Thesis (MPA.) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / The research report seeks to investigate and analyse the performance of the Vhembe FET College as compared to the national objectives for Human Resources Management and the formulation of a meaningful policy and practice of effective human resources development practice Design/methodology/approach:The research report is based on an in-depth literature of review of human resources development (HRD) and primary sources data.Primary data generated from self-completeing questionaire and interview schedule tools covering small distinct group of fifty employees selected from three campuses and the central office of Vhembe FET College.Findings:Amongst others,it was found that Vhembe FET College indeed has human capacity challenges which manifest by at least four major issues.These pertain to the level of the personnel's awareness and knowledge about the college's human resources development function,selection of personnel for human resources training courses,the relevance of the HRD training courses to the nature of specific job performance,and the quality of post-training support system.Pratical implications:Addressing the human resource capacity challenges has enormous strategic and financial resource implications for policy makers in transition and developing economies,due to their over-reliance on external donors for funding.:Originality/value:The research report provides an answer to the need to develop processes which is linked to a national strategy of training college lectures and ensuring that there is a coherent framework of lecturere development.Of much value is that the results were from the perspective of the selected employees whose day-to-day inputs are critical for efficiency and effectiveness of college management and planning.

Thesis (MBA) --University of Limpopo, 2010 / Quality has always been a central concern in education. Parents are ready to pay more for the best value for their money, in order to give their children the quality education. The South African education system seems to have very sound policies, but one wonders if they are well implemented, and whether customers do in deed get what they expect (customer satisfaction) from the process. The Department of Education department introduced Integrated Quality Management System in 2003 as a strategy to be used in order to improve the quality of education and improve on the performance of educators in the country. The provincial department of education‟s attempts at implementing Integrated Quality Management System since early 2004 have not been without problems; however, more especially after the signing of the Agreement on the Occupational Specific Dispensation, there has been some uncertainty about the current status of Integrated Quality Management System. The purpose of this research is to investigate the extent to which service organisations such as public schools in Limpopo Province particularly in the Mankweng cluster deliver quality service as expected by their internal and external customers.

Thesis (PhD.(Education)) --University of Limpopo, 2010 / The purpose of this study was to critique the level of influence the Whole School Evaluation (WSE) policy framework had on the quality of teaching and learning in the Limpopo Province schools. Limpopo Province comprises of five districts with different learner performance levels. At the time when this study was conducted Sekhukhune District had the worst learner performance results followed by Mopani. Up to the early 1990s schools in South Africa became sites of struggle against Apartheid, as most citizens rejected a system of government that was characterized by inequality (Seedat, 2004:190). As a result (Herselman & Hay, 2002: 239), many schools in South Africa, including those in Limpopo Province were destroyed morally and physically to the level of becoming less productive and some totally dysfunctional. The WSE policy is a mechanism that was developed to address the above problem. In addition, among others, the WSE policy was aimed at the development of a collaborative approach that would enable a school (individually or as a cluster) to deliver, quality services to the community , including the improvement of circumstances in schools that could create conditions for the facilitation of quality education within a particular given school period. All schools in Limpopo Province were made aware of the WSE policy framework and how it was implemented. As early as 2003 the Quality Assurance Directorate ensured that all schools had the relevant material and policy documents for implementing WSE. Circuit Managers, School Principals and three educators per school were subjected to an intensive training programme on how WSE policy framework is implemented. The empirical research was done through the observation of educators and learners within their schooling environment, perusal of primary and secondary documents and interviewing of the policy implementing agents, i.e. the Principals, Educators and Circuit Managers. The study: • Indicated that there is a serious problem to implement WSE policy in schools; • Exposed school managers, SMTs and educators` incompetence to comply with the prescription of the policy; • Revealed the inhibitors of the effective implementation of WSE process; • Aroused the awareness to the researcher of the operational discord that was experienced by the schools that had a problem in complying with the WSE policy requirements. • Some schools were reluctant to comply with the prescripts of the policy. • Schools had their School Improvement Plans (SIPs), School Development Plans (SDPs) and Academic Performance Improvement Plans (APIPs) but their day-to-day operations in no way showed compliance to what was put on the improvement document as their operational guide. Furthermore, the study clearly argue that quality education can only exist in situations where school communities and education officials are equally striving at reconciling the complex and dynamic relationships that exist between the learner, the centre of learning or school, the broader education system and the social, political and economic context of which they are part. The study developed, on completion, a full programme that can clearly show elements in our education system the negatively impacts on the desired progress, based on the findings in the Limpopo Province. In conclusion, the study revealed challenges that impacted negatively on the implementation of the WSE policy framework in the Limpopo Province Schools. As a way forward strategies were suggested that if complied with the WSE policy framework could be successfully implemented and quality teaching and learning enhanced.

With education at the centre of the South African government’s National Development Plan for 2030, an effective schooling system is not negotiable. A review of the literature showed that public schools in South Africa are self-managing. The performance of most of these schools are unsatisfactory with specific reference to academic performance, infrastructure, finances and resources. The review further revealed severe shortcomings with the use of the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) for school-based performance management. This included that the IQMS is insufficient, that its application is ineffective and that it does not support school-based performance management. It is a compliance system and does not allow schools’ stakeholders the freedom to take part in designing their own strategy for the school. The researcher argues that self-managing schools link to the Participatory Democracy Theory that ensures the involvement of stakeholders. The IQMS however, links to Managerialism, rejecting stakeholders’ independence of self-management and decision-making. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a school-based performance management framework for public schools in South Africa. Specific attention was given to the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as a theoretical framework for its flexibility to accommodate diverse organisations. The BSC was placed in the Evolutionist theories under the Resource-Based View (RBV) approach, focussing on the uniqueness of organisations’ tangible or intangible resources. The researcher argued that a combination of the IQMS and the BSC might close the theoretical gap and contribute to school-based performance management in self-managing public schools. A qualitative research paradigm, embedded in the interpretivism philosophy, guided this study. A Design-Based Research (DBR) method was followed to develop the framework. The first phase was to develop a preliminary framework, using the IQMS and BSC as existing theoretical frameworks. The second phase consisted of two iterative cycles of testing and refinement of the framework in practice. For both cycles, the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with the school’s principal, one member of the school’s governing body and one member of the school’s management team of the four selected schools. The third phase was a reflection on the design process to enhance the application of the framework. / College of Accounting Sciences / D. Compt.