Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2014 / The South African Schools Act (SASA), 1996 (Act No. 84 of 1996) mandates the establishment of School Governing Bodies (SGBs), whose important roles include the management of school funds. This role includes planning, reviewing, controlling and approving the school budget in accordance with the school's needs. The SGB is ultimately required to account to the Department of Education (DoE), parents and the community for the public funds they manage. However, schools fail to execute this legal mandate effectively and efficiently. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed to complement each other in an attempt to investigate the problems experienced by school governing bodies in executing their financial management functions. Questionnaires, focus group interviews and document reviews were used to gather data. It emerged from the findings of the study that school governors in Mogoshi Circuit are also facing serious financial management problems. Financial management and financial accountability - the sine qua none of effective and efficient management of school finances, pose a challenge. The study found, for example, that the majority of governors in rural areas are elderly people, who are mostly either illiterate or semi-illiterate and lack the capacity to execute their governance roles efficiently and effectively. A once-off or hit and run unaccredited training, which is often provided to the elected SGB members, is relatively not helpful. This inhibits financial accountability. To this end, the study proposed substantial recommendations, which, if implemented, could bring a resolve to the problems and challenges posed.

The main aim of this study was to investigate how effective School Management Teams were in the management of healthy school environments in the Gert Sibande District. This was a qualitative study which employed two data collection strategies: face to face interviews and photographs. A literature review on this study revealed vital aspects, that a healthy school environment: can directly improve children’s health and effective learning; the school is strategically positioned to reach large numbers of the population to teach them to understand the importance of investing in health. Literature indicated collaboration and synergy as essential aspects, and policies as cornerstones that underpin the health promotion initiatives. Selection of sites was purposefully done as three of the four schools in this study were part of the Eco Schools programme. The study revealed that there was disconnect between the SMTs and committees that were involved in health promotion: in coordinating plans; and monitoring and evaluating the implementation of programmes. This therefore, means that there was no support for the committees from the SMT. It was also found that there were committees that: did not have plans; did not sit for meetings and the reluctance of the SMT to address these challenges compounded the situation and contributed to some committees being dysfunctional. The failure of the SMT to guide and provide leadership in their engagement with community members who provided assistance in terms of basic needs to learners indicated a need for the development of a cadre of leaders that are capable of working beyond the borders of schools. In all the committees that were interviewed, the Environmental Committee came up to be more effective and organized than others in three schools. The health committee was lacking in the area of training especially in the prevention of communicable diseases. The study provided recommendations to assist the SMT in their endeavors to promote healthy environments in their schools. / MEd, Education Management, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

During the apartheid era, that is, before 1994, the education management system in South Africa was fragmented, authoritarian and top-down. Principals were expected to manage schools on their own without consulting the rest of the staff. The birth of political democracy in 1994 resulted in many changes in the education system. These changes include the creation of one national department. In line with this democratisation came the concept of school management teams (SMTs). Because of the democratic nature of this kind of a structure (SMT), it is required that educators work co-operatively and as a team. This has been problematic in some schools where the principal has traditionally felt comfortable taking decisions on his or her own without any input from relevant stakeholders. Furthermore, through the legacy of apartheid, teachers themselves have dogmatically been oriented to being the recipients of instructions and to view management as the prerogative of the principals only. The formalisation of SMTs thus brings new challenges to both principals and staff members, essentially the notion of democratic or team-management. The object of this study is to find out how the concept of democratic management is being received. This study includes all the government-aided high schools in Grahamstown (ten of them). Studying all 10 high schools - 6 from the local township, 3 ex-model C schools, and 1 from the coloured township – has produced a broad and varied picture of how SMTs are being received in Grahamstown secondary schools. The study was framed within the interpretive approach, and sought to unpack the perceptions of SMT members with regard to SMTs. An interpretive paradigm made it possible for me to gain an in-depth understanding of SMT members’ perceptions of team-management within their contexts. I used questionnaires, interviews and observation as research tools to gather data. This study has found that, although the concept of team management is well-received, there are significant obstacles to the acceptance of teamwork as an alternative form of management. Many of these may be the result of decades of disempowering governance strategies, resulting in impoverished notions of school ownership and joint responsibility. Some relate to the political nature of schools as organisations. Despite these problems, the study has confirmed that team-management is the preferred approach for a variety of reasons. Team-management usually results in enriched decision-making, the sharing of responsibilities and higher levels of support. A major systemic shortcoming highlighted by the study is the absence of meaningful training in democratic educational management.

