The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of school governing bodies (SGBs) regarding their overall mandate in the Free State Province. The governance mandate, as stated in the South African Schools Act, requires the SGB to ―promote the best interests of the school and strive to ensure its development through the provision of quality education for all learners at the school‖. An in-depth literature review on governance and international and intercontinental practices revealed the school governance mandate as meaning that the SGB must provide the school with a strategic direction; act as critical friend to the school; and hold the school to account. These roles essentially describe the school governance mandate. To this end, a questionnaire was used to determine how effective SGBs executed this mandate in the Free State Province, with a population of principals, SGB chairpersons, educator- governors and non-teaching staff-governors. Results obtained through computing frequency analyses, rank orders, Pearson‘s correlation, ANOVA and the Tukey HSD tests of respondents‘ perceptions of governance effectiveness items and dimensions indicated that there were statistically different perceptions regarding how effective SGB were and that these were of significant and practical effect. This meant that the effectiveness of SGBs regarding their overall mandate was indeterminate and that SGB did well in some areas of governance and not too well in others. The conclusion drawn from the study was that the structural composition of SGBs was limited SGBs‘ effectiveness regarding their governance mandate. Therefore, the main recommendation is that the SGBs need to be restructured. The recommended Two-Tier Approach to school governance proposes a structure consisting of the executive tier: responsible for policy formulation and implementation, which is a strategic-accountability role; and the non-executive tier: responsible for scrutiny-accountability, which entails the roles of acting as a critical friend and holding the school to account.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of school governing bodies (SGBs) regarding their overall mandate in the Free State Province. The governance mandate, as stated in the South African Schools Act, requires the SGB to ―promote the best interests of the school and strive to ensure its development through the provision of quality education for all learners at the school‖. An in-depth literature review on governance and international and intercontinental practices revealed the school governance mandate as meaning that the SGB must provide the school with a strategic direction; act as critical friend to the school; and hold the school to account. These roles essentially describe the school governance mandate. To this end, a questionnaire was used to determine how effective SGBs executed this mandate in the Free State Province, with a population of principals, SGB chairpersons, educator- governors and non-teaching staff-governors. Results obtained through computing frequency analyses, rank orders, Pearson‘s correlation, ANOVA and the Tukey HSD tests of respondents‘ perceptions of governance effectiveness items and dimensions indicated that there were statistically different perceptions regarding how effective SGB were and that these were of significant and practical effect. This meant that the effectiveness of SGBs regarding their overall mandate was indeterminate and that SGB did well in some areas of governance and not too well in others. The conclusion drawn from the study was that the structural composition of SGBs was limited SGBs‘ effectiveness regarding their governance mandate. Therefore, the main recommendation is that the SGBs need to be restructured. The recommended Two-Tier Approach to school governance proposes a structure consisting of the executive tier: responsible for policy formulation and implementation, which is a strategic-accountability role; and the non-executive tier: responsible for scrutiny-accountability, which entails the roles of acting as a critical friend and holding the school to account.

The study was carried out to investigate the role of the secondary school head in Botswana in respect to four themes, namely: staff development; classroom supervision; school culture building; and conflict management. Basically, school development planning was defined as a strategy that can be employed to improve the teaching and learning processes. This could be achieved by on-going staff development programmes that equip staff with new knowledge and new classroom teaching techniques. Details of strategies that could be used to achieve this were examined and discussed in this thesis. Two chapters of the literature review were made in this thesis. Chapter II (Part I) made a direct link between the literature review and the research questions on the main topic of this thesis. Chapter III (Part II) on the other hand provided, a comparative analysis of school development planning between Botswana (as the focal point) and the United Kingdom and Australia (as examples). The analysis was concerned with three issues of: human capacity; budget allocation and its control; and accountability. The inclusion of this second chapter on the literature analysis was to add weight and to raise the analytical standard of the thesis. Closed responses and open-ended questionnaires were used to gather data. A total of 60 respondents comprising heads and teachers from 10 junior and five senior secondary schools participated in the investigation. Summaries of the findings from both the empirical and theoretical components for each of the themes are that: • There cannot be development without developing the developer. • Classroom supervision is essential because it provides the basis for staff development and subsequently improved teaching. • School development planning must be a staff co-operative effort leading to the formation of a sustainable school culture of working teams. • Conflict is always there in organizations, what is important , however, is for the administrator to manage it such that it benefits the organization. Basically, the empirical and theoretical components, supported each other on the majority of issues. The United Kingdom and Australia, being developed countries, do not experience the problems of funding, staffing, and other supportive resources to effectively implement school development planning to the extent of Botswana. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Educational Management)

The study was carried out to investigate the role of the secondary school head in Botswana in respect to four themes, namely: staff development; classroom supervision; school culture building; and conflict management. Basically, school development planning was defined as a strategy that can be employed to improve the teaching and learning processes. This could be achieved by on-going staff development programmes that equip staff with new knowledge and new classroom teaching techniques. Details of strategies that could be used to achieve this were examined and discussed in this thesis. Two chapters of the literature review were made in this thesis. Chapter II (Part I) made a direct link between the literature review and the research questions on the main topic of this thesis. Chapter III (Part II) on the other hand provided, a comparative analysis of school development planning between Botswana (as the focal point) and the United Kingdom and Australia (as examples). The analysis was concerned with three issues of: human capacity; budget allocation and its control; and accountability. The inclusion of this second chapter on the literature analysis was to add weight and to raise the analytical standard of the thesis. Closed responses and open-ended questionnaires were used to gather data. A total of 60 respondents comprising heads and teachers from 10 junior and five senior secondary schools participated in the investigation. Summaries of the findings from both the empirical and theoretical components for each of the themes are that: • There cannot be development without developing the developer. • Classroom supervision is essential because it provides the basis for staff development and subsequently improved teaching. • School development planning must be a staff co-operative effort leading to the formation of a sustainable school culture of working teams. • Conflict is always there in organizations, what is important , however, is for the administrator to manage it such that it benefits the organization. Basically, the empirical and theoretical components, supported each other on the majority of issues. The United Kingdom and Australia, being developed countries, do not experience the problems of funding, staffing, and other supportive resources to effectively implement school development planning to the extent of Botswana. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Educational Management)