M.Ed. (Education Management) / As a managerial leader the principal 􀀆s responsible for a comprehensive SPt of tasks. It is, therefore, not possible for one person to punctually and timorously give attention to all the pertinent matters which may arise. This dilemma has given rise to mechanisms of identification, design and description which would ultimately lead to a refined school management system ...

Special needs education has always provided special challenges to school administrators, policy makers and teachers. The world-wide move towards inclusive education as an alternative to exclusive education or casual mainstreaming has resulted in significant developments in Namibia in the past decade. Global educational reforms have focused on education for all as well as inclusive education and Namibia is signatory to several conventions and declarations in this regard. Research in this field has largely focused on the role of the inclusive teacher, and of course the special needs of the learners. Little or no attention has been paid to possible managerial and organisational challenges which accompany the move to inclusive education. This thesis seeks to critically investigate the managerial implications of inclusive education. The focal point of this research is to gain a clear understanding of the managerial implications in an inclusive school for learners with visual impairment, chiefly through an exploration of the experiences of management members of the inclusive process. The research is located within a qualitative research paradigm, which is subsumed by a phenomenological model. The data gathered through in-depth interviews include many anecdotal accounts that provide insight into the ways respondents reacted to experiences at the inclusive school. The main findings of the research are highlighted and discussed. Recommendations arising from a critical analysis of these main findings are presented.

This dissertation is a report of the study that was conducted in rural schools of Tsolo district in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study was about the relationship between union representatives and school management teams. The study was conducted because the researcher is a site steward in the present school where the researcher working and is always dealing with conflicts that usually occur between the S.M.T and Union members and has to address these issues regularly. This problem made the researcher to be interested and want to know further from other schools of what is the situation. This was done through focus group interviews and the study was qualitative research paradigm. There were questions that were drafted and participants were asked to respond according to the questions. The participants were as follows 11 SMT members and 18 union representatives. The study findings highlighted the role that SMT could play in the smooth running of the school and in addressing tensions to enhance effective work. The study also illuminated the issue of being bias among the SMT in some unions and dictatorship by S.M.T members. The study findings highlight the role the S.M.T should play and the issue of consultation before any decision should be taken as an integral part. The study also showed that there was a need for schools to know the South African legislation so as to go along with correct rules and regulations when addressing different issues.

During the apartheid era, that is, before 1994, principals tended to regard schools as their properties. Principals were expected to manage schools on their own without consulting the rest of the staff. From 1994 with the advent of a new political era, South Africa ended up having one National Education System. That system came up with many changes. In the new education system, the management of the school was taken from being the principal‟s duty only, to the responsibility of a management team which is referred to as the school management team (SMT). Because of the democratic nature of the SMT, it is required that educators work co-operatively as a team. The researcher has observed that this has been a challenge in some schools where principals resisted change. On the other hand, principals of schools are facing challenges due to a lack of cooperation amongst their subordinates. The establishment of SMTs does not nullify the authority of the school principal but the challenge that lies therein is that each member of the SMT must play his or her role properly. The purpose of this study was to explore the challenges facing SMT members in the GET band schools of Circuit 2 in Centane. A qualitative investigation was undertaken with the purpose in mind to develop a better understanding of the challenges facing SMTs in Circuit 2. This study was undertaken among 5 schools in Circuit 2 in Centane which falls under Butterworth District. The researcher used convenience sampling in selecting the SMTs of schools that would participate in this research study. Due to the fact that the researcher is a principal in one of the schools in Circuit 2 he could obtain easy access to SMTs of other schools in the Circuit. The following stakeholders were identified and participated in the selected schools: principal, deputy principal and Head of Department. Qualitative data were collected through semi- structured interviews. The study was framed within the interpretive approach, and sought to unpack the perceptions of SMT members with regard to team-management . An interpretive paradigm made it possible for the researcher to gain an in-depth understanding of SMT members‟ perceptions of team-management within their contexts. The outcomes pointed to several challenges ranging from the SMT terms of reference, cooperation, sources of support and stress as a result of the work overload involved. Based on the findings, SMTs have brought the phenomenon of cooperation to the fore, and cooperation may be perceived to have many advantages. However, in order for the SMTs to play a meaningful role in curriculum management and governance issues, there is a need for them to be conversant with issues and kept abreast of developments in education as a system. It is therefore recommended that members of the SMT be exposed to continuing professional training and development in the aforementioned governance areas.

M.Ed. (Education Management) / The purpose of the study is to investigate the origin and function of informal personnel groups in the school and the identification of the opinion leaders. During the investigation special attention has been given to the role of the opinion leader in the informal group as well as how the opinion leader may be guided by the school principal towards meaningful involvement. Information has been obtained mainly through the study of literature and such information has been interpreted, evaluated and explained. This study led to conclusions and recommendations. Much of a principal's time is taken up by his involvement with a group of people the school personnel. The school personnel as a group consists of two other groups - formal groups and informal groups. Formal groups are formed consciously or intentionally to realise the objectives of the school, while informal groups are created spontaneously. Informal groups institution, as positive, that manner. have an important influence on the school or such groups may act towards Goal-realisation in a is supportive, or negative, that is non-supportive It is apparent that the principal determines to a great extent whether the informal groups of the school personnel are to be positive factors with regard to formal objectives. Informal groups may be a great advantage provided the principal understands how such groups originate and function.

