The intention with this research was to investigate the challenges facing School Governing Bodies (SGBs) in historically disadvantaged schools with regard to their roles and responsibilities. The investigation departed from the premise of prescriptions of the South African Schools Act and other relevant legislation. From the literature review, it became clear that school governance would not be an easy task for schools, based on the precedence set by the apartheid school governance system. Indeed, it was found that SGBs in previously disadvantaged schools experienced numerous challenges. Decentralisation, stakeholder participation in school governance, SGB membership, determination of school policies requiring specialised knowledge and expertise, and policy-making and implementation were found to encapsulate most of the challenges facing SGBs in their roles and responsibilities. This research, being qualitative and phenomenological, used interviews to focus on some definitive school governance roles and responsibilities. Findings largely confirmed earlier research findings and included challenges such as a poor understanding of the school governance role of promoting the best interests of the school by school governors, the execution of roles and responsibilities being inhibited by poor training and poor capacity building, parent governors lacking knowledge and school governance skills, school governance functions requiring specialised knowledge and skills, a lack of trust, and the influence of suspicion and poor teamwork among school governors. The main recommendation relates to the review of the Schools Act in terms of specialised functions and who should perform them, and increasing the terms of office of school governors to derive maximum benefit from continuity before new members are elected and another cycle of capacity-building is needed. It is further recommended that the roles and responsibilities of school governors be well explained to stakeholders, even before nominations and elections are conducted, so that potential governors know exactly what is expected, and that continuous capacity-building becomes a regular feature at school level, including a school cluster-based programme addressing local school governance challenges. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Public employment services are provided in all developed economies, justified on the basis of a public interest in efficient, effective operation of national labour markets. Although such countries adopt different approaches to delivering these services each offers what I refer to as ‘the three essential roles of a public employment service’. These are labour exchange services, providing job brokerage to labour market participants to enhance the efficiency of the labour market; an equity role, offering assistance to disadvantaged jobseekers to improve their prospects of employment; and a ‘compliance monitoring role’ which contributes to maintaining the integrity of the welfare system by detecting welfare abuse. Informed by a body of research on policies and practices in the OECD I construct a model of a notional public employment service incorporating these three essential roles that I call ‘an OECD model’. The Job Network, an early policy reform of a newly-elected Coalition government, appeared to replicate ‘the OECD model’, insofar as it performed brokerage, offered equity measures and conducted invigilation of welfare compliance. However, it differed from its predecessor, the CES, in two significant respects. First it was created by the bureaucracy as a new ‘market’ in which all employment services were purchased through a competitive tending process from private sector providers; in this, it was unique in the OECD. Second, rather than offering prescribed employment programs and services designed by public officials, private providers were free to determine the needs of clients (within broadly-defined service categories) and devise their own strategies to achieve contractually-defined ‘outcomes’ for which they would be paid. Services were focused particularly on disadvantaged jobseekers who were expected to receive personalised assistance tailored to overcome their complex or multiple barriers to employment. The purpose of my thesis is to discover whether the Job Network (in the period from its inception to the end of the second contract) was an OECD model, by which I mean whether its three roles were conceptualised, constructed and delivered in ways that enabled them to perform the same functions as the three essential roles of the OECD model. I see this question as involving two distinct, but interrelated issues. First, I am concerned to discover whether the three roles of the Job Network share the objectives and priorities of their counterparts in the OECD model, positing that these will shape the design of services. Second, informed by a body of literature which draws attention to a range of issues emerging from privatisation of public services, I consider the impacts that private delivery had on the design and implementation of its services. iv I approach this task from a qualitative perspective to explore assumptions and priorities underpinning the political construction of the issues deemed to require policy intervention and the responses to these as reflected in the design and implementation of services, noting the effects of practices on service recipients. I argue that, together, these are the determinants of the Job Network’s policy objectives and capacities. I take as my data the political discourse, bureaucratic texts, interview materials and texts of service recipients that I have gathered to investigate, in turn, each of the three roles of the Job Network using tools and techniques from the broader field of discourse analysis, selecting those most appropriate to the nature of the data. My analysis concludes that the Job Network’s three roles do not reflect those of the OECD model, first because they are predicated on different policy objectives and second, because privatisation of service delivery affected the design of its services and the priorities of service providers in ways that undermined its capacity to perform the ‘essential roles’. The evidence suggests that ideological-based assumptions and preferences of a conservative government steered the Job Network towards prioritising its role in compliance monitoring, positioning it as a tool of welfare reform rather delivering interventions to enhance efficiency or equity in the labour market such as those predicated of the OECD model.