The leadership role of the principal in fostering sustainable maintenance of school facilities

The purpose of the study reported on here was to explore the extent to which the role of the principal as ex officio member of the School Governing Body (SGB) facilitated or hindered the development of strategies that are effective and sustainable for the maintenance of school facilities. The rationale for this study was that the South African Schools Act No. 84 (Republic of South Africa, 1996a) regards the maintenance of school facilities as a school governance function and hence under the legal purview of the SGB. This view could limit the role of the principal concerning this aspect of school management. For this research project, semi-structured interviews were conducted with school principals from primary and secondary schools drawn from both historically disadvantaged and privileged schools in one school district in South Africa. It was found that the principal’s role is compromised, especially concerning the development of effective and sustainable facility maintenance strategies, as SGBs are inclined to give due consideration to this aspect. The nature of the benefit of the maintenance of school facilities is intricate and is not understood by school stakeholders. As a result, the overall maintenance of school facilities receives less attention and leads to difficulty in defending the cost-benefit ratio thereof against equally competing priorities. We, therefore, recommend that a whole-school approach be embarked upon. The leadership role of the principal may have to be at the centre of this strategy for the maintenance of school facilities. Keywords: facilities; facilities maintenance; leadership; learning environment; policy; principal; school; strateg

A whole–school approach to facilities maintenance

Thesis (Ph.D. (Education Management))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.The area of school facilities maintenance as an integral component of schools' educational programmes is only beginning to receive attention in South Africa, through the publishing of Notice 1438 of 2008 of the National Education Policy, which is a call for comments on the National Policy for an Equitable Provision of an Enabling School Physical Teaching and Learning Environment. This implies that, while it is a critical aspect of teaching and learning, school facilities maintenance has not been accorded a priority status. Numerous studies have indicated a strong correlation between the quality of school facilities and learner achievement and educator morale and job satisfaction. This study aimed at determining how a whole-school approach to facilities maintenance can be developed at schools by investigating the nature of school facilities maintenance and what the current school facilities maintenance practices are. An exploratory qualitative empirical research involving the use of ethnographic observation, photography and interviews was conducted. The study found that the current facilities maintenance practices at schools mainly comprised routine, corrective and emergency maintenance, which implies that facilities maintenance is not an integral component of the educational programmes. It also implies that schools need to implement a comprehensive and systematic process of facilities maintenance, which has a strong strategic dimension. A Whole-School Facilities Maintenance Model is thus proposed as a solution to this need. The model addresses schools' immediate facilities maintenance needs and long-term needs as it is accommodative of changes, both minor and major, as can be the case with the enactment of policy regarding school infrastructure management. This study contributes to the practice of school organisational development and management by customising strategic planning into school development planning and improvement.Doctora

Managing school safety in the primary school

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.This study intended to explore the phenomenon of managing school safety in the primary school. The aim was first achieved by exploring the essence of school safety through a literature review. Secondly, an empirical study was conducted to investigate the status of safety in the primary schools. Finally, recommendations on how safety can be managed in primary schools are made. The literature review exposed a theoretical perspective of school safety based on the socio-ecological perspective of the school, which approaches the school safety as a function of people's interaction with their environment. In this regard, the school environment was revealed as comprising the physical and psychosocial environment. School safety was thus found to be related to school stakeholders' interaction with their physical and psychosocial environments. In this regard, the safety of the physical environment was found to be a function of all actions aimed at the maintenance, surveillance and safety systems and procedures. The safety of the psychosocial environment was found to be a function of actions aimed at creating safe social and psychological climates. The empirical research found that there were perceptions of safety in primary schools. However, it was clear that there was poor or no coordination of programmes aimed at school safety. For instance, it could be deduced that school safety was seen as an ad hoc function, which was addressed as the need arose. There were no perceptions of the existence of well coordinated and purposeful safety planning, implementation and monitoring processes. Recommendations focus mainly on ensuring that schools address school safety in a coordinated and well-planned manner. This includes school safety planning and advocacy to bring school safety on the nation's agenda. This way stakeholder involvement and in essence, state involvement is advocated so as ultimately to have a centralised school safety coordinating agency, which would be instrumental in providing resources and advocating resource sharing among schools.Master

The role of principals in school health promotion in South Africa : a qualitative study

Purpose – School principals are presumed to be pillars of school health promotion implementation. Their understanding of their role could enhance school health promotion. This study aims to investigate how principals understood their role in school health promotion. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six school principals who participated and completed the first cycle of the Continuous Professional Teacher Development programme that was offered by the South African Council of Educators. Snowball sampling was used to sample participants. Findings – The findings of this study showed that principals did not differentiate between concepts of healthpromoting schools and school health promotion, the meaning was the same for them. They focused on any health improvement within the schools, regardless of its conceptual nature. The second finding pertains to the role of the principal as a manager, while the third was on expedition of collaborations and partnerships. Research limitations/implications – This research was limited to school principals who completed the Continuous Professional Teacher Development programme. It, therefore, does not include perceptions of other principals. Originality/value – The study findings suggest that despite inability of schools in poor communities to implement effective school health programmes, the principals of the sampled schools were aware of their roles. This is positive, as the efforts to enhance health promotion initiatives would focus on developing and empowering principals to improve their performance