Organisations that will not, that resist, that cannot, that are incapable, that lack the confidence or that believe it’s not possible to change are likely to stagnate and die (Smith: work in progress). Since independence in March 1990, the new Namibian Government has realized that the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of Namibian schools depends on the ability of teachers and other stakeholders to be innovators and facilitators of change, especially through effective communication, effective meetings, working through conflict, solving problems and making decisions. Organization Development (OD) is an effective, planned change approach for improving organization workgroup processes. Resting on a foundation of values and assumptions about people and organizations, OD promotes collaboration, interdependence and interconnectedness, empowerment, participation and involvement in problem solving and decision-making for all members. Based primarily on a normative, re-educative strategy and secondarily on a rational-empirical strategy, OD assumes that people will change if and when they realize that change is advantageous to them. OD makes use of interventions to determine areas requiring change. The intervention used for my research included a survey-data-feedback (SDF) where data was gathered, analyzed and fed back to the participants. The data was used as a basis for problem solving and training in organizational processes of communication. The case study involved 23 teachers. Journal entries, observation, formal and non-formal interviews as well as focus interviews were used as data collection tools. Participants wanted to see immediate organizational changes thus it was important to remind them that OD is a long-term change approach and that there is no quick fix. Initially, participants were used to the norm of fault finding to determine areas requiring change. However, a year later, during problem solving sessions, I observed collaborative and positive involvement by all participants. Finally, the outcome of the intervention based on the data from the communication workshop and the problem-solving meetings revealed that participants want OD to be institutionalized in all Namibian schools.

M.Ed. / The last decade constituted a period of great discovery and change for education all over the country. This called for policies for transformational leadership. Kouznes and Posner(1995:130) indicates that "high policy - that is, major change in a society's sense of direction - is first shaped in an anchoate consensus reached by the people at large." The policies for effecting change in schools are drawn but the problem is: are those policies communicated well to the schools community and stakeholders, are they well understood, are they implemented effectively for the benefit of all involved? It is time that all transformational policies drawn at all levels as agreed upon be implemented in a coordinated way. According to Telford(1996:8-9), "transformational leadership acknowledges that in today's challenging and demanding educational climate of constant and turbulent change, no single person alone is likely to have the combined capacities necessary to engage in effective leadership. It can be legitimately argued, that in empowering a range of people within the school community - educators, learners, parents and others as 111 appropriate, a combined richness of educational thought and activity, superior to that of any single leader can be achieved. "That is, leadership at its best is a shared venture engaged in by many". This has concentrated on these policies that need to be implemented to effect change. The findings are also that there are policies for transformational leadership in place but the in adequate training makes it impossible for effective implementation. Therefore, the aims objectives of this study are summarised as follows: To determine the extent to which policies guide the transformational leader to effect meaning full change(s). To establish the extent to which change involves the collaboration of the transformational leader and the followers. The determine how implementation of policies take place at the school site. To determine whether support systems are offered by district offices officials to principals and educators regarding interpretational and implementation of policies. Through qualitative and quantitive research,questions and statements, the researcher was able to do some findings as far as transformational policies are concerned. The study concludes on a few recommendations that enough information and training should be given to all stakeholders for effective implementation hence creation of change that would take schools into the 21' century.

This research was conducted in an effort to investigate the impact of redeployment on the work life of the educator in the Bojanala East Region. The continued placing of educators from one school to the other prompted this study. The research concentrated on schools in the Bojanala East Region. A quantitative research methodology was used to elicit the perceptions of educators with regard to the impact redeployment has on the work life of the educator. The project is divided into five chapters. In chapter one an overview and orientation of the study was given. The problem statement was demarcated. The aims relating to the above mentioned problems were explained. The research methodologies utilised a literature study and a complementary empirical investigation. Concepts were also clarified to enhance understanding. Chapter two concentrated on the literature review to establish what other theorists say about the impact of redeployment on the work life of the educator. In chapter three the design of the research instrument was discussed. The structured questionnaire consisting of biographical data and 19 items were discussed. The theoretical constructs around which redeployment revolved were tabulated. A wide range of educators across all post levels in the Bojanala East Region was sampled. Biographical data was requested from respondents since it was believed that these aspects could be related to educator redeployment and could influence educator perceptions. An analysis and interpretation of some of the empirical data were undertaken in chapter four. Two successive factor analysis on the research instrument produced two factors: • Effective implementation of the redeployment process consisting of 12 items with a Cronbach-Alpha reliability of 0,720. • Effective communication consisting of 7 items with a Cronbach-Alpha reliability of 0,629. Hypotheses were set and univariate statistics were used to analyse and interpret data. Important findings and recommendations were explicated in chapter five. / Prof. C.F. Loock

