The provision of public services has changed significantly over the years. One of the more recent changes has involved the increased delivery of public services by non-governmental organizations, whether these organizations be private in nature or belong to the so-called third sector. The third sector is known by a number of different terms, including the non-profit sector, the voluntary sector, civil society, and the social economy. Of particular interest in this study are those social economy organizations (SEOs) that receive the whole or a part of their revenue from the government. These organizations must be accountable to the government for the funds that government provides to them. The purpose of this accountability is to ensure SEOs undertake their obligations to use public resources effectively and to deliver quality public services. One potential accountability challenge involves the limitations associated with the performance evaluation of SEOs, since performance is often not easily observable. Performance is comprised of two parts: the work done by the organization (output) and the impact of this work (outcome). The difficulty in the observation of both outputs and outcomes may result in a conflict for the SEOs between focusing on observable parts of their work that can be more readily measured and reported to meet accountability requirements versus work with less tangible outputs and outcomes. In a funding agreement between an SEO and government, the SEO might have to agree with government requirements, for instance, to follow standardized procedures so that the government can monitor the observable aspects of its work. This requirement may conflict with the SEO’s desire to focus on things that are not observable, and consequently not funded by the government, but are important to the SEO’s mission and social goals. The goal of this research study is to examine the challenges that arise in the operation of SEOs, given that they need to be responsive to government’s expectations and at the same time follow their mission requirements. In-depth interviews were used to examine the extent to which outputs and outcomes are unobservable in SEOs as well as the possible conflicts that might arise between competing objectives within SEOs. Interview participants are three SEO executive directors and one manager, each of whom is responsible for the work carried out by his or her respective SEO. A government employee involved in providing funding to one of the SEOs was also interviewed. The results of this study suggest that the SEOs that were examined have varying degrees of unobservable outputs and outcomes. This study also found that organizations with a greater percentage of unobservable outputs and outcomes experienced a greater degree of conflict in their relationships with government. One of the reasons for the conflict is that the SEO personnel felt that the government focused its attention too much on the observable outputs/outcomes and not enough on outputs and outcomes that, although unobservable, were nevertheless important to clients and the public. Moreover, the SEOs examined in this study that serve specific groups of clients, such as seniors or immigrants, experienced less conflict than those whose services (e.g., increasing environmental sustainability) target the general public. The results of this research have implications for the way in which government structures its activities. Over the last 25-30 years, governments have, through New Public Management (NPM), privatized the provision of public services and encouraged greater competition in the delivery of public services. The results of the analysis carried out in this thesis suggest that this restructuring may not be as effective in situations where the services are directed toward the general public and/or where the services provided involve unobservable outputs and outcomes. The added conflict that appears to accompany these situations suggests that there may be goals and objectives that are important to society but are not being met through the contractual relationship established between the government and the SEO. Since NPM is expected to remain in place, government may wish to find ways of better addressing important unobservable outputs and outcomes. One suggestion, drawn from the interviews with SEOs, is that the government officials who are assigned to work with SEOs should have a good knowledge of the SEOs and be familiar with their missions and functions. This knowledge and familiarity might enable the government officials to evaluate the degree to which non-observable outputs and outcomes are being provided, which in turn might reduce conflict and ensure a better provision of services to clients and the public.

Sound financial management is a growing concept in the public sector, especially in local government. The South African government has put in place policies and mechanisms to create a conducive environment for municipalities to manage finances in an effective manner. The management of municipal finance is supported by a set of policies and regulations to strengthen the use of public money. Among the respective policy frameworks, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa expects the government entities to be transparent and accountable. Here in, these financial measures are also guided by the Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003 and the Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999 (as amended 29 of 1999). Measured transparency is critically important for management public funds. Accountability is an essential element in achieving institutional goals, especially where public funds are used. Accountability allows public institutions to provide assurance to the tax payers and to their principals. The Auditor General expects municipalities to be accountable for their financial activities through regular reporting. The Annual Report will therefore be compiled for reporting and it must include all required information. Audit Committee becomes very critical, as a structure established to guide the municipality on finances and ensure that the report is credible in every respect. Metsimaholo municipality has however been facing challenges as per the opinions of the Auditor General based on financial reporting, amongst other things. This study involves the extent to which financial reporting serves as a tool for promoting accountability. In order to test the hypothesis, literature was reviewed to analyse and evaluate financial reporting and accountability. Empirical research was conducted to test and analyse the existence of practices, procedures and policies that promote sound financial management and their effectiveness. Data was collected through questionnaires and face to face structured and unstructured interviews, with respondents from employees of Metsimaholo Local Municipality and community structures. This study found among others that: *Policies for financial reporting exist but are not fully complied with *There is a lack of follow up with and implementation of Auditor General’s recommendations *Audit Committee recommendations are not fully implemented *There are no clear lines of responsibilities between councillors and officials with regard to financial management The study concludes with recommendations to assist the municipality in committing themselves to adopt strategies towards financial reporting for improved accountability. / Thesis (M. Development and Management (Public Management and Government))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

