Managing Conflict Under Constraint: System Capacity, Counselling, Documentation and External Pressure in Ghanaian Boarding Senior High Schools

Conflict management in boarding Senior High Schools is often discussed in terms of leadership style, disciplinary firmness, or interpersonal diplomacy. This article argues that heads' conflict-management decisions are also shaped by the institutional capacity available to support fair and timely action. Drawing on a qualitative multiple-case study involving 24 participants across two public boarding Senior High Schools in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality of Ghana, the article explores how school actors perceived counselling systems, documentation practices, role clarity, prefect protection, and external pressure as shaping conflict management practices. Data were generated through eight semi-structured interviews with heads, senior house staff, and guidance and counselling coordinators, and two focus group discussions with student leaders. Findings show that conflict-management choices were shaped by severity, evidence, recurrence, school rules, party identity, pastoral concerns, and parent/community pressure. The main constraints included limited counselling capacity, uneven documentation practices, role ambiguity, hidden bullying, prefect vulnerability, resource pressures, and external interference. The article argues that the two cases point to the importance of whole-school systems that integrate counselling, fair procedure, case records, staff development, student voice, stakeholder education, and clear appeal pathways. It contributes to school leadership literature by reframing conflict management as a system-capacity issue rather than merely an individual leadership task. The study’s scope is limited to two schools and relies on reported experiences; future research should expand the sample, incorporate direct observation and documentary evidence, and involve a broader range of stakeholders—including parents, ordinary students, and district education officials—to develop a more comprehensive and transferable school-based conflict-management framework.

conflict management; school leadership; counselling; documentation; Senior High Schools; Ghana; boarding schools; external pressure; procedural justice; institutional capacity

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