M.Ed. (Educational Management) / The aim of this research is to assess the management role of the principal of a state-aided school with regard to the management of general assistants employed by the governing body of such a school. To ensure efficient management, the principal must implement the principles of planning, organizing leadership and control in the process of managing general assistants. Planning should be aimed at reaching short-term goals while a more mechanistic and bureaucratic organizational structure will be more effective. Communication and interaction with general assistants are prerequisites for efficient leadership. Duties performed by general assistants must be continuously controlled to ensure that the activities are in line with the goals of the school. The principal is essentially a manager of human resources and therefore also a personnel manager. In respect of general assistants, labour unrest must be prevented. This task represents a new dimension of management for principals of state-aided schools where labour relations have become an important issue. As of 1 September 1988, the Labour Relations Act (Act 28 of 1956) is applicable to black general assistants employed at state-aided schools. Therefore the management of state-aided schools must take cognisance of the mechanisms for collective bargaining, namely, industrial councils, conciliation boards, mediation, arbitration and the Industrial Court. Collective bargaining takes place between an employer and a workers' union representing the employees.

M.Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management) / The field of school leadership is currently preoccupied with the new idea of distributed leadership. Harris (2009:3) also writes that it is irrefutable that distributed leadership has become the idea of the moment. It is against this backdrop that this study aimed to explore the perceptions of teachers regarding the practice of distributed leadership in their respective schools. What propelled this research were the changes that are taking place in South African education system since 1994. This study explores the practice of distributed leadership in schools from a teacherbased perspective, rather than from the educational theorists and legislators’ point of view. The schools under study are the three secondary schools located within Johannesburg North District 10 in Gauteng Province. The research design followed a qualitative approach. Three secondary schools were sampled, and the data were collected through interviewing the teachers of different post levels (including principals), as individuals and in pairs. Documents containing minutes of the planning sessions and the first staff meeting were also used to triangulate the data. These documents showed how roles and responsibilities are allocated to each teacher in those three sampled secondary schools. The findings revealed that there are both benefits, and inevitable and inherent threats to the implementation of distributed leadership in the three schools. The benefits are that distributing leadership can raise school’s collective capacities, empower staff, and can encourage collaborative school cultures and decisionmaking; and all these can make the school effective because there is coperformance, collective agency and conjoint effort in running the schools’ affairs. However, there is inherent threat posed by the school’s hierarchical structure and the policy climate within which schools operate. These barriers cannot simply be underestimated or ignored, and it is naïve to assume that they would simply fall away to accommodate and support distributed leadership in schools.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Education (Management), Durban Institute of Technology, 2004. / This study deals with sexual harassment in the Lower Umfolozi District. The researcher investigated speculation that there was sexual harassment in the Lower Umfolozi District. The researcher discovered that there was sexual harassment of Pi temporary and unemployed educators in the Lower Umfolozi District / M

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No description available.

The purpose of this study was to investigate effective administrative support for successful teachers of urban at-risk students. The main difficulty in studying administrative support is that it comes in so many ways. Johnson’s (1990) theory of workplace variables and Butterworth's (1981) social exchange theory were the basis for this study. Failures of at-risk students threaten the well being of public schools and have become a generally recognized social problem of national priority. This study explores how principals act to influence the success of teachers as they work with at-risk students. It is grounded in the following four assumptions: 1. Administrators significantly influence workplace satisfaction (Butterworth, 1981; Sergiovani, 1991). 2. Workplace satisfaction directly affects quality of performance (Johnson, 1990; Lortie, 1975). 3. Teachers have a moral right to a satisfying workplace (Goodlad, 1984). 4. At-risk students are, in important ways, unique in their educational needs (Capuzzi & Gross, 1989; Chenoweth, 1993). Collection, analysis, and evaluation of data were guided by three research questions focusing on how uncommonly successful teachers of urban at-risk students perceive their administrative support, what these teachers recommend regarding administrative support and what these teachers recommend regarding preparation for teachers to teach at-risk students. The teachers were deemed successful by a combination of parental, student, teacher, and administrator evaluations (Peterson, Bennet, & Sherman, 1991). Thirty-nine teachers who had been recommended by their peers, parents, students, and building and central office administrators were sent letters inviting them to participate in this study. The first 18 who responded were interviewed using a 15 item protocol. Three were elementary teachers, 10 were middle school teachers, and 5 were high school teachers. Four of the 10 middle school teachers were from one middle school but the others were from a variety of schools. The elite interview technique proposed by Marshall and Rossman (1989) was used because it was felt that surveys do not elicit the depth of information desired and a single case study would not give enough breadth. The interview responses were analyzed both as individual documents and also an analysis by item was conducted. Twenty-two recommendations for aspiring and practicing administrators are listed and the eight main themes are listed. The results show specific kinds of support that can help teachers of at-risk students succeed: personal support, peer support, and training for both teachers and administrators. In general, the successful teachers felt that they did not receive adequate administrative support even though when asked the question “do you feel supported by your administrators?" some said "yes." The results also indicate that administrators need further training in both interpersonal skills and communication skills.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the leadership style of high school principals and their faculties' level of communication satisfaction. The study was also concerned with the relationship of the respondents' biographical data with leadership style and communication satisfaction. Subjects were selected from a population that consisted of thirty—two high schools in the North Central Texas Area. Each school that participated in the study had its faculty respond to the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire and a teacher biographical data survey. Each school's principal responded to the Least Preferred Co—Worker Scale, principals' Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire, and a biographical data survey. The results were then analyzed using simple and multiple regression.

