After democracy was achieved in South Africa, the South African Schools Act no 84 of 1996 required all public secondary schools to have two learners elected to the school governing body. The question of learner involvement and participation is still a thorny issue in some schools. The study investigated the experiences and perceptions of educators, parents and learners, regarding learner participation in school governance .The study was conducted in four schools in Mpumalanga ward of Hammarsdale circuit. A total of sixteen participants, four from each school comprising of four of each of principals, educators, parents and learners were interviewed. The study adopted the qualitative research design. Qualitative research design was most suitable to this study because it looked at views of different stakeholders entailed talking to people with the purpose of getting in depth information. Semi structured interviews were conducted with all participants. The main finding was that learner participation in school governance is still a problematic issue .The findings reveled that there are huge stumbling blocks that make learners fail to participate effectively in school governance. Democracy has not been achieved as expected, as it is evidenced by silent voices of learners. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

The study investigated Black educators' readiness for the management of inclusive education in rural and township primary schools. It is a questionnaire-based field study employing basic descriptive statistics as well as qualitative analyses. It set out two aims: (1) to determined Black primary school educators' level of knowledge about inclusive education; and (2) to determine the attitude of Black primary school educators towards inclusive education. The sample for the study comprised 100 randomly selected Black primary school educators drawn from two randomly selected educational regions of KwaZulu-Natal. The study was guided by two hypotheses relating to Black educators: (1) Educators in rural and township primary schools are unable to meet the intellectual and socio-emotional needs of disabled learners; and (2) Educators in rural and township primary schools have a negative attitude towards inclusive education. The first hypothesis was confirmed, supported mainly by the finding that 97% of the sample indicated that they needed to know more about inclusive education before deciding to teach in it, and the finding that 65% would like to teach in inclusive education, but felt incompetent. The second hypothesis was rejected. The attitude of the educators was largely positive, supported by the following findings: 75% of the sample preferred to be engaged in inclusive education; 81% were confident that inclusive education would benefit learners with mild-to-moderate disabilities; only 2% was not interested in, and did not wish to know more about inclusive education; only 16% was not prepared to give extra attention that disabled children required; and 81% percent were confident that inclusive education would benefit learners with mild-to-moderate disabilities. Some recommendations are made in the light of the findings. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

The effective functioning of a school as an organization requires an effective administration. The effective management determines the success of a school as educational and teaching institution (van der Westhuizen 1991). Turozzi (2003) states that technology had the potential to be a valuable change agent in the modern education system. The technological resources can be integrated across administration (Stammen, 2003) The lack of technological support in a school hinders the fulfillment of numerous administrative functions. Effective management leads to quality teaching and (Eraut, 1989). This study looks at how technology impacts on school administration. The study links the development of administrative technological support with institution effectiveness. It also investigates the way these technological resources are used in schools for administrative purposes. The study concentrates on functional aspects of school administration, that is, how the information is stored and made available, and institution effectiveness. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2004.

This study set out to investigate teachers' mental models of learners' cognitive and moral development, with reference to the inclusion of learners in the governing bodies of schools. Strauss' (1996), concept of implicit mental models is used as a basis for the investigation of teachers' beliefs about learners' cognitive and moral development. The study made use of Piaget's stages of concrete and formal operation thinking because learners in the governing bodies of schools fall within that part of the continuum, and Stages 5 and 6 of Kohlberg's theory of moral development. The research was in the form of a survey. Teachers were interviewed using a tape-recorder and the responses were later transcribed. The schools in which research was carried out were in Imbali in Pietermaritzburg, and the focus was on the learners in Grade 8 and higher. Teachers who were interviewed were either on the governing bodies of their schools, or who had experience with the learners in Grade 8 and higher. The findings of the research were of significance. Strauss (1996) found that teachers' beliefs about learners do not coincide with the explicit theories. This study coincided with Strauss' research findings in as far as Kohlberg's theory is concerned and the opposite occurs in as far as Piaget's theory is concerned. Most respondents (eleven out of fifteen) said higher grade learners question things that they do not understand. The researcher made use of the response to argue that learners can do well in the governing bodies of schools because they have the ability to question things that they do not understand despite the low regard that teachers have about learners' moral development. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.

South Africa is a complex country that has undergone fundamental changes in the last sixteen years. One of the major areas that have been greatly affected by these changes is education. Due to these drastic changes, schools are being placed under tremendous pressure to deal effectively with this reformation. In addition, the strike action in (2007) and the recent strike action in (2010) that occurred in our country, brought the teaching profession once again in dispute. The broader public has therefore become very curious in their quest to find out if teachers are promoting effective teaching and learning in their schools. In light of this, this dissertation works from the premise that these teachers play an important role as leaders in their schools. The need to act as professionals is crucial, if teachers are to be positive role models to their learner. The aim of this study is to discover how teachers understand professionalism, and to investigate some of the obstacles or challenges they face in leading their schools to be professional places for teaching and learning. The study was designed as a case study which was conducted within the interpretive paradigm and was mainly qualitative in nature. Data was gathered by means of survey questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, a focus group interview, documents and observations. The case study was an urban primary school in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Data was predominantly qualitative and was analysed using thematic content analysis. Findings of the study indicate that teachers understand professionalism to mean training for a specific period of time with the necessary skills and knowledge to impart into our learners. Also it is a specific code of ethics. The main barriers to teacher leadership and professionalism were a lack of empowerment by management and an overemphasis on control by the principal, the lack of parental involvement with regards to teaching and learning and the behaviour portrayed by some teachers that of frequent absenteeism became a barrier in performing their duties professionally. The enhancing factors were that teachers worked collaboratively with each other. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

