School governing bodies from the perspectives of the rural parent governors and school principals in the Vryheid region

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The 1996 South African Schools Act witnessed a growth of local democratic influence onschool governance throughout the country. The system of school governance in SouthAfrica has undergone recent changes through this Act which, in effect, ensured that eachschool had its own governing body and took the first steps to standardise membership toinclude educators, non-educator staff, learners (in grade 8 or above) and parents.Despite the appropriateness of parental representation, there are still misunderstandings,confusion and conflicts with regard to the role of parent governors in democratic schoolgovernance. The rationale behind this study was to reveal both parent governors' andprincipals' perceptions of the powers and responsibilities allocated by the South AfricanSchools Act of 1996 to each stakeholder group of the SGB.The writer of this study was an educator, resident in Vryheid and with significant firsthandteaching experience in schools in rural and semi-rural areas of the region, as well asexperience as a member of an SGB. This experience has made him keenly aware thatperceptions play an important role in participative school governance. The purpose of theresearch was therefore to investigate parent governors' as well as principals' perceptionsof their role and responsibilities in democratic school governance.This study followed literature study as well as empirical investigation in revealing parentgovernors' and principals' perspectives of SGBs. A literature study provided the basisfor analysis and clarification of important concepts. Another perspective was gained byan empirical study of a sample of fifteen schools in the rural areas of the Vryheid region.The findings led to the conclusion that SGBs were widely accepted as legitimate andworthwhile structures but there were specific important needs for training and capacitybuilding.The findings also revealed that parents in rural areas appear to find it verydifficult to become involved in educational life of schools and are especially reluctant to serve on SGBs. Reasons for this apparent apathy were found to lie in problems ofilliteracy and feelings of ignorance and inferiority.These conclusions enabled the researcher to make specific recommendations forimproving the role and functioning of SGBs. Recommendations were made forimproving the role of parent governors and principals as well as for capacity-buildingrelating to the needs of each stakeholder group. A particular emphasis of these uniqueneeds of rural communities should be met. This was seen as a priority in order to improveeducation in these historically underdeveloped areas and in so doing promote the growthof democratic school governance in the rural areas of the Vryheid region.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University