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1.
This article explores governors’ perceptions of the role played by school principals in the democratic governance of secondary schools in South Africa. The South African Schools Act No. 84 of 1996 has mandated that all public schools in South Africa must have democratically elected school governing bodies, comprised of the principal (in his or her official capacity), educators, non‐teaching staff, parents and learners, but the latter is applicable only in secondary schools. This reform is intended to foster tolerance, rational discussion and collective decision‐making. In the light of this reform an empirical study investigated the role of the principal in the school governing body (SGB), particularly in promoting parent and learner participation in SGBs. The findings highlighted the important functions that principals fulfil with regard to the functioning of the SGB. Principals are viewed by governors as playing a positive role in SGBs. Governors referred to principals as ‘the finger on the pulse of what is happening at school’; they are resource persons for other members of the SGBs and ‘the engines’ of the schools. Governors viewed the principal as in charge of the professional management of the school, ensuring that all duties are carried out adequately, setting the tone in SGB meetings, and responsible for interpreting education policies and ensuring that they are well implemented. Furthermore, principals have the responsibility of ensuring the maximum participation of both parent and learner governors in SGBs meetings. Principals can also contribute greatly to school governance issues, since they are usually at an advantage in terms of their familiarity with official regulations, provincial directives and knowledge of educational reform measures. The findings highlighted persistent power struggles in rural schools that may arise when principals overplay their roles as this creates tension among SGB members. However, principals enabled implementation of democratic values such as tolerance, rational discussion and collective decision‐making in schools through their leadership roles.  相似文献   

2.
《Africa Education Review》2013,10(3):431-452
Abstract

This paper examines the collaborative relationship between principals and School Governing Bodies (SGBs), and how this impacts on the management of financial resources in public schools. In South Africa, educational trends such as decentralisation, the shift of responsibility in roles, community involvement, building of partnerships and accountability in schools resulted in changing associations and patterns of interaction amongst participants in schools. Collaboration may be viewed as central to each of these trends. As principals and SGBs grapple with the demands of managing their schools’ financial resources efficiently and effectively, it is important to reflect on the collaborative relationship that society expects of them. Principals are required to cultivate processes of authentic collaboration in order to empower SGBs on school governance. It is thus imperative for schools to initiate and maintain a collaborative relationship between principals and SGBs, through mutual trust, teamwork, collaborative decision-making, open-communication and co-operation. Using a qualitative research paradigm, we determined the perceptions and experiences of school governors on their collaborative efforts in managing the school financial resources. This study revealed, amongst others, that many SGB members were unclear about their roles and functions which resulted in serious conflict situations and accountability implications.  相似文献   

3.
This study investigated the perceptions and experiences of rural school principals in South Africa of the role that parents in the school governing bodies (SGBs) play in improving school management and governance. The study reports on a literature review as well as on the empirical investigation, which was based on a qualitative research paradigm. Semi-structured interviews with the principals of three different rural schools were employed to collect data. The literature findings revealed that including parents as part of the SGB is seen as an essential component for the successful functioning of the school. The empirical study also emphasised the importance of including parents. However, the principals were concerned about the fact that many members of the SGB are illiterate and uncertain of the role they play in school governance. The principals emphasised the need for training of the members of SGBs as regards their working knowledge of school governance activities.  相似文献   

4.
In this multi-case qualitative study the degree to which school-based decision-making (SBDM) is understood and conceptualised by the members of school governing bodies (SGBs) - educators, chairpersons of SGBs, principals, and learner representative councils-as well the extent to which decisions were shared among the various groups represented on the SGBs were examined. Multiple sources, such as meeting observations and interviews were used to collect data. Data revealed that decision-making processes in townships and rural schools seemed to be dominated by educators (educator-dominated SGB) and principals (principal-dominated SGB) respectively, while the urban school appeared to have achieved true shared decision-making (balanced decision-making). I therefore suggest that it is not sufficient to accept that promulgation at face value; and expect that implementation of policies in schools would suddenly convert these schools into true institutions practising and cherishing shared decision-making in their daily operations. Collective active efforts and ongoing training are still needed for the more effective functioning of SGBs. Although the research has tended to validate the findings of other studies, it has also made some contribution to the knowledge about the integration of the adapted governance models to analyse the extent to which decisions were shared among the members of SGBs in the selected three case studies. Its use in this study is, therefore, a methodological contribution to the study of SBDM.  相似文献   

