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Whole School Approach for School Improvement: A Study in Nepalese Context
Dhundi Raj Giri, Dhanapati Subedi, Bharat Prasad Neupane
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DOI:10.17265/2161-623X/2025.02.002
Kathmandu University School of Education, Dhulikhel, Nepal
Today’s unprecedented social, economic, and environmental challenges are accelerated by fast-growing technological advancement and globalization, and the urgent call for school improvement is inevitable. The whole school approach (hereafter WSA) is one of the effective approaches for the overall improvement of schools involving all the members of the school community—school leaders, teachers, parents, students, and community people. This thematic paper aims to investigate a deeper level of WSA as a holistic and sustainable approach to school improvement. This study was conducted using document analysis. Accordingly, we reviewed articles and policy documents on the whole school approach downloaded from different databases to explore the deeper layers of WSA and current trends in education. The research emerged with five major themes relating to whole school improvement: philosophical foundation, theoretical premises, facets and guidelines, key insights, and opportunities and challenges. This research implies that policymakers, practitioners, and teacher educators need to focus on the multiple aspects of WSA, including pedagogy, effective leadership, continuous professional development, school-based policy guidelines, creating a positive school culture, monitoring and evaluation by fostering a collaborative environment for all stakeholders for holistic school improvement initiatives.
whole school approach, school improvement, current trends, transformational leadership, continuous professional development’ community involvement
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