During the apartheid era, that is, before 1994, principals tended to regard schools as their properties. Principals were expected to manage schools on their own without consulting the rest of the staff. From 1994 with the advent of a new political era, South Africa ended up having one National Education System. That system came up with many changes. In the new education system, the management of the school was taken from being the principal‟s duty only, to the responsibility of a management team which is referred to as the school management team (SMT). Because of the democratic nature of the SMT, it is required that educators work co-operatively as a team. The researcher has observed that this has been a challenge in some schools where principals resisted change. On the other hand, principals of schools are facing challenges due to a lack of cooperation amongst their subordinates. The establishment of SMTs does not nullify the authority of the school principal but the challenge that lies therein is that each member of the SMT must play his or her role properly. The purpose of this study was to explore the challenges facing SMT members in the GET band schools of Circuit 2 in Centane. A qualitative investigation was undertaken with the purpose in mind to develop a better understanding of the challenges facing SMTs in Circuit 2. This study was undertaken among 5 schools in Circuit 2 in Centane which falls under Butterworth District. The researcher used convenience sampling in selecting the SMTs of schools that would participate in this research study. Due to the fact that the researcher is a principal in one of the schools in Circuit 2 he could obtain easy access to SMTs of other schools in the Circuit. The following stakeholders were identified and participated in the selected schools: principal, deputy principal and Head of Department. Qualitative data were collected through semi- structured interviews. The study was framed within the interpretive approach, and sought to unpack the perceptions of SMT members with regard to team-management . An interpretive paradigm made it possible for the researcher to gain an in-depth understanding of SMT members‟ perceptions of team-management within their contexts. The outcomes pointed to several challenges ranging from the SMT terms of reference, cooperation, sources of support and stress as a result of the work overload involved. Based on the findings, SMTs have brought the phenomenon of cooperation to the fore, and cooperation may be perceived to have many advantages. However, in order for the SMTs to play a meaningful role in curriculum management and governance issues, there is a need for them to be conversant with issues and kept abreast of developments in education as a system. It is therefore recommended that members of the SMT be exposed to continuing professional training and development in the aforementioned governance areas.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 326-333). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-23T13:44:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ROBERTA ALVARENGA DE ALMEIDA VARGAS.pdf: 837321 bytes, checksum: d9137bf0e6853d84ff72f2800551a931 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-16 / This dissertation intends to rescue the daily as a basic dimension to understand the management practice, based on a study in an Elementary Public School in Vitória (ES). In such way, it aimed to describe the director‟s daily management, highlighting its relationships with other practitioners of the school community - teachers, staff, students, parents, among others. In the field study conducted, it intended to find inspiration in the research in /of/ with the daily as an alternative metodology to try to explore the diversity and the complexity of the culture of the daily citizens. Observations were carried out with regular visits to the site of the research during the period of five months, with records in field diaries. Interviews were also conducted with various actors from the school community (the principal, teachers, students and parents, among others) as well as with representatives of the central agency of education in the city of Vitoria (ES). An analysis was also proceeded from documents produced and circulated in this teaching unit. The narratives that captivate the school routine had pointed to the plurality and ambiguity of management practices, where the director, responsible for organizing the group around common references, is seen at the same time as the "Self" and "Other" in the relations established with other enthusiasts, which characterizes the existence of a hybridity inherent to the management action. As such, the school manager, although an authority vested with power, "the Self", responsible for maintaining an "order" within the institution needs to perform tactical actions (of the "Other ), "to mend the law" in order to make school management feasible in an attempt to minimize the discrepancies between the generalized standards and the peculiarities of the reality. Finally, it is hoped that this research raises dialogue with new studies around the theme of management action of organizations, especially from public schools, suggesting that further research needs to be conducted to worsen the hybrid character of the management practices, with their plurality and ambivalence / Esta dissertação pretende tratar o cotidiano como dimensão fundamental para compreender a prática da gestão, partindo-se de estudo realizado em uma escola pública de ensino fundamental localizada no município de Vitória (ES). De tal modo, pretendeu-se descrever a ação gerencial no cotidiano do diretor, destacando suas relações com os demais praticantes da comunidade escolar professores, funcionários, alunos, pais, entre outros. No estudo de campo, buscou-se inspiração nas pesquisas nos/dos/com os cotidianos, como alternativa metodológica para tentar explorar a diversidade e a complexidade da cultura dos sujeitos cotidianos. Realizaram-se observações com visitas regulares ao locus da pesquisa durante o período de cinco meses, com registros em diários de campo. Também foram realizadas entrevistas com os diversos atores que compõem a comunidade escolar (diretor, educadores, alunos, pais, entre outros), assim como com representantes do órgão central de educação do município de Vitória (ES). Procedeu-se também à análise de documentos produzidos e circulados na unidade de ensino. As narrativas que enredam o cotidiano escolar apontaram a pluralidade e ambiguidade das práticas da gestão, em que o diretor, responsável por organizar o grupo ao redor de referências comuns, figura-se simultaneamente como o Próprio e o Outro nas relações que estabelece com os demais praticantes. Isso caracteriza a existência de um hibridismo inerente à ação gerencial. Desse modo, o lugar da gestão escolar, apesar de autoridade investida de poder, o Próprio , responsável por manter uma ordem na instituição, necessita realizar ações táticas (do Outro), remendar a lei , para tornar a gestão escolar realizável, numa tentativa de minimizar as discrepâncias entre as normas generalizadas e as peculiaridades da realidade vivida. Por fim, enseja-se que esta pesquisa suscite diálogos com novos estudos em torno da temática da ação gerencial no cotidiano das organizações, em especial da escola pública, sugerindo-se que novas pesquisas sejam realizadas, aprofundando-se no caráter híbrido das práticas de gestão, com suas pluralidades e ambivalências