This thesis is historical in nature. It adopts a methodology that has recently taken the study of accounting history into the arena of the social; leaving behind tradi- tional notions of accounting as being only what accountants do. The focus of the study is on the annual reporting of activity, in terms of both its nancial and phys- ical dimensions, in the history of the British voluntary hospital movement. The study is highly contextualised. By adopting this approach it has been possible to show how accounting reports initially enabled the managers of medical institutions to reverse the focus of accountability onto those charitable individuals that were providing the funding for the hospitals. This greatly strengthened the fundrais- ing capacity of the hospital, while simultaneously de ecting attention away from the e cacy of the institution itself. Later, however, it is shown that after various abortive or only partially successful attempts, it was possible, through the medium of a uniform accounting system, to return the focus of accountability back onto the management of the hospitals. It is important to note that the success of this movement was contingent less on the quality or viability of the accounting system than the legitimacy of the organisation that published its results. Until this legit- imacy was established in the minds of the users of the accounts the e ects of the accounting was severely limited. Once it was rmly established the accounts be- came a powerful knowledge technology that enabled a substantial degree of control to be exercised over hospitals, such that a `quasi-system' of hospitals was created.

This dissertation seeks to examine why democratic systems and electoral competition can sometimes fail to secure clean government in the interest of the electorate. The question of why voters support corrupt politicians, despite disapproving of corruption itself, is of critical importance if it is to be believed that corruption has a detrimental effect on development. The core argument of this dissertation is that party system features that improve accountability by shaping the efficacy of elections as tools to select and control politicians, play a vital and overlooked role in conditioning the scope for corruption. I conceive of governmental corruption as a classical principal-agent model, in which voters‘ relationships with their representatives are mediated by the extent to which party systems enable the electorate to select non-malfeasant politicians who seek to curb corruption and to hold accountable those who do not. This thesis purports that party systems which reduce agency problems confronting voters, by making available information regarding the quality of their incumbents and potential challengers and structurating effective, choices at the polls, decrease the latitude for governmental corruption. This thesis probes this argument through a controlled comparative analysis of corruption in 91 contemporary democracies and three nested-design case studies. The large-N analysis and the case studies of Panama, India, and Mexico offer broad support for these hypotheses.

Magíster en Ciencias Sociales con mención en Sociología de la Modernización / Los mecanismos de Gestión Pública Participativa, implementados en la Agenda Pro Participación Ciudadana 2006 – 2010 del gobierno de Michelle Bachelet, constituyen un desarrollo en el ámbito de la participación ciudadana en accountability, presentándose como un fenómeno de interés, debido al carácter innovador de sus estrategias, y al fortalecimiento de la democracia participativa. En el presente estudio, se muestra un análisis de las experiencias de quienes participaron, en ejercicios particulares de dos mecanismos de Gestión Pública Participativa que se llevaron a cabo en dicho gobierno, enfocados específicamente hacia la accountability social: los Consejos de la Sociedad Civil y las Cuentas Públicas Participativas. A partir del acercamiento a estas experiencias, se logró una caracterización del diseño, metodología, implementación y alcances de estos ejercicios participativos. La percepción y valoración de los entrevistados en este trabajo, permitió ahondar en el tema de la accountability social, en especial en aspectos relativos a la efectividad de los mecanismos ya mencionados, para lograr la incorporación de los diversos aportes de la deliberación ciudadana en el mejoramiento de la gestión en las políticas públicas, y/o en los programas sociales, y en el intento de trascender la mera vigilancia, y el control reducido al acceso a la información de la gestión

