Abstract In New Zealand's compulsory education sector quality assurance is undertaken by the Education Review Office (ERO). When a school is found to be less effective than is acceptable through the triennial review process, ERO may return to review that school within six or twelve months. This Supplementary Review is identified to the Ministry of Education (MOE) which has several levels of intervention at its disposal which can be employed singularly or in concert to improve the school. Despite the support and interventions funded and/or managed by MOE, some schools have consecutive Supplementary Reviews and some remain under Statutory Intervention for several years. Commonalities among these schools that repeatedly or consistently present as 'at risk' may indicate a need for greater or different support or intervention. Self managing schools, while effective for many schools, may not be a workable and sustainable proposition for others. This may well be particularly true for those schools identified as 'at risk'. This paper considers ERO's process to identify schools 'at risk' and subsequent interventions employed by MOE to support the Principal and Board of Trustees in addressing improvements required within the school. Statistics and document analysis were used to extract data from documents with findings presented as a series of tables. It seeks a match between what is identified by ERO and the Statutory Intervention engaged by MOE. It explores the commonalities of schools under Statutory Intervention and on Supplementary Review. Practice in other countries is also considered in an effort to understand and contextualise the ideas and beliefs that support these approaches. While there is evidence ERO identifies teacher and Principal performance as major areas of concern, lead issues for Statutory Interventions in the same schools focus on the performance of the Board of Trustees as those with the responsibility of governing the school. The focus on governance to improve school performance is not working for some schools, more or different support may be necessary to effect positive change. The balance between capacity building, incentives and accountability for all involved in schools with Statutory Interventions, appears necessary for those with the capacity to improve.

The changeover of the South African government in 1994, brought along a need for transformation on all levels of society, including social welfare. As part of this transformation the South African government adopted the developmental approach to social welfare. Within this policy framework the government expects all social welfare services to be developmental. Existing services, including statutory social work services, should thus be reoriented to make them developmentally focused (White Paper for Social Welfare, 1997:7). The researcher has, however, identified a lack of clear guidelines for the transformation process of social welfare services and particularly of statutory social work. The goal of this study was therefore to investigate how statutory social work services can be rendered in a developmental manner, that is, in an empowering and upbuilding manner, and to formulate guidelines for social work practice in this regard. For this study, the researcher utilised the qualitative approach. The respondents included were seven social workers and six clients in the study as respondents, representing five welfare organisations in Tshwane. The key findings indicated that the developmental approach to statutory social work entails an emphasis on family preservation, which implies prevention and early intervention as well as reunification strategies. The findings also indicate that, although social workers are aware of what the developmental approach entails, this emphasis currently does not exist in practice due to various reasons, including the fact that social workers are overburdened and under-resourced. The recommendations of this study are captured in guidelines for developmental statutory social work and guidelines for creating an enabling environment for statutory social work services. The guidelines for developmental statutory social work include various strategies for prevention and early intervention, while the guidelines for creating an enabling environment especially emphasise creating working partnerships with the government and other professionals and organisations. / Dissertation (MSD)--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Many South African families are beset by social, psychological and economic challenges placing children at risk. Family preservation services, capitalising on families’ strengths to resolve their problems, are crucial to avoid the removal of children from their homes. Using a qualitative approach, this study reveals the experiences and perceptions of twelve social workers providing family preservation services in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan of Gauteng Province. These social workers articulate their understanding of and experiences with the Children’s Act (Act No. 38) of 2005. They are generally optimistic that family preservation services can offer a helping process with the potential to improve family functioning. Nevertheless, there are stumbling blocks to effective service delivery, such as the kinds of social problems experienced by families, lack of funding, high caseloads, lack of resources and little co-operation from other disciplines and agencies. Based on these findings, recommendations are made for practice, policy and further research. / Social Work / MA (Social Work)

Many South African families are beset by social, psychological and economic challenges placing children at risk. Family preservation services, capitalising on families’ strengths to resolve their problems, are crucial to avoid the removal of children from their homes. Using a qualitative approach, this study reveals the experiences and perceptions of twelve social workers providing family preservation services in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan of Gauteng Province. These social workers articulate their understanding of and experiences with the Children’s Act (Act No. 38) of 2005. They are generally optimistic that family preservation services can offer a helping process with the potential to improve family functioning. Nevertheless, there are stumbling blocks to effective service delivery, such as the kinds of social problems experienced by families, lack of funding, high caseloads, lack of resources and little co-operation from other disciplines and agencies. Based on these findings, recommendations are made for practice, policy and further research. / Social Work / M. A. (Social Work)