1,720,959 research outputs found
Analysis of administrative governance education : the case of Mpumalanga Department of Education
Get PDFDissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2009.This study is an analysis of administrative governance in South Africa post 1994, aiming at investigating the effects the change of administrative governance from decentralisation to recentralization had on service delivery and provision of education at provincial, regional and circuit levels of Mpumalanga Department of Education. This study adopted a qualitative research approach in gathering and analysing data. For data collection, interviews, documentary analysis, literature review were used. During the period 1994-1999, there were many administrative and governance problems that were experienced at district and circuit, levels of education provision. These problems included, lack of resources, poor communication, poor coordination and lack of support and this led to the abolition of districts, introduction of regions and restructuring of circuits. Research findings have revealed that there has been an improvement of service delivery and education provision since the introduction of regions. Regions have been given more administrative and governance powers by the Head Office than it was during the district era. Regions have devolved and delegated certain powers to circuits and this has improved the administration in many circuits. However, there are also challenges that have been brought by this arrangement such as lack of office space for regional personnel, racial discrimination, insubordination and lack of support by some of the members of Regional Management Team, poor communication, lack of physical resources at circuits and schools and work overload on the part of circuit managers. As a result of these challenges administration at circuit and regional levels still needs to be re-aligned in order to ensure efficiency and delivery of services in education within the province. This recommends that among others Mpumalanga Department of Education should improve the circuit’s structure by introducing extra personnel to offload circuit mangers with many responsibilities. Circuits without circuit offices should be supplied with their own buildings. Communication between the four-tiers of education administration should be revisited and more resources should be provided for circuits. Curriculum implementers should be based at the circuits in order to be abreast with the reality of education provision on the ground. However Schools were not targeted for by this study, therefore further investigation at school levels in terms of the effects of the shift from decentralisation to recentralisation have to be undertaken. CopyrightEducation Management and Policy Studiesunrestricte
Rural school principals and teachers' perception of the contribution of parental involvement in learner performance
Get PDFDissertation (Med (Education Management, Law and Policy))--University of Pretoria, 2024.ABSTRACT
There is a need to enhance parental involvement in rural primary schools in South Africa. There is evidence in the literature that parental involvement in the learning process of learners may influence the quality of learners’ academic performance. However, the former apartheid education system in South Africa, where parents were not regarded important in education of their children has contributed in parents’ negligence of their children education. For this study, Epstein theory for parental involvement was used as a lens through which data was scrutinized. Using qualitative research approach within the interpretivist paradigm, the study explored the rural school principals and teachers’ perceptions of the contribution of parental involvement to learner performance. A sample of three principals and six teachers were purposively selected from three rural primary school in Eastern Cape Department of Education in South Africa using case study research design. Data were collected through interviews. Data analysis for the study adopted data analysis procedures advocated by Creswell where the data was organised, read through, coded, allocated themes, interpreted and validated for the generation of theory. The principals and teachers in this study confirmed their passion to involve parents in their children’s education. However, there are problems of poor attendance and non-attendance of school activities by parents. These challenges are exacerbated by poor communication of parents with the school, poor attendance of meetings, inconsistent implementation classrooms and SGBs parental involvement policies. Consequently, the study recommends to schools to adhere to their parental involvement policies and make follow-up of the invites issued to the parents to attend school activities. It also recommends to schools to provide training to the parents regarding the importance and the benefits of their involvement in education of their children.Education Management and Policy StudiesMed (Education Management, Law and Policy)UnrestrictedFaculty of EducationSDG-04: Quality Educatio
Financial management decision-making of school finance committees in public primary schools in Mpumalanga province, South Africa
Get PDFSubject to the South African Schools Act, 84 of 1996 section 16(1), the governance of every public school is vested in its
governing body and it may perform only such functions and obligations and exercise only such rights as prescribed by the
Act. Section 30(1a) of this Act demands school governing bodies to establish committees and appoint members of the
School Governing Body (SGB) to such committees based on expertise. With this study I investigated the financial
management decision-making of school finance committees in public primary schools in the Mpumalanga province in South
Africa. A qualitative approach was applied in the study. Focus-group interviews were used to collect data from the
purposefully selected 2 public primary schools in which the finance committee members were involved. A case study design
was applied. Thematic data analysis was used to analyse the collected data. All the participants demonstrated awareness of
their financial management decision-making roles. Participants revealed that they did not perform their roles effectively due
to their illiteracy levels, limited understanding of financial management legislation, inadequate training, interference of the
principals in the management of finances, poor consultation and communication. I recommend to the Department of
Education to provide financial committees with adequate support and training, to capacitate principals in the area of human
relations and resource management and consider appointing financial management advisors at the circuit offices within
