Educational Management as the Backbone of Effective Teaching and Learning: A Comparative Lens from Sierra Leone to China

Author (s)

Musa Jalloh & Musa Fofana

Abstract

This paper views education management as the skeleton of successful teaching and learning in comparative perspective between Sierra Leone and China. Using a hybrid, mixed-method, qualitative oriented design, the research combines policy and governance analysis with descriptive system-level indicators to investigate how distinguishing differences in managerial capacity drive educational results. A conceptual framework that locates governance, instructional supervision, teacher management, resource allocation and accountability as central dimensions of educational management structures the analysis. Adopting a most-different systems design, the study compares Sierra Leone’s education system which is fragmented and capacity-challenged to China’ coordinated and institution-based disease management system. The study demonstrates that differences in teaching quality and learning achievement do not come from situational design or policy, but from patterns of coherence and resource implementation at managerial level. In Sierra Leone, poor co-ordination, inadequate school monitoring, reduced financial investment and donor-led teacher training hinder the move from policy to practice. China, on the other hand, illustrates how centralization of leadership, institutionalized oversight and accountability, long-term investment and systematic teacher development can result in consistent and scalable improvements in teaching and learning. The study adds to the literature through adopting an explanatory approach to educational management and focusing on institutional mechanisms, as opposed to descriptive relationships. It also reinforces the argument that low-income “implementation gaps” tend overwhelmingly to be managerial in origin as opposed to problems of policy. The results highlight policy areas that will be key vehicles for improving educational performance–strengthening governance coherence, embedding supervision systems, ensuring sustainable financing and reinforcing accountability.

Key words: Educational Management, Teaching and Learning Effectiveness, Comparative Education, Governance and Accountability, Sierra Leone, China.

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Cite This Article:

Jalloh, M. & Fofana, M. (2026). Educational Management as the Backbone of Effective Teaching and Learning: A Comparative Lens from Sierra Leone to China, Journal of Scientific Reports, 13(1), 93-105.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.58970/JSR.1175

About Author (s)

Musa Jalloh (Corresponding author), University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), Beijing, China. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1078-2995

Musa Fofana, Northeast Normal University (NENU), Changchun, China.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.58970/JSR.1175

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