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Access Type

WSU Access

Date of Award

January 2020

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Educational Leadership and Policy

First Advisor

Ben Pogodzinski

Abstract

ABSTRACT

THE DIFFUSION OF SCIENCE EDUCATION TWIN POLICY: A MULTIPLE CASE STUDY OF UGANDAN SCHOOL PHYSICS

by

NICHOLAS SSEGGOBE KIRUMA

May 2020

Advisor: Dr. Ben Pogodzinski

Major: Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

The study investigated the diffusion of science education twin policy that mandated learner-centered pedagogy and compulsory science in Ugandan lower secondary schools. The literature I reviewed for the study showed the problem of differential conceptualization and enactment of learner-centered pedagogy in various educational contexts in some subject areas but not in science education. There was a need to investigate the diffusion of learner-centered pedagogy in school science in general, and in school physics in particular. I employed the multiple-case design to gather qualitative data and analyzed the data to answer five research questions. I anchored the study on three theories namely policy diffusion theory, core-periphery theory, and social network theory and analysis. I purposively selected four physics teachers and four principals from four co-educational secondary schools and the science education leader from the Uganda Ministry of Education and Sports as data rich participants for the study. I designed in-depth interview guides for teachers, principals, and the science education leader, and a classroom observation protocol to collect requisite data for the study. I observed lessons of participant teachers to collect data on teachers’ levels of classroom enactment of learner-centered pedagogy. I used NVivo 12 to code, thematize, and analyze data through the constant comparison of cases. Findings in the study suggest that physics teachers learned learner-centered pedagogy shallowly and enacted it minimally. Findings also show that the diffusion of the science education twin policy in Ugandan school physics is dismal and faces a multiplicity of hindrances including teacher moonlighting, paucity of science equipment, and students’ disinterest in physics. Policy actors at all levels need to contribute synergistically to the improvement of the enactment of learner-centered pedagogy in the classroom for higher student attainment in science and the attainment of the goals of compulsory science policy in Uganda.

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