M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / The Constitution of South Africa and its Bill of Rights places a lot of emphasis and importance on the Rights of children. This is further emphasized by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that every child has the inherent right to life, and the State shall ensure, to the maximum, child survival and development. Beside the State, the parents also have the primary responsibility for a child's upbringing (UN Convention, 1998). The South African constitution is regarded as one of the best in the world. The process was consultative and the constitution is the supreme law of the country. Among other things, the constitution ensures that all citizens are equally entitled to the rights, privileges and benefits of citizenship. This includes the children who are protected by the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality, and freedom (Act 108 of 1996: chapter 2).

M.Ed. / The aim of this research is to develop guidelines for teachers with regard to parental involvement in order to facilitate the development of reading competence in children in the junior primary phase. In order to achieve this, the following sub-aims are formulated: To explore and describe the viewpoints of parents and teachers with regard to the causes of reading problems in the junior primary phase; To determine in what way teachers and parents of children in the junior primary phase perceive their role in the development and improvement of reading.

D.Ed. / South African Education has been in a crisis, especially in the secondary schools where the majority of learners are blacks and where the academic performance of the grade 12 learners is poor. It is a challenge for all educational stakeholders to determine what contributed to the high failure rate in secondary schools where the majority of learners are blacks especially in grade 12. When learners fail grade 12 they experience many problems such as they may become negative about life and experience feelings of hopelessness, demotivation and guilt. It often seems as if nobody cares about these learners. However, educators, parents, learners, educational officials as well as the South African Government all blame each other for factors which contributed to the high failure rate of learners in grade 12. The main aim of this research was to develop, implement and evaluate a psycho-educational programme to assist the parents and educators of the learners who failed grade 12. This was done so that parents and educators would be able to assist those learners who failed in order to accomplish the goal of becoming educationally well trained persons. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, evaluative contextual study was done to develop a programme. Four steps were utilised to develop, implement and evaluate a psycho-educational programme to assist parents and educators of the learners who failed grade 12. The first step dealt with situation analysis. Phenomenological individual interviews were conducted with the learners who failed grade 12 and their parents and educators. The interviews were conducted in order to explore and describe the phenomenon. A literature control was utilised in order to support the findings that were obtained from the interviews. The second step involved the development of the psycho-educational programme. The results from the interviews and the survey list of Dickoff, James and Wiedenbach (1968:423) were utilised in order to develop a conceptual framework of the psycho-educational programme to assist parents and educators of the learners who failed grade 12. The third step involved the implementation of the psycho-educational programme to assist parents and educators. The fourth step involved a single case study to evaluate the psycho-educational programme to assist parents and educators of the learners who failed grade 12. Through this programme parents and educators are empowered with the necessary knowledge, which will assist them to help learners who failed grade 12 change their behaviour, and to assist them to be positive about life and to accomplish their goal.

M.Ed. / This qualitative phenomenological study focuses on school choice as challenge to principals of Sharpeville public primary schools. Different aspects of these choices are explored. School choice is an important component of parental involvement in the education of their children. Parents and learners tend to be open about their right through the support of the Schools Act 84 of 1996. You may not discriminate on the basis of race trough the language policy at your school. This means that you may not use language as a cover or smoke screen to keep learners out of your school on the basis of their race. The Constitution (Act 108 of 1996) stipulates that no unfair discrimination may take place against anyone on any of the following grounds: race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic of social origin, colour, sexual orientation, (for example homosexuality), age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth. The question then arises, what makes learners of public primary schools choose the schools that are not in the areas where they live? What is interesting in the ex Model C schools that they cannot get in township schools? There are many aspects which give meaning to concept 'school choice'. In order for parents to view school choice as priority in education, certain of these aspects need to be considered. These include qualities that are desired in school, the , climate of the school that is conducive to teaching and learning. Kinds of activities enjoyed together by all in the school, the effective school management. In addition to exploring these aspects, the study investigates what attracts the children including what gives challenges to school principals. The findings of this study show that a school is able to market itself if it has a vision and mission statement, quality education, ethos, excellent pass rate and if 71 it serves the needs of the community. Learners maintain relationships with schools that serve as learning organisation. Moloi (2002:7) explains that a learning organisation acknowledges the importance of individual and group processes to enhance learning in their environments. The process whereby the data was collected is described. This included interviews of individual learners, the data analysis is examined and the themes that emerge are discussed within the framework of the existing literature on how parents choose schools for their children. The study concludes with a discussion of the implication for further research. Guidelines to the principals are suggested. These guidelines are for the enhancement of school choice.

