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The leadership role of school management teams in marketing schools

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree MASTER OF EDUCATION in the Department of Educational Planning and Administration of the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 2006. / This study examines the leadership role of School Management Teams (SMTs) in marketing schools in the Lower Tugela Circuit in KwaZulu-Natal.

School managers currently face the major challenge of finding innovative ways of attracting learners to their institutions. With at least part of their budget derived from school fees and private donors, they need to ensure solid learner enrolment numbers and good pass rates. To address this issue, SMTs are expected to employ business and marketing principles in their management plans. SMTs are faced with the task of changing educators' mindsets and perceptions with regard to marketing. They are required to inculcate a competitive spirit among educators and create partnerships with industries to attract sponsorships. Furthermore, SMTs need to ensure that the needs of their learners are satisfied.


An empirical investigation was undertaken to assess and evaluate the role of SMTs in marketing their schools. Data was solicited from a sample of SMTs by means of questionnaires. Both open and closed-ended questions were used. The following are key findings of the study:
• Some schools lack teacher development programmes to capacitate educators to market their schools effectively.
• School Governing Bodies (SGBs) are not sufficiently involved in school marketing decisions.
• Some schools have not established partnership with business and industry.
On the basis of these findings, the following recommendations were made:
• SMTs must be tasked with developing programmes to capacitate educators to market their schools effectively.
• SGBs should be involved in a greater capacity in school marketing decisions.
• SMTs should bridge the gap between schools as education service providers and business/industry as the ultimate consumer of these services, by marrying the business/industry knowledge and skills requirements with relevant school curriculum design.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uzulu/oai:uzspace.unizulu.ac.za:10530/326
Date January 2006
CreatorsMbonambi, Herbert Bonginkosi
ContributorsChetty, M.K.K.
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Formatapplication/pdf

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