Financial Governance Transparency, Community Trust, and School Effectiveness: Findings from a Mixed-Methods Study in Cameroonian Secondary Schools

Abstract

School effectiveness research conducted primarily in high-income countries has largely overlooked participative financial governance as an institutional variable, reflecting the marginal role of community financial contributions in publicly funded school systems. This study challenges this omission by demonstrating, in a large-scale mixed-methods investigation of 480 principals and teachers across 30 secondary schools in Fako Division, South West Region of Cameroon, that shared financial responsibility is the strongest bivariate predictor of school effectiveness perceptions (rₛ = 0.647, p < 0.001), and the second-strongest predictor in a multiple regression model (R² = 0.507, β = 0.217, p = 0.002) after delegation of functions. Qualitative thematic analysis of 24 in-depth interviews reveals two distinct mechanisms: a direct material mechanism, through which transparent financial management sustains the community confidence and financial participation on which resource-dependent schools depend for operational viability; and an indirect relational mechanism, through which financial accountability builds the multi-stakeholder trust that is the foundational social resource for all dimensions of effective school governance. Cross-institutional analysis demonstrates that faith-based schools significantly outperform government schools on financial governance quality (means 3.61 vs 2.98), with structural and cultural governance traditions accounting for the difference. The study argues for the incorporation of participative financial governance as a significant variable in Africa-contextualised school effectiveness models and identifies the Parent-Teacher Association as the primary institutional vehicle for community financial participation in Anglophone Cameroonian schools.