The Schools Act 84 of 1996 has given governing bodies (SGBs) the responsibility of managing school finances. The Act prescribes that the SGB must prepare a budget annually. A school’s budget is an important financial management tool, which ensures that adequate resources are procured in a cost-effective manner in order to enhance teaching and learning. However, schools are grappling with diminishing financial resources and this factor reduces the school’s capacity to respond to the changing needs of learners. Furthermore, SGBs lack the necessary skills and competence to manage funds. The general aim of this research was to determine whether schools prepare budgets effectively, resulting in the optimum utilization of physical resources which will improve the quality of teaching and learning. A literature study was undertaken relating to effective budgeting for the optimum utilisation of physical resources for effective teaching and learning to take place. It outlined school finances in other countries and the impact that budgets have on effective school management. It also gave a detailed account of the process of budgeting and more importantly it outlined in detail the effect of physical resources on school improvement. A quantitative study was made through a structured questionnaire developed from a literature survey. A discussion of the respondents sampled, their biographical details in the form of graphs and the return-rate of questionnaires were also discussed. The questionnaire was discussed as well as the mean scores of various items. Some pertinent questions relating to effective budgeting was also discussed. Educators regard financial management as an important component of school management. They also regard the optimum utilization of resources as key to effective teaching and learning in the classroom. The data was analysed. The Pearson’s Chi Square value as well as Cramer’s V value was discussed using cross-tabulations. Pertinent questions were analysed using these techniques and possible explanations were given to empirical findings. Taking it from school to school or using cross-tabulation on whether educators are SGB members or not, reveals a similar trend that budgets are being drawn up through very little input from all stakeholders. This is a cause for concern. Few educators agree that the DoE provides schools with the necessary physical resources for teaching. This implies that schools have to provide the necessary resources for effective teaching to take place, which further impacts on the budgetary process. Schools have to levy fees on its learners or embark on fundraising projects to supplement the monies from the state. Finally findings from the literature as well important empirical findings were discussed, together with recommendations. Although some SGB training was provided, it has not been focused and thorough, or it has been done by incompetent trainers. Workshops should be conducted by accountants and financial experts with careful monitoring at each stage. There should be regular feedback and evaluation. SGBs should co-opt financial experts from their communities to assist in this delicate task. The SGB should ensure that they involve all stakeholders when initiating the budget process. In this regard, schools could make use of programme budgeting so that all learning areas are catered for and all educators, parents and the community at large are involved. Effective budgeting will go a long way towards achieving the educational goals of schools by ensuring that all physical resources are utilized optimally. / Prof. R. Mestry

While research has identified the practices that successful school leaders use, the effectiveness of those practices rests on leaders enacting them with great contextual sensitivity. Research literature suggests that leaders should be thoughtful, discerning, careful and dexterous with regard to how they lead. This thesis presents a qualitative, multi-case study of how five elementary school principals lead the improvement of mathematics achievement in their schools. Taking the perspective that leadership is a sensemaking praxis, principals’ perceptions and interpretations of their contexts were explored with the goal of better understanding why they lead the way they do. The evidence revealed that the actions of the principals in this study were the product of their contextually-influenced, idiosyncratic sensemaking. This study demonstrates the value of using the sensemaking praxis perspective as a lens for understanding the enactment of educational leadership. Further, this study has practical implications for principal training, policy implementation, and school improvement.

The Swedish compulsory education system is not seen as high quality according to the (OECD, 2015). Instead eyes are turning towards Finland and Singapore for best practice. Sweden's results are falling in international assessments such as PISA and TIMMS (Skolverket, 2016a/2016b), despite high expenditure per capita and several education reforms lately, such as a new curriculum and new teacher training education. The Swedish Schools Inspectorate scrutinizes schools with the objective to ensure a good education in a safe environment and to sustain nationwide equity. The authority therefore has a decisive role in judging the quality of schools in Sweden. The objective of this thesis is to study the criticism of Swedish Schools Inspectorate towards schools that have received a penalty for not abiding the law. The data consists of six school inspection reports seen as a case. Qualitative analysis is used building on discourse analysis theory. The findings of the research are that discipline and value-based issues are two of the areas discussed most in the criticism of the Swedish Schools Inspectorate. The inspectors also seem to look for discrepancies between documents and school staff. Different groups have the power to express themselves on various issues, such as special educators in student health. The pupils are also given a strong voice and space to define their school in the reports.