The arrival of democracy in 1994 saw the departure of certain policies and an education system that was congruent with an autocratic, apartheid South Africa. One of the many policy changes was the introduction of the Norms and Standards for Educators (2000) which suggests that teachers fulfil the seven roles as laid down in this policy, amongst them being the role of leader and manager. Prior to this, these roles remained exclusively for those holding formal management positions. Since this study adopted the stance that teachers are leaders, it was worked from the premise that all teachers have the potential to enact self-initiated, voluntary roles, and to lead from different levels within the organisation. Thus an organisation needs both leadership and management, with teachers conducting themselves as professionals. Against the backdrop of the National teacher strike of 2010, I became interested in understanding the leadership roles teachers, either post level one teachers or SMT members enact, especially in relation to their professionalism. As a consequence, I designed my research as a case study of six teacher leaders. The core question aimed to investigate how teachers can lead schools better to ensure that they are professional places of teaching and learning. The first subsidiary question involved an inquiry into how professionalism was understood by teachers. The second subsidiary question was about identifying the factors which enhanced and inhibited professionalism in schools. The duration of the study was approximately two months, and data were collected using semi-structured individual interviews, a focus group interview and a questionnaire. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis. The main findings of the study revealed that although the primary participants faced many challenges, they worked collaboratively as members of teams. This was made possible as a result of the support and encouragement from the principal and SMT members, together with there being a collegial school culture. Their innate goodness, love for their learners, and passion for teaching saw them lead in various social justice projects. This uplifted the plight of many learners who experienced financial, academic and emotional challenges. These teacher leaders were aware of the code of ethics as espoused by SACE, and conducted themselves accordingly. Some of the primary participants argued that, at times, the call of the union clashed with their role as professionals. This was evident when teachers were called out during the school day to attend union meetings. Since leadership and management roles did not lie exclusively with the principal and SMT, level one teachers also led in activities. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

Nowadays, teaching is increasingly becoming a complex task which demands the highest degree of professional practice. Teachers are viewed as agents of change in today’s society and without them; the future of the country is stillborn (Harris and Muijs, 2005). However, a number of strike actions by teachers that have been reported in the media, have caused the attractiveness of teaching as a profession to fade and this is causing the public and important stakeholders to doubt the status of teaching as a profession. Teachers have been considered as political activists and union leaders and this has overshadowed them as professionals and as such has undermined their agency role as leaders. Furthermore, this is causing the teaching profession to lose its status as a calling and a prestigious profession in which they commit themselves to the teaching of learners. Teachers are now viewed as workers who are more focused on their rights, better working conditions and salaries and this they pursue sometimes at the expense of learners. It is therefore a challenge to the teacher unions to change their focus and help teachers to fulfil their primary responsibility which is teaching and learning in order to restore the professional status of teaching. Furthermore, the traditional top-down approach leadership style that exists in most schools makes it even more challenging for teachers to exercise their leadership roles in schools in order to lead them into becoming professional places of work. However, amidst all the despair and loss of hope, Harris and Muijs (2002, p.11) call for the ‘new order’ of leadership which is premised upon the view of “leadership that is distributed and empowers those closest to the classroom to undertake leadership tasks and actions”. Aspects of interpretivist educational research inform my study because it does not seek to get the 'truth' but tries to understand people’s views and experiences in their own natural settings (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2006). I have used this paradigm because I work from the premise that people define their actions by providing different interpretations of the situations they find themselves in. I agree with Maree (2007) who asserts that qualitative research approaches are only concerned with understanding the process and the social and cultural context which underlies various behavioural patterns and is mostly concerned with exploring the ‘why’ questions of research. Furthermore, Cohen et al (2006) also advocate that qualitative research typically studies people or systems by interacting with and observing the participants in their natural environments and focusing on their meanings and interpretations. The emphasis is on the quality and depth of information and not on the scope or breadth of the information provided as in quantitative research. Case study methodology was used to frame the investigation of the research questions. The study took place in a rural independent high school in KwaZulu-Natal. Qualitative data was collected from the five primary participants, through the use of individual interviews, focus group interviews as well as observations. Data was analysed using thematic content analysis and discourse analysis. The findings revealed that teachers understand professionalism as formal qualifications, and that skills and expertise in education are necessary to qualify as a professional. Furthermore, a long period of time is necessary in order to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge expected. When it comes to leadership, it was clear that teachers still associate leadership with a position and formal appointment by a legitimate body in order to be accepted as a leader is necessary. Barriers to teacher leadership and professionalism that were identified were: impact of teacher unions, incentives for role acceptance and school culture. Factors that can enhance teacher professionalism are: collaboration, leadership opportunity given to teachers and a shared understanding between the School Management Team and teachers. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

