Since the democratic election in 1994 and the publishing of the SA Schools Act on
the 16th of November 1996 the South African education system has undergone a
fundamental transformation. Pupils are regarded as a specific interest group that
stands in a partnership relationship with other interest groups (stakeholders) in the
school. The principle of partnership advocated by the South African Schools Act
invites pupils to partake in and share responsibility for the governance, organising
and funding of public schools. To participate in school management pupils have to be
part of participative structures. Two such structures for pupil participation and
representation exist in South African schools, namely SRC's and the governing body
of the school.
The aim of this research is to develop a model for pupil participation in the
management of schools and specific attention was given to participative
management of pupils on the SRC and governing body of the school. In order to
operationalize the above mentioned aim an analysis of the nature of participative
management by pupils was done on the basis of theoretical approaches to
participative management.
Participative management by pupils can only be successful if the following
participative management techniques namely pupil participation, pupil empowerment,
influence. participative decision-making, delegation, democracy, decentralization,
committees and meetings are interwoven with the participative management process.
Pupil participation can also be successful if the advantages of such participation is
realised by all school interest groups.
The structure and functioning of pupil participation in the management activities of
the school is reviewed firstly by giving attention to the practices of pupil participation
in the education systems of a few international countries. This is done by analizing
the structure of each education system, the statutory directives for pupil participation
and the structures for pupil participation in these education systems. Secondly the
managerial involvement of pupils in the management activities of SRC's and the
governing bodies of schools was reviewed, while certain lacunas that resulted from
the lack of information were addressed by empirical research.
As a result of the preceding criteria a model for pupil participation in school
management was developed and certain findings and recommendations were
derived from it. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2000
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/9387 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Kok, Jurgens Johannes |
| Publisher | Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Language | other |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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