5.
Despite the powers that parents are endowed with regarding governance of schools in South Africa, they are not yet given sufficient room and space to deliberate on issues of school governance; instead they are still excluded by some teaching staff who deny them (explicitly or implicitly) from taking part in crucial decisions affecting education of their children. There are still issues excluding parents from participation in school governing bodies, namely: the lack of clear demarcation between the roles of the teaching staff and those of the school governing body (SGB), lack of time, lack of confidence from some parents, transport problems which result in non‐attendance of SGB meetings by some parents, poor communication of information, lack of training which results in lack of knowledge of the Act and roles and responsibilities, the language barrier, and the high turnover rate of governors as parents have to leave the SGB as soon as his/her child leaves the school. The findings of this research partly concur with Karlsson, who also found that SGBs perpetuate rather than prevent the apartheid‐era inequalities of race, gender and social class. Despite these discrepancies, the study found that SGBs operate according to the general intentions of the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 and also help spread democracy in the school and to the wider society of South Africa.  相似文献   

6.
Abstract

This study examined possible divergencies between the way elementary school principals evaluated their performance in carrying out certain administrative practices and an evaluation of the principals' performance as judged by the teaching staff. The principals' performance was evaluated on 46 administrative practices. Teachers and principals in 66 elementary schools participated in the study.

The null hypothesis proposed that there was no significant difference between principals' evaluation of their performance and an evaluation made by teachers. The chi square test of significance was used to test the hypothesis. The results were: (1) the two groups differed significantly on their evaluation of the principals' performance on 22 of the 46 administrative practices, and (2) principals rated their performance as more satisfactory than did the teachers.  相似文献   

7.
《Africa Education Review》2013,10(2):205-220
Abstract

The establishment of a learning culture in schools is important for education to take place. The erosion of the learning culture which often culminated in the poor academic performance of Grade 12 learners in township secondary schools has been a cause for concern for many years. The Department of Education's countless efforts to rectify the situation have been to no avail. This article endeavours to establish the contribution that school principals can make towards resolving the problem. As manager and instructional leader of the school, the principal is in a suitable position to address this problem, and it is also his or her primary responsibility to lead and guide the school towards the attainment of good academic performance. The article discusses the principals' role in restoring a learning culture in township secondary schools. It discusses the management strategies or functions that principals can employ to restore a positive school culture. The management strategies were obtained by means of an interview from the principals of effective secondary schools. The literature study and the views of the principals obtained by means of a questionnaire confirm the effectiveness of the strategies in restoring a learning culture.  相似文献   

8.
This study responds to Nado Aveling's call in ‘Anti-racism in Schools: A question of leadership?’ (Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 2007, 28(1), 69–85) for further investigation into racism in Australian schools. Aveling's interview study concluded that an overwhelming number of school principals denied the presence of racism in their schools, and that there were no discernible differences in how principals in different schools constructed racism. In contrast, our research found that school principals' constructions of cultural racism are strongly influenced by their school contexts. We elucidate these differences examining the various intersections between race, class and religion deployed by principals in different sites, and argue for the utility of examining and theorising cultural racism using an intersectional approach. By bringing context into our analysis we provide a more nuanced insight into the different ways in which racism is constituted and understood by Australian school principals.  相似文献   

9.
This paper examines the relationship between strategies used by principals to coordinate organizational activities and school effectiveness. The dominant view of effective principals suggests that they generally emphasize those tasks which are directly related to teaching and learning and assert influence and authority surrounding these tasks to coordinate instructional programs. Attention has also been placed in the effectiveness literature on the importance of developing a shared sense of direction to achieve coordination and effectiveness. The results of a study of elementary school principals in community schools in Israel suggest that principals' roles in framing school goals, that is, establishing a clear mission, are more instrumental in establishing school effectiveness than are the emphases of traditional areas which have been associated with school effectiveness.

