The role of headteacher leadership and community participation in public school improvement in Ghana

School improvement in public schools remains a challenge in many developing countries, including Ghana. Many researchers have highlighted the need for strong headteacher leadership and the active participation of the community, including parents, in the efforts to improve public schools. Research in developed countries‟ education systems have brought to the surface some of the factors underpinning successful public schools, however in developing countries there has been a lack of research surrounding how headteacher leadership and community engagement with schools affect schooling outcomes. This lack of research has resulted in the use of recommendations tendered by global research regarding school effectiveness and school improvement to inform developing country policies on how to improve public education. In many cases, private schools have been used as the model for failing public schools, yet from national basic education certificate examinations (WAEC, 2012) it is evident that some public schools, even in disadvantaged areas, are managing to provide quality education. The key questions that this thesis explores are: What conditions prevail in high performing public schools serving disadvantaged communities? What has been the role of headteacher leadership and community participation in securing improvement of these schools? Thus, this study has sought to investigate the conditions prevailing in high performing public schools and what role school headteachers leadership and community engagement played in creating the environment conducive to effective teaching and learning. Using a qualitative case study research design data was collected through interviews, observations and documentary reviews to explore the views and experiences of headteachers, teachers and parents regarding the improvements in the schools. Results show that conditions, such as the existence of safe and protective classroom infrastructures, critical engagement of parents and community members in all aspects of the school‟s development, adoption of diverse proactive teaching and learning approaches; and the strong visionary and transformational leadership exhibited by the headteachers appear to have been driving forces in these successful schools. The thesis concludes with key recommendations for policy makers in developing countries on strategies that might be taken to turn failing public schools into more functioning schools. These recommendations include: • Targeting the beneficiaries of capitation grant to needy students or increasing the grant • Providing school infrastructure to take the burden from schools • Encouraging community participation in school improvement strategies • Enhancing competencies of headteacher leadership to influence school improvement strategie

The impact of timber price uncertainty and flexible harvest on bidding behavior in N +1 price forest biodiversity auctions

Conservation auctions have received increased attention since the turn of the century. Improved management of forests for biodiversity is one of the areas where this has been the case. Previous studies have to my knowledge not accounted for the impact of timber price variability on forest owners’ bidding behavior. This thesis fills this void in the literature. Brazee and Mendelsohn (1988) showed that timber price fluctuations affect the timing of timber cutting as the forest owners' reservation prices for cutting increase under higher price variability. A basic insight from auction theory is that no bidder will submit a bid that makes him or her worse off. This is also the case for conservation contract auctions. I combine the above two insights to show that bids for forest conservation auctions will become higher under timber price variability compared to cases with timber prices without such fluctuations.M-ECO

DOPING AMONG MINNOWS IN GHANA: IS ELIGIBILITY THE MAIN ISSUE?

Despite the use of drugs among amateur athletes linked to inadvertent doping, there is a gap in the literature about other factors that prompted doping behaviour. The present study examined if eligibility to participate in sports competitions is the main cause of doping among young athletes in Ghana. To achieve this, an interpretative qualitative research design approach was adopted. Purposive and snowballing sampling techniques were employed to recruit 10 former basic school student-athletes who admitted to using drugs to participate in school competitions. Semi-structured interviews were the instruments used to collect the data to answer the research questions. Thematic analysis was employed after the data have been transcribed verbatim. The findings of the study revealed that students take performance-enhancing drugs to “become eligible to participate in the competitions”, “to improve stamina”, and “gives them extra energy to perform without getting tired”. Again, it was found that the former student-athletes were unaware of the effects of taking the drugs. The study further exposed some effects of performance-enhancing drugs which included addictiveness and physiological health challenges on the individual. The study recommends that stakeholders should educate minnows on the adverse effects of taking drugs without a doctor’s prescription. Again, age should be used when organising competitions for student-athletes at the basic school level rather than weight, height and facial description.  Article visualizations

