The Role and Functioning of School Management Teams in Policy Formulation and Implementation at School Level (original) (raw)
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The South African Schools Act stipulates that school governing bodies are responsible for drafting certain school policies. This article reports on a qualitative research study conducted in 50 schools in Gauteng to trace the functionality of the school governing bodies with regard to policy-making. A critical evaluation of the admission, language and religious policies as well as codes of conduct provides substantial evidence that school governing bodies are committed to the values of equality and human dignity, and actively promote non-racism and non-sexism in their policies. Beleidmaking deur skoolbeheerliggame van openbare skole in Gauteng : die reg en die praktyk Die Suid-Afrikaanse Skolewet bepaal dat skoolbeheerliggame verantwoordelik is vir die daarstelling van sekere skoolbeleide. In hierdie artikel word verslag gedoen oor kwalitatiewe navorsing wat in 50 skole in Gauteng gedoen is om die funksionering van skoolbeheerliggame met betrekking tot beleidmaking na te spoor. '...
Democratic School Governance, Leadership and Management: A Case Study of Two Schools in South Africa
International Perspectives on Education and Society, 2015
This article reports on a qualitative study that investigated the functioning of school governing bodies (SGBs) as a tool for promoting democracy in two schools. Data was gathered through interviews, observations and document reviews. Findings revealed that democracy was in existence and practised at both schools and that it was characterised by shared decision making and acknowledged rights of individuals, representations, participation and equality. Two structures for promoting democracy were found to be in existence in both schools. These are school governing bodies and representative councils for learners. Such structures were found to be functioning effectively and contributing to the democracy in schools. However, although the learner voice was represented at both schools, learner participation in crucial issues in both the schools was limited. The study recommends that all teachers, learners and parent representatives on the SGBs be trained in skills such as deliberation, debate, dialogue and managing differences. Furthermore, training or capacity building related to advocacy skills and leadership development should be provided for all members of the SGBs, including teachers. The more learners, parents and staff are involved in school policy and decision making, the more there is a genuine community involvement in schools, and the more effective a school becomes. Also, schools need to move towards learnerinitiated decision making where learners initiate the process and invite adults to join them in making decisions. Also, there is need for teachers to be trained in democratic ways of operating in the school and classroom, which will possibly help them learn ways of working democratically in both the whole school and the classroom.
The Role of School Governing Bodies in Underperforming Schools of Western Cape: A Field Based Study
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 2014
The schools in South Africa have been facing immense challenges for a long period of time especially after independence in 1994. The School Governing Bodies (SGBs) play a major role in the administration and finance functions of the school and its development however, school governing bodies are sometimes used by individuals and organised groups to discriminate against learners in South Africa. It is found that some SGBs are not working properly because they do not have the necessary skills and they are not sure about their roles and responsibilities. This indeed happens in poorer communities, where people have few resources and many cannot read and write. The situation is made worse by the fact that some of the schools do not get enough money, support and training from the government. A strong sentiment amongst teachers was that the core of the problem of ineffectual SGBs was located in bad leadership and management. In light of the above challenges an attempt is made in this article to discuss the definition of the role of the School Governing Bodies (SGBs) in terms of the South African Schools Act. The article also focuses on the findings that were generated through responses to a number of questions around the theme of school governing bodies that were included in the questionnaires administered to principals and teachers.
Journal of Social Sciences, 2012
The school principal plays an important role in the democratic mana gement of Sou th African schools. He or she occupies a leadership position in South African schools and is, therefore, a key role-player in the school management process. His/her leadership role in terms of school management structures contribu tes to democracy in South African schools and in the wider society. Despite all this, recent research has shown that persistent power struggles arise when principals overplay their management role, specifically with regard to their contributions to school governing bodies. This study, based on qualitative research, explores various perceptions of the responsibilities of school principals by school governing body members as part of the management structure in the democratic management of South African schools.