This study looked at the way poor-performing public secondary schools in Gauteng Province understand school accountability; their current internal accountability instruments; the way professional development is conducted; and their engagement with the Integrated Quality Management System, the external school accountability system. The intention of the study was to identify possible instruments to mobilise bureaucratic and professional accountability in poor-performing secondary schools. The study was a case study of three poor-performing secondary schools and relied on teachers and principals at these schools to learn their understanding and reactions to the notion of accountability. The study revealed that such schools use bureaucratic instruments (such as attendance registers) to realise accountability and to create structure and routine in their schools. However, where leadership is weak, even these bureaucratic tools such as attendance registers are ineffective. These schools do not take action against non-conformance by teachers and principals. In the schools investigated, accountability was seen as ‘doing your work as you were trained to do during your pre-service training and reporting on learner performance’. The study revealed that, to move towards greater professional accountability in the school sector, a long-term approach is needed that is underscored by ongoing professional development complemented with pressure or performance management. Equally important is the need to build collective power through improving knowledge and skills and motivation for improvement amongst both teachers and school managers.

This study explores women teachers’ lives to understand their experiences of teaching in South Africa today. Accountability and a culture of performativity have to come to dominate schooling in South Africa. Since then, teachers have decreased discretion and autonomy over their work. This study examines the claim that educational reforms and initiatives have changed the nature of teachers’ work. This is a qualitative study drawing on autobiographies, journal entries and interviews. This study which was conducted with four women teachers from secondary schools, provides a commentary on their past experiences with the intention of exploring their identity formation, and how it frames the enactment of their personal and professional identities. The study analyses the ways in which women teachers experience the new mode of regulation which has changed the nature of professionalism and teacher identity. It examines the expansion of teachers’ roles and responsibilities and their negotiating a balance between work and family. The findings show that the women teachers bring into schools experiences gleaned from their personal history. A prominent feature in the narratives is the women teachers’ struggle to find a balance between the demands of home and school in the light of the new mode of teacher regulation. This thesis contributes to South African research on women teachers and their negotiation of the relationship between work and home.

This doctoral thesis investigates a relatively under-researched aspect of teachers’ emotions: namely, teachers’ emotions towards assessment. It generates a conceptual framework and methodological tool for the investigation into and analysis of teachers’ assessment practice, which consists of three concepts: emotions, emotional rules and emotional labour. Following Nussbaum (2001), emotions are viewed as cognitive, i.e. as evaluative judgements of objects important to a person’s flourishing. Following Turner (2007, 2010), emotions are understood as a generalised symbolic medium exchanged between people within institutions, making positive emotions a desirable resource that enhance a person’s flourishing. The thesis also draws on Hochschild (1983/2003), Zembylas (2005), Theodosius (2008) and Archer (2000), to expand, systematize and operationalize the concepts of emotional rules and labour, which increase the visibility of teachers’ emotions and illustrate how assessment, like teaching, is an “emotional practice” (Hargreaves, 1998). This conceptual frame opens possibilities for further research into the nascent field of teachers’ emotions and assessment. Data was collected through seven focus group interviews with nineteen teachers. The teachers were selected as a purposive sample: committed to their work of enabling learner achievement, engaged in professional development and working in functional schools. A thick description of teachers’ emotions foregrounded three main ‘objects’ of assessment: learner achievement, the assessment practices of marking and giving feedback, and accountability demands. Findings show the identity of committed teachers’ as interdependent with learner achievement: teachers gain positive emotions and the motivation to continue their work when learners do well, but are disappointed and filled with self-doubt when learners do badly. In their assessment practice, committed teachers are often overwhelmed by endless marking, yet continuously strive to make judgements and give feedback in ways that are fair, just and empowering for learners. The “panic accountability” of departmental demands undermines and demeans teachers, generating outrage and alienation. Key claims arising from the research are: 1. Teachers’ emotions occupy a strategic position as an inevitable filter through which all policy aimed at achieving the national project of high learner achievement must pass, so teachers’ emotions towards assessment and accountability have the power to enhance or destabilise learner achievement and are thus a valid concern for educational research, policy and practice. 2. As seen through their emotional rules, committed teachers strive to live up to high ethical ideals and take responsibility not only for learner success but also learner failure. 3. Teachers’ emotional labour makes visible how they strive to fulfil their moral purpose of learner achievement, yet are deeply demoralised by not receiving acknowledgement and respect from education authorities.