Magister Educationis - MEd / The aim of this thesis is to investigate the motivation for the proposed Education Management Development Centres (EMDCs). It also addresses what improvements to the current system EMDCs are supposed to make and how EMDCs hope to enhance collaboration between the Western Cape Education Department and local schools. It also look at the role of the proposed EMDCs and specifically focus on how they hope to promote better inter-sectoral support between the Western Cape Education Department and local schools. / South Africa

A country’s competitive advantage is linked to its educational outcomes. South Africa, as a developing country wants to shift from being a resource based economy to being a knowledge based economy. To enable such a shift, schools must be able to graduate learners who are adequately prepared for the demands of institutions of higher learning. Schools, therefore, must become centres of excellence and a culture of performance must be prevalent in schools. The National Development Plan as outlined by the National Planning Commission (2011) identified education as one of the pillars from which South Africa’s economy will be driven. However, recent studies have rated South Africa’s education system as one of the worst among middle income economies and sometimes even worse than many low-income African economies. To bridge that gap, there is a need to drive schools to be centres of excellence. This study sought to identify factors that influence a performance culture in schools. In order to achieve this objective, literature was scanned and five factors that influence a performance culture were identified (organisational school climate, teacher attitude, school managerial processes, organisational school value and organisational school structure). These factors were initially identified and used by Marcoulides and Heck (1993) in a corporate organisation and later adopted for testing in a school setting by Gomez, Marcoulides and Heck (2012). A school in Johannesburg East district was sampled through convenience sampling and data was collected through a questionnaire which was administered to the principal, teachers and staff, school governing board members, parents and alumni of the school. The total sample was 120 and a total of 94 questionnaires were returned giving a response rate of 78 percent. Descriptive statistical techniques were performed to establish the mean and standard deviation of perceptions among the respondents. Inferential statistical techniques were used to measure and ascertain reliability through Cronbach’s alpha, comparisons of responses through t-testing and ANOVA, association through correlation and hypotheses were tested through multiple regression analysis. All the variables were found to be valid and reliable. Furthermore, statistical results revealed that in the sampled school, even though all the five factors had an association among each other, only organisational school culture and organisational school value had an association to the dependent variable, performance culture. Organisational school value, however, was found to be the only variable of great influence to performance culture at the sampled school. The ideologies and activities that represent the values, therefore, influence the performance culture of a school.

D.Ed. / One of the central themes that permeate the concept of learning organisations is its focus on individual and collective learning. Learning organisations are characterised as organisations that are capable of creating learning cultures, where acquisition of skill and knowledge is seen as an investment in tomorrow. Individual learning is promoted at personal, interpersonal and professional levels. Collective learning is promoted through conversation, inquiry and relationship building on collaborative cultures. This research focuses on how school principals and educators can transform their schools into learning organisations. This research concentrated on Black schools due to the enormous problems that exist in these schools. Use was made of a two-phase methodology namely the quantitative and the qualitative methods to elicit the perceptions of educators with regard to the school as a learning organisation. In relation to the quantitative method, a structured questionnaire consisting of 88 items was administered to 100 educators, with a return of 74,3%. After two successive factor analyses of the responses the 88 items were reduced to two factors only, namely: a collaborative culture consisting of 74 items, with a Cronbach-alpha reliability coefficient of 0,971; and educator commitment consisting of 13 items with a Cronbach-alpha reliability coefficient of 0,749. The two factors, namely collaborative culture and educator commitment were then used as parameters for the qualitative individual and focus group interviews. Thus the merging of the two traditional methodologies, namely the qualitative and quantitative paradigms, enriched the research. The researcher used one individual interview and two focus group interviews to elicit the opinions of educators concerning the concepts collaborative culture and educator commitment. The responses of the participants were coded and analysed. Eight themes emerged from the analysis namely: personal mastery; mental models; shared vision; team learning; systems thinking; reflection; dialogue; and leadership/management (iv) Categories related to these themes were also identified. The direct quotes of the respondents were transcribed and these together with the themes and categories were discussed in relation to relevant research literature. The results of the data analysis showed that the learning organisation is built around collaborative cultures and educator commitment. There was congruence between the literature review, the structured questionnaire and the individual and focus group interviews in that the themes that make up a learning organisation were personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, systems thinking, reflection/inquiry, dialogue and leadership/management. The recommendations that are provided in this research are based on the eight themes identified in the individual and focus group interviews, on the findings from the literature review as well as from the findings from the structured questionnaire. Although eight themes were identified these themes are closely related and interactive. The research was concluded with a chapter on the findings, results and recommendations, as well as possible areas that needed further investigation.