In 1994, after the first democratic elections in South Africa, the new, African National Congress (ANC), government was faced with the challenge of rethinking and restructuring the education system of the previous era. Already in White Paper 1 on Education (DoE, 1995) the direction and the intensity of the change anticipated was outlined in the declaration that: South Africa has never had a truly national system of education and training and it does not have one yet. This policy document describes the process of transformation in education and training which will bring into being a system serving all our people, our new democracy, and our Reconstruction and Development Programme. Our message is that education and training must change. It cannot be business as usual in our schools, colleges , technikons and universities. The national project of reconstruction and development compels everyone in education and training to accept the challenge of creating a system which cultivates and liberates the talents of all our people without exception (White Paper, 1995). What followed was a comprehensive process aimed at changing existing education laws and policies to give effect to the proposed transformation outlined not only in the White Paper but also in subsequent legislation. Since 1995, a range of Acts and departmental policies – developed by the National Department of Education – were released, first for public comment, and then for implementation. These Acts and policies covered the whole spectrum of education, from the curriculum and governance structures of schools to the level of National Policy on Religion and Education in 2003. Abstract: Since 1994, when a new government came into power in South Africa, the country has seen the introduction of a vast number of new policies. Indications are that the government assumed a uniform interpretation and implementation of these policies. This article is written to report on the findings of a qualitative study aimed at determining to what extent this assumption was true with regard to a purposively selected sample of school principals' understanding of their role as mediators in the implementation of a religion-in-education policy. The school principals included in the sample were all part-time postgraduate students in Education Management and Leadership at the University of Pretoria and had been in education for at least ten years. Research data, collected through narrative inquiry, indicates that, because they had received no or insufficient training on policy implementation , these principals either ignored the policy and maintained the status quo or, when faced with religious interest conflict, partially subcontracted into the policy. The specific findings of this study are presented in this article.
International Journal of Pedagogy, Innovation and New Technologies, 2015
Since 1994, when a new government came into power in South Africa, the country has seen the introduction of a vast number of new policies. Indications are that the government assumed a uniform interpretation and implementation of these policies. This article is written to report on the findings of a qualitative study aimed at determining to what extent this assumption was true with regard to a purposively selected sample of school principals' understanding of their role as mediators in the implementation of a religion-in-education policy. The school principals included in the sample were all part-time postgraduate students in Education Management and Leadership at the University of Pretoria and had been in education for at least ten years. Research data, collected through narrative inquiry, indicates that, because they had received no or insufficient training on policy implementation, these principals either ignored the policy and maintained the status quo or, when faced with religious interest conflict, partially subcontracted into the policy. The specific findings of this study are presented in this article.
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 2014
This paper reports on a qualitative study that adopted an interpretive paradigm. The study sought to understand the experience and functioning of the school governing body as a tool to promote democracy in schools. Data were gathered through qualitative data collection methods, namely observations, semi-structured interviews and document reviews. The findings revealed that the principals embraced the existence of the following components of democracy in their schools: shared decision-making; acknowledgment of the rights of individuals; and the need for representation, participation and equality. Two structures for promoting democracy were found to be in existence in both schools, namely School Governing Bodies and Representative Councils for Learners. These structures were found to be functioning effectively and they were contributing to democracy in the schools. However, although learners' voices were represented at both schools, learner participation in crucial issues in both schools was limited. The study recommends that all teachers, learners and parent representatives on SGBs be trained in skills such as deliberation; debate, dialogue and conflict management.Furthermore, training or capacity building related to advocacy skills and leadership development should be provided for all members of the SGB, including the teachers. Better learner, parental and staff involvement in school policy and decision-making will lead to more genuine community involvement and more effective and efficient school management.
The study is aimed at investigating the issues of appointment procedures of principals and heads of departments (HoDs) to South African schools. Two issues were investigated: whether the appointment followed efficiently and laid down procedures and whether the current challenges of dissatisfactions faced by school management members are influenced by the appointment processes. A qualitative research approach was employed involving 50 participants purposively selected. Semi-structured interview schedules were conducted to collect data for the study. The findings revealed the manipulation of procedure for selection and interview to favour certain candidates over others, with corruption and nepotism as major issues responsible for the dissatisfaction of other stakeholders. The study recommends narrowing the pool from which principals and HoDs are selected from by emphasizing higher academic qualifications as the minimum qualification for the rise to senior positions such HoDs and principals should be progressional and school leadership must be appointed by the School Governing Body and Department of Education only.