Browsing by Author "Govender, Magesvari."

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The agency of an independent primary school principal in the management of a media centre innovation.
(2007) Harris, Gayle.; Govender, Magesvari.
The agency or personal involvement of the principal within a school is perceived as being of vital importance to the success of innovations. Leadership is necessary, not only to manage the escalating changes in academia, but more importantly to inspire, protect and encourage educators. One of the current trends in education is the move towards self-management which is a decentralization of power control from the state to the school. Selfmanagement implies choice and this enables the principal to validate the opinions and ideas of everyone who is involved in the process of school governance. The success or failure of an innovation usually depends on the support of the stakeholders. Change can be stressful, and unless the principal is part of the process, the implementation may not be successful. The context of this study is an independent primary school which has recently undergone many changes, most of which appear to have been initiated and managed by the principal. Independent schools have more autonomy than public schools as they are usually self-funded. The principal is accountable not only to the Board of Governors, but also to the parent body which generally has high expectations of the school. This study investigates the impact of the principal’s agency on the development of a multi-media centre at the school. The extent of his involvement within the school and his leadership style was first established and then the implementation of a new innovation, that of the media centre, was explored. Case study methodology based on semi-structured interviews with selected participants from within the school was employed. These participants represented different perspectives on the principal’s leadership and management of the media centre. In addition, documents and photographs were analysed for triangulation purposes.
Cross-cultural communication : an investigation into compliment response behaviour of Indian and African students at the Springfield College of Education.
(1995) Govender, Magesvari.; Kamwangamalu, Nkonko M.
This is a cross-cultural communication study which investigates the compliment response behaviour of Indian and African students at the Springfield College of Education. The Springfield College of Education is a desegregating institution where students of Indian origin presently comprise the majority of the student population with African students the minority. Due to the enforced racial divisions of the past students do not mingle freely with each other on the college campus. An additional complication is that the students come from different cultures and are accustomed to different social practices. This results in their responding differently to different communicative situations. These differing responses could be potential sources of miscommunication and conflict and therefore warrant investigation. Compliment response behaviour is one such area where intercultural miscommunication could easily arise. Since compliments are used to initiate, sustain and promote conversational interactions, not responding appropriately to them could result in possible feelings of antagonism and racial hostility. This study investigates the compliment response behaviour of Indian and African students at the Springfield College of Education, identifies areas of diversity and potential sources of intercultural miscommunication and presents a set of recommendations about the teaching of compliment response behaviour at the Springfield College of Education.The findings of this study are also compared with the findings of a similar study conducted by Chick (1991) at the University of Natal, Durban with a view to establishing what changes have occurred in the compliment response behaviour of Indian and African students since the time of Chick's (1991) study. This study reveals that there is a diversity in the compliment response behaviour of different ethnic groups and that this diversity is a potential source of intercultural miscommunication. However, the College lecturers can turn this diversity to advantage by using it in a teaching programme where an understanding of it is fostered. This would result in students understanding why miscommunication arises and would also enable them to react appropriately in different contexts. It is hoped that this study,which is very much pilot in nature, helps highlight issues that can become the subject of more detailed studies in this field.
Heads of departments' understandings of and their preparedness for their roles as curriculum managers : a case study of a rural primary school.
(2008) Mbhele, Sihle Daniel Mthokoziseni.; Govender, Magesvari.
This study investigates Heads of Department’s (HoDs’) understandings of their roles as curriculum managers and their level of preparedness for instructional support and supervision to educators in the implementation of Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) in schools. This is a qualitative case study focusing on one rural primary school in KwaZulu-Natal. There were nine participants comprising three HoDs and six randomly selected educators in the study. Data was collected by means of questionnaires, interviews, observation, and document analysis. The study examines HoDs’ understandings of their roles as curriculum managers and their perceptions about their levels of preparedness for curriculum management and supervision roles. In addition, an attempt is made to identify some of the professional development needs of HoDs in the context of OBE implementation in schools. The key findings that emerged from the research were that HoDs did not fully understand their curriculum management and supervision roles and were not adequately trained and prepared to fulfil their management and supervisory responsibilities. It was found that HoDs required professional development in the form of workshops, in-service training, networking or information sharing meetings and seminars to prepare them for their role as curriculum managers.