The study investigated the linguistic challenges faced by Setswana-speaking Grade 7 learners when writing Science examinations in English. Learners from rural and township schools are only introduced to English as a language of learning and teaching in Grade 4, which creates problems for the learners because English is foreign to them. Teachers help by translating words or code-switching but it become a problem in the examinations because teachers cannot help the learners during the examination session. Since starting as a Grade 7 Mathematics and Science teacher almost three years ago, I have noticed that Grade 7 Setswana-speaking learners are struggling to understand the language used in formal assessments, which is English. I decided to investigate the linguistic challenges these learners face when writing Science examinations in rural and township schools. The purpose of conducting this research is to help policymakers to meet the linguistic needs of non-native English speakers. The study will also make curriculum development specialists and those who set provincial question papers aware of the linguistic challenges faced by non-native speakers of English in primary schools. Lastly, the study will help readers gain a better understanding of why some teachers prefer to use indigenous languages when they teach over English and why some prefer to use English over indigenous languages. Many literature sources state that non-native English-speaking learners underachieve academically because of learning in a language that is not their first language (O’Connor & Geiger, 2009; Dawber & Jordan, 1999; Ortiz, 1997; Statham, 1997). The participants comprised of four purposively selected Grade7 Natural Science teachers, two SGBs and Grade 7 learners from two primary schools in Hammanskraal, Gauteng. This study followed a qualitative research approach and falls under the interpretive research paradigm. It is a phenomenological study and focuses on the lived experiences of teachers and learners. Methods of data collection used were classroom observations, interviews, questionnaires, and document analysis. Data gathered indicated that Setswana-speaking learners made basic errors such as spelling, sentence construction, grammar, incomplete sentences, mixed languages, using words that do not exist, tenses and understanding instructions. Recommendation to the SGBs is that they should consider these linguistic challenges when they draft language policies for rural and township schools. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Humanities Education / MEd / Unrestricted

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies

The Schools Act has brought about a change in the way in which schools are managed and governed. Each public school should be governed by a governing body and the professional management of the school is vested in the principal (South African Schools Act, 1996b). The governing body of a special needs school consists of various role-players that include, among others, parents, educators, learners, and representatives of sponsoring bodies and of various organisations. Furthermore, these role-players should be knowledgeable about the legal requirements pertaining to the functions of a governing body. It is legally expected of each governing body member to know what the legal requirements of a governing body are. The governing body is expected to draft the school’s policies, such as the language policy, admission policy, religious policy, disciplinary policy and the financial policy (Schools Act, 1996). There are various types of public schools: mainstream schools [full-service schools] and special needs schools [special needs schools as resource centres] (DoE, 2005). Very little research has been conducted on the governance of special needs schools. The governance of a special needs school is more complicated than that of a mainstream school in respect to drafting the various policies. There are aspects such as limited resources to accommodate specific disabilities and the type of disability that the school caters for in terms of the admission policy that must be kept in mind. These aspects complicate the governance of special needs schools and require more thought and planning (Department of Education, 2007). This research specifically focuses on the governance of special needs schools and the aspirations that the individual governing body members of these schools have. The governing body members come from different backgrounds; they have differentqualifications and different experiences. These factors contribute to the ideas (aspirations) that they have in terms of their role as governing body members. The aspirations of the governing body members should correlate with the various school policies, due to the fact that the governing body draft these policies. The policy documents provide a clear indication of where the school is heading and of its mission. Not only should the governing body participants’ aspirations correlate with the school’s policies; they should also correlate with the legal requirements set out in the Schools Act. This research consists of two separate case studies relating to two special needs schools. Three governing body members from each school were interviewed, using semi-structured interviews. The semi-structured interviews assisted in ensuring that the participants were understood correctly and in getting clarity on certain aspects that were addressed. The various policy documents of each school were analysed to establish an idea of the school’s mission and for the purpose of triangulation. These documents include, among others, the language policy, admission policy, religious policy and the code of conduct for learners. The interview responses and the documents were compared to establish to what extent the governing body members’ aspirations correlate with the policy documents. The schools were not compared in any way; each school was regarded as an individual entity. In this study the following has been found: <ul> <li>1. Governing body members are not fully briefed or knowledgeable about their functions.</li> <li>2. Governing body members refuse to attend training sessions provided by the Head of Department on grounds that these sessions are not meaningful or convenient.</li> <li>3. Most of the schools’ policy documents, such as admission policies, language policies and religious policies have not been revised in up to nine years.</li> <li>4. Some of the participants in the research contradicted one another and the schools’ policy documents.</li> </ul> In conclusion it can be stated that the governing body members who participated in this research have served on governing bodies for many years, the shortest term of service being four years; they should be knowledgeable about their function and should have the best interest of the school at heart. This seems to be in contradiction to the findings of this research. Even though the governing body members lack sufficient knowledge and insight, they are extremely positive and have the best interest of the learner at heart. Copyright / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / The School Governing Body as the executive authority of every school has the role to govern the finance of the school efficiently, effectively and economically. It has to formulate financial policy and understand financial legislation framework in particular Public Finance Management Act, 1999, Procurement Policy and South African School Act, 1996. The problem in this study is to investigate the skills of the School Governing Body in the handling of school finances, its ability to formulate and implement school base financial policies and its implementation of South African Schools Act, 1996 and Public Finance Management Act, 1999.

