Abstract:
Education policy documents such as the National Constitution, No. 108 of 1996 (NC) and the South African Schools Act, No. 84 of 1996 (SASA) mandate and encourage partnerships in the education system. Schools are recognized as being embedded within a wider socio-economic environment and must therefore develop effective and meaningful partnerships to facilitate communication and service channels that allow them to respond to the educational needs of their service constituency as well as to draw expertise and support from these constituencies thereby sustaining positive growth and remaining relevant.
The democratisation of education has challenged School Manager Teams (SMTs) to transform the school's relationship with its service constituency and forge meaningful and effective partnerships between itself and the School Governing Bodies (SGBs) with the global aim of improving quality education. The SMT is the primary agent for an effectively management structure within a school. The SGB is the primary governance structure of the school. It is therefore critical for a solid partnership, with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, to exist between these entities.
The current study was triggered by an observation of school management and governance in practice which suggests that there is in many instances a breakdown in the development of an effective SMT-SGB partnership. Many reasons have been proposed to explain this phenomenon including the tack of parent involvement in school matters, the apparent dictator-like leadership style of some principals and the lack of participative management in schools (Chetty, 1998).
Embarking on a literature review, the researcher investigates strategies to promote a partnership between school managers and parents as governors of schools. An empirical study is also undertaken to evaluate to what extent these strategies are being employed by SMTs and SGBs in building meaningful and effective partnerships and to exposing shortcomings in efforts to build such partnerships.
