A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in the Department of Education Foundations and Management at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2015 / The aim of this study is to investigate the role of strategic planning in the management of schools. Strategic Planning refers to the combined effort of people with interest in education (stakeholders) to develop a common goal for a particular school. Everyone within the boundaries of the school (teachers, learners and parents) then work toward the attainment of such a goal. From the literature study it becomes clear that strategic planning should commence with a study of the environment. “Environment” is an all inclusive word in this context that refers to both internal and external environments. The internal environment includes inherent factors that strengthen or weaken the school’s position. The external environment includes outside opportunities that the school may have as well as the threats that are brought by outside influences, including other schools or the community. The literature survey supplies a vast amount of evidence to support the belief that successful organisations are goal orientated. What all successful schools have in common is a well discussed mission / goal that people in that particular school works towards. A goal orientated school is characterised by parental involvement in matters concerning the school; by learner performance because of set standards; by educator competence because of available resources for effective teaching; and by teamwork, trust and participation in all activities in the school. For the purpose of the empirical investigation, a self-structured questionnaire for educators was utilized. The data obtained from the completed questionnaires was processed and analysed by means of descriptive statistics. The findings from the empirical study confirmed that most schools are still lacking in goal setting and- management expert skills. In conclusion a summary of the study, based on the findings of the literature and empirical studies is presented, with the following recommendations: • Programmes in the form of workshops should be developed to empower parents in their involvement in schools. • Implementation of training and education of the school management teams with regard to the running of the schools. • Further research should to be done to improve planning and management of the schools.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T19:15:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 15 / Nenhuma / A proposição de um modelo de planejamento estratégico assume diversas formas em sua concepção, implantação, execução e controle. Esta diversidade de métodos tem origem em fatores que influenciam nos ambientes interno e externo das organizações. Foi com base nesta assertiva que esta pesquisa buscou identificar características intrínsecas às atividades estratégicas desenvolvidas em três setores da economia: alimentos, químico e petroquímico e metalúrgico e siderúrgico aproximando-os dos modelos, ao qual se denominam escolas do pensamento estratégico. Essa verificação ocorreu por meio de pesquisa de campo realizada com o uso de questionários, respondidos por executivos de 68 empresas constantes da revista valor 1000, edição 2008, sendo 23 do setor de alimentos, 21 do setor químico e petroquímico e 24 do setor metalúrgico e siderúrgico, cujos dados foram analisados com a utilização de estatística descritiva possibilitando a conclusão de que estes setores, apesar de possuírem atributos semelhantes, utilizam metodo / The proposition of a strategic planning stream assumes many forms on its conception, implantation, execution and control. This method diversity derives from factors that influence internal and external company environment. Based on this statement, the research intended to identify core features of the strategies developed in three economic segments: food; chemical and petrochemical; and metallurgical. These industries’ strategies were approached to the streams here named “strategic planning schools”. The verification was conducted through field research, with survey, and executives from 68 companies participated. The companies were selected among a list of Valor 100 magazine (2008 edition), being 23 from food industry; 21 from chemical and petrochemical industry; and 24 from the metallurgical industry. Collected data were analised through descriptive statistics, which leaded to the conclusion that these industries, although having many areas of convergence, use different methods to manage their strategies. Th

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.