The 'birth' and growth of good school governance practice : evidence from selected primary schools in Pinetown district.
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Date
2012
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Abstract
This study sought to investigate how good school governance practice in South Africa can be
created and sustained.
The government introduced the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 (SASA) which gives
School Governing Bodies (SGBs) considerable responsibilities with regard to school
governance. Among those duties there are four mandated areas of school governance namely;
School Policy, School Development, School Administration and School Finance. However, a
number of examples can be cited from literature that support the view that many SGBs are not
achieving the intended goals and that there have been challenges and questions about their
efficacy. There appears to be a dearth of studies revealing good school governance practice
despite that it seems that such practices do exist.
Despite the abovementioned challenges that highlight the ineffectiveness of many SGBs, from
my personal experience and from my informal observations of some schools in the Pinetown
District I have ascertained that there are schools that are effectively governed. In those schools
the SGBs work as partners with other role players and govern school collaboratively with
continuous ongoing communication. It was such good practice that triggered my interest in
investigating this topic further. It would appear that there is inadequate knowledge regarding
how such good governance comes about, and how it is sustained. Therefore, this study sought to
contribute to filling this void.
This study adopted a qualitative approach, and is located within the interpretivist paradigm. I
adopted a multi-site case study research design. The study was conducted using individual
interviews, focus group interviews and observations. The findings suggest that all school
stakeholders play a significant role in all areas of school governance as they are required to
provide mutual support, share power and work jointly for good school governance practice,
because in this democratic era it is important that all school stakeholders work as partners. The
study recommends that the SGBs should encourage and empower all school stakeholders to
actively participate in school matters in order to develop, monitor and adjust to long term school
effectiveness.
Description
Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.
Keywords
School boards--KwaZulu-Natal., School management and organization--South Africa., Theses--Education.