  相似文献   

10.
In England, governing bodies continue to be responsible for the conduct of publicly funded schools. This article compares the governing of publicly funded primary schools (for 5–11 year olds) and secondary schools (for 11–18 year olds). The research analysed policy documents and the governing of 16 primary and 14 secondary schools. The main governance mode for both primary schools and secondary schools is hierarchical and similar in nature, and the governing bodies of primary and secondary schools use broadly similar governing instruments. However, they differ in significant ways. In primary schools, governing is smaller in scale and less complex. Primary school governing is closer to the school and children, and the images held by governors of the system to be governed are better developed in primary schools. Functional knowledge was more useful in primary school governing, and the use of informal meetings as instruments of governance was more widespread in primary school governing. The findings and their implications need to be taken into account in the analysis of and policy making for school governing.  相似文献   

11.
This statewide study surveyed 215 principals of middle schools and high schools in Texas, USA. It examined the effectiveness of activities on school crime by three main methods: (1) what activities the school was doing to combat crime (e.g. police/guards, school uniforms, metal detectors, drug education programmes, character education programmes, closed campus, surveillance, student court activity, rewards for attendance, etc.); (2) cooperation with outside sources (i.e. police, parents, school district, judicial branch); and (3) principals' comments on what helps and hurts school efforts to alleviate school crimes. Data from these principals regarding drug crime and interpersonal crime in schools were correlated with the data on school activities and outside cooperation. The study also used nine critical elements of promising violence prevention programmes introduced by Dusenbury et al., as a framework to evaluate Texas school measures to combat school crimes. The study's findings and policy implications were discussed.  相似文献   

12.
Short Reports     
Government legislation over two decades has brought about major changes in the management and governance of schools. School governing bodies have been awarded far more power and influence than ever before and are now required to make important decisions affecting the quality of education provision for the nation's children. With an estimated 60,000 governors assuming their responsibilities for the very first time, questions about their preparedness for such a substantial task are bound to be asked. The significance of training for governors has increased as the extent of governing body responsibilities has expanded. Whereas the importance of training was recognized by the 1986 Education Act which gave the local education authority a statutory duty to provide the training it thinks necessary for governors to carry out their duties effectively, it remains optional. This small‐scale research project set out to investigate the induction needs of governors newly appointed to a local authority's schools. The project, undertaken in the autumn term 1996 and spring term 1997, made use of two different but complementary research tools. The first was a questionnaire survey of 314 new governors which attracted a response rate of just over 65 per cent. In addition, follow‐up telephone interviews were conducted with a small sample in order to gather extended responses to those given in the questionnaires. The research concluded that the new governors surveyed: ? had received little or no formal training for their role as school governors

? identified as their future training needs the following topics: roles and responsibilities of governors; local management of schools (LMS); and recruitment and selection procedures

? identified the need for a comprehensive programme of induction made up of a combination of centrally run and school‐based courses, briefings, information and guidance materials, videos, helplines and updates.

  相似文献   

13.
《Africa Education Review》2013,10(1-2):13-29
Abstract

This article reports on an investigation into how admission policies in general and the ‘zoning’ policy in particular are applied by the School Governing Bodies (SGBs) of two particular former Model C secondary schools in a town in the Gauteng Province, Republic of South Africa. It also examines the admission criteria currently in use against the background of allegations that the application of these criteria is a veiled attempt to exclude black learners from schools in order to retain a white learner majority. It also considers what can be termed the ‘channelling’ of learners. Interviews were conducted with a sample of disgruntled parents, a chairperson of the school governing body (SGB) of one of the schools and the principals of two unrelated schools, which were mentioned during the interviews with the disgruntled parents.  相似文献   

14.
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15.
英国公学校长的教育管理特色主要体现在校长以学校为家庭的学校管理观、以自己为家长的教师管理观以及以品格教育为中心的学生管理观这三个方面上。公学校长在学校管理中采取了人性化的管理方式,并形成了一套自上而下的组织管理制度,校长的权威渗透于其中。英国公学校长的学校管理特色,对于我国私立中学的校长具有启示作用。  相似文献   

