Experiences of Day Scholars in Boarding Schools in Zimbabwe: Implications for Educational Management

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore experiences of day scholars in boarding schools and the nature of their relationships with their peers and their teachers. This was motivated by the fact that literature on school management has not covered much on experiences of day scholars in boarding schools in Zimbabwe. A qualitative grounded theoretical research design was adopted to study experiences of day scholars in two boarding schools. A survey of a purposive sample of two boarding schools, five parents, ten teachers and thirty–day scholars provided leads for participant observations, interviews and documentary analysis. The study found that, parents are for day scholar inclusion in boarding schools. Teachers and day scholars are not for it. Day scholars in boarding schools experienced social rejection, social discrimination and segregative treatments in sports. Day scholars experience a lack of teacher support and stiff academic competition from boarders, which negatively affect their aspirations, motivation and their learning. The study recommends that day scholar inclusion in boarding schools be done after teacher staff-development. Children of the same academic potentials should be placed in one class. Provisions for day scholars’ lunch should be seriously considered. Further research can be done to verify findings from this study using other schools.

Keywords: Day scholar, Boarding schools, Educational management