My study is aligned with the school context. In the school context, there is a formal leadership structure which ensures smooth running of the institution. The success of the school is reliant on the management and leadership style of these formal leaders. In addition to this, these formal leaders guide, control and supervise other teachers in the school. There is a great need for co-operation among those who lead and the led. Sour relationships among these two groups in the school make proper functionality in the school impossible. It is for this reason that I wanted to study how can teachers lead schools better to ensure that they are professional places of teaching and learning. As a school Principal, I strongly believe that after this study, I will have an additional understanding of proper and effective leadership and management that will improve my leadership style. Teachers who are teaching in schools are regarded as professionals. I therefore decided to study these teachers’ understanding of professionalism. This will indeed add value to my personal knowledge and my personal leadership style because after this I will be having a clearer understanding of teachers’ understanding of professionalism. The Norms and Standards for Educators (2000) clearly spells out the seven roles of and educator. This helps me to understand if the teachers do align themselves to these roles as encapsulated in the document. Hoyle, (1980) has written about professionalism and my study seeks to understand if the teachers do behave as he proposes they should, as professionals. I also believe that teachers are professional if they engage themselves in teacher leadership roles in the school irrespective of being in formal positions or not. In our South African context, the concept teacher leadership is fairly new. Researchers like Grant (2006), Singh (2007), Ntuzela (2008), Nene (2010) and Mpangase (2010) have found that in the South African schools’ context , teacher leadership is not given attention that it deserves. Therefore in this study, I decided to focus on these two related concepts for the school effectiveness, teacher leadership and professionalism. I then decided to study the factors that hinder or enhance teacher leadership and professionalism in schools. I did this so as to try to address the concern raised by the scholars above which is not getting the necessary attention for teacher leadership to flourish. To get the answers for my research questions, I decided to include teachers in formal leadership positions as well as teachers with no formal leadership positions as my unit of analysis. This enabled me to get views from all parties in the school. I then decided to use various data collection methods to generate data to assure trustworthiness and validity of my findings. This has been a learning process for me as a novice researcher. The major findings were that in order for a school to be a professional place for teaching and learning, both formal leaders and informal leaders should play their roles fully and tirelessly. It also highlighted the point that informal leaders will only play leadership roles if formal leaders open the doors for them to lead. Full findings of the study are discussed in the dissertation. Finally, recommendations have been made for further research in this regard. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

Our South African schools are seventeen years after the advent of democracy still under the grip of predominantly hierarchical management with limited devolution of leadership functions to teachers. Principals and SMT’s are caught between the demands of a policy driven Department of Education, the unions who ‘control’ the teachers and a desire to transform their schools into 21st century centres of learning and teaching excellence. Somewhere into this maelstrom ones needs to factor in the expectation of teachers, parents and even the pupils who are living in a 21st century environment with all the technological trappings and a democratic dispensation which has promised to deliver a better life for all. Given the current negative view of schooling with the poor matric and grade three and six performance levels and the negative view of teachers especially after the teacher strikes of 2007 and 2010 there is an urgent need for intervention to save our education system and children. I am however not advocating a narrow view of policy intervention, which has already proven to be a failure. Such interventions fail to penetrate to the depth of the problem. I am advocating for a much more sustainable longer term intervention that must change our teachers’ views to their job, their commitment to the task and the child. I am advocating for a return to professional values and commitment coupled with a new age distribution of leadership that recognises the contribution and worth of all teachers. This recognises that all teachers have skills and insights to contribute that can change the face of schools. Given this background I attempted using a case study of five teacher leaders in an urban primary school to understand their views on professionalism, their involvement in leadership and whether the link between the two does impact positively on the culture of teaching and learning. I employed a multiple data collection method and used a questionnaire, semistructured individual interviews, a focus group interview and observations. The findings of the study indicated that there was genuine commitment to professionalism. The teacher leaders viewed themselves as professionals. They were further deeply committed to teacher leadership which they demonstrated in various ways. Their professionalism combined with their involvement in leadership spilled over into a culture of learning and teaching. Teacher leadership was present in various spheres but was limited by hierarchical school structures, time constraints and scepticism from other teachers. This relationship between teaching, professionalism and learning and teaching needs to be further researched especially in the context of South African schools in their current change environment, overshadowed by the legacies of the past. Our schools need to succeed now. Our children need it now. If the route to sustainable teacher and learner performance lies in professional leadership development, then we must explore it further without delay. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Kwazulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

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