Most school management teams (SMTs) do not do their tasks either due to lack of time or inability to fulfil this obligation. Should this be true for South African schools, it would reflect negatively on the SMT job performance. This led to undertaking research in order to ascertain the fit between organisational policies of induction, mentoring, curriculum assessment training and curriculum supervision and the SMT job performance by way of establishing the effect of organisation policy on SMTs’ job performance. The research adopted a descriptive survey research design of the correlational type. Two sets of questionnaires, one for independent variables and the other for the dependent variable, were used to elicit information from the respondents. Some of the findings show that aspiring SMT members need some training so as to know what will be expected of them to do once they get selected as SMT members. It was further proven that common tests that are normally set at the provincial and district and/or school based levels are invariably not of the standard that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) prescribes nationally. The foregoing led to the conclusion that the SMT job practice is invariably not informed by the relevant organisational policies. Hence a cascade model of SMT training is recommended, as is the notion that training toward organisational policies under review should be done cohesively.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

1.1 MAIN PROBLEM A major concern in South African schools, especially in the disadvantaged areas, is the absence of effective leadership. Problems such as a lack of planning, an absence of vision, unfair resource allocation and feelings of uncertainty indicate a lack of meaningful leadership within the schools (Sterling and Davidoff, 2000:5). South Africa currently lacks a coherently explicit policy for the in-service training of school leaders. Until recently there has been no literature specifically addressing the problems school leaders face in black schools, no black professional organization for black school leaders, few opportunities for the discussion of ideas between departments, and few opportunities for training both before and after taking up a leadership position (Taylor and Tsukudu, 1995:111). The types of skills needed by School Management Teams(SMTs) for the effective management of schools depend on factors such as the needs of individual senior management members, the schools, the education system, the existing expertise of SMT members and their previous training. The purpose of skill development is to help develop and improve both the individual and the team performance of leaders responsible for managing schools in order to improve the functioning of schools(Mashinini and Smith,1995:133-135). In a growing number of developed and developing countries, a need for the more effective management of schools is becoming more important. Good management is regarded as essential if resources, both human and material, are to be used to maximum benefit so that schools make a valuable contribution to the economic and social well-being of societies (Taylor and Tsukulu, 1995:108). According to Sterling and Davidoff (2000:3), South African education is in a process of reconstruction and change. For those involved in education, the context feels unstable and at the point of delivery, the school, pressure is experienced. In addition to these problems, the socio-economic conditions result in many learners expecting not to be employed after completing their studies. This contributes to a feeling of despondence and demotivation amongst learners, which is often expressed in absenteeism, and a lack of commitment to their own education. Since 1996, reports by people in educational authority have confirmed a need for proper management training for managers in the South African educational system. In the past managers have been appointed to managerial positions such as head of department (HOD), deputy principal and principal without proper prior training. They have had to learn through trial and error and have made mistakes in the process. This situation is considered as neither inductive nor productive to a culture of teaching and learning (Deventer and Kruger, 2003:62). A study conducted by Steyn (1998:131-137) concluded that in the new South African dispensation, principals need to work closely with their first line managers in order to perform their 2 functions effectively. Steyn is of the opinion that a participative orientation in schools will be more effective than a centralized hierarchical orientation. The picture described above concerning the South African system and problems currently faced by teachers depicts a difficult environment which will not change overnight and one which requires effective intervention measures. This leads to the following problem, which will be addressed by this research. What management development skills do SMTs need to enhance their ability to manage schools effectively?.

The establishment of a culture of teaching and learning in disadvantaged high schools is a challenging phenomenon since the inception of the new democratic South Africa. This study attempts to investigate variables contributing towards the establishment of a culture of teaching and learning in high schools. It is revealed through literature study that some investigations into this research topic has already been done in South Africa, but little if none is done in the disadvantaged high schools in the North-West Province, that is the reason why I was prompted to pursue this topic further. The high failure rate in Grade 12 results according to my opinion is a serious concern and is on the lips of every teacher, learner, parent, politician and relevant stakeholders. This high failure rate is, according to the findings from the literature review, caused by factors such as underqualified and unqualified teachers, inadequate resources, over-crowded classrooms, poor infra-structures (buildings), poor socio economic background of learners’ parents, inconducive environment at school and inadequate role played by teachers and learners in the teaching and learning situation. One expects that the majority of disadvantaged schools would have achieved above the 70% as the pass rate benchmark in the final Grade 12 examinations. However, in most schools in the disadvantaged area this is not the case. Based on the above statement and the complexity of the study in consultation with variables employed, I opted to use both quantitative and qualitative research designs with an aim to attempt to obtain consistency, validity and reliability of the research results. The analyses of the results reveal that most disadvantaged schools still experience a poor culture of teaching and learning. This is evidenced by low Grade 12 pass rate results in some of the provinces, including North-West. The research revealed that the variables impacting on the performance of learners at schools are subjected to a complexity of integrated activities many of which are difficult to isolate as predominantly responsible for poor performance as such. What does appear to be an issue of concern is the apparent lack of dedication one would expect from some teachers working with secondary school learners. One could conclude from the many responses that poor achievement is directly linked to poor teaching and that the latter would again be the result of poor qualifications, lack of resources, poor support systems and most important however, a lack of commitment and dedication needed to ensure a professional approach towards classroom management and teaching. / Dissertation (PhD (Curriculum and Instructional Design and Development))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

