Pedagogical quality of geography lesson delivery in Rwandan secondary schools

The study explored the quality of secondary school geography lesson delivery, lesson structure, teaching methods, teaching aids, classroom management and assessment practices to identify the best practices and areas for improvement across different school types- rural, urban, private, public, boarding and day schools. The study adopted a descriptive quantitative observational design. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 20 secondary schools, four from each of Rwanda's four provinces and the City of Kigali, based on their distinct physical and human geographic characteristics. The sample included one private school, one public boarding school, and two public day schools in each region, ensuring balanced representation across different school types. One geography teacher of advanced level was purposively selected from each school, resulting in a total sample of 20 teachers observed. Data were analyzed using SPSS with descriptive statistics. Findings revealed notable disparities in relation to school types. Urban, private, and boarding schools generally outperformed rural and public day schools in lesson structure, teaching methods, use of teaching aids and classroom management. However, areas such as lesson introductions, classroom rules communication, integration of technology, lesson pacing, and assessment practices emerged as common challenges, particularly in rural and day schools. While teachers demonstrated strong alignment of teaching methods and assessments with lesson objectives, the use of diverse strategies, timely feedback, and effective technology integration remains limited. The findings underscore the need for targeted improvements to support competency-based geography education and ensure equitable learning outcomes across diverse school contexts.