The study investigated the underlying factors which induce the School Governing Bodies (SGBs) and School Management Teams (SMTs) to boundary cross into each other’s finance functional domain despite the fact that their responsibilities are demarcated in the South African Schools Act No. 84 of 1996. The study also intended to examine financial conscientiousness as a critical strategy, which was aimed at achieving the following: restricting the boundary spanning management among School Governing Bodies and School Management Teams, giving direction and strengthening the relationship between the two structures in section 21 high schools. Pragmatism was used as a paradigm for this study as it has been hailed as one of the best paradigms for justifying the use of mixed methods research. The researcher located the study within mixed methods research and employed the convergent parallel design characterised by collecting concurrently both qualitative and quantitative data. The study used a nonprobability sampling strategy – a purposive sampling technique. The study focused on 147 participants. The sample consisted of the following participant sub-groups: (a) 138 questionnaires participants (46 school principals, 46 SGB chairpersons and 46 school finance officers) sampled from 46 high schools, and (b) 9 face-to-face interviews participants (3 school principals, 3 SGB chairpersons) and purposively sampled from 3 different section 21 high schools located in rural, semi-urban and urban areas of the Butterworth District, and 3 Departmental Officials (The District Director, An Education Development Officer, and District National Norms and Standards for School funding coordinator) sampled from the Butterworth Education District. The study was guided by the following research question: What ideas of consciousness raising strategies could help alleviate the crossing over of boundaries between SGBs and SMTs on financial matters of the section 21 high schools? The financial conscientiousness conceptual framework for this study hinged on the conscious raising concept of Paulo Freire supported by philosophical ideas of theorists of school-based management concept, school-based participative partnership concept, school-based participative management concept and teamwork concept. These theories are expected to encourage the inclusive participation when finances are handled in section 21 high schools. The study used a survey questionnaire to collect quantitative dataset and interviews for the qualitative dataset to find answers to the research question and also to enhance the reliability and validity of the research findings. The quantitative data were presented in tables with frequencies and percentages as well as pie charts. Themes and Natural Meaning Units (NMUs) were used to analyse the qualitative data. The overall findings backed by the extant literature and research data indicated that there was lack of trust among SGBs and SMTs. Owing to this mistrust the day to day activities of the school were compromised. There were power struggles between SGBs and SMTs in schools for the control of school finances. There were corrupt practices by both SGBs and SMTs in the management of school finances. The findings also revealed lack of capacity building by the department of education. Furthermore, the SGBs parent component was characterised by high illiteracy level – a systemic weakness worsened by the manipulation perpetrated by both school governing bodies and school management teams during school finance management processes. Resulting from the data analysis, the study recommended the utilisation and application of Sifuba’s School Finance Management Awareness Model (SSFMA) as a new model that could be adopted and adapted by the Department of Education for the school finance management. This will create educational sound atmosphere and realities at school level – a model that is capable of inducing the participative and inclusive behaviour of the SGBs and SMTs when they perform their financial responsibilities

The objective of this master's thesis is to describe and analyze role of risk management in corporate governance. Specifically, a thesis focuses on comparison of existing practices in chosen states and examines whether quality of risk management in corporate governance is different in large and mid capitalaization companies. The thesis is divided into several parts: firstly, theory of corporate governance and risk management are introduced with explanation of their interconnection, which also contain defined list of methods and tools for evaluation of risk management and corporate governance quality. In the analytical part of the thesis, comparative analysis of risk management practices in different states is applied with evaluation of their quality, methods of statistical analysis are employed to test the hypothesis about difference of risk management quality in companies with large and mid capitalization and strength and weaknesses of corporate governance and risk management in particular states are summarized.

