M.Ed. / The design and implementation of a financial school policy is an important function of the School Governing Body. Although every public school designs a financial school policy, the success of managing the school’s finances effectively and efficiently is dependent on how the policy is implemented. The aim of this research was to investigate the role played by the School Governing Body (SGB) and the School Management Team (SMT) in the design and effective implementation of the financial school policy. The impact of the South African Schools Act together with the Norms and Standards for Funding on state funding, school fees and school fees exemptions were also explored. The functions of the SGB in respect of financial matters and the role played by the finance committee emphasizes the devolution of financial matters from the state to communities. By virtue of the Schools Act the principal is responsible for the professional management of the school and together with the SGB is directly responsible for the effective use of all funds belonging to the school. It is incumbent upon the SGB and the SMT to take accountability for all their financial activities by being transparent and responsible in the management of school funds. The design of a financial school policy and the effective implementation thereof will ensure school funds being managed effectively and efficiently. The quantitative research method was used to elicit the perceptions of SGBs, SMTs and educators with regards to the designing and implementing of the financial school policy. This research study was confined to primary and secondary schools in the district D9, D10, D11 and D12 areas of the Gauteng Province. A structured questionnaire was distributed to members of the SGB, SMT and educators in the above-mentioned districts. The empirical study resulted in mean scores of the thirty-two items ranging between 2,63 and 5,34. An analysis of the data revealed that the financial school policy is central to all financial activities in schools and it must be designed and implemented by all stakeholders. / Prof. R. Mestry

D.Ed. (Educational Management) / The basis for parental involvement in the educative teaching of children is the responsibility parents have for the education of their children. The education and teaching of the child in the context of the home and family unit provides the foundation for the child's future use of his intellect. social relationships as well as the development of his emotions. Parental education endeavours to encourage the child to acquire knowledge on his own. The desire to learn. as it manifests itself in the family unit and in specific contents. forms the basis for the child's teaching and learning at school. To meet ethic and educational demands of society parents are compelled to make use of specialised assistance to supplement and extend their educative endeavours as regards the teaching of their children. Schools were established to meet this demand for specialised teaching by professionally trained teachers. without taking over the educative duties of parents. Schools cannot replace parental responsibility and influence. Their accepted function supplements that of parents. Responsible parents will consequently be interested in the manner the responsible school carries out its accepted duties. This forms the key to the principle of parental involvement in all aspects of teaching practice. There has been a perceptible increase in parental involvement in White schools in the Republic of South Africa since 1982. A number of reasons can be listed for this phenomenon. The problem. however, is that the participation on behalf of the parents has not brought about the desired results. This study was undertaken to determine the reasons for this failure. The research programme was conducted along dual lines. Firstly an extensive study was made of the publications concerned with White parental involvement in the education of White children. Secondly an empirical investigation was done on the various aspects of parental involvement in the schools' educational programmes. Chairmen of management councils of Transvaal provincial schools were used as respondents.

This qualitative case study explores with 15 millennial educators, the factors that influenced their decision to stay and progress as leaders within the context of a high-attrition environment. The following assumptions held to be true: (1) the generation-specific retention needs of Millennials are applicable to educators across generations.; (2) high-quality professional development is a key factor in retaining teachers; (3) to provide high-quality support for teachers, schools must carefully craft an effective holding environment that is differentiated developmentally. The site for the study was a high-poverty urban charter network in the Northeastern United States that struggled to retain teachers. The primary sources of data were interviews with 15 millennial teacher leaders, a focus group of five principals, and a document analysis. The findings were analyzed through the four lenses presented in the conceptual framework: motivation for staying, how they learn, what they learn, and reactions to the pandemic. Each of these lenses directly aligned to the study’s four research questions. The analysis served to code the disaggregated data per these four lenses and the synthesis served to reveal teacher perceptions falling into three categories that were then used to further interpret the analysis. The major findings were: (1) A strong majority of participants indicated they were motivated to stay in a high attrition environment because they liked their colleagues; while an equal number cited the positive school culture as a contributing factor to their retention. (2) A slight majority of participants indicated that the Covid-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to be innovative. (3) A majority of participants indicated a desire to develop their capacity for learning and leading. (4) A strong majority of participants described they learned largely in informal ways by dialoguing with others and through observation. The principal recommendation from this study is that in order to retain teachers in a high attrition environment, there must be a positive school culture. Schools that want to retain employees need to 1) provide learning opportunities and support the development of leadership skills and 2) support and provide the resources for informal adult learning to maintain this culture.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

No description available.

