D.Ed. / The South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 mandates the introduction of democratic school governance. The problems that need to be addressed are poor school governance, poorly motivated learners and educators, and a general lack of managerial skills in school leadership. This research has argued that developing school governing bodies, and providing them with the skills to govern effectively, is crucial to the success of a school transformation process. The research concentrated on schools in the Northern Cape and Gauteng Province. A quantitative research methodology was used to elicit the perceptions of educators with regard to the frequency with which school leaders practice collaborative leadership. A structured questionnaire consisting of 61 items was administered to 500 educators, with a return of 87%. In this research, 61 items were formulated to secure information on the importance of various essential functions for school leaders to collaboratively govern their schools. The construct validity of the instrument in this research was investigated by means of successive first and second order factor analytic procedures performed on the 61 items. The first order procedure involved a principal component analysis (PCA1) followed by a principal factor analysis (PFA1). The following four first order factors were derived from the first analytic procedure performed on the 61 items: Achievement orientated leadership consisting of 25 items with a Cronbach-Alpha reliability of 0,979 with no items rejected. Team orientated leadership consisting of 15 items with a Cronbach- Alpha reliability of 0,962 with no items rejected. Communication orientated leadership consisting of 14 items with Cronback-Alpha reliability of 0,962 with no items rejected. Innovation orientated leadership consisting of 7 items with a Cronbach- Alpha reliability of 0,913. The four obtained from the first order factor analysis were now used as inputs for the second order procedure. These procedures resulted in the four factors consisting of 61 items being reduced to one factor that was named authentic collaborative leadership. It had a Cronbach-Alpha reliability coefficient of 0,990 with no items rejected. The literature survey was used to indicate the difference between authentic collaborative leadership based on an achievement, team, communication, and innovation orientation and inauthentic collaboration based on contrived collegiality. The research is concluded with recommendations based on 19 findings.

D.Ed. / Limpopo Province, in line with other provinces in South Africa, adopted democratic school governance in public secondary schools. Since the inception of this system in 1997 hopes ran high that eventually the culture of teaching and learning in secondary schools will be improved and subsequently schools will be transformed. Contrarily, there has been a mismatch in terms of the provincial education objectives with what is currently happening in secondary schools in the province. Conditions of school governance in secondary schools as regards the physical, social, moral, economic, and academic problems are deplorable albeit democratic school governing bodies are in place. The 1998: 35.2%; the 1999: 37.5%; the 2000: 51.5%; and the 2001: 59.5% matriculation pass rates could partially be attributed to ineffective school governance. Consequently, communities are concerned about SGB's who are not accomplishing their role and functions as mandated by the SASA of 1996. The focus of this research is on democratic school governance in the Vuwani district in the Limpopo Province. The objective of this research was to probe perceptions of the different members of the SGB's regarding diverse aspects of school governance as mandated by the SASA of 1996.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / The implementation ofthe South African School Act 84 of 1996 located significant management responsibilities with principals and governing bodies of public schools. The Schools Act is aimed at the creation and management ofa new national school system. This system must, as far as is reasonably possible, give everyone an equal opportunity to develop his or her talents. This research will focus specifically on the roles of the SGB and SMT, and on the developing relationships between them in the management ofschools. As Glatter, (1988:155) maintain that governing bodies experience uncertainty because they. face different expectations and demands and need to create different relationships with the surroundings institutions that are interested in the local education system.

Education in South Africa is currently facing a lot of changes. This study was prompted by one of these changes, the introduction of a School Governing Body (SGB), constituted in terms of the 1996 Schools Act (South Africa 1996), and replacing the previous Parent-Teacher-StudentAssociation (PTSA). The study investigates how the members of a School Governing Body perceive and experience their roles, in an attempt to make a contribution to understanding the nature and implications of education governance policy in South Africa. Central to this exercise is the attempt to understand how the execution of their duties, their practice of both democracy and accountability, and their resolving of tensions and/or differences among parents, teachers and students, impacts upon their school generally and relates both to the Department of Education and other organs of society. The methodology employed in this study includes a review of relevant literature, international and national, followed by a historical overview of education governance in South Africa. The core of the thesis is an interpretive case study of the SGB of one junior secondary school under the auspices of the Department of Education, Culture and Sport, in the South Eastern region of the Eastern Cape Province. The single most important data gathering instrument used was a series of in-depth interviews. The interviewees were the Executive members of the SGB of the school. The major findings of the study were that the SGB was powerful and effective in its area of operation in school governance, despite its lack of skills in the execution of its duties. Many of the difficulties it has encountered can be ascribed to a lack of guidance from the Department of Education. The study thus concludes that whereas the SGB studied represents an important step towards the full democratization of education in general and in this school in particular, its role in school governance can not be described as an unqualified success. However, despite the problems faced by the SGB, its role has made history in the governance of the school. Programmes which the SGB has implemented, such as measures to foster a culture of teaching and learning, have had an important impact on the progress of the school. Finally, the findings of the study indicate that the most important issues to be addressed in respect of the SGB researched are capacity building, communication, cultural understanding and the level of SGB understanding of the Schools Act. The study makes certain recommendations for the attention of SGBs and the Department of Education. These include a well co-ordinated capacity building prograrn to be developed and implemented, that will provide SGBs with access to knowledge of the relevant material and other resources necessary to sustain school governance functions. Because of the limited nature of the study in terms of methodology and constraints of time, the conclusions arrived at cannot and should not be generalized beyond the confines of the study.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Education (Management), Durban Institute of Technology, 2004. / This study deals with sexual harassment in the Lower Umfolozi District. The researcher investigated speculation that there was sexual harassment in the Lower Umfolozi District. The researcher discovered that there was sexual harassment of Pi temporary and unemployed educators in the Lower Umfolozi District / M

