This study is based on a need for teacher union involvement in the management of schools to enhance effective teaching and efficient learning. The rationale behind it was to disclose the current perceptions of school managers concerning teacher union involvement in the management of schools in the Vryheid region, with a view to determining the extent to which their perceptions of teacher unions could be positively influenced to allow for proper consultative school management as well as active participation of teacher union members in the decision-making process. The study revealed that the school managers' perceptions and attitudes are central to teacher union involvement in the management of schools. If negative, no effective participatory school management can materialise. The role of the perceptions and attitudes of school managers in the realisation of the goal of participative school management is indispensable. The empirical survey and literature revealed that school managers are in a good position to address the serious shortcomings regarding the manner in which teacher unions are perceived in schools. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

. This investigation focuses on the leadership role of the principal in managing and supporting curriculum change in South African schools. The results reveal that principals are required to initiate change and to lead the curriculum change process in schools. Principals are expected to monitor, manage and evaluate the implementation of OBE in their schools. They also need to provide ongoing support to colleagues and are further required to acquire and employ skills, qualities, characteristics and a management style that is suitable for the OBE leader. This investigation recommends that for principals to manage and support curriculum change effectively in South African schools: • Principals are in need of more training and ongoing support • Commitment and support to the outcomes based curriculum is called for • Skills and qualities, for effective leadership, needs to be acquired and employed • A strategy to manage, monitor, support and evaluate curriculum implementation in the school is needed. / Educational Leadership and Management / M.Ed. (Educational Management)

Dissertation / This study explores the role of the principal in the management of parent involvement in secondary schools in Northern Province. A literature study investigated existing theories and models of parent involvement; parent involvement in the South African context and the provision of education in South Africa in historical perspective. It also investigated the managerial role of the principal in parent involvement. A qualitative investigation in three secondary schools in Northern Province was done. Data were gathered by means of participant observation in-depth interviews with principals and focus-group interviews with teachers and three parents on the school governing bodies. Analysed data revealed the following findings: principals lack knowledge on parent involvement and schools lack policies and organisational structures dealing with parent involvement as well as home-school relations. As a result of these findings, there is a need to equip principals with ways in which they can involve parents in their schools. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Educational Management)

National legislation such as South African Schools Act, No. 84 of 1996 introduced important reforms impacting on school and parent communication. It mandated the establishment of school governing bodies in all schools to ensure that parents participate in their schools and to open an effective way of communication between educators and parents. However, the literature study established that in some schools, mostly the historically disadvantaged black schools, communication between educators and parents is still very poor and mostly ineffective. This study examined the role of the school principals in managing effective communication between educators and parents at schools to ensure that effective partnerships between educators and parents are achieved. A qualitative investigation in two public secondary schools in the Umbumbulu Circuit, KwaZulu-Natal was done. Data were gathered by means of in-depth interviews with the principals of each school, and focus group interviews with the educators and parents of each school and document analysis. The findings revealed the following: relationship between educators and parents is still very poor in some schools, the communication between educators and parents is still ineffective, there is still a lack of parental involvement in some schools, and most schools do not have policies on effective management of communication and comprehensive programmes on parental involvement. The study recommends that principals need to be empowered to effectively manage communication in their schools to ensure effective partnerships between educators and parents, and schools should design their own training programmes conducted by principals or specialists for parents on the importance of parental involvement in the education of their children. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

The challenge facing principals currently is to revisit their role to improve external examination results in the Republic of South Africa. Almost all schools in the Free State, in particular those in rural areas such as the Thabo Mofutsanyana Education District; the Xhariep Education District; part of the Motheo Education District (e.g. Botshabelo and Thaba-Nchu) and most urban areas, such as the Lejweleputswa Education District and the Fezile Dabi Education District, have schools which have had poor examination results for the past 20 years. To answer the challenges currently facing principals in the Free State, this research used a qualitative research framework and methodology to articulate research questions and arrive at constructive and instructive models to reveal and close the gaps between performing and underperforming secondary schools in the province. A particular group of principals was chosen, influenced by the performance and underperformance of their schools in the various education districts in the province. Research findings from unstructured interviews with doctoral candidates, and research on China, Finland and Singapore’s education systems with special reference to instructional leadership were conducted. The doctoral candidates’ ideas were confirmed by practical unstructured interviews with Sekgutlong and Beacon high school principals who visited Singapore with the MEC of the Free State Department of Education. In plenary and parallel encounters with principals of secondary schools in the Free State, it emerged that rote learning is prevalent in the Free State secondary schools. Therefore, was resolved by the majority of the principals that critical postmodern instructional leadership should be recommended as an instructional methodology to usher in critical thinking, innovation, creativity and self-reliance in Free State education. In addition, this will close the gap between performing and underperforming secondary schools. Finally, grounded postmodern instructional leadership as a leadership strategy will assist a contemporary secondary school learner’s generation to cope with the academic requirements of tertiary education. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

Education is a human basic right. The process of education and learning is the key to social, cultural and political participation, personal and community economic empowerment and national development. Human immunodeficiency virus and Acquired Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) represent the largest single threat to this education process. In 2004, the estimated number of people living with HIV in the Eastern Cape Province was 828 993. HIV prevalence in the Eastern Cape showed an increase from 28% in 2004 to 29, 1% in 2005, which is comparative to the overall prevalence in South Africa. Based on the research findings, school principals need training to get knowledge, managerial and counseling skills and management strategies to write, implement and monitor a school HIV and AIDS policy and how to integrate HIV and AIDS education in curriculum in all grades. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