Adoption of Electronic Banking: Evidence from Ghana

This paper sought to examine the adoption of Electronic Banking products by customers as well as the perceived benefits and the barriers experienced by Ghana Commercial Bank customers.Both primary and secondary data were used in the study. The population for this study was customers of Ghana Commercial Bank. Sample size of 520 customers was selected using convenience sampling.  SPSS was used for the data analysis. It was observed from the analysis that GCB has implemented E-banking products to stay in tune with its competitors for the market share and customers acceptability of the various banking products.  The study shown that of all the electronic banking products, ATM was rated high on the attribute of simplicity, enjoy-ability and less difficult when it comes to its usage. In addition, ATM was the preferred choice of the respondents in relation to the security of the various e-banking products and how comfortable the products have made banking easier. Finally, it was observed that 77% rarely have problems with the services and 86% sometimes seek assistance before using the products. The study recommends that GCB should improve on the technical and functional quality of their ATM since it is the most preferred electronic banking product by customers. In order to enhance customer retention, product innovation should be carried out on GCB’s, ATM. Keywords: Banking; Electronic; Adoptio

Information and Communication Technology Acceptance in Education: A Study of Pre-service Teachers in Ghana

This thesis employed the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to empirically explore factors influencing acceptance and integration of Information and Communication Technology as a tool for teaching and learning in pre-service teacher education in Ghana. This purpose was accomplished by extending the original technology acceptance model by adding six exogenous variables. Although, there have been few studies on the use of ICT in the Ghanaian education context, no studies have been done on this topic specifically on pre-service teachers offering a 3-year Diploma in Basic Education in Colleges of Education in Ghana. The study adopted mixed methods where first, a survey was conducted among 380 respondents studying a 3-year Diploma in Education programme in two colleges of education in Ghana. This was followed by interviews and observations among a number of teacher educators and pre-service teachers to collect additional qualitative data to triangulate with the quantitative results. Empirical results obtained employing multiple step-wise regression analysis showed that all the eleven hypotheses tested were statistically supported by the data with the exception of hypothesis seven. Together, perceived usefulness, attitude towards use, leadership support and technological complexity explained 58 percent of the variance in actual use of ICT by the pre-service teachers. Attitude towards use, perceived usefulness, technological complexity and leadership support had direct and positive effect on the pre-service actual use of ICT. Among these constructs, technological complexity which is an exogenous factor was found to be the most dominant determinant. Contrary to the results of the prominent prior TAM studies, statistically, perceived ease of use had no significant influence on perceived usefulness. Altogether, LS, TC, PU and ATU were able to explain 58% of the variance observed in the users’ actual use of ICT. Erratic power supply, a lack of technical support and maintenance, poor Internet access, pressure from high-stakes testing and disconnection between the colleges and the practicum schools in the use of ICT were identified as major barriers to ICT integration in both colleges. Potentially, the study found shared-leadership as the most effective leadership approach to effective ICT integration as it brought all stakeholders with a vested interest in ensuring the success as they perceived themselves as partners in a common endeavour. In general, the participants expressed positive attitudes towards ICT and acknowledged it as a pre-requisite for teaching and learning in the 21st century. However, it was observed that majority of them were not competent in using the technology for pedagogical purposes. The findings of this empirical research will serve as a useful practical guide to the policy-makers and practitioners about how to increase the use of the new technologies in teaching and learning within the Ghanaian pre-service teacher education in particular and developing world in general