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. / In the fourteen years since democracy, there have been many legislative changes in South Africa, especially in the educational sector. Although policies have changed at a macro level, there remains a need to investigate the effect of these policy changes at a micro level. This is an ethnography of two formerly whites-only, Afrikaans-only primary schools. In this study I found that although society and legislation have changed dramatically, what happens in the schools has not necessarily changed. There is widespread resistance to policies such as OBE, the disciplinary code, as well as religious legislation. Furthermore, there is a large element of racism within the schools which is mediated through the personal belief systems of the two headmistresses. Teachers resist legislative change because it does not accord with their own agendas, and is perceived as politically motivated and unworkable in their schools. In some cases, legislative change goes against the teachers’ identity. Teachers respond to this change with resistance—which is often not well articulated or organised. They stay in the profession because of a specific teacher identity that includes a strong religious element.

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / This study investigates human resources management, training and development and their compliance with the skills development legislation and the link to the strategic goals of the Cape Technikon. The Cape Technikon is known as a previously “white” or advantaged institution. The institution's political history and consequent demographic profile display some scars of ignorance. This resulted in the institution's neglecting to invest in the development of those competencies needed to function in a constantly changing education, training and development environment. The success of any organisation depends on its human resources, who are the most important asset of any organisation, therefore effective and efficient human resources management and training and development management play a critical role in the well-being of employees. Human resources training and development policies, practices and activities guide the institution with implementation and should be considered to take on a strategic role to achieve their objectives. / South Africa

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The study was concentrated on the period following the first democratic elections for a new government in South Africa, that is, post -1994 up to the year 2000. The change from a system based on fixed apartheid ideology to a more open and democratic one meant that the political scene became more characterized by fierce competition and volatility. The aim of the research was to understand the nature of the contestation as it manifests itself in both the development and implementation of school governance policy at national, provincial and local levels in a climate of political change and turbulence. / South Africa

Life is characterized by change, and most of the time there is some conflict. The two variables cannot be separated because there are different perceptions of change which bring about the emergence of different attitudes of people towards change. Some people will want change, some will not while others accept whatever comes their way. As a result, evolutionary and revolutionary types of change are experienced. Thus, as long as there is life, change and conflict will always be experienced. Even in the non-democratic South Africa change was experienced through pain and suffering. Conflict which was characterized by hatred and violence became the order of the day. Finally, political change from a non-democratic to a democratic South Africa engulfed South Africa with the advent of justice and equality through the democratic, all-inclusive elections of 27 April 1994. The process of break-and-make started. Change became intensified in all the spheres of life in order to redress the past. The transformation process affected all institutions. Universities were no exceptions. They had to change. The first step in the direction of change was to open them to all races. Thus, the composition of student communities drastically changed. That implies that adjustments in cultures and traditions are unavoidable. New structures which are relevant to new student compositions have to be put in place. Students who own cultures and traditions at these universities and are still comfortable with them, will most likely resist change. On the other hand, those students whose cultures and traditions are not accommodated will push for revolutionary change. Consequently, the two opposing perceptions bring about conflict. It is therefore essential to seek ways that could facilitate change and the effective management of conflict within student life. That becomes the challenge to the student affairs division since it has been established to create an environment conducive to learning despite transformational processes which often meet with vehement resistance. This study is geared to outline in detail what change entails, changes that are experienced within student communities in universities, pitfalls experienced in change processes and how change can be effectively managed. Furthermore, since conflict can result from change processes, it will be addressed by way of establishing the causes thereof and detailing how it can be best managed. / Thesis (PhD (Education Management))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