This quasi-experimental, concurrent mixed methods study investigated whether less-proficient readers in seventh-grade language arts classes using the Reading VITALS supplemental curricular intervention exhibited improved reading comprehension. VITALS is an acronym for Visualizing, Interacting, and Thinking while Applying Literacy Strategies. VITALS used a balanced approach of explicit reading instruction and collaborative classroom discussions in which the teacher shifted to the role of facilitator and students became the constructors of knowledge. Participants included students of varying achievement levels, including a large percentage of minority students as well as those labeled economically disadvantaged. Tested in two seventh-grade language arts classes taught by the same teacher, the full intervention consisted of nine, forty-five minute lessons that introduced students to five levels of comprehension and stressed three key reading strategies: visualizing, questioning, and summarizing. The Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) protocol acted as a tool to engage students in discussions of scaffolded texts. Because VITALS had two major components, reading strategy instruction and class discussions of scaffolded texts, two additional intervention strands, focusing on only one of the components, were tested, as well as a Comparison group. Ten of eleven quantitative outcome measures focused on differences in change scores for different reading measures across the intervention and comparison groups. The first four quantitative outcome measurements were classroom measures assessing students' reading of an image and students' reading of a poem for the entire sample of students and specifically, the less-proficient readers. This allowed for analyses of the overall effects of the interventions as well as disaggregated results focusing on the lower readers. The next six quantitative outcome measurements were Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) - Reading Sunshine State Standard (SSS) measures. Using the same strategy of overall effect of entire sample and then disaggregated effects for less-proficient readers, students' reading comprehension was assessed on three different FCAT Content Cluster measures: main idea and author's purpose, comparisons and cause/effect, and reference and research. The last quantitative outcome measurement focused on differences in learning gains for less-proficient readers' on the FCAT SSS across intervention and comparison groups. An additional question, using the qualitative phenomenological approach, complemented the test of the VITALS intervention by exploring students' perspectives of participating in the intervention. Using a maximum variation sampling, six key informants were identified and their perspectives analyzed across data sources, especially student reflections and transcripts from the focus group interview. Descriptive analyses, Repeated Measures MANCOVA, One-way ANOVA, post hoc analyses, and Chi Square tests revealed three important findings. First, the students participating in the full Reading VITALS curriculum evidenced significant growth (p < 0.05) on both classroom measures: reading an image and reading a poem when compared to students in the comparison group. Second, this significant difference on both classroom measures was true for less-proficient readers as well as proficient readers when compared to students of similar proficiency in the comparison group. Results suggested that Reading VITALS might be an effective curricular intervention in classrooms where less-proficient students are homogeneously grouped as well as in classrooms where students are heterogeneously grouped, as the proficient readers' performance was not negatively impacted by the intervention. Third, regardless of their proficiency level, students in the Reading VITALS curriculum did not perform significantly better on any of the FCAT Reading SSS measures. In terms of students' perceptions of the value of participating in the Reading VITALS curriculum, three findings emerged. The first was less-proficient students viewed learning as a process whereas proficient readers viewed learning as a product. A second finding that emerged was less-proficient readers situated learning in the social context whereas proficient readers situated learning in within the personal realm. A third finding was less-proficient readers were willing to take risks in responding throughout the lesson whereas proficient readers demonstrated a resistance acknowledging the fear of being incorrect. Implications included the impact educational policy structures have on students' literacy identities, ability tracking, and remedial curricula; the need for curricular reform, which calls for paradigmatic shifts in focus from individuals to contexts and from deficit to enrichment; and the support necessary to make such philosophical and pedagogical shifts. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2010. / February 23, 2010. / Visual Literacy, Middle Grades, Reading Comprehension, Literacy Instruction, Reading Instruction / Includes bibliographical references. / Susan Nelson-Wood, Professor Directing Dissertation; Judith L. Irvin, University Representative; Pamela Sissi Carroll, Committee Member; Diana C. Rice, Committee Member; Stacey Rutledge, Committee Member; Kathleen Blake Yancey, Committee Member.

