A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Communication Science University of Zululand, 2003. / This thesis entails a literature survey of the forms of communication required for the successful management of primary schools and high schools by principals and their management teams, followed by an empirical survey of the management team communication practices of 367 principals in the northern section of the eThekwini Region (the area that until 2003 was known as the North Durban Region) in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, on the eastern seaboard of South Africa. In brief, my research shows that female principals predominate in primary schools and male principals in high schools. My research further shows a number of significant differences in the way that female and male principals communicate with parents.

Thesis (M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / School Management Team (SMT) members struggle to accommodate learners with diverse learning difficulties as prescribed by the Education White Paper 6. This is despite the workshops, which are conducted to develop SMTs to accommodate learners with disabilities and practice Inclusive Education (IE) in their classrooms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the SMT’s competence in the implementation of Inclusive Education in the Capricorn District of Limpopo Province. The study followed a qualitative approach where a case study design was adopted. Two officials from the Inclusive Education section of the Department of Education and six SMT members from three schools in the Capricorn District of Limpopo Province were purposively selected to participate in the study. Data was collected through semi- structured interviews, observations and document analysis. Data was analysed through content analysis, and followed the Creswell’s model of data analysis. The results of the study were as follows: there is a lack of human and physical resources, duration of time taken for conducting workshops was too short, and the lack of follow-up programmes. Therefore, these results may imply that the current professional model of teacher development through workshops is not effective, and that new strategies are needed to improve teacher development programmes. The study suggests that further areas of research should include time allocation for conducting workshops on Inclusive Education, resources allocation and follow-up programmes. / National Research Foundation (NRF)

Published Article / This study reports the findings of the masters studies on management styles that are adopted in effective secondary schools and examined how the effect of participative management styles could positively change the status of ineffective secondary schools. Two hundred educators and five school principals were sampled for the study. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data for the study. The respondents argued that their school principals adopted democratic, transformational, situational, and behavioural styles of management. They further believed that the adoption of participative management styles would positively change the status of ineffective secondary schools. They argued that by adopting democratic, transformational, situational and behavioural styles of management will encourage educators to: i) develop effective teaching and learning in their classrooms as they will be highly motivated; ii) adopt participative teaching methods that encourage learners to take part in classroom activities with confidence; and, iii) adopt team teaching which contributes to better performance in the classroom.

Published Article / A study was conducted to determine factors which caused stress for township secondary school teachers. The purpose of this paper is to determine the role of School Management Teams (SMTs) in the stressors of township secondary school teachers. A questionnaire was developed and administered on 368 teachers from the Free State Province. Once the stressors were determined, their means were used to rank them - from the most stressful to the least stressful. Only the highest 30 stressors were considered in this paper. The main stressors were: poor learner performance, poor learner discipline and poor parental involvement in school matters. It was also found that 20 of the 30 stressors were the SMTs' responsibility, seven were the parents' responsibility and three were DBE's (Department of Basic Education) responsibility. It was concluded that SMTs of the schools surveyed were unable to adequately address factors causing stress for teachers in their schools. It was recommended that SMTs should be developed, and then be held accountable for the high levels of teacher stress, and for the subsequent poor performance of teachers in their schools.

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This dissertation explores and examines various foundations for thinking about organizational systems, i.e., organizational epistemics. There are several ways to examine "systems" and several levels at which criteria apply to systems. First, the study establishes the minimum demands on "systems" and formulates what is essentially a system for systems or an organizational system for selecting organizations' designs. By adopting a generic model, one that stipulates minimum requirements for assessing organizational designs, each administrative organization is evaluated in terms of the theoretical justification used to ensure an effective and efficient organizational structure. The future effectiveness of organizational designs is contingent on changes in society, in education, and in the private sector, e.g., responses to social, economic, and cultural exigencies. This dissertation explores possibilities for the future as organizations respond to new and unusual variables. The format suggested in this study may well provide a glimpse of what the future holds for organizational designs in the world of tomorrow.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1950 S74 / Master of Science

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

M.Ed. / It became apparent in this study that persuasive communication can play an important part in managerial communication. Persuasive communication implies that appeals are made to reason (logos) and emotion (pathos) to change a given attitude for the benefit of the organization and the individual. This can only be achieved if the trustworthiness (ethos) of the persuader can be relied upon. Persuasion is not a coercive measure - the persuadee is led to change his attitude on his own initiative ...