In its first decade of democracy the South African government embarked on radical reforms to the apartheid education system. One such set of reforms concerned the restructuring of the further education and training (FET) college sector. The implementation plan for the restructuring of the FET college sector, entitled Reform of South Africa’s Technical Colleges (Department of Education, 2001), was released in September 2001. The reorganisation of the FET college sector brought with it the prospect of meeting the objectives of the country’s Human Resource Development Strategy (Department of Education, 2001). Colleges would be transformed so that they offered learners the “high-quality, lifelong learning opportunities that are essential to social development and economic competitiveness in a rapidly changing world” (Department of Education, 2001:5). The study has its origins in a deceptively simple research question: What are the organisational and cultural influences and constraints on policy implementation? Much has been written about why policies fail to be implemented as planned (McLaughlin 1987; Guiacquinta, 1994). Based on the extensive data generated in this research I found explanatory power in a conceptual framework that uses the dual lenses of restructuring, focusing on “changing the use of time, space, roles and relationships to improve learning” (Fink&Stoll, 1998:308); and reculturing, which focuses on “the process of developing new values, beliefs and norms” (Fullan, 1996:420). The new government policy for FET colleges proposed a dramatic re-organisation of the sector through mergers in order to position these institutions so as to meet the socio-economic and human resource needs of a transforming society in line with global trends. Yet, an analysis of the sector revealed system-level problems relating to the structure and culture of the FET colleges that would undermine the implementation of the new policy. The comparative case study method was used to conduct this research on three technical colleges – two state-aided and one state college – as the “cases” under investigation. Data was collected over a one-year period using a wide variety of data collection methods including in-depth interviews (both individual and focus group sessions), document analysis, the review of minutes of meetings and other communiqués, selected photographs and structured questionnaires. The first major finding of this study is that the restructuring of the FET colleges through mergers was constrained by structural or the organisational inefficiencies in the system, that is, the lack or absence of the structures required for effective implementation of policy. The second major finding of this study is that the restructuring process underestimated the depth and resilience of the FET college culture, and that this institutional culture militated against effective implementation. In other words, there was no strategy for reculturing these institutions. This research further demonstrates the consequences of attempted restructuring without reculturing and the implications of not taking into account implementation matters involving institutional culture, values, behaviour and working styles. Successful change has more to do with the professional values, beliefs and assumptions held by implementers than with the voluntary adoption of the reform, irrespective of whether it is mandated at the national or provincial levels. Implementers choose practices and changes that fit best with their pre-existing beliefs and which are consistent with the organisation’s culture. Furthermore, the insights gained from this study that structure and culture are inextricably linked have both practical and theoretical significance. The study not only offers insight into the reorganisation of the FET colleges in South Africa, but also serves to extend our understanding of the importance of culture and structure as two neglected dimensions of systemic reform. In this study I highlighted several issues that could serve as a springboard for future research into this neglected sector (FET colleges) of the education and training system: · longitudinal rather than snapshot studies of institutional cultures and their unfolding effects on college restructuring; · empirical and conceptual accounts of college cultures that examine the impact of micro-political activity on the change trajectory; and · studies on how college systems change or restructure as opposed to individual colleges. In sum this research found that there were several structural (capacity, resource, leadership, support, communication, planning and advocacy) and cultural (beliefs, values, assumptions, understanding and practices) factors that constrained policy implementation. The study further argues that restructuring without reculturing encourages symbolic rather than substantive change. The thesis concludes that the restructuring (mergers) resulted in a fragmented, rather than a coordinated, FET system. / Thesis (PhD (Education Management and Policy Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Please read the abstract in the section, 00front, of this document / Thesis (PhD (Education Management))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Education Management and Policy Studies / PhD / unrestricted