This is a comparative study of parental involvement in the governance of public and private schools in the Matatiele District of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Parental involvement can range from occasional attendance of the school functions to partnership through parent teacher organizations and parent management bodies. Education is a national enterprise that requires the co-operation and participation of all the role players who are parents, community, teachers, learners and the Department of Education. The problem to be investigated in this study is: Why is it that parental involvement is more positive in the governance of private schools than that of public schools? Two schools were selected for the study and the researcher administered questionnaires personally by hand and conducted face to face interviews to collect the primary data. The responses of the administered questionnaire were tabulated and recorded in table form so as to give an accurate interpretation of what was revealed in the data. Patterns in the data were considered in order to provide an accurate interpretation of the information. The findings were divided into two, that is: findings from the public school and those from private schools. From the public school it was found that: parents are not involved in the governance of the school; the school does not involve parents on financial matters; parents do not attend meetings when invited; they do not know their roles and responsibilities, for example, according to the South African Schools Act (SASA), parents must be actively involved in the governance of the school in their community and that there is an element of ignorance and negligence on the part of parents towards their children’s education. From the private schools it was found that: parents are more involved in the governance of the school; they attend and participate actively in school meetings; the school involves parents in financial matters and as such the financial support from the parents is very good; parents are much involved in the monitoring of the progress of their learner’s education and are passionate about the school and seem to own the policies and the governance of the whole school system. The conclusion drawn from the study is that private schools allow for parental involvement in the governance of their schools whereas in public schools parental involvement is low.

This research project investigates the reasons why parents are not fully involved in school governance of a selected school in the Sisonke District of KwaZulu-Natal. As a professional educator the researcher has noted that within the rural communities, especially those in KwaZulu-Natal, an area which he knows intimately, there is a general lack of involvement on the part of parents in the way in which schools, that are educating their children, are being run. The researcher has observed that the parents‟ overall contact with the school is very limited - often confined to the beginning of the school year. Thereafter the parents withdraw from all matters pertaining to the running of the school, in effect abdicating their contribution to their children‟s education by handing over all responsibility to the teachers. This, in turn, has created a demarcation that has divided the teachers and the parents, with the parents‟ input stopping at the school gate, in a manner of speaking. What should be a combined effort of both parents and teachers to achieve the best possible results for the learners, has become a rift. And, as with all splitting of resources, this has had a negative impact on the functionality of these educational institutions. In order to get insight into the possible reasons why this is as it is, the researcher collected data, primarily interviews with parents, teachers and learners. Observations of governing body meetings, parents meetings and school management meetings were also conducted. In addition to these, minutes of meetings of the school related to other relevant documents, for example, school finance committee meetings, were also examined. The approach used in this study is the qualitative study method. The researcher also tried to determine to what extent, if any, factors such as lack of knowledge, lack of experience in school governance, lack of time, insufficient training to capacitate parents for school governance, low levels of education, lack of communication, no invitations being extended from the principal, and also teachers' and parents‟ attitudes contribute to this serious lack of parental involvement in the governance of this school. Another consideration was whether educators and learners have any knowledge that parents have a right to come to school and assist with the activities in the classroom. In essence, all the research hinged on the core question: „What are the explanations for the lack of parental involvement in public schools?‟ From the data gathered, the researcher then suggests or recommends possible solutions to rectifying what is fundamentally a misunderstanding of responsibilities, in order to propose means to rectify the situation for the future benefit of the learners. It is also recognised that due to potential limitations of the study, further studies on the effects of parental involvement in schools‟ governance may need to be undertaken. To get a clearer representation of the extent and where this impacts on our society as a whole, the researcher suggests further studies to encompass other school models, as well as other schools with different racial and social/economic compositions be undertaken.

The purpose of this study was to appraise the meaning and challenges of the principal’s school governance role in the Gert Sibande Region of the Mpumalanga Province. This was premised on the inherent challenges of the principal’s role as prescribed in the South African Schools Act, which locates the principal in the school governing body (SGB) as a member who promotes the best interests of the school; as well as an ex officio member who represents and promotes the interests of the employer – the Department of Education. It was found, through the literature review, that the challenges of the principal’s school governance role were largely symptoms of different emphases on the various functions of the SGB as listed in the South African Schools Act. As such, the concept of school governance was contextualised into an understanding of the essence of the school governance mandate as concerned with three main roles of the SGB, namely, providing the school with a strategic direction, the SGB being critical friend to the school and holding the school to account. Through qualitative interviews of purposely selected school principals, educator-governors and parent-governors, it was found that the principal’s role was influenced by, among others, challenges pertaining to the principals’ ex officio role, parent governors’ low education level, parent governors perceptions about being in the SGB, the perceptions about the principals’ role in the SGB by other members and miscellaneous challenges pertaining to perceptions and structural factors about the school governance role. This was found to be a result of the listed nature of the Schools Act’s governance roles and responsibilities and pointed to the need for giving context to them through an approach that focuses on the meaning and implications of the school governance mandate. For that reason, this study proposes a Three-step Approach to school governance. The Three step-Approach to school governance takes the school governance mandate as a point of departure and models the school governance process from the intention to establish SGBs through elections of a new and incoming SGB while the outgoing SGB is in the final stages of its term of office; to training of SGB members over stages that focus on the relevant content and components of school governors; and culminates into the start of the process of functioning of the incoming SGB. The emphasis of this approach is on fostering a clear understanding of the school governance mandate; how it contextualises the listed functions in the Schools Act; and the need for the SGB to start functioning with members already trained and in full understanding of their roles as they relate to the school governance mandate of promoting the best interests of the schools through the provision of quality education for all learners at the school. / PhD (Education Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

