Browsing by Author "Mkentane, Mziwamadoda Anderson"

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    The role of school governing bodies in transforming education in South Africa : a study of selected secondary schools in the Tsomo district of Eastern Cape Province
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2003-12) Mkentane, Mziwamadoda Anderson; Taylor, D. J. L.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The year 1994 ushered in a new era in the education system of South Africa. For the first time in the history of the country all population groups were given a chance to participate in the affairs directly affecting them. To ensure that such a dream would be achieved, education needed to be transformed. This kind of transformation was envisaged to include all stakeholders in education. From the National Minister of Education down to the provinces and at the local level of ordinary public schools, all those who were considered to have a stake in education were to be given a chance to participate, especially through new forms of governance. The most significant of these at community level were school governing bodies. School governance was to be developed through participative structures. At local level parents, educators, non-educator staff members and learners, identified as the relevant stakeholders, were allowed to participate in the governance of their own schools. The principal, by the very position he/she holds, was an automatic member ex officio. All the other members could only become members by being elected to this governance structure. With the passing of the South African Schools Act (Act No. 84 of 1996), this new structure to delegate governance functions to all schools in the Republic of South Africa came into being. This marked the birth of School Governing Bodies (SGBs) for all schools. The researcher as a teacher and resident in the Eastern Cape Province became interested in the functioning of these newly formed governing bodies. The interest to carry out a systematic research project was stimulated by what the researcher experienced in the practical situation of schools in his environment: what he observed being done appeared to be different from what the legal policy frameworks suggest in order to achieve democratic participation by all stakeholders in all schools. In addition, studies during course work as part of a Masters degree programme in Educational Policy Studies made the researcher particularly aware analytically of concepts like transformation, democracy, governance, empowerment and stakeholders, especially as regards their application to school governance. This reinforced the researcher's desire to find out whether the SGBs in rural sernor secondary schools of Tsomo are really able to fulfill their roles using the democratic principles as part of the overall transformation of South Africa. To evaluate the role of the SGBs in transforming the education system through democratic governance, the researcher aimed to investigate aspects such as whether SGBs really existed in schools in a formally constituted way; i.e. whether all the stakeholder-components were included in these bodies, whether they had constitutions and if such constitutions were drawn up with reference to the country's Constitution and the SA Schools Act. Further questions were how these SGBs performed their duties (functions) and whether they arrived at decisions using democratic principles, such as voting on issues. It was the researcher's aim to assess whether the parent, non-educator staff members and the learner components were really playing an active role in these structures, such as at times when there might seem a deadlock in decision-making in the SGB. How did the role players perceive their different and new roles, and to what extent were the principal and educators empowering the other components as light-bearers. The research mainly aimed at discovering progress and problems of the SGBs in this rural area, chiefly in order to determine what kind of capacity building might be necessary to improve their functioning to achieve democratic governance through active participation in these structures. To do all this, the research follows five steps. Step one is to provide a very brief background history of main characteristics in the development of the education system up to 1994. Step two identifies and discusses the main concepts that are considered relevant to the study. Step three is to present a survey of relevant documents that gave rise to the establishment of the SGBs, including the NEPI reports (1992-3), the Hunter Report (1995), and the South African Schools Act of 1996 (Act No, 84 of 1996). In addition the importance of the Interim Constitution of 1993 (Act No. 200 of 1993) and the final Constitution of 1996 (Act No. 108 of 1996) are emphasised. Step four is an empirical investigation into the actual functioning of the SGBs in three senior secondary schools in the Tsomo district. These schools were investigated through using an interview schedule in which representatives of the five stakeholder components of the SGB were interviewed individually while a questionnaire was also used in the two senior secondary schools with hostels. The questions and responses for both the interview schedule and the two questionnaires are included as Appendices Two and Appendix Three. In addition, an extract from the South African Schools Act of 1996 (Act No, 84 of 1996) is included (Appendix One) showing only the important aspects of the Act in relation to the working of the SOB. Step five provides a summary, conclusions and recommendations regarding the functioning of SOBs in an area like Tsomo.