M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Learner violence is and has been a thorny silent issue among learners and teachers as well as part of daily schooling in South African schools before and after the advent of democracy. This epidemic is not only unique in South African schools but the world over including developing and countries where it does not receive necessary attention from both parents of the victims and perpetrators, authorities and with no coverage from the media. The South African government through The Bill of Rights in The Constitution Act 104 of 1996 together with the Department of Education (DoE) through legislation such as South African Schools Act (SASA) 84 of 1996 made provision through School Governing Bodies (SGB) and school managers of ensuring that violence in schools should be managed and be eradicated by means of formulating sound policies with appropriate measures to discipline whoever is found in transgression of good behaviour. However, irrespective of endeavours by authorities to curb these problems, we are still witnessing the serious incidents where learners are committing forms of violence against other learners . This motivated the researcher to explore the experiences and strategies of school principals, in particular public school principals with regard to how they manage learner violence in their schools. In addition, it was of importance to determine the contribution of stakeholders such as parents towards the management of violence in the school as regulated by SASA and what are the impact of violence on learners themselves as observed by principals. The aim was to research incidents of violence in schools, and what are the principals’ experiences and strategies of managing learner violence. A qualitative research method study was used through a semi-structured interview to get in-depth experience and knowledge from identified participants.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / This research was conducted in an effort to investigate the perception of principals on group decision-making within the School Management Teams (SMT's). This study was prompted by the changes taking place within the department of education, which are in line with the political changes that have taken place in South Africa. The dawn of democracy in South Africa paved a way for the democratisation of all government structures. According to the South African School's Act (SASA) of 1996 (b) participative management should be practised at all levels of education, in this instance at school level. The SMT's who are comprised of managers, must make joint informed decisions at the school level. From the literature review it is evident that principals should be competent in group decision making so that they can make rational decisions and to assist the management team to reach the desired common goal. The involvement of the SMT in decision-making develops a sense of ownership for the institution and this sense of ownership can lead to co-operation amongst the members, which could cascade to the rest of the staff members. The co-operation could promote effectiveness in the management of the school. An empirical study was conducted based on group decision-making. A comparison was made concerning the factor mean scores of the following independent groups: gender, age, mother tongue, commitment to group decision-making, teaching experience, qualifications of respondents, medium of instruction, districts and workshops attended relative to group decision-making. Generally, there seemed to be no statistically significant differences between these categories as they mainly agreed with the factor named group decision-making. The respondents belonged to schools in the three districts namely D1, D3 and D4 of the Gauteng Department of Education. Chapter four depicts the results of the research. Based on the results of the research, guidelines were drafted to assist principals in group decision making. Finally, this research recommends further research on this topic on a wider context such as: Research be conducted in other parts of Gauteng and other provinces. The perception of other SMT members to group decision-making should be investigated.

School principals are expected to play a pivotal role in enhancing quality teaching and learning in their schools. As leaders of organisations called schools, where teaching and learning take place, they need to possess particular skills to enable them to effectively deliver on their responsibilities of supporting teaching and learning. This means that a school principal is at the centre of any change that must occur at school level. He/she is expected to create a positive learning space by providing a healthy climate for teaching and learning in the school. However, some secondary schools in the King William’s Town Education District are performing far below the national average when it comes to the Grade 12 results. For this reason, this study sought to explore the views of the school management team members in two such schools on the role of principals as instructional leaders. The case study was premised within the qualitative research approach and the interpretivist paradigm was used as an epistemological base to investigate the views of the school management teams on the role of principals as instructional leaders. Eight school management team members were selected from both schools and the data was collected by means of face-to-face semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis. The data showed that participants had divergent views on how principals play the instructional leadership role. It appeared that principals employed different strategies in supporting teaching and learning in their schools and the focus was on control rather than support. It also emerged from the data that there was a lack of professional support at all levels in the selected schools, and parents were not involved in their children’s academic work. The researcher concludes that there seemed to be no systemic and coherent support strategy focusing on teaching and learning, as there were divergent views on how principals perform their instructional leadership roles. The study therefore recommends that principals be trained on instructional leadership to give them a deeper insight into supporting curriculum implementation in their schools.

D.Ed. (Educational Management) / In the present dissertation the researcher views in-service training in general, and clinical supervision specifically. This research is specifically aimed at the principals of Afrikaans medium secondary schools under the jurisdiction of the Transvaal Education Department. In-service education describes an informal, systematic program, initiated by the principal. This program aims to provide opportunities for teachers to improve the teaching quality of their classes. In-service education is also aimed at the professional development of staffmembers. In-service education aims at the more effective usage of manpower to promote higher productivity. On the other hand clinical supervision is regarded as teaching supervision where data is acquired through observation of true classroom situations. This pre-supposes a one-on-one interaction between the principal and the specific teacher to improve the quality of teaching. Clinical supervision aims to develop the teacher professionally and improve the quality of his teaching. In view of the aims it is possible for clinical supervision to apply the potential of labour effectively, thereby improving productiVity to the benefit of pupils as well as teachers. The successful implementation of clinical supervision relies on a secure, supportive school climate, characterised by healthy headmaster - teacher relations. In this research the researcher will look at the importance of some dimensions of the principal teacher relationship namely: * * * participating leadership: successful communication and creation of a conducive climate. Before a principal can lay claim to successful implementation of clinical supervision as strategy for in-service education, he has to...

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies

MEDCS / Department of Curriculum Studies and Education Management

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Education in the Department of Educational Planning and Administration in the Faculty of Education, 2007. / The South Africa Schools Act, (Act No. 84 of 1996) which came into effect on 1 January 1996 and the National Education Policy Act, (Act No. 21 of 1996) introduced a new approach to the South African Education system. These acts, and many policy documents produced by the National Department of Education, provide for the active participation of parents, educators, learners and other members of the community in the governance of schools. Whilst policy mandates stakeholder participation, in practice parent participation is problematic. This study therefore, investigates the role of the principal in facilitating the effective participation of the parent component of the SGB in the provision of quality education in public schools. A review of national and international literature was conducted to establish strategies principals use to facilitate the effective participation of the SGB. An empirical study was also undertaken. A questionnaire with closed-ended and open-ended questions was utilized with the aim of accessing the level of interaction between the SGB and principals of schools. Data from the questionnaire revealed the following key findings, namely: • There is a lack of effective management of parent involvement in school governance. • Limited communication exists between the principal and SGB regarding planned school activities where the SGB is supposed to have an input. • As leaders, principals are grappling to secure effective parent participation in the provision of quality education. Some recommendations are as follows: • Principals should develop orientation and on-going training programmes to capacitate parents to participate effectively in promoting quality public education • Principals should develop an invitational environment at the school • Principals should promote a climate for sound conflict management • Principals should provide sufficient information to SGB members and communicate these timeously to them It is hoped that through this study, principals will be inspired to identify then-limitations relative to the facilitation of parent participation and subsequently adopt one or more of the recommendations offered to armour themselves with strategies to facilitate the effective participation of parents in the provision of quality education for all learners.