A Risk-based Assessment of Ghana Commercial Bank Limited

Risk management is a very important concept for any business as most financial decisions revolve around the corporate cost of holding risk. This issue is particularly important to banks since risk constitutes their core business processes. This study assesses the risk profile of GCB to ascertain its soundness and conformity to international best practices. The study selects credit, liquidity, market and operational risks as dependent variables while size, NPLs ratio, capital adequacy and asset management are utilized as explanatory variables for the period of five years from 2007 to 2011. The regression results indicate that the size of bank does not influence any of the risks. Apart from credit risk which is influenced positively by the NPL ratio, all the other risks, show a negative relationship with NPL ratio. The capital adequacy has a negative relationship with credit and liquidity but a positive relationship with market and operational risks. Both debt-equity ratio and asset management establish a positive relationship with credit and operational risks, but a negative relationship with liquidity and market risks. Generally, the study revealed that GCB has a good risk profile in the face of challenging global economic and business environment. The Bank had adequate risk management structures to ensure sound management of financial and operational risks. These structures were also in line with internationally accepted principles for managing risks. The study recommends that the Bank adopts an integrated, enterprise-wide risk management approach, promoting a corporate culture that understands risk management and incorporate it into the broader corporate strategy. Keywords: Risk, liquidity, capital adequacy, strategy, enterprise-wide risk managemen

Effects of dietary inclusions of oilseed meals on physical characteristics and feed intake of diets for the Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus

The present study investigated the effects of the inclusion of three oilseed by-products (soybean, copra and palm kernel meals) on some physical characteristics of pelletized feeds as well as on voluntary feed intake and faecal matter production by the Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus. The dietary inclusion of soybean meal resulted in a significantly higher feed bulk density relative to the fishmeal control diet. The inclusions of copra and palm kernel meals, however, resulted in lower feed bulk densities. Sinking rates, water stabilities and nutrient retention efficiencies of feed pellets were directly related to feed bulk densities. The soybean meal diet had the fastest sinking velocities, greatest water stability and highest nutrient retention rates. The dietary inclusion of soybean meal, however, significantly impaired feed intake compared to the other three diets. Mean daily feed intakes of the control, palm kernel meal and copra meal diets corresponded to 28.88, 27.01 and 28.31 g during the experimental period and varied significantly from the mean daily intake of the soybean meal diet which corresponded to 20.01 g. Faecal matter production (g dry mass kg−1 ingested feed) was significantly higher in the tilapia groups fed the copra and palm kernel meals. The results obtained from this study show that 30% inclusions of unrefined forms of copra and palm kernel meal in Nile tilapia diets is possible, without adversely affecting feed intake or pellet nutrient losses prior to ingestion

Factors influencing tax stamp purchases in Ghana: A case of Twifo-Atti Morkwa sub-tax District.

This study examined the factors that influence number of tax stump purchased in Twifo-Atti Morkwa sub-tax district in Ghana. Data were collected from taxpayers in the study area who qualify for tax stamps and interview schedule was used for the collection of the data from the respondents. In total, 305 taxpayers were interviewed. The study employed negative binomial regression model to examine the factors that influence number of tax stamp purchased. The study found that levels of education, perception towards the importance of payment of tax, application of sanctions, guilt feeling, rate of tax audit and distance to tax office are key predictors of tax stamp purchases. This study strongly recommends that Tax auditors should go round at least at the beginning of every quarter to inspect the number of tax stamps that taxpayers have bought. The study also recommends that Ghana Revenue Authority should apply sanctions promptly when tax auditors catch some tax stamp defaulters

African rainforests: past, present and future

In recent decades, there has been a surge of interest in tropical forests, as there is increased appreciation of the rich biodiversity they host and the many roles they play in the functioning of the Earth system at local, regional and global scales. Of the world’s major tropical forest regions, most research and policy attention has focused on the Amazon region, the world’s largest tropical forest bloc, and to a lesser extent on South East Asia, the third largest tropical forest region. By contrast, the world’s second largest tropical forest region, the tropical forests of Central and West Africa (termed the Guineo-Congolian region) have been relatively neglected. This has been for a number of reasons, including challenging and fragmented politics, civil conflicts and logistical as well as infrastructure challenges. Nevertheless, there is an extensive amount of research activity in the African rainforest zone that has rarely been compiled in a single interdisciplinary volume. This review paper synthesizes the insights emerging from the theme issue on ‘African rainforests: past, present and future’ of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen