The governing bodies of the association of owners of (residential) units and their decision/making This thesis deals with the governing bodies of the asscociation of owners of (residential) units, their position in Czech legal order and their decision-making. Thesis is focused on the performance of decision making in practise and problems which are associated with it. It focuses primarily on the enactment of Act No. 72/1994 Coll., Act on ownership of (residential) units, including government regulation No. 371/2004 Coll., where are defined standard Articles of owners of (residential) units, which focuses on the problematic provisions or lack of legislation. The thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter is introductory, there are defined goals of the work, postition of ownership of units in the Czech legal system, its historical development and definition of key terms. The second chapter describes the association of owners of (residential) units as a legal person, its origin, the rights and obligations standing in the legal system, including membership, which takes a closer view of the conditions, rights and obligations of individual members, and way of termination of membership. The third chapter describes the governing bodies of the association of owners of (residential) units. This...

- Governing Bodies of the Unit Owners' Association and Their Decision- Making The aim of my thesis is to analyze the system of governing bodies of the unit owners' association, their decision-making, powers and liability. The thesis also attempts to focus on and to clarify certain legal questions relating to the provisions of the Unit Ownership Act that cause problems of interpretation with the professional public, courts and unit owners. The thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter One is introductory and outlines the legal framework of the topic and relevant Czech legislation, and sets out the aims of the thesis. Chapter Two examines the nature of the unit owners' association as a legal entity endowed with limited (special) legal personality that is formed by operation of law (ex lege). The association may exercise only such powers and only to the extent expressly permitted and set forth in the provisions of the Unit Ownership Act (No. 72/1992 Coll.) such as administration, operation, maintenance, repair, and replacement of common elements of the building. Each unit owner in the building submitted to the Unit Ownership Act is entitled to undivided ownership of common elements, and also becomes a member of the relevant association. Chapter Three addresses the issue of the Articles of...

The aim of the study is to analyse the role of democratic school governing bodies in promoting school improvement in four High Schools in Pimville and Klipspruit locations in Soweto. The study presents two arguments, one is theoretical and the other is methodological. Theoretically, there is no clear-cut relationship between democratic SGBs and school improvement. Methodologically, the relationship between SGBs and school improvement can best be understood based on a critical analysis that specifies the context within which democratic SGBs promote school improvement. Such an analysis reveals the complex nature of the school dynamics within which SGBs have to promote school improvement. The role of SGBs is mediated by various local and global socio-economic and political factors. This study articulates these factors as inputs, context, complexity and mediation. Consequently, understanding the nature of the role of SGBs in promoting school improvement requires an elaboration of the specific articulation of these factors. Input factors important for school improvement include the school infrastructure, learning and teaching material, financial resources, quality of teachers and standards of teaching methodology as well as parental participation. The context and complexity factors indicate that school improvement efforts must appreciate the conceptual and historical contexts that shape the conception and practice of school improvement. SGBs emerge out of a particular historical moment. SGBs have features of both apartheid school boards and committees and the people‘s education‘s PTSA‘s. These features render the role of SGBs precarious because it is framed within contradictory ideological discourses. Other context factors are relationships within the school, leadership and socio-economic factors. Finally, the role of SGBs is mediated by how school improvement is understood in these schools, by legislation and the complex nature of school dynamics. The study concludes that schools do not operate outside of a history of unequal provision of resources and SGBs do not exist independently of the incessant conflict among social forces. Schools operate within a social context. When narrowly focused within the school and in isolation from the historical legacy, school improvement initiatives reproduce and perfect the features that define their context.

Thesis (M. Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2005 / Refer to document

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2008 / The focus of the research was mainly on leadership problems, with special reference to the rural primary schools of Ximhungwe Circuit in the Bushbuckridge area. Special attention has been given to the leadership background of SGB members and their involvement on governance matters. This is a qualitative research study that involved seventeen rural primary schools of the Ximhungwe Circuit, where the SGB’s of these schools were interviewed to elicit information and to get their view points. The respondents interviewed from each school included the principal, chairperson of the SGB, educator component and parent component. The research findings revealed that the majority of SGB members are not coping with their roles and responsibilities as enshrined in the South African Schools Act, Act 84 of 1996. The results also indicated that there is a general lack of understanding in relation to governance matters, hence the elite principals and educators are seen to be taking a lead in that regard.