The purpose of this study was to appraise the meaning and challenges of the principal’s school governance role in the Gert Sibande Region of the Mpumalanga Province. This was premised on the inherent challenges of the principal’s role as prescribed in the South African Schools Act, which locates the principal in the school governing body (SGB) as a member who promotes the best interests of the school; as well as an ex officio member who represents and promotes the interests of the employer – the Department of Education. It was found, through the literature review, that the challenges of the principal’s school governance role were largely symptoms of different emphases on the various functions of the SGB as listed in the South African Schools Act. As such, the concept of school governance was contextualised into an understanding of the essence of the school governance mandate as concerned with three main roles of the SGB, namely, providing the school with a strategic direction, the SGB being critical friend to the school and holding the school to account. Through qualitative interviews of purposely selected school principals, educator-governors and parent-governors, it was found that the principal’s role was influenced by, among others, challenges pertaining to the principals’ ex officio role, parent governors’ low education level, parent governors perceptions about being in the SGB, the perceptions about the principals’ role in the SGB by other members and miscellaneous challenges pertaining to perceptions and structural factors about the school governance role. This was found to be a result of the listed nature of the Schools Act’s governance roles and responsibilities and pointed to the need for giving context to them through an approach that focuses on the meaning and implications of the school governance mandate. For that reason, this study proposes a Three-step Approach to school governance. The Three step-Approach to school governance takes the school governance mandate as a point of departure and models the school governance process from the intention to establish SGBs through elections of a new and incoming SGB while the outgoing SGB is in the final stages of its term of office; to training of SGB members over stages that focus on the relevant content and components of school governors; and culminates into the start of the process of functioning of the incoming SGB. The emphasis of this approach is on fostering a clear understanding of the school governance mandate; how it contextualises the listed functions in the Schools Act; and the need for the SGB to start functioning with members already trained and in full understanding of their roles as they relate to the school governance mandate of promoting the best interests of the schools through the provision of quality education for all learners at the school. / PhD (Education Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

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 research project aimed at understanding how culture and history shape the role of governance in public schools. It has highlighted the role that parents can and should play in school governance, as supporters, as governors, as co-teachers, as informed consumers and as partners. All these roles are within the legislative framework of the South African School Act 84 of 1996 (SASA). However, this study suggests that much of the literature has not looked at specific ways in which parents participate that are influenced by their interests, values, cultural background and beliefs. One of the major insights in the study is the cultural understanding of the role of school governance, which translates into a very different conception of justice and how it is articulated in the role of governing in conflict management. This study has shown that through the particular cultural practices that privilege restorative justice over retributive justice, traditional conceptions can be a strong force for conflict management and stability at schools. More specifically, this study has shown how governors can consciously use the framework legislation, i.e. the SASA, to reinforce particular social or cultural identifies.

<p>This study is based on an investigation into the way RCL members participate in the deliberation of their School Governing Bodies. The study was conducted in two primary schools in the Western Cape town of Vredenburg. The research participants were members of the Representative Council of Learners from these schools. Focus group discussions as well as in depth interviews were used to explore the RCL members' views on the nature of their participation during SGB deliberations. the main fining of this study is that, due to external as well as in-school factors, a huge gap exists between normative RCL policy exp[ectations and the actual manifestation policy in the real world of the RCL members' schools. the findings of the study reveal a lack of participative capacities among these RCL members, which, in combination with a non participative culture at their homes, the community and the school, leads to learners being excluded from democratic processes.</p>

<p>This study is based on an investigation into the way RCL members participate in the deliberation of their School Governing Bodies. The study was conducted in two primary schools in the Western Cape town of Vredenburg. The research participants were members of the Representative Council of Learners from these schools. Focus group discussions as well as in depth interviews were used to explore the RCL members' views on the nature of their participation during SGB deliberations. the main fining of this study is that, due to external as well as in-school factors, a huge gap exists between normative RCL policy exp[ectations and the actual manifestation policy in the real world of the RCL members' schools. the findings of the study reveal a lack of participative capacities among these RCL members, which, in combination with a non participative culture at their homes, the community and the school, leads to learners being excluded from democratic processes.</p>

Doctor Educationis / This study is based on an investigation into the way RCL members participate in the deliberation of their School Governing Bodies. The study was conducted in two primary schools in the Western Cape town of Vredenburg. The research participants were members of the Representative Council of Learners from these schools. Focus group discussions as well as in depth interviews were used to explore the RCL members' views on the nature of their participation during SGB deliberations. the main fining of this study is that, due to external as well as in-school factors, a huge gap exists between normative RCL policy exp[ectations and the actual manifestation policy in the real world of the RCL members' schools. the findings of the study reveal a lack of participative capacities among these RCL members, which, in combination with a non participative culture at their homes, the community and the school, leads to learners being excluded from democratic processes. / South Africa