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

Education in South Africa is currently facing a lot of changes. This study was prompted by one of these changes, the introduction of a School Governing Body (SGB), constituted in terms of the 1996 Schools Act (South Africa 1996), and replacing the previous Parent-Teacher-StudentAssociation (PTSA). The study investigates how the members of a School Governing Body perceive and experience their roles, in an attempt to make a contribution to understanding the nature and implications of education governance policy in South Africa. Central to this exercise is the attempt to understand how the execution of their duties, their practice of both democracy and accountability, and their resolving of tensions and/or differences among parents, teachers and students, impacts upon their school generally and relates both to the Department of Education and other organs of society. The methodology employed in this study includes a review of relevant literature, international and national, followed by a historical overview of education governance in South Africa. The core of the thesis is an interpretive case study of the SGB of one junior secondary school under the auspices of the Department of Education, Culture and Sport, in the South Eastern region of the Eastern Cape Province. The single most important data gathering instrument used was a series of in-depth interviews. The interviewees were the Executive members of the SGB of the school. The major findings of the study were that the SGB was powerful and effective in its area of operation in school governance, despite its lack of skills in the execution of its duties. Many of the difficulties it has encountered can be ascribed to a lack of guidance from the Department of Education. The study thus concludes that whereas the SGB studied represents an important step towards the full democratization of education in general and in this school in particular, its role in school governance can not be described as an unqualified success. However, despite the problems faced by the SGB, its role has made history in the governance of the school. Programmes which the SGB has implemented, such as measures to foster a culture of teaching and learning, have had an important impact on the progress of the school. Finally, the findings of the study indicate that the most important issues to be addressed in respect of the SGB researched are capacity building, communication, cultural understanding and the level of SGB understanding of the Schools Act. The study makes certain recommendations for the attention of SGBs and the Department of Education. These include a well co-ordinated capacity building prograrn to be developed and implemented, that will provide SGBs with access to knowledge of the relevant material and other resources necessary to sustain school governance functions. Because of the limited nature of the study in terms of methodology and constraints of time, the conclusions arrived at cannot and should not be generalized beyond the confines of the study.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Education (Management), Durban Institute of Technology, 2004. / This study deals with sexual harassment in the Lower Umfolozi District. The researcher investigated speculation that there was sexual harassment in the Lower Umfolozi District. The researcher discovered that there was sexual harassment of Pi temporary and unemployed educators in the Lower Umfolozi District / M

The primary aim of this study is to investigate the role of school governing bodies in their oversight role of the implementation of education departmental policies by school principals in selected schools in the Upper Xolobe Administrative Area. According to Clarke (2009: 14), there is no doubt that a school improves when a school’s governors exert their governance oversight authority in a way that promotes the effective use of resources and establishes a climate which encourages teaching and learning. South African schools, especially in rural areas, are still grappling with the challenges of electing effective people into school governing bodies (National Guidelines for School Governing Body Elections, 2012: 6). The Upper Xolobe Administrative Area is a rural traditional authority area under the traditional leadership of a headman who is appointed in line with traditional chieftainship under the supervision of a chief. There is also a democratically elected ward councillor as a political leader. In the area, there are seven General Education and Training (GET) band schools and one Further Education and Training (FET) band school or senior secondary school which offers tuition for grades 10 to 12. There are, therefore eight (8) governing bodies for the eight institutions. The majority of SGB members are not adequately educated. According to Clarke (2009: 1), schools are effective when there is an institutional environment that is conducive to teaching and learning. There is significant research identifying the characteristics of schools where good teaching and learning are evident, where there is a good work ethic and where children are provided with opportunities to develop to their full potential (Clarke, 2009: 1). The challenge for school governors is to see that they perform their governance functions in a way that will create a school environment where these characteristics are evident. The perceptible indications are that against the background of the challenge of the level of education of the majority of the parent members of SGBs, their mandatory term of office which is only three years and a myriad of other environmental challenges, the eight SGBs of the eight institutions in the Upper Xolobe Administrative Area are to grapple with, creating a school environment where the characteristics mentioned might be challenging. Two important principles of the South African Schools’ Act are concerned with inclusivity and decentralisation. Inclusivity means the participation of parents, educators, non-teaching staff, learners, and other people who are willing and able to make contribution to the school. Bringing decision-making closer to the people is desirable, but this in itself will not solve all the problems and challenges faced by school governing bodies. Research has shown that school governing bodies face many problems despite the fact that decisions are made by people closest to the situation (Ramadiro & Vally, 2005: 1). This study intends to investigate the combined effect of the various components constituting the school governing body members of eight schools in the Upper Xolobe Administrative Area in their oversight role of policy implementation by school principals or school managers.