The primary aim of this study is to investigate the role of school governing bodies in their oversight role of the implementation of education departmental policies by school principals in selected schools in the Upper Xolobe Administrative Area. According to Clarke (2009: 14), there is no doubt that a school improves when a school’s governors exert their governance oversight authority in a way that promotes the effective use of resources and establishes a climate which encourages teaching and learning. South African schools, especially in rural areas, are still grappling with the challenges of electing effective people into school governing bodies (National Guidelines for School Governing Body Elections, 2012: 6). The Upper Xolobe Administrative Area is a rural traditional authority area under the traditional leadership of a headman who is appointed in line with traditional chieftainship under the supervision of a chief. There is also a democratically elected ward councillor as a political leader. In the area, there are seven General Education and Training (GET) band schools and one Further Education and Training (FET) band school or senior secondary school which offers tuition for grades 10 to 12. There are, therefore eight (8) governing bodies for the eight institutions. The majority of SGB members are not adequately educated. According to Clarke (2009: 1), schools are effective when there is an institutional environment that is conducive to teaching and learning. There is significant research identifying the characteristics of schools where good teaching and learning are evident, where there is a good work ethic and where children are provided with opportunities to develop to their full potential (Clarke, 2009: 1). The challenge for school governors is to see that they perform their governance functions in a way that will create a school environment where these characteristics are evident. The perceptible indications are that against the background of the challenge of the level of education of the majority of the parent members of SGBs, their mandatory term of office which is only three years and a myriad of other environmental challenges, the eight SGBs of the eight institutions in the Upper Xolobe Administrative Area are to grapple with, creating a school environment where the characteristics mentioned might be challenging. Two important principles of the South African Schools’ Act are concerned with inclusivity and decentralisation. Inclusivity means the participation of parents, educators, non-teaching staff, learners, and other people who are willing and able to make contribution to the school. Bringing decision-making closer to the people is desirable, but this in itself will not solve all the problems and challenges faced by school governing bodies. Research has shown that school governing bodies face many problems despite the fact that decisions are made by people closest to the situation (Ramadiro & Vally, 2005: 1). This study intends to investigate the combined effect of the various components constituting the school governing body members of eight schools in the Upper Xolobe Administrative Area in their oversight role of policy implementation by school principals or school managers.

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies

This study is about the School Governing Bodies (SGBs) which currently run schools in the country and it was done in a school in Soweto as a case study. The participants were the vice-chairperson, principal, deputy, secretary and treasurer because these are the core of the executive membership of the SGBs. The role of each is fully described in the policy documents of the Department of Basic Education. The focus of the study was to find out whether the SGBs do indeed create an educative atmosphere in schools as laid down in the government policies or have the discretion and leeway to deviate from such without incurring the wrought of the Department. The research was conducted through the qualitative approach because it involved a series of in-depth interviews. The study used a purposive sampling method to identify a few participants who are actually involved in the management of the selected school. Hence, the research findings are such that the interviewees claim that they knew very little of their new responsibilities, duties and functions when they took office but gradually they acquired the necessary information, knowledge and skills to discharge their exacting mandate. They point out that the South Africa School’s Act 84 of 1996 is the most informative policy document that guided and also assisted them in carrying out their responsibilities with confidence. In the final analysis, the study revealed that workshops on skills development are very much important because they are empowering. From the research findings various themes emerged which formed the basis upon which the following proposal was made, i.e. that: a methodological theoretical framework that has at its core the SGB with other important stakeholders in the periphery contributing towards creating an educative climate in the school be established. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management and Leadership)

Thesis (M.ED.) --University of Limpopo, 2008

Thesis (MTech. degree in Education.)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2011. / The process of appointment procedures was shifted to the school governing bodies following the changes made to the education system since 1994, after the country's first democratic elections. Decisions made by the school governing bodies about whom to recommend to the Regional Director for appointment, have been questioned. The schools, known for producing good results in the past, started showing declining results when new principals who were recommended by the school governing bodies, were appointed. Arguments about how effective school governing bodies are as Human Resource officers at schools have necessitated this study, particularly the appointment procedures in the Mount Fletcher District in the Eastern Cape Province.