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An investigation into the principal's role in facilitating the effective participation of the School Governing Body in promoting quality education in public schools

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Education in the Department of Educational Planning and Administration in the Faculty of Education, 2007. / The South Africa Schools Act, (Act No. 84 of 1996) which came into effect on 1 January 1996 and the National Education Policy Act, (Act No. 21 of 1996) introduced a new approach to the South African Education system. These acts, and many policy documents produced by the National Department of Education, provide for the active participation of parents, educators, learners and other members of the community in the governance of schools. Whilst policy mandates stakeholder participation, in practice parent participation is problematic.

This study therefore, investigates the role of the principal in facilitating the effective participation of the parent component of the SGB in the provision of quality education in public schools.

A review of national and international literature was conducted to establish strategies principals use to facilitate the effective participation of the SGB. An empirical study was also undertaken. A questionnaire with closed-ended and open-ended questions was utilized with the aim of accessing the level of interaction between the SGB and principals of schools.


Data from the questionnaire revealed the following key findings, namely:
• There is a lack of effective management of parent involvement in school governance.
• Limited communication exists between the principal and SGB regarding planned school activities where the SGB is supposed to have an input.
• As leaders, principals are grappling to secure effective parent participation in the provision of quality education.
Some recommendations are as follows:
• Principals should develop orientation and on-going training programmes to capacitate parents to participate effectively in promoting quality public education
• Principals should develop an invitational environment at the school
• Principals should promote a climate for sound conflict management
• Principals should provide sufficient information to SGB members and communicate these timeously to them

It is hoped that through this study, principals will be inspired to identify then-limitations relative to the facilitation of parent participation and subsequently adopt one or more of the recommendations offered to armour themselves with strategies to facilitate the effective participation of parents in the provision of quality education for all learners.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uzulu/oai:uzspace.unizulu.ac.za:10530/320
Date January 2007
CreatorsHaines, Frederick Louis
ContributorsChetty, M.K.K., Duma, M.A.N.
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Formatapplication/pdf

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