Thesis (MPA) --University of Limpopo, 2013 / The study investigated the involvement of parents in school governance in Sibasa Circuit. Among others the study found that parents experience various challenges with their role in this regard. School Governing Bodies struggle to maintain a full complement of the parent’s component. However, there are various ways and means that can be used in order to improve the situation. The study used both qualitative and quantitative approaches in both data collection and analysis. The result from the study indicates that lack of capacity is a challenge to parents in contributing positively towards the involvement of school governance. The findings of this study have shown that there is a major concern that parents need to be given the opportunity to make inputs in the school. The study shows that the level of capacity and lack of ownership by parents is still a challenge; however the interest to change the status is still available by the parents. The recommendations suggest the following: • Parents should first be made familiar with the South African Schools Act of 84 of 1996. If parents could be educated on this Act, they would know the duties of governing bodies and what is expected from them. • The training should be conducted among all chairpersons, secretaries and treasurers in order for them to be taught how to conduct their duties; Effective consultation should be introduced in schools in order to encourage parents to be involved in school governance. Establishment of parental association can improve the involvement of parents in school governance. Parental association must educate parent members about the importance of communication. They must know that they have to communicate with other parents who are not members of the school governing body, because their duty is to represent their interests. This will help to foster parent involvement in school. Lastly, the National Department of Education needs to review Section 27 of South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 to include remuneration of school governing body members. This section is the one that states that no remuneration must be given to people for governing body duties. Remuneration can help to motivate parents to participate fully in governing body duties.

Magister Educationis - MEd / The study is in response to the recently enacted South African Schools Act No. 84 of 1996 (SASA), which sees the legislated inclusion of parents in school governing bodies. The Act promotes four distinct representative participants or stakeholders. These include parents, who constitute the majority, educators, learners and non-teaching staff. There is an indication that the SASA has tensions, ambiguities and contradictions which could allow either "consumer market" or "citizen equity" visions to prevail in practical terms. However, I argue that the SASA in practice is becoming dominated by the consumer vision that has a danger of creating unfair competition amongst schools and perpetuating the already existing inequalities in our society. In this mini-thesis, I attempt to investigate the nature of parental involvement in school governance in practice. I focus on their responsibilities in relation to policy matters as enshrined in the SASA, their commitment to executing their functions. The aim is to determine their capacity to fulfil their responsibilities with respect to their powers and functions. / South Africa

Magister Artium - MA / After 15 years in the democratic dispensation of South Africa, having access, equity and redress in educational provision have not yet been achieved. Instead, the reality speaks of underperformance (schools with a less than 60% national matric pass rate) as well as dysfunctional schools (with a less than 20% pass rate) continue in the Western Cape amidst a 7% increase in the Matric pass rate nationally.The intention of the Western Cape Education Department (hereafter referred to as the WCED) to reduce the number of dysfunctional schools from 85 to 55 resulted in a decrease to 78 schools. The overall increase of the 2010 matric pass rate in the Western Cape from 75.7% to 76.8% does not reflect an increase of quality educational provision to children from less advantaged urban areas. The aim of this study is to determine how and why some formerly identified dysfunctional and underperforming schools in less advantaged urban areas improved their performance while others did not. Also looking at, the role played by the School Governing Body in improving performance as a stakeholder, especially the role of the parental entity. It is clear that there are particular challenges facing parents from disadvantaged communities that directly influence their involvement and contribution to the improvement of performance in dysfunctional and underperforming schools. This research project focuses entirely on education but it is done within the field of development studies, trying to address certain developmental issues that impact educational provision and performance The theory of Structuration is used in the theoretical framework to understand the relationship between the agent (learners, parents, educators) and the structure (education system, society). It is useful to understand and address the challenges that prevent/delay improvement in the performance and function of schools in certain less advantaged urban communities. The Humanistic paradigm is used as a theory to emphasise the importance of a grassroots/ bottom up approach to development and to bring better understanding of parental involvement in educational provision. The mixed method approach (using both qualitative and quantitative research methods) that is widely acceptable in the field of educational research and in the development milieu is applied to address the question at hand. The use of a literature study, semi-structured interviews with focus groups and questionnaires to participating schools provide useful data for the research. The findings from this research will benefit the participating schools, the WCED and the education system.