This study is an investigation on the role of the School Governing Body (SGB) in macro planning of LSEN Hospital Schools. The literature review revealed that much has not yet been done pertaining to the involvement of parents in macro planning at the school level. For this research, qualitative research was conducted on educators, principals and parents who are members of the SGB at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital School and Johannesburg Hospital School. The researcher used interviews, notes taking and observation to collect data. The findings disclosed that most of the SGB members had no knowledge about section 20 status as laid down by SASA. They are not aware of their rights and limitations due to lack of professional training. The stakeholders involved in these schools, when doing macro planning, are the internal stakeholders only (the principals and educators). Based on the findings of this study, recommendations and guidelines have been provided to improve the involvement of parents in the school macro planning and management. / Prof. J.R. Debeila

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies

This study has aimed to investigate the new regulation of the superintendent that was introduced at the turn of the year 2019, which states that the superintendent shall assist the local politics and school boards. The overall purpose of this study is to increase knowledge about how a legal regulation of the superintendency affects school governance and management in the governance chain. Underlying issues are: how the regulation in the Education Act has been interpreted by various actors in the school area and whether the superintendents themselves believe that the regulation has affected their position and function. To investigate this, various government documents and investigations concerning the regulation of the superintendent are studied, a number of actors in the chain of command are interviewed about the new regulation and the individual opinions of the superintendents have been obtained via a survey. To put the superintedent in a context, I have highlighted theories of state governance, New Public Management and trust-based governance. To understand the superintendent arena and what governs the superintendent, I have used six dimensions of power and a framework that defines what governs the superintendent room for maneuver. The results show that the superintendent function will be affected by the new regulation. Whether the chain of command will become clearer, there are no unambiguous answers neither from those who have been interviewed nor the superintendent. On the other hand, there are several among those who have been interviewed who claim that the superintendent regulation can result in a conflict of power between, among others, local politics and the superintendent, the superintendent and the school principal. Furthermore, another issue found are difficulties with the regulation because the Swedish municipalities have different size and different organization including the difference of structure of the political boards, which affects the effects of the regulation of the superintendent.

This study is about the School Governing Bodies (SGBs) which currently run schools in the country and it was done in a school in Soweto as a case study. The participants were the vice-chairperson, principal, deputy, secretary and treasurer because these are the core of the executive membership of the SGBs. The role of each is fully described in the policy documents of the Department of Basic Education. The focus of the study was to find out whether the SGBs do indeed create an educative atmosphere in schools as laid down in the government policies or have the discretion and leeway to deviate from such without incurring the wrought of the Department. The research was conducted through the qualitative approach because it involved a series of in-depth interviews. The study used a purposive sampling method to identify a few participants who are actually involved in the management of the selected school. Hence, the research findings are such that the interviewees claim that they knew very little of their new responsibilities, duties and functions when they took office but gradually they acquired the necessary information, knowledge and skills to discharge their exacting mandate. They point out that the South Africa School’s Act 84 of 1996 is the most informative policy document that guided and also assisted them in carrying out their responsibilities with confidence. In the final analysis, the study revealed that workshops on skills development are very much important because they are empowering. From the research findings various themes emerged which formed the basis upon which the following proposal was made, i.e. that: a methodological theoretical framework that has at its core the SGB with other important stakeholders in the periphery contributing towards creating an educative climate in the school be established. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management and Leadership)

It was the purpose of this study to develop a manual of policies and procedures as a guide for governing boards of Stanislaus County school districts to use in developing their own written policies. In the development of the manual, an attempt was made to answer such questions as the following: What are the areas that should be included in a guide? What format will best serve the needs of governing boards in developing a policy manual? Is it possible to develop a policy manual completely free from administrative rules and regulations? Will one policy manual meed the needs of all districts? In Stanislaus County there are thirty-nine school districts of all types and sizes. Seven of these districts have an average daily attendance of 901 or more and have some form of written policies. The remaining thirty-two are smaller districts and are, in most cases, operating without the use of adopted written policies. It was the intent of the investigator, who is an administrator in one of these smaller districts, to develop the manual for the purpose of facilitating the work of the governing boards. Although the manual may be adapted to the use of larger districts, it was prepared specifically for smaller districts with emphasis on elementary rather than on high school districts. The manual was not intended as an attempt to impose restrictions upon the governing boards but rather to indicate the laws and rules under which they have authority to function.

No description available.