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Family structure is related to educational attainment; it is evident that individuals from two- parent homes complete on average more years of schooling and are more likely to graduate from high school, attend University and complete University as compared to peers raised in single-parent families. Parental characteristics such as educational level, income and parents, aspirations for their children are variables said to influence schooling outcomes of South African learners. Children from disadvantaged families are less likely to graduate from high school and attend an institution of higher learning. The aim of this study was to explore and describe how single parenting in a disadvantaged community influences a learner's decision to enrol at a higher education institution. An explorative and descriptive research design grounded in a qualitative research approach was utilised. Research participants were purposively selected from two senior secondary schools in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. Three sets of data, namely (a) grade 12 learners raised by single parents (b) parents of these learners, and (c) principals and grade 12 Life Orientation teachers were collected for greater insight of this situation. Semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and field notes were used to collect the data. Tech's eight steps of data analysis were used. Ethical considerations such as confidentiality, voluntary participation, and informed consent from learners, parents, teachers and informed assent from learners younger than 18 years of age were adhered to. The greatest influences to enrolling into a higher education institution and the type of institution were family structure and the learner's socio-economic status. Learners feel responsible for taking care of their parents and siblings; therefore feel obligated to work after high school. Those that have the desire to study further are concerned about how they will finance their studies. The Department of Education (DoE) needs to conduct a needs assessment and provide schools with the resources they need. This includes teachers and administrative staff. The resources schools have influence school outcomes. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) need to do an analysis of what the barriers to enrolling into university and college are at the various schools. When they have identified these barriers they need to tailor-make their information sessions with high school learners so that they have all the necessary information before they assume enrolling at higher education institutions is inconceivable. Schools need to provide the necessary information about university and college; including available funding to learners and their parents from earlier grades. This will be of use to those who genuinely want to study further but are concerned about finances.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / In order to address the inequalities created by the apartheid regime between local authorities, various legislative and support mechanisms were put in place which were not always implemented effectively and efficiently. For this reason, the amalgamation of the previous racially based local authorities from 843 to 283 was introduced in terms of the Local Government Transition Act (LGTA) of 1995 and in particular the Local Government Municipal Demarcation Act of 1998. This reduction in the number of municipalities may have reduced the level of administration disruption but gave rise to institutions still being plagued by inequitable service delivery which impacted negatively on disadvantaged communities (Williams, 2000: 167). This has resulted in sporadic outbreaks of violence and protests all over the country more especially in the disadvantaged areas. In search for solutions to curb these violent protests this study was conducted to investigate the state of service delivery in the disadvantaged areas of the City of Cape Town. Langa as the oldest township in the City was selected for this purpose. As a result a questionnaire, in addition to statistics of Langa as well as interviews with important stakeholders was conducted. The data collected from these sources serve as the basis of the findings of this report. The findings establish that the majority of the residents in Langa more especially those from the formal areas are dissatisfied with the levels of service delivery. A range of factors such as intergovernmental relations, mismanagement and corruption and political infighting have been responsible for policies not being effectively implemented. However important strides have been made with regard to services most notably in the provision of electricity, water and sanitation. This is demonstrated by those respondents who indicated that they are reasonably satisfied with the levels of service delivery, most of whom were drawn from the informal rather than formal settlement areas. The findings, however, indicate that these residents are in a minority. For this reason the report concludes that the majority of the disadvantaged community of Langa is not satisfied with services due to the City of Cape Town’s failure to implement policies effectively and effciently. As a result the report not only addresses the achievements and failures of the City of Cape Town but also makes recommendations to ensure that policies are implementedeffectively and efficiently. This report firstly provides a brief introduction, background as well as the main guidelines of the research. Secondly, the report details the key issues of the research as well as those policy and legislation which relate to service delivery provisions. Thirdly, the report sketches background details of both the City of Cape Town and Langa. Fourthly the report provides a description of the findings of the report. Fifthly the report provides an analysis by way of discussing the achievements, limitations and challenges facing service delivery in Langa. Lastly, based on the conclusions derived as a result of the research, the study proposes various recommendations to speed up service delivery.