Trust enlarges the scope of action on any playing field (O’ Brien, 2001:1). The trusted leader is a great asset in forging and maintaining relationships, and lending support to other team players, which can be on-going with little effort. According to Covey (1989: 188), an emotional bank account is the amount of trust that has been built up in a relationship. It’s the feeling of safety you have with other human beings. If one makes deposits into an emotional bank account through courtesy, kindness honestly and keeping commitments, the trust increases. The researcher conducted a research project on the influence that relationships among, and skill levels of, school governors on the performance of school governing bodies; the rationale being as a result of various problems she encountered and experienced as an SGB and SMT member. The literature review indicates that ignorance and inability to perform functions turn SGBs into crisis committees, and that most of the SGBs are not fulfilling their role but relying on the principal who plays the dominant role. Four SGBs were identified, two with good performance and positive relationships, and two with poor performance and negative relationships. In both categories a primary and a secondary school were selected. A qualitative research design was used for the study. Data collection strategies used were semi-structured, open-ended interviews and structured observations. The analysis of the data showed the differences in the feelings about the relationships. Non-functioning SGBs with poor relationships experience anger, fear, anxiety, disrespect, and mistrust. The respondents indicated coldness, neglect, isolation and disjointedness, in contrast to functioning SGBs who demonstrated mutual trust, respect love, happiness, cooperation, collaboration, shared decision-making and inclusion. These attributes are confirmed by the literature review on the link between trust relationships and performance. The research study indicated that productive workers are happy. The model of school effectiveness confirmed that functional SGBs are effective, and non-functional ones are ineffective. Happiness is derived from being productive, thus yielding positive contributions and the realisation of aims and objectives. Where there is no productivity, there is a negative influence on the relationships. Members concentrate on their fights and forget about their functions as SGB members. It has emerged that the poor performance and poor relationships are probably the results of attitude and behaviour, and not illiteracy as indicated in the literature review. The data collected indicated that all the SGB members are literate, and can read, write and interpret policies; except one non-teaching staff member who contributes positively by creating a clean environment conducive for teaching and learning. / Dissertation (Magister Educationis (Educational Leadership))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / Generally high employee commitment is a major characteristic of world class organisations (Lesabe & Nkosi, 2007). There is empirical evidence that the strength of organisational commitment helps predict employees' turnover intentions (Arnolds & Boshoff, 2004; Boshoff & Arnolds, 1995; Boshoff, Van Wyk, Hoole & Owen, 2002). There are a plethora of factors that may influence organisational commitment (Broadfield & Edwards, 1998) and stress has been postulated to be one such factor which is purported to be associated with organisational commitment and withdrawal behaviour (Nieumann, 1993). Job stress has become a concern to stakeholders of education including critics of education as well as teachers, the provincial administration, parents and governing bodies. Every year fewer tertiary students enroll for training in education, which exacerbates an already crippled teaching staff component within the Eastern Cape. Adding to the shortage of teachers is the rapid exodus of teachers, which is starts to happen from the time that they graduate, as they are often made lucrative offers by international recruitment agencies (Samodien, 2008). Samodien (2008) reports that the actions of international recruitment agencies, in an attempt to draw away new teaching graduates include lucrative financial offers, recruitment campaigns at university campuses, posted letters and e-mail, presentations on campus, guaranteed work, long term teaching contracts, tax-free salaries, a 13th cheque, fully-furnished rent-free accommodation, assistance in processing visa's, opening foreign bank accounts in host countries, and return tickets to South Africa Swartz (2008), the Head of Education in the Eastern Cape responded to the above report on the exodus by stating that teachers have always left the profession for "greener pastures", describing the exodus of teachers as "normal", that the international trend of open employment facilitates the poaching of teachers and that the problem is not unique to South Africa. However, of concern to him was the exodus of teachers trained in the fields of Mathematics, Science, and the Languages, and the smaller number of young people enrolling for teaching. He maintains that the Eastern Cape province has sufficient teachers to fill the existing vacant positions and that with projected growth levels, the province should be able to meet the need for teachers in the future.