t Challenges of School Governing Bodies at Primary Schools in the King Cetshwayo District
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Date
2019
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Publisher
University of Zululand
Abstract
The new government that came into power in 1994, brought with it changes to the education legislation, which emphasised the parents as important partners for schools. This partnership was formalised by the South African Schools Act (SASA), which identifies school governing bodies (SGBs) as official partners in school governance. Thus, the new structure of school governance has resulted in the development of new relationships between SGBs and the school management Team (SMTs).
In this study the researcher investigates challenges of school governing bodies at primary schools in the King Cetshwayo District.
The objectives of the study were to:
To investigate the challenges experienced by SGBs in working with SMTs. To explore the challenges of SGBs in schools. To determine the strategies which can be used in strengthening relationships between SGBs and SMTs.
This investigation was undertaken to find out the challenges that SGBs experiences in primary schools and determine the strategies which can be used in strengthening relationships between SGBs and SMTs. The qualitative method was used in this study to collect data from SGB chairpersons, principals and SGB educator in the King Cetshwayo District.
The empirical study based on the findings of interviews confirmed that SGBs faced immediate challenges and were not adequately capacitated to handle these challenges. It also emerged that the experienced governing body chairpersons and principals lacked adequate understanding of their governance roles and those of each other.
The main recommendations of this study is that the roles and responsibilities of school governors be well explained to stakeholders, even before nominations and elections are conducted, so that potential governors know exactly what is expected, and that continuous capacity-building becomes a regular feature at school level, including a school cluster-based programme addressing local school governance challenges.
Description
A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Educational Planning & Administration, Faculty of Education, at the University of Zululand, 2019.
Keywords
School Governing Bodies, Primary Schools