16.
Book Reviews     
ABSTRACT

Drawing on data derived from on-going research projects investigating the privatised inspection process recently introduced for all schools in England and Wales, the paper considers the role of school governing bodies. Reference is made to the part governors can play in school improvement, particularly in those schools deemed by the inspectors to be in need of 'special measures'. It draws upon the experiences of a small sample of such schools and their governing bodies to suggest ways in which governors are able to play an important role in increasing their school's effectiveness and contribute to its continual improvement.  相似文献   

17.
Monitoring bullying behaviours is the key aspect of a successful anti-bullying intervention. Questionnaires among pupils and principals of the same schools were utilised to measure the agreement between pupil-reported frequency and principals' estimations of the prevalence of frequent bullying in the same schools and to identify monitoring methods associated with the best agreement. The correlation between the pupil-reported frequency and the principal's estimate of the prevalence was weak. Two-thirds of the principals estimated the prevalence of frequent bullying in their schools to be four percentage points lower than the prevalence, based on pupils' reports. Questionnaires that were developed and administered by the schools themselves and unspecified monitoring methods were associated with the best agreement between pupils' reports and principals' estimates of the prevalence of frequent bullying. There is a clear need to communicate better the nationally collected data back to schools. It seems that despite the monitoring efforts, school principals were not aware of the prevalence of frequent bullying as perceived by their pupils. Awareness of the problem may require more than just available evidence.  相似文献   

18.
《Africa Education Review》2013,10(2):236-253
Abstract

The demands of the twenty-first century require effective and sustainable use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in education. Various ICT strategies and initiatives across South Africa have not resulted in system-wide, sustainable ICT integration in schools. Although the roles of principals are acknowledged in educational management, the question remains how principals influence teachers' effective and sustainable integration of ICT through teacher professional development (TPD). A matrix of theoretical criteria selected seven participants across diverse contexts. In-depth interviews produced an integrated dataset that revealed principals' patterns of influence, their perceptions and experiences, their leadership and management styles, their attitudes towards ICT integration, their knowledge on related ICT and related TPD issues, as well as their strategic thinking on ICT integration. The proposed theoretical framework illustrates the interrelatedness of aspects that influence principals' leadership through open distance learning.  相似文献   

19.
The purpose of the paper is to identify the kinds of leadership that are likely to support implementing and sustaining education for sustainable development (ESD) effectively in a primary school. The paper identifies links between ESD and principal leadership literature and constructs a conceptual model of the leadership practices needed for reorienting a school to ESD/education for sustainability. Aspects of the model are explored through Cypriot principals' views on leadership and reported leadership practices. Data were obtained by a nationally administered questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Outcomes indicated some enabling factors for ESD implementation such as encouraging teachers to engage in ESD programmes, collaborate with others and other ways of support which nevertheless reflect what is generally expected of school administrators without seeking deep change. Constraining factors included principals' reported lack of confidence in administrative skills for sustainable schools, limited willingness to challenge the status quo, limited engagement in actions important for supporting ESD activities and features of the national educational policy. Constraining factors pointed towards principals' limited commitment to ESD. The practical significance of the findings is that they identify specific areas of needed professional development for principals such as empowering staff, encouraging critique of current approaches and exploring alternative possibilities for curriculum, pedagogy and policy.  相似文献   

20.
TONY BUSH  JAN HEYSTEK 《Compare》2003,33(2):127-138
This article examines the early experience of the school governing bodies established in South Africa following the 1996 South African Schools Act. It relates the emergence of school governance to wider issues of democracy and participation and assesses the composition of governing bodies, notably the inclusion of learners. Governing bodies' powers include provision to set fees, subject to parental approval, and the paper examines how this requirement impacts on the resources available to different types of school, and the implications for equity and equality. Governing bodies also determine their own admissions policies, and the paper explores how this provision has led to school populations differentiated by class and race. The relationships between lay governors and school principals are examined to see if the Act's plan to separate governance and professional management has been achieved in practice. The paper concludes that, despite the significant difficulties facing the educational system in South Africa, governing bodies provide a good prospect of enhancing local democracy and improving the quality of education for all learners.  相似文献   

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