M.Ed. / Appraisal seems to be a relevant instrument to facilitate the professional growth of educators and school improvement. However, if the process of appraisal is to be part of the development of educators and of schools, it needs to be part of the pattern of school life and linked to the school’s developmental activities. It needs to be context-based within the legal framework provided by the Department of Education (DoE). Appraisal should be a natural progression from the staff development and school development planning. Staff and professional strategies should enable schools and educators to gain skills and understanding, necessary to participate in appraisal. Appraisal should be set in the context of the objectives of the schools which will generally be expressed in a school development plan. The school’s objectives in a particular year, should be linked with appraisal, so that for example, professional development targets arising from appraisal, may be related to agreed targets and tasks in the development plan. This will help to speed up the process of facilitation of the professional growth of educators. A school which is self-developing and self-evaluating, is likely to be one in which all educators exchange ideas, share concerns, contribute to discussion, take part in the process of decision-making and have individual areas of strength and weaknesses identified and supported (Jones, 1993:10). In basic terms, the facilitation of appraisal will assist with the setting of whole school targets and identification of professional needs. / Dr. P.J. du Plessis

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate educator factors that have an impact on student achievement and overall school performance as indicated in the American College Test (ACT) scores from the district and the individual schools. Educators from a moderate-sized public school district participated in an anonymous online survey. According to the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) Report Card, the district ACT composite is a 20.1 (TDOE, 2018e). Two of the district’s schools’ results are higher than the district composite, while the other five are consistent with or below the district composite. Participants of this study shared their number of years of experience, amount of professional development, and education level obtained, as well as their perceptions of these factors. All data were collected through an online survey distributed to 9th-12th teachers by email from school principals. The analysis of data was based on the responses of 67 teachers from this school district. For this study, non-experimental quantitative research was used with a comparative and correlational design. As indicated in the findings of this study, teacher experience, teacher professional development hours, teacher education level, and teachers’ perceptions of these factors did not play a significant role on student performance on nationally standardized tests, specifically the ACT.

This multiple case study examines organizational processes in two municipalities’ school improvement works with the aim of providing accessible learning environments for all students. Different levels of the Swedish education system share the responsibility for improving schools to provide high-quality education for all learners. Previous research shows that it is a complex task to carry that out in practice. The complexity comes from the fact that different levels and parts of the education system need to be coordinated in solving the assignment, and that it is possible to interpret how to carry out the assignment through performance in practice in a number of different ways. The aim of this study is to examine and create knowledge about organizational processes in school improvement for accessible learning environments that bring multiple schools together. The theoretical approach has been organization from a constructivist perspective where organization is seen as a constant doing. Theories about sensemaking, organizational learning as well as governance and management have provided a theoretical framework. Questions about what happens in organizational processes when coordinating the development work of several schools’ joint activities and what opportunities and challenges can be brought up in the organizing have been guiding. Documents from the two municipalities’ school improvement works have been analyzed and actors within the school systems have been interviewed on the basis of themes. The findings showed that school improvement for accessible learning environments is an ongoing dynamic activity that cannot be seen as a linear process with a beginning and an end. The findings also showed that sensemaking about what accessible learning environments can be and how it can be created is ongoing and based on each person´s previous experience but also generates in organizational learning. It was apparent that leaders cannot control and manage how the schools perceive or carry out the assignment in practice, but they can create a common framework. Leaders together with employees, students and others within and outside the school system could meet within that common framework, to collaborate and jointly explore and create future initiatives based on each other's experiences in the work of creating a school for all. These meetings could provide the conditions for responsive decision-making.

This study aims to determine the effect of school conditions on learner reading achievement in primary schools in South Africa. Reading skills are not only imperative for further study but are essential for economic and meaningful citizenship. Initiatives such as the Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign, geared to improve the quality of education for all children and to ensure improved learner achievement have resulted in an increase in educational spending. Despite such initiatives, learner achievement remains poor. In order to measure the relative relationship between school conditions and learner reading achievement, this study focused on selected variables from the PIRLS 2006 South African data, notably from Grade 5 learner reading achievement, teacher and school questionnaires. A secondary data analysis through multiple regression technique was utilised in an attempt to measure those school conditions that may enhance or impede learner reading achievement. This study follows the tradition of school effectiveness research by utilising the context-input-process-output (integrated model for school effectiveness research) model as espoused by Scheerens (2000; 2005). The integrated model was adapted combining school and classroom factors in order to measure the effect of school wide processes on learner reading achievement. Although this study was unable to measure the effect of educational leadership on learner reading achievement, it found significant school and classroom factors associated with learner reading achievement. This study highlights the importance of improving the teaching and learning of literacy across all 11 official languages. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / MEd / Unrestricted