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M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Meaningful education in schools can only take place if their is a close relationship between school and home. The parent must protect his rightful share in the education of his child by active involvement in the school. The school is not an independent or isolated entity but it operates in a social context within a community. Parents are compelled to make use of specialised assistance to extend their educative endeavours, and that is the task of the school. Every principal needs to develop a good understanding and competency in bUilding and maintaining effective school-parent-relationships. The principal is both leader and manager of a school. As principal he strives towards set goals, aided by his staff, pupils and parents. The effectiveness of parental involvement will depend primarily on the principal's managerial skill. The principal needs to create a certain school climate by means of his managerial style, in which parents will feel the need to participate. School-parent relationships and communication are important tasks for the school principal. The goal of the school principal in performing these tasks, should not be to manipulate parent-opinion, but to develop understanding, perspective and commitment with the parents of the school. The principal should endeavour to develop the ideal leadership style, in order to establish a climate which will be conductive to parental involvement. Partnership implies relationships, duties and responsibilities. The clear understanding of partnership and how it will effect the teacher and the parent, is crucially important in education today. In the partnership between the teacher and the parent, the teacher may be regarded as a cornerstone of the partnership. The partnership between teacher and parent forms the basis and the only real hope for a superior school programme at all levels. Parents should be more involved in the affairs of the school and the major responsibility for further parent involvement and partnership between teacher and parent rests with the school and indeed mostly with the school principal.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

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The learning of mathematics is a worldwide concern. International studies over the last decade place South African learners amongst the lowest achievers. Although various initiatives have been tried there does not seem to be any improvement. In the USA and UK initiatives include the involvement of parents and these have been implemented with great success. One of the parent involvement programmes from the USA, the Family Maths Programme has been in South Africa since 1996. This programme has been successful in South Africa but is confined to parents of grades 4-7 children. However, there is no programme for parents of high school learners. As grade 8 is usually the first high school year in South Africa, this study focuses on parents of grade 8 children and their involvement in their children’s mathematics learning. It consists of an initial survey of grade 8 parents’ (from an urban school) mathematical backgrounds and experiences and their involvement in their children’s education. Using key points from the survey and elements from the literature review and other sources, the researcher designed a parent assistance programme for mathematics which was conducted with three groups of parents of grade 8 children from the same high school. Each group of parents was exclusive and the same set of procedures was applied to each group, making this study a qualitative multiple case study, within the interpretive research paradigm. The parent-assistance programme consists of a parents’ workshop and completion of journals over a 7-week period. Parents documented their interactions with their children in structured journals, a process known as participant journaling. After this journaling period, parents and children were surveyed on this interaction by means of follow-up questionnaires. This was followed later in interviews with the parents and mathematics teachers, separately. After the completion of all three case studies parents and children participated in focus group discussions to discuss and share experiences of the programme. The interrogation of the data, on two levels, suggests parents’ and children’s perceptions of mathematics were likely to be positively influenced. The data also suggest that children were likely to become more confident and to improve in mathematics.

This study investigates parental involvement in school governance in selected high schools in Zwelitsha, King Williams Town District in the Eastern Cape Province. The research study was conducted in three high schools in Zwelitsha Township. These schools are Nompendulo Senior Secondary, Thembalabantu High School and Xolani Senior Secondary School. Questionnaires were designed and distributed to the principals, educators and parents whose children are learners in these schools. The interview questions were designed and distributed to parents whose children are learners in these selected schools, educators and school principals and members of the school governing body from each school. Respondents were asked about the levels of parental involvement in their schools, parents’ awareness of school governance and the relationship between schools and communities. However, the objectives of the study were to: Assess parental involvement in school governance in selected high schools in Zwelitsha, King Williams Town District in the Province of the Eastern Cape; To determine the nature and extent of parental participation in school academic activities; To examine the role of parents in the school governing body; To determine measures that can be taken to encourage the participation of parents in school governance These objectives have been achieved by providing empirical evidences which shows that the levels of parental involvement in the previously disadvantaged high schools are very low. This is related to the parents’ level of education. Parents who are literate are more involved than those are illiterate. This research also reveals that high v. levels of working parents contributes to the low levels of parental involvement in school governance. Most parents in this area know nothing about school governance and those that are aware are not keen to be involved. The class structure of the society has an influence in the participation of parents in school governance. Parents’ meetings that are held on Sunday afternoon are a challenge to parents that come from the villages outside Zwelitsha because of the scarcity of transport on this day. and these situations discourage them from being actively involved in their children’s education. The study provides the factors that cause non-involvement of parents in school governance. Subsequently, the following strategies for participation of parents in school governance were given:  Capacitating of parents Establishment of teacher-parent collegiality  Recognition of cultural capital Establishment of parent organisations  Utilisation of non-governmental organisations Establishment of centres of learning. This study also indicates the following strategies that may assist to enhance the parental involvement in school governance: Parents engagement and empowerment Co-operation between schools and parents Collaboration with other community, private and other public institutions Invitation of complaints and welcoming of criticism. In conclusion, the findings provide clear indication that the participation of parents in school governance is low. Recommendations that could assist the schools to encourage and to enhance parents to participate in school governance are given.