Florida's Beginning Teacher Program was evaluated to determine if there were significant differences in administrative attitude and perception of success between Orange County and Seminole County. Further evaluation was conducted to determine if the four possible gender-pairings of beginning teachers and peer teachers/mentors resulted in differing success rates. Finally, the program was examined to determine if administrative or peer teacher/mentor attitude was related to the success of the program. Beginning teachers, their peer teachers/mentors and administrators in Orange County and Seminole County were surveyed to accomplish these evaluations, using the Administrative Attitude Scale and the Beginning Teacher Success Scale developed for the study. Statistical differences were found between Orange County and Seminole County on both of the survey instruments, indicating that differences in implementation of state guidelines can result in differing attitudes and success rates. These results suggest the need for comparative studies in order to evaluate the differing plans of implementation. The gender-pairing combination of male beginning teachers with male peer teachers/mentors consistently showed the most negative results on the Beginning Teacher Success Scale. Study of this phenomenon is needed in order to determine the causes and cures for this group's poorer success rate. Administrative attitude was not statistically related to the success of the program. This finding was in contrast to the previous research, which indicated that the attitude of a 'helping adult' was the most critical factor in the success of a beginner. Study is needed to determine if this is a result unique to the educational community. Administrative comments indicated, however, that their attitude toward the participants in the program was much more favorable than their attitude toward the program itself, and this may provide a key to understanding these results. In Orange County, peer teacher/mentor attitude was not related to the success rate. However, in Seminole County there was a statistical relationship between peer teacher/mentor attitude and beginning teacher perception of success. There may have been a greater commitment on the part of the peer teachers/mentors in Seminole county because they were financially reimbursed. Although there were variations in results between counties and groups in the studies, the survey instruments indicated that the Beginning Teacher Program was achieving success, and that administrative and peer teacher attitude was moderately positive.

A historical overview of the principalship is the story of a position in constant flux, responding continuously to a changing society and the demands that those changes bring to bear on the educational system. If the 1960s and early 1970s can be described as periods of uncertainty for the principalship, the late 1970s and early 1980s can be recognized as the period when the principalship came into its own, as it gained recognition as a key position in the determination of effective schools. Research studies conducted during the 1960s emphasized the need for the principals to assume a leadership role, with an emphasis on management of personnel resources for performance, morale, and productivity. Studies during the 1970s and early 1980s revealed insights into the nature of the principalship, and focused on those characteristics exhibited by effective principals. Faced by ever present societal demands for accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness at a time when the economy was on the downswing, coupled with constraints being placed upon their management prerogatives, principals were faced with many challenges during the 1970s and 1980s. During that period, research findings revealed that the nature of the principalship was reminiscent of a rapidly changing society. Time was a scarce commodity for principals who lived a fast paced, complex, and highly personal role, characterized by brevity of tasks, continuous face-to-face encounters, which often required on-the-spot decision making. Effective principals were described as diverse, proactive, people-oriented, risk takers, who were, for the most part, non-beleaguered and able to deal with the highly energized and demanding job. Another common characteristic of principals was their major stressor--dealing with teacher performance and evaluation, particularly when interpersonal conflicts and forced resignation were eminent. The second greatest stressor was perceived to be a threat to the physical status and/or job security of principals. In order to deal with their highly demanding and stressful jobs, principals were observed employing various coping mechanisms that enabled them to maintain control in often ambiguous roles. / Ed. D.

Career ladders emanated from the reform movement of the eighties. Little could be found in the literature on how principals and teachers relate to each other under these arrangements. This study investigated the relationships between principals and teachers in three elementary schools in one district that operated under the state’s Career Development Program in North Carolina. Interviews were conducted with principals and a random sample of five teachers in each of the three schools. Analysis focused on the patterns of relationships between principals and teachers. Major findings revealed that relationships between principals and teachers were open, positive, and caring. Principals believed their relationships with teachers were closer and stronger since the implementation of the Career Development Program. Teacher effectiveness training that accompanied the Career Development Program provided a pedagogical structure and common language for teachers. The teachers believed the training helped them to become more competent. Teachers and principals reported principals were more involved in the classroom and conducted more frequent formal observations and evaluations. Both groups believed the principal had more paperwork under the Career Development Program. Principals and teachers believed the evaluation system worked. Teachers did not trust outside evaluators if they observed in areas outside their field or school level. The overall conclusion of this study is that relationships between teachers and principals became more focused on an instructional model that increased conformity, possibly reduced creativity, and increased the feelings of competence of teachers. / Ed. D.