This study focuses on the South African principals’ perceptions of shared leadership and its relevance for school discipline. In a mainly qualitative investigation, empirical data from ten secondary schools in the Nkangala District of the Mpumalanga Province were collected by means individual interviews and observation. These data were analyzed in accordance with accepted procedures for qualitative data processing. The preponderance of evidence collected in this study indicates that school principals indirectly contribute to school effectiveness and learner achievement through actions they take to influence what happens in the schools and classrooms. The skillful leadership of school principals is a key contributing factor when it comes to explaining successful change, school improvement, or school effectiveness. Schools should provide a stable, caring environment for all learners, irrespective of whether they are working with support or indifference of families. The role of the schools in relation to learners’ cultural and social differences should be supportive. Shared leadership is regarded as the state or quality of mutual influence in which team members disperse the leadership role through the group, participate in the decision-making processes, fulfill functions traditionally reserved for hierarchical leaders, and when appropriate, provide guidance to others to achieve group goals and objectives. The relevant stakeholders should work collaboratively in the education of learners. Principals and educators must understand that their traditional roles have changed and improved organizational teamwork will be fostered by all members of the learning community assuming decision-making roles. For the haul of school improvement school principals have to develop and expand their leadership repertoires. The collaborative process in shared school leadership should offer the opportunity for educators, learners, parents and the other stakeholders to study, to learn about shared leadership and also to share and to enact leadership. The management of discipline in schools is central to effective teaching and learning. A school that does not have an effective discipline policy (that includes strategies and support mechanisms that are available to all the members of the school community) and that does not maintain a climate of sound discipline, will not function as a centre for teaching and learning. The process of implementing a discipline policy should involve collaborative decision-making. All relevant stakeholders of the school community should have the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process. The study confirmed most of the views found in the existing body of knowledge on shared leadership and its relevance for school discipline. In the thesis, detailed attention is paid to the challenges those principals who were interviewed, experienced, and to the perceived origin of those challenges and suggested solutions. To conclude the study, a model for exercising sound school discipline through shared school leadership, including ten strategies to promote the implementation of shared school leadership in secondary schools, were proposed. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

This study sought to analyse the influence of principal leadership on the performance of selected schools in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. The problems addressed in the research were what leadership and leadership styles in the school context entail, concept of school performance, attributes of leadership as perceived by principals and how these attributes impact on school performance and establish whether school performance is dependent upon principal leadership and his/her leadership style. It was a qualitative study. Stakeholders of the schools were interviewed and observations were made. The relationship between leadership and leadership style, in general, and school performance were investigated. The research established that unless principals were well equipped with knowledge and skills in management and leadership, they would not be able to improve school performance. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

South African schools have experienced a high rate of educator turnover which has led to greater school instability, disruption of curricular cohesiveness and a continual need to hire experienced and inexperienced educators, who may be typically less effective, as replacements for educators who leave. Unfortunately, principals of schools lack organizational capacity to provide the necessary management strategies that can enhance educators’ job satisfaction. Since the principals are fully responsible for the proper functioning of the schools and their personnel, this study explored the relationship between the management strategies of school principals and the educators’ job satisfaction levels within the context of South African schools. It examined how management strategies of principals impact on job satisfaction levels of educators in various school environments. The study explored literature from local and international perspectives on management strategies and the job satisfaction of educators. It described the background and findings of the relationship between management strategies of principals and educators’ job satisfaction levels from an education management perspective. For the empirical inquiry the study adopted a qualitative research paradigm, and as such, a qualitative investigation of the relationship between the management strategies of school principals and the educators’ job satisfaction levels in schools was conducted. Non-probability sampling methods were used to select a sample of six school principals and twelve educators. Individual and focus group interviews were used in data collection and were audio-recorded. Throughout the research study, ethical considerations were upheld. Data analysis involved a mix of content and thematic analysis instruments. The study findings determined the relationship between management strategies of principals and educators’ job satisfaction levels. An understanding of human relationship is very important to school principals who have the responsibility of establishing an environment that not only motivates educators, but can also help to enhance their job satisfaction levels in a positive way. An understanding of educators’ needs also helps school principals to devise management strategies to enhance the job satisfaction levels of educators. Based on the findings, recommendations to improve the management strategies of school principals in the enhancement of educators’ job satisfaction were proposed. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Workplace bullying studies have gathered an increasing impetus among researchers throughout the world in the last decade. Previous research has concentrated on bullying in the context of students. Recent research has shifted focus towards workplace bullying of staff by managers. Little is known of upwards bullying where staff members bully managers or students bully their teachers. In this study, workplace bullying focuses on the bullying of teaching staff by the School Management Team. The researcher used the qualitative method for this study. Questionnaires were administered to 80 teachers. Interviews were held with eight members of the School Management Team (SMT) and ten teachers who perceived that they had been subjected to bullying. Data was coded and arranged thematically using Colaizzi’s (1978) phenomenological method of analysis. Results indicate that bullying of the teaching staff thrives in all schools but with varying degrees to certain teachers who are vulnerable due to social and environmental circumstances. The researcher recommends that schools identify cases of bullying and develop an anti- bullying policy that is incorporated in the whole school development strategy. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)