The objective of this doctoral dissertation is to extend the existing knowledge in the area of Corporate Governance in the region of Central Europe. Specifically, a study focuses on companies entering the public market and examines whether board structure and diversity have an impact on the success of the Initial Public Offering. The dissertation is divided into several parts. Firstly, theory of Corporate Governance and Signaling theory, explaining the potential influence of the board characteristics on the public offering outcome, are introduced. The following is an extensive literature review related to each of the selected variables. In the analytical part of the thesis, methods of statistical analysis are employed to verify the hypotheses and the results are discussed considering the findings of prior studies.

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies

This research set out to explore the financial management by SGBs in public primary schools. The challenges as they were experienced by SGBs were identified. This study revealed that some public schools SGBs are dysfunctional with regard to the management of finances. The understanding of roles and responsibilities pertaining to the management of finances is insufficient. SGBs are still battling to understand the roles especially of the chairperson, treasurer and the secretary. There is a lack of monitoring and understanding of roles. Understanding of the financial legislative framework is still a challenge to rural public schools. Knowledge and interpretation of the other policies and regulations, Acts and prescripts is a major concern. There are transgressions of, and non-compliance with the financial legislative framework. The study further found that the SGBs’ perceptions, experience, feelings and thoughts with regard to management of finances are such that their lack of knowledge and skills in finance due to inadequate training makes them feel uncertain and unsure of their competence to manage finances. The quality of the training that they have received does not adequately empower them to manage finance successfully as it is offered by incompetent people. The contents of the prescripts, circulars, manuals and Acts are not clear at all to them. The English language used in the documents makes it especially difficult for SGB members, especially the parent component, to grasp what is needed. In some of the schools investigated, budgeting processes are done unilaterally by the principals who dominate every sphere of governance and relevant stakeholders are not involved. The PED should bear in mind that an investment in SGB training is an investment in their empowerment and decentralization of finances to public schools. If well trained SGBs could render a better service in managing public finances. A procurement management system should be developed, monitored and evaluated from the circuit level. Schools must be encouraged to create procurement clusters or budget clubs. Lengthening the time in office for the SGB from three to four or even five years will add value for money in the form of human investment. The issue of continuity must be ensured after each and every election or four years of re-election, especially in the portfolio of treasurers. This will enable governors to develop their experience over a longer period. During this time there should be continuous training as stipulated in section 19 of SASA. The PED should consider incentive programmes or honoraria for SGB members as a sign of acknowledgement, based on performance, to improve the quality of their effectiveness and efficiency in the management of school finances. The department must develop a financial assessment programme and remediation initiatives to decisively respond to schools that are dysfunctional in terms of financial management. Copyright / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / Employment of educators has never been such a problem as it is now where race and ethnicity are at the centre stage in the recruitment and appointment of educators. The high rate of unemployment and exorbitant cost of living in the country also worsen the situation. The problem of employment in public education is compounded by the semi-literate School Governing Bodies (SGB) especially in most disadvantage rural schools, who are expected to recommend the appointment of educators to the Head of the Department. Employment of educators remains a challenge in the Department of Education. This research study provides a critique and an analysis of the role played by the SGB in school governance as elucidated in the literature and also stated by the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996. The aim of the study is to ascertain the alignment of educators‟ employment policies to South African Schools in the Mopani District. The research also highlights the challenges that hinder effective governance and management such as lack of knowledge and skills, to interpret and implement policies and regulations when appointing relevant educators. The study reveals an unethical behaviour amongst principals and governing body of policy non-adherence that amounts to corruption within the public service. The dysfunctionality of governance and management to hire relevant, competent and qualified educators to occupy promotional posts cause more problems in the society as a whole, such as lack of accountability in terms of best education for the learners who are our future generation. The department should revise the roles and laws concerning school governors. The maladministration occurring in public institutions and schools is to be punished by law and public servants are to be accountable for their wrong actions taken. In conclusion the Public Service Act 103 of 1994, section 11 stipulates that filling of posts in the public service must be given a democratic values and must follow democratic principles. Appointments should be based on qualifications, skills and competences. Nevertheless educators are appointed into various positions through corrupt activities. This must come to an end for effective governance in education to prevail.