Thesis advisor: Martin Scanlan / This qualitative case study explored the role of central office leaders in supporting autonomy and accountability in the Lawrence Public Schools. One of the key strategies of central office transformation is the creation of assistance relationships with principals (Honig et al., 2010), which serves as the conceptual framework for this study. Data was gathered from interviews with and observations of central office leaders and principals as well as a document review. The results of the study found that principals were granted broad autonomy in several areas of school leadership that resulted in improved student outcomes. Findings further noted that central office leaders engaged in assistance relationships and employed the key practices in their efforts to support principals. Principals reported that central office leaders employed these practices in each of the four decision-making areas of building leadership; budget, staffing, curriculum and assessment, and scheduling. While enacting autonomy for principals in building decision-making, central office leaders executed a “customer-service culture” of support. Recommendations include continual examination of assistance relationships among central office leaders in support of principals’ autonomy in the context of a turnaround district. Future researchers may continue to contribute to the growing body of literature by examining these findings and offering a longitudinal view of this practice. This strands’ findings may begin to provide insights into strategies that will add to school improvement efforts for chronically underperforming schools and districts. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

This thesis provides a trajectory policy analysis of post-1994 appraisal systems in South Africa by capturing the dynamics of these policies between different levels as well as the reasons these policies have changed and evolved in the way they did over the past 10 years. Its aim is to understand why and how various post-1994 South African teacher appraisals were negotiated, formulated and re-negotiated with their different impact on schools, taking into account the various tensions and contestations within appraisal and between stakeholders. The study attempts to make the following claims around issues of appraisal, policy analysis, multi-method research. First, because appraisal policies are socially constructed and politically contested, they are fraught with inevitable socio-educational tensions around the balance between teacher development and accountability, coming from the negotiations between the main stakeholders at various stages of the policy process. Second, because current policy analysis approaches have failed to address the increasingly complex domain and gap of policy-practice in an era dominated by the interplay of conflicting agendas and interests of various policy communities, an eclectic approach to policy analysis is used and recommended. This approach relies mainly on a political analysis, which conceives of policies as both constraining and empowering structures and texts which create space and opportunities for policy agency and leadership. Such political approach has to conceive of three different policy powers to reveal the various tensions and contestations around policies and the conditions of possibilities as well as to unravel how stakeholders interpret and mediate policy processes which are often fragile settlements constantly re-negotiated. This study focuses on the notion of enabling policy leadership and its mediation strategies to reveal how different agencies position themselves and strategize around policy tensions in the hope of strengthening their agendas. This policy leadership is also iv critical in ensuring a sufficiently strong policy settlement between education departments, schools, teacher unions and professional bodies over how to develop teachers and make them accountable for their performance Third, it argues that, despite post-1994 South Africa embarking on an era of stakeholder democracy, various stakeholders were gradually pushed to the margin of education policymaking, leaving teacher unions (because of their privileged position in relation to the ruling party) as the main party with which the department of education consulted and bargained. This exclusion of other stakeholders involved in quality education meant that professional associations were absent even though their input was desperately needed to negotiate how appraisal could feed into the enhancement of teacher professionalism and identities in the post-1994 school system. Finally, this study uses a multi-method research approach, involving formal research instruments as well as various data collection mechanisms involving different forums with stakeholders, such as oral hearings, review teams, seminars, conferences and written evidence over a period of two years to provide a richer form of triangulated data with rather interesting results. This data was analyzed and interpreted to identify patterns of policy contestations, negotiation and mediation strategies which assisted in theorizing further the policymaking processes and politics around appraisal as well as the role and limitations of policy leadership. This multi-layered empirical research work is essential if the complex and fluid positions and strategies adopted in various policy processes over time are to be unraveled.