districts to assist in guiding, monitoring and evaluating the financial management processes in schools on a regular basis.http://www.sajournalofeducation.co.zahj2023Education Management and Policy Studie
The role of principals in the management of textbooks in no-fee rural primary schools
Get PDFMini Dissertation (MEd (Educational Leadership))--University of Pretoria, 2023.This mini dissertation is on the role of the principal in the management of textbooks in no-fee rural primary schools. There are inadequate studies that have been conducted in the area of textbooks management in South Africa. This study focuses on investigating principals’ experiences in the management of textbooks regarding their responsibilities of managing textbooks, the challenges they encounter when managing textbooks as well as the strategies they deploy to overcome such challenges. The study used Hill, Jones & Schilling (2014) strategic management theory and resource-based theory/views (RBV) by Das & Teng (2000) as lenses to argue that principals can manage textbooks effectively irrespective of the challenges they experience. This study adopted a qualitative approach anchored in an interpretivist’s paradigm and a case study research design. Data for the study was generated through the use of literature review, interviews, observations and document analysis. Five rural primary schools’ principals were purposely selected to participate in the study. The study found out that principals are managing textbooks in schools although their management is hampers by poor textbooks storage facilities, damaging and theft of textbooks, late delivery of textbooks, reluctance of some teachers to engage effectively in the management of textbooks and poor monitoring of textbooks. The study recommends to the department of education to enforce the use of textbooks monitoring systems in schools and provide proper storage facilities for textbooks in schools. It also recommends for principals to involve parents in the management of textbooks and to capacitate teachers in the area of textbooks managementEducation Management and Policy StudiesMEd (Educational Leadership)RestrictedFaculty of EducationSDG-04: Quality Educatio
Financial management of fee-paying public primary schools during the pandemic in Ehlanzeni district
Get PDFThesis (PhD (Education Management, Law and Policy))--University of Pretoria, 2023.This study was aimed at investigating the experiences of school governing bodies (SGBs) in fee-paying public primary schools in Ehlanzeni district in Mpumalanga province regarding the financial impact caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. While the financial state of many South African public schools is often dire, the Covid-19 pandemic produced a worst-case scenario. Many parents around the country did not pay school fees, claiming that their children were not attending school, among other reasons (Mhlanga & Moloi, 2020). Although fee-paying public schools receive a grant from the state, this money is not sufficient as they are given approximately six times less funding than no-fee public schools in Quintiles 1 to 3 (NNSSF, 1998). Fee-paying public schools source their finances mainly from the school fees that are paid by parents (Myende et al., 2020. With the Covid-19 pandemic and other similar global pandemics that came before, this implies that there might be other pandemics in future and strategies for financing schools and proper financial management remain crucial. This study pursued a qualitative approach and interpretivism was used as the research paradigm. A total sample of twenty participants (five principals, five SGB chairpersons, five SGB treasurers and five finance officers) from the five selected fee-paying public schools were interviewed. Data analysis commenced during the interview process, to avoid the risk of making premature assumptions and conclusions. The findings reveal that most schools battled to manage their finances during the Covid-19 pandemic. The strategies they used to collect school fees were not effective, and parents were not convinced that they should pay while their children were not attending school. In addition, it was found that most SGBs do not have plans to manage their finances differently should there be another pandemic in future. Finally, the findings reveal possible strategies SGBs could employ to collect school fees from parents during a pandemic.UP Postgraduate Research BursaryEducation Management and Policy StudiesPhD (Education Management, Law and Policy)UnrestrictedFaculty of EducationSDG-04: Quality Educatio
Auditing public schools’ financial records : a study of financial management from the eyes of relevant stakeholders
Get PDFThe demand for proper financial management in schools is dictated
by the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996, Section 43(1) (RSA,
1996), according to which public schools must retain a suitably
qualified accountant registered in terms of the Public Accountants
and Auditors Act, 1991 (RSA, 1991), to audit the school’s financial
records and statements. This study is aimed at understanding
the experiences of school financial management stakeholders on
auditing of public schools’ financial records. This study investigated
the schools’ financial management stakeholders’ experiences
of the auditing of public schools’ financial records. A qualitative
approach was applied in the study. Semi-structured interviews were
used to collect data from three purposefully selected secondary
schools in which principals, chairpersons of the finance committees
and finance officers were involved. A multiple-case study design
was applied. Thematic data analysis was used to analyse the
collected data. All the participants demonstrated limited knowledge
and understanding of the processes and procedures of auditing
financial records, including an inability to interpret the audited
financial reports. However, the participants revealed the benefits of
audited financial reports, such as trust from parents in how school
finances are managed. Furthermore, the study revealed that
audited financial reports may benefit schools to seek and apply
for additional funding from businesses and other organisations.
The study implies that schools may have difficulty in securing more funding from private organisations if their financial records
are not appropriately audited. Hence, the study recommends
that the Department of Education should offer sufficient support
and training to school financial management stakeholders about
auditing processes and procedures as well as financial auditing
report interpretation.http://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/pieam2024Education Management and Policy StudiesSDG-04:Quality Educatio
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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