Challenges that heads of departments face in managing teaching of Tshivenda home language in rural primary schools of Dzindi circuit Vhembe district

Abstract
The 1994 democratic government of South Africa brought greater responsibility and growth of school-based management in schools which impacted on the role and workload of school leaders. Principals of public foundation phase school teachers delegated greater responsibility to Heads of Departments who had to ensure that teachers are professionally developed. The assumption was that teachers should be supported and developed professionally to do their best work with learners, and, to be retained. Despite the belief that school-based Teacher Professional Development may have a positive impact, little is known about the challenges Heads of Departments’ of Tshivenda Language in a rural context face in managing teachers for them to promote quality teaching and learning. The aim of this study was to investigate the challenges that heads of departments face in managing the teaching of Tshivenda home language in rural primary schools of Dzindi circuit in Vhembe District. This study was positivist in nature following the quantitative research methodology. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from 107 respondents from the 200 who were sampled through simple random sampling procedure. Several challenges that face the HODs were identified. These include the need to supervise teachers in the process of teaching to improve learning in schools. The study points to a strong need for workshops to fully capacitate HODs of Tshivenda in rural primary schools of Dzindi Circuit. However, the various management challenges that have emerged should be considered. Mentoring of Tshivenda Home Language teachers by HODs remains very crucial for the promotion of teaching and learning in rural primary schools of Dzindi Circuit. The study recommends a need for HODs to motivate teachers in their management process.
Description
Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Masters in Education in the Department of Educational Planning and Administration in the Faculty of education at the University of Zululand, 2019.
Keywords
School-based management, Foundation phase school
Citation