degree (Xiaoyan, 2006). Mathematics and science graduates are highly likely to find
jobs in areas other than teaching. Other disincentives to becoming a secondary teacher have been
inefficiencies in the government appointment system leading to delayed payment of salaries, and
periodic government recruitment freezes (no secondary teachers have been hired since 1999)
which leaves probationary teachers unable to obtain teacher status and the increased salary that
this bestows. In recent years the MoES has exercised its option to move teachers from one school
to another in an attempt to improve teaching quality, so that teachers can no longer count on
permanent employment in one school or area.

The lack of female role models among teachers of adolescent girls may have contributed to the
unpopularity of teaching as a career choice for these girls in the past. I undertook a survey of
secondary school girls in nine schools across Uganda in 1996 which included all school types
and which asked girls to rank jobs, including secondary school teacher and headmistress, in order
of popularity. Only in one small town day school did the girls surveyed rank secondary school
teacher in the top six popular occupations. The girls in six schools, including four high-ranking
schools, placed Headmistress in the top six preferred jobs. Interviews with girls at the schools
suggested that female teachers were perceived as unsympathetic, out of touch with the needs and
aspirations of their female students, and struggling with financial and family commitments that

left them unfashionably dressed and unwilling to get involved in additional activities with the
students. Female head teachers, however, commanded respect as prominent members of the
community at large, were seen as interested and concerned in the well-being of students as they
lobbied for resources to improve their schools, and materially better off as reflected in their
clothes, houses and cars. These perceptions were strongest in schools with students from middle
and upper socio-economic backgrounds (Sperandio, 1998, 2002).

Hidden Barriers to Women becoming Educational Leaders

Promotion procedures from secondary teacher to deputy and head teacher in Uganda are, on the
surface, clear and gender neutral or tilted in favour of women candidates. However, evidence
from studies of womens journeys to school leadership in developed countries, and informal
conversations with women teachers and school leaders in Uganda suggest there may be many
hidden barriers to women successfully negotiating the journey to leadership (Marshall,1997;
Coleman, 2001; Shepherd, 2000; Young & McLeod, 2001). For example, women may not
understand the need to position themselves for promotion by taking on responsibilities in their
schools, volunteering for activities, and seeking the advice and patronage of senior
administrators, instead believing that academic qualifications and long service will be enough
(Celestin, 2003; Irby and Brown, 1998).

Male domination of senior administrative positions and the appointment and selection process in
the past may have created a situation that discouraged, or actively deterred women from reaching
the selection process as they seek recommendations and appraisals for their initial applications.
Uganda has a traditionally male dominated culture, which has until the very recent past, resulted
in a lack of leadership opportunities for girls in coeducational secondary schools and in

community and family life where girls have few rights and many responsibilities. Family
commitments, to husbands who may feel threatened by a successful and financially independent
wife, and to extended families, may cause many women to think twice about taking on the
additional responsibilities of running schools in environments hostile to women.

One further factor which may act as a discourager for women considering leadership positions in
schools is the lack of women role models and mentors in educational leadership. Given the
under-representation of women in coeducational secondary schools, there may be few examples
of women leaders readily available to provide models for success. Those women that are in
leadership positions may be breaking new ground and unable to offer the mentoring and
encouragement to other women that many find necessary to overcome their lack of self
confidence and esteem. Other women in leadership positions may be so beset with problems
created by resentful teachers, both male and female, who are unwilling to accept a women boss
that the example they provide does not encourage other women to undertake the same trial by
ordeal.

Conclusion

Clearly there is a need for further research in Uganda about all of these issues to provide an
understanding of the processes that are currently at work which both encourage and discourage
women from applying for and obtaining appointments as school leaders. The governments
commitment to Universal Secondary Education and the continuing expansion of private
schooling will provide a growing demand for teachers and administrators. In the interest of both
gender equity and the well-being of female students it is important that the current underrepresentation of women in secondary school leadership be corrected. This requires more

knowledge about current perceptions of secondary school girls and university students with
regard to secondary school teaching and leadership as a career, about the experiences of women
who have successfully carved out a career in school leadership, and about the perceptions and
needs of teachers unsure of their ability to tread the same path.

The patterns of limited representation of women in educational leadership seen in Uganda can be
found in many other developing countries (Sperandio, 2006). Understandings gained from
similar country studies can contribute to the development of effective models of leadership
training for women in these countries, and to an appreciation of the importance of contextual
factors in hindering women from moving into educational leadership. Providing effective
training and support for women aspiring to school headships and removing the barriers women
face in developing countries is a challenge that must be met if women are to have a voice in
educational development worldwide.