Mini-dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of Master of Education Degree in the Department of Educational Planning and Administration at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2009. / The study investigates the role school management teams in whole school evaluation. Education institutions are faced with changes and new policies that need to be implemented in order to achieve the national educational goals of quality education in schools. The South African Schools Act, No 84 of 1996, positions SMT as leaders in schools. Therefore SMTs have a responsibility of working collaboratively with the staff to implement whole school evaluation. The whole school evaluation policy provides guidelines on how to conduct internal evaluation, followed by external evaluation, which will be conducted by departmental officials. Literature was reviewed on the strategies that need to be adopted by SMTs to implement whole school evaluation successfully. Empirical study involved the use of a questionnaire consisting of closed and open-ended questions .The study was conducted in Umbumbulu circuit which is within Umlazi district The population for survey consisted of 130 schools. The study revealed that SMT members are not well-equipped to implement whole school evaluation in their schools. The following are the key findings: ♦> Some SMT members lack knowledge about WSE ❖ Some SMT members still resist change which entails implementation of WSE ❖ Minimal departmental support to adequately capacitate SMT members to facilitate WSE is evidenced. ♦> There is poor sharing of information among members of school SMT in school The following are key recommendations that are offered: ❖ SMT members should be given adequate training by the Department of Education in respect of WSE ❖ Staff involvement is crucial for decision making about WSE ❖ School development teams must be established to promote WSE This study is regarded as significant because it provides valuable information about the role of school management team in the facilitation, of whole school evaluation in primary schools.. The strategies that are required for the successful implementation of WSE provided via literature review suggest important mechanism and ideas which SMTs can use to implement effective WSE programmes.

Supervision is interpreted in various ways by teacher principals as a result of the differences in their background training, and experience. Some realize that good supervisory activities involve the stimulation of professional growth; others give a sigh of relief at the end of their teaching day and have little time for supervisory activities; and still, other teacher-principals look upon the goal of supervision as a perpetuation of their personal teaching blueprints. This diversity of interpretation is in itself evidence of need for a better understanding of the true supervisory obligations of the teacher-principal. It is the function of good supervision to be concerned with the efforts of all persons who help children to grow in educational stature. It is further the obligation of the teacher-principal to provide good supervision in addition to his classroom teaching. Accordingly, it is desirable to isolate, examine and evaluate common supervisory activities of the teacher-principal.

The aspect of supervision that is particularly challenging to me is the problem of the present day. Our curricula have been so constructed, interpreted and planned that a high degree of integration and correlation should result, both vertically and horizontally. To realize these aims, teachers must have a great many conferences, both in groups and individually with the supervisor, who is usually the principle of the school The conferences are needed not only to discuss the possibilities of integration and correlation, but to teach many of the teachers methods, objectives, devices, and projects for teaching the modern courses of studies most effectively. No conscientious, wide awake principles, who is forced back into the classroom routine, is willing to fold his hands and try to shun the responsibilities of helping his teachers with their ever increasing teaching load and problems. It is, therefore, very evident that there is an increasing need for a supervisor to help his teachers, and, since the time of many principles is taken up in part or entirely with classroom teaching, there is only one way to solve the problem. Certainly the answer is a new technique of supervision, which can be administered without class visitations by the principal; and which will require the minimum of the teachers' and principal's time. Certainly the answer is a new technique of supervision, which can be administered without class visitations by the principal; and which will require the minimum of the teachers' and principal's time. This problem is of such paramount importance to public education I have prepared the following thesis concerning it and I have endeavored to show how supervision can be carried on by the conference method, as is the practice in the school of which I am principal and three-fourths' time teacher. This thesis is a relatively personal report, it is based on actual experiences in most cases. Naturally, marks of identification have been substituted to make the thesis as impersonal as possible. The purpose of the author is to give the reader definite principles, ideas and constructive examples of how supervision can be conducted to a creditable degree of success, by the conference method. Real or likely discussions have been used to make the thesis ring true and be practical. The ideas should be of greater use to the reader, because of their purely theoretical nature.

Understanding science teachers' beliefs is important for science teacher educators, because such understanding is a prerequisite for promoting change within the framework of educational reform. The worldview model developed by Graves (1981) and Beck and Cowan (1996) provides a holistic approach to understanding teachers' beliefs and values and it also provides a framework for understanding how people's worldviews change. In this study, worldviews of four science teachers were investigated within the framework of Beck and Cowan's model. Two of these teachers were high school science teachers, while the other two were middle school science teachers. One of the teachers held National Board of Professional Teaching Certification and she had18 years of teaching experience. Another teacher was a relatively new teacher with three years of teaching experience. The third teacher had nine years of teaching experience, but when this study was conducted, it was her first year of teaching science. The other teacher had 26 years of experience with certification in all science areas. During this study, interpretative qualitative methods of data collection and analysis were used which included interviews, observations, and the use of a survey developed by Beck and Cowan (2000) called the Values Test. The results show that differing values and experiences among science teachers leads to different strategies for making sense of science teaching. The assertion that the worldview perspective provided by Beck and Cowan is a useful tool in understanding teachers' beliefs and values is made in the conclusions. Teacher educators can utilize this tool in research about teacher beliefs, in promoting change for reform, or in developing curriculum for teacher education programs. Teachers can utilize it in self-reflective practices to better understand their own beliefs, their context, and their students and ultimately improve the teaching and learning process they engage in. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Middle and Secondary Education in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2004. / April 27, 2004. / Teacher Education, Teacher Beliefs, Worldview, Science Education, Interperative Qualitative, Educational Reform / Includes bibliographical references. / Nancy T. Davis, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kenneth A. Goldsby, Outside Committee Member; Penny J. Gilmer, Committee Member; Karen Monkman, Committee Member.