This study explored the role played by School Governing Bodies (SGB) in addressing issues of democracy and social justice in schools. This study attempts to explore how SGBs can be used to address issues of democracy and social justice in schools.
Rationale and motivation 2
The study conducted by Ngidi (2004), concludes that school governing bodies are perceived to be moderately efficient by educators. This claim is echoed by the responses of educators in the study conducted by Van Wyk (2004), where 53% of educators who completed questionnaires felt that their governing bodies were somewhat effective and 20% of educators felt that their governing bodies were not effective. in fulfilling their duties.
Focus and purpose of the study 3
The concept, parental involvement refers to the active participation of the parents in the daily activities of the school (Dempster, 1973). The participants seemed to understand that the involvement of parents in the schools can have a positive impact on the life of the school. The SBL in our school must ensure the well-being of all the children in the school.
Participants scrutinized their understanding of the SGB's role in promoting democracy and social justice. All members of the SGB share a similar understanding of the role that the SGB should play in addressing issues of democracy and social justice in schools. Focus group interview schedule for teacher representatives on SGB A. What do you think is the role of SGB in promoting democracy and social justice in school.
What policies/strategies are in place within the SGB to address issues of democracy and social justice? How to promote the principles of democracy and social justice in the SGB and the school. Focus group Interview schedule for parent representatives on the SGB A. What do you understand by the role of the SGB in promoting democracy and social justice at school?
Semi-structured interview schedule for parent representatives on the SBL A. What do you understand as the role of the SBL in promoting democracy and social justice in the school. What policies/strategies are there in the SBL to address issues of democracy and social justice. How do you promote democracy and social justice principles in the SBL and the school.
Research aims 3
Research questions 3
Definition of terms 3
Van Wyk (2004) describes school governance as a democratic system that ensures the participation of all actors with a special interest in education. It also refers to the equal treatment of all citizens in a democratic society, regardless of gender, race and socio-economic status.
Literature review and theoretical frameworks 4
According to the First White Paper on Education and Training (1995, p.22), quoted in Lemmer (1999), “the principle of democratic governance should be increasingly reflected at every level of the system, through involvement in consultation and appropriate decision-making forms. composition of elected representatives of key stakeholders, interest groups and role players”. Martin (1999) argues that theories of social justice suggest appropriate mechanisms for regulation or social arrangements in the fairest way for the benefit of all.
Research design and methodology 5
- Research design 5
- Methodology 5
- Paradigms in research 5
- Sampling 6
- Triangulation 7
- Methods of generating data 7
- Data analysis 7
- Ethical considerations 7
A detailed description of the two schools intended for study follows in the third chapter of this study. These steps include: reading each transcript to get a general understanding of the whole; the second step involves re-reading the transcripts and identifying the transactions in the experience (each transition implies a separate unit of meaning.); the third step is the elimination of redundancies in the units of meaning and the beginning of the connection of the remaining units with each other; fourth, transform the participants.
Limitations of the study 8
The two case study schools intended for this study are public state schools and I need to seek permission from the school principals, as gatekeepers, as well as the Department of Education to conduct the study. One way to convince them will be to assure them that the study is solely for my master's degree and that the results from it will only be used for that purpose.
Organisation of the study 8
Chapter summary 8
Introduction 9
It is precisely this concept that many schools in rural areas lack, perhaps due to a lack of resources on the part of the school. Clarke (2007) asserts that it is important for a school principal to ensure that the caliber of parents contesting elections is high.
Parental Involvement 11
Factors hindering parental involvement 14
Parents who lack the above qualities will not be able to function successfully in a democratic institution like the school. This study will hopefully be able to identify if any of these above mentioned factors are the cause of lack of parental involvement in rural primary schools.
Possible ways for improving parental involvement 16
On the other hand, the parents who are not employed do not have the appropriate expertise and courage to be in the classroom and work with their children. I think this could be an ideal workshop for South African schools to introduce the parents to the new curriculum since the apartheid system.
Theoretical frameworks 19
Democratic school theory 19 9
Chapter summary 25
Research design and methodology 26
Cohen, Manion & Morrison (2007), mention that the purpose of the research determines the methodology and design of the research. This statement means that depending on the purpose of the research, a researcher can choose to use a survey, case study or action research as an approach (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007). On the other hand, Slavin (2007) describes research design as a plan for collecting and analyzing data to try to answer a research question. To further explain this point, Slavin (2007) states that research begins with a question worth asking, followed by the hypothesis of the researcher and then data is collected.
Depending on the nature of the research, a researcher may use quantitative (statistical) or qualitative (descriptive) methods to collect data, and finally, conclusions are formed by the researcher to prove that their explanations for the findings are supported by the data. Slavin, 2007). I have chosen a case study approach because I will study the uniqueness and complexity of two SGBs, managing to understand their activities within relevant circumstances, in this case, the roles of the SGB in addressing issues of democracy and justice social (Stake, 1995). I will use what Slavin (2007) calls an observational case study focusing on specific people in the organization (SGB) of two schools, which will provide the most useful data on the role of SGBs in addressing of issues of democracy and social justice in schools.
A case study is appropriate for this study because it will give me an opportunity to study the two SGBs in some way (Bell, 2005). To elaborate on this point, the challenge may be that the documents I will review may not reveal the most essential information, and that the more talkative members of SGBs during focus groups or observations may not have the essential knowledge I need (Slavin , 2007).
Paradigms in research 28
Constructivists use flexible questions to change them according to the nature of the interview. Constructivism is important to this study because I interacted with the interviewees, which allowed me to further explore and or reformulate the questions where deemed necessary. Within this paradigm, researchers use strategies that enable them to elicit participants' feelings, opinions and views, e.g.
Interviews are appropriate for this study as they require face-to-face discussions with participants to get their views and feelings about the topic. The intention of this study is to study two specific cases (SBLs from two primary schools). The case study is convenient for this study because I dealt with a small sample of participants, using methods that yielded rich and authentic data.
It could be argued that interviewing two SBLs from two different schools provided me with a wide range of responses that provided a good understanding of the way SBL members play their role in addressing issues of democracy and social justice see. With the permission of the principals of the two schools, I scrutinized documents such as the SBL minute books and SBL registers from each school.
Data generating instruments 29
In this study, semi-structured interviews with the principals of the two schools were used. The purpose of interviews is to find out what is on the mind of a person, in other words, the perspectives of a person are gauged. The topic discussed in the case of this study was, "The role of SBLs in addressing issues of democracy and social justice". With the permission of the principals, I read through documents such as the SBL minute book and the SBL register of each school.
The participants were parents from the SGB of both schools, teachers of the SGB and principals of both schools. In addition, I wanted to ensure that the participants' voices were not lost, so I include verbatim quotes in the presentation of the data. The participants concluded that the role of SGB in promoting democracy and social justice is to ensure the greatest possible participation of all stakeholders and to enable freedom of choice and freedom of speech to all stakeholders.
This is important because the school belongs to the community, the students' parents and the staff. It is SGB's duty to encourage members of the community to be part of the school. My response to the participants' responses was that most of them have a reasonable understanding of the role that SGBs should play in promoting democracy and social justice in schools.
No call was sent to the SGB members to approve the agenda before the start of the meeting. Participants emphasized the need for the SGBs to encourage parents to attend parent meetings as well as volunteer their services to the school, which is in line with the expectation set out in the South African Schools' Act 84 of 1996 (SASA) as one of the SGB tasks. The participants seemed convinced that it is the duty of SGBs to address issues of democracy and social justice as they represent the other stakeholders (children and parents).