This study focuses on how school management teams manage the school-based continuous professional development of the teachers at their schools. The assumption is that continuous professional development - if school-based - may be more practical in implementing changes because the teachers will be working in a familiar context when managing their own development and in meeting the specific needs of their school. At present the professional development of teachers consists mainly of external workshops and courses. Teachers then return to the school context that has not changed to accommodate what has been learnt at these workshops or courses. The lack of feedback or follow-up has done little to encourage teachers to implement any changes in their teaching practice. The study also explores the practice of school management teams in creating collaborative school cultures for the implementation of schoolbased continuous professional development. The rationale for this study is based on the urgent need for continuous professional development to be part of the schools’ development of teachers. The National Policy Framework for Teacher Education and Development provides the frame of reference. There is, however, a gap in the policy on how continuous professional development should be implemented to create a collaborative school culture and the role that the school management team plays in doing this. The aim of the study was to determine how school management teams managed continuous professional development at their schools; to identify the challenges they faced in managing school-based continuous professional development; and to explore the strategies that contributed to successful school-based continuous professional development. The research methodology employed in this study is a Triangulation Mixed Methods Design. Qualitative and quantitative data was collected simultaneously and analysed separately to understand the research problem. The sample consisted of principals, deputy principals and heads of department of primary schools who were interviewed. Questionnaires were administered to Level 1 teachers at these schools. The interviews were analysed by identifying emerging patterns, themes and categories. The questionnaires were analysed by presenting descriptive statistics about the schools and then inferential statistics were determined that correlated and tested the hypotheses. The results were reported in the form of summaries from the interviews and graphs from the questionnaires. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

This study explored the views and experiences of School Management Teams (SMTs) when implementing Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) in three primary schools in the Nkangala Region of the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. A qualitative research approach was adopted and the data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews and document retrieval in schools. The data were then analysed by the constant comparative method. All the participants in this study expressed the view that IQMS is a teacher appraisal system with a potential to develop educators in schools provided both evaluators and evaluatees are honest with the evaluation process and are able to identify their areas of development. However the experience of the principals and deputy principals with the implementation of IQMS in schools reveals that educators inflate their scores and do not identify areas where they need development. The Development Support Groups (DSGs) do not conduct authentic evaluation since they serve the purpose of helping educators to qualify for salary progression. Participants recommended external evaluation as a solution to subjective ratings since external evaluators have a potential to provide objective and credible evaluation because they are unfamiliar with educators and do not experience the pressure to maintain collegiality in schools. A key recommendation is that the Department of Education should conduct effective training for the stakeholders involved with the implementation of IQMS in schools. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

“Culture of Empowerment in a Restructured School” is a qualitative study that explores how three teams of humanities teachers in a restructured high school try to create and sustain an environment in which they can make decisions over curriculum, pedagogy, and school self-governance. The study examines what “empowerment” means to the teachers in such a setting. Various qualitative methods are used: participant observation, interviews, document analysis, and personal narrative. Teams of teachers who participated in this study teach at Capital High School, Charleston, WV, which opened in 1989 as a restructured school. It was named as a 1993 National Exemplary School by the United States Department of Education and a 1993 West Virginia Department of Education Blue Ribbon School. In this study “empowerment” is considered as the democratic involvement of teachers as they have input into decisions which affect them and their students. A longitudinal survey of the historical background of the school precedes chapters describing spatial influences on the curriculum and instruction, altered governance structures, the effects of teaming organization, and the use of three specific teaching strategies: Writing To Learn, cooperative learning and computer technology. The final chapter gives an account of the current (1993) school conditions that deal with teacher empowerment and offers some “lessons learned” from a participant’s viewpoint. / Ed. D.