The purpose of this study is to advance the understanding of why some mathematics classrooms in disadvantaged communities are successful and others not. The study was conducted in Limpopo Province in the northern part of South Africa. The central research question addressed in the study is: What factors facilitate achievement of Grade 12 mathematics learners in traditionally disadvantaged schools, particularly in Limpopo Province? The study included in an extensive literature survey in order to identify related studies in this and other countries. The analysis is based on qualitative and quantitative data gathered in schools with similar learner demographics and socioeconomic characteristics, including both high-achieving and low-achieving schools. The quantitative analysis was based on a questionnaire issued to learners whereas the qualitative analysis was based on focus group interviews with learners and individual interviews with teachers. A questionnaire issued to teachers was also included in the study. This investigation shows that factors such as learners’ and teacher’ commitment and motivation, attitudes and self-concept, learners’ career prospects, learners’ perceptions of peers and teachers, and teachers’ perceptions of learners appear to influence disadvantaged learners’ decisions to persist and achieve in mathematics in spite of their difficult circumstances. The conclusion is that there are no mysterious factors that lie at the root of the differences between high- and low-achieving schools. The application of sound teaching and learning principles fosters an environment where pupils are motivated to reach their full potential. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Mathematics and Applied Mathematics / unrestricted

The purpose of this study was to measure the possible relationship between Advanced Placement and dual enrollment courses for economically disadvantaged students on 2-year completion rates at public Tennessee higher education institutions. A quantitative, quasi experimental, comparative design was used to analyze secondary data to determine if there is a relationship between Advanced Placement, dual enrollment courses, and 2-year completion rates for students in Tennessee community colleges and public universities. The sample for this study consisted of students who entered a Tennessee community college or Tennessee public university in the Fall of 2015. These students had taken at least one Advanced Placement or dual enrollment course in a Tennessee high school. In addition, the sample for this study was economically disadvantaged using the Tennessee method for direct certification when taking an Advanced Placement or dual enrollment course. The researcher observed that economically disadvantaged students are significantly less likely to attain completion in two years as compared to noneconomically disadvantaged students. The researcher also observed that economically disadvantaged students who receive credit in an AP math or English class are significantly more likely than economically disadvantaged students who did not receive credit in an AP math or English class to complete a degree in two years. The researcher also observed that economically disadvantaged students who participated in a dual enrollment course are significantly less likely to attain completion in two years than noneconomically disadvantaged students, however if economically disadvantaged students receive credit in a dual enrollment course they are significantly more likely to complete a degree in two years.

At an urban school district, administrators were concerned about the English language arts (ELA) achievement gap between economically disadvantaged (ED) students and non-economically disadvantaged (NED). To address this gap in performance, district administrators instituted an extended day program (EDP) for ED students that included additional learning time and individualized strategies in ELA. The purpose of the study was to determine the extent of the impact that the EDP had on ED students in ELA achievement. The quasi-experimental quantitative design was guided by Carroll's model of school learning and explored the difference in ELA Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) scale scores between ED students who participated in the EDP and ED students who did not during the 2016/2017 school year. The study examined 28 matched-pairs of students, based on grade level and reading ability who were classified as ED during school year 2016/2017, following an intervention. Ex post facto analysis included a paired-samples t test to determine whether a statistically significant difference existed in ELA PARCC scores for ED students who received the intervention and those who did not, controlling for grade level and reading level. Data analysis indicated no statistical difference between groups. The project deliverable recommended implementation of a Response to Intervention program to replace the EDP because such a program would affect more students. Local school administrators may use the findings of the study to effectuate positive social change by making program decisions that could support the improvement of ELA achievement of ED students. In the larger context, this study could become part of the body of literature on the relationship between extended learning time and academic achievement among ED students.

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