The process of restructuring a junior high school into a middle school is the central focus of the study. The study investigated the relationship between junior high school and middle school. It emphasizes that the change process can occur successfully when approached methodically. It was hypothesized that a middle school with a grade configuration of grades 6-8 would be more effective than a junior high school with grades 7-8. The review of the literature incorporated a history of middle level education studies, a review of major reports on middle education and a review of middle level change processes. Affective and cognitive domains of education at the middle level were examined. Selected variables were analyzed to determine their effect. Subjects included students and staff members randomly selected from Safford Junior High School and Safford Middle School in Safford, Arizona. A survey was also sent to every registered voter of Graham County. Seventy-five percent of the teaching staff in the school was selected to complete the additional survey instruments describing the educational environment at the school before and after the change. Because the population was limited to the citizens and students of Graham County in Arizona, results are generalizable only to the extent that another population is similar. Further research into the relationship of these constructs, including observational studies and studies providing for external verification of both the junior high school and the middle school would be beneficial.

This dissertation analyzed the "no pass/no play" (np/np) policy and examined its impact on minorities and at-risk students. Philosophies, goals, objectives, and activities associated with the planning and implementation of the np/np rule were also reviewed. Using the parallel pairs model to evaluate data germane to the np/np rule allowed this researcher to study, sort, compare, and evaluate the data associated with the planning and implementation of the no pass/no play policy. Examination of this policy revealed differences between the anticipated results and the actual impact that the policy had on minority and at-risk students. The results of the study indicated that the np/np rule was implemented long before there was a clear understanding of its potential problems. While there continues to be a lack of consensus among educators and administrators as to the effectiveness of the np/np rule, most educators are aware of the negative impact on minorities and at-risk students.

This thesis is a study of teacher professional learning and development. Concepts from research into professionalism and professional learning, and organizational, socio-­‐cultural and complexity theory are used to create a theoretical framework. This is then applied to the analysis of how teachers learn and develop professionally and how professional learning and development activities might best be planned and organized. The findings of empirical research involving 12 teachers and 9 Head Teachers and 40 semi-­‐structured interviews are presented and discussed. The research involved the participant teachers endeavouring to undertake a small scale, action research project into a self-­‐selected aspect of their practice. Significant support was expressed in the research for a form of action research being an aspect of teacher continuous professional development. Factors that enable and which prevent teachers engaging in Action Research are identified. Theories, concepts and empirical evidence are used to argue that teacher professional learning involves social and mediated interaction in complex, multiple environments and that this has significant implications for how we define, organise and undertake teacher professional learning. An approach is presented which is enquiry/evidence based, work-­‐based and expansive, and which takes account of teachers’ social situations, teacher, learner and school learning aims and needs, and socially mediated learning processes.

M.Ed. / Realization of the aims of the school requires, inter alia, meaningful and purposeful co-operation between the members of the top management of the school. Purposeful cooperation between these members implies the establishment of relationships that will realize and facilitate mutual consultation, sharing of responsibilities and effective management ...

M.Ed. / This research project on the promotion of educators as an aspect of educator management is part of a group research project on whole school development. This particular study focuses on managing educators in schools. Its objective is to make prospective and practising school managers aware of the wide range of activities covered by the term promotion of educators and to present the best current practises available on promotion of educators. Educator management is meant to bring about improved student learning. Decisions relating to the selection, placement, evaluation, development and promotion of educators should be made with that outcome in mind. Present and future educators as well as school principals and prospective principals, will find the material of this mini-dissertation to be relevant. When a principal interviews an applicant for a promotion post, plans a staff development programme for the school, or evaluates an educator's performance, he or she is engaging in personnel management. The importance of the principal's role in personnel management is increasing as schools move towards wider implementqtion of site-base management and the decentralisation of responsibility to the school level. However, no aspect of educator management is the exclusive terrain of a single, administrator. It is a shared enterprise that involves administrators at all levels of the regional hierarchy and with all types ofjob responsibilities. All administrators are members of some or other team and to the extent that they all understand the importance of good personnel practices, the region will be able to achieve its instructional objectives and so contribute towards whole school development. Many personnel decisions have a direct impact on the quality of instruction occurring in schools. When a decision is made to employ one applicant rather than another, or when an educator evaluation plan is implemented, there are likely to be implications for the quality of learning in the schools affected. The impact of these and other personnel decisions should be taken into account at the time the decisions are made. In this research a structured questionnaire was used to collect data on the perceptions of the respondents to the items posed in the questionnaire. In this research project 79 items were designed to probe the perceptions of educators on various post levels as to the extent that they agree or disagree with certain statements relative to the management of educators within the context of whole school development. The structured questionnaires were distributed to a convenient stratified sample in seven ofthe nine Provinces in South Africa. Based on the information gathered using the questionnaire each item relevant to this particular research project was analysed and discussed. After the factor analytic procedure the factor mean scores ofthe various groups were analysed and explained. In the view of the findings resulting from this project, further research is recommended. This should occur in areas like the methodology and research of the results of the numerous unique applications that this project recommended. Motivation at group level and the relationship between the experience of stress and those factors that increase or decrease the likelihood of a stress-related illness also need to be thoroughly investigated.