Exploring Distributive Leadership in South African Public Primary Schools in the Soweto Region

2015 ◽  
pp. 283-304
Author(s):  
Raj Mestry ◽  
Suraiya R Naicker
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Distributive Leadership ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Gauteng Province ◽  
Leadership Framework ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Formal Leadership

The increasing expectations of the principalship and the intensification of the challenges facing schools today have resulted in the emergence of distributive forms of leadership in schools worldwide. These developments prompted research in schools in South Africa, more specifically in the Soweto region, to inquire if distributed leadership had manifested. Soweto is a township in the Gauteng province of South Africa that is associated with the historic struggle against the apartheid government (pre-1994). A qualitative approach executed by means of focus group interviews was employed at three schools to explore the views of teachers who did not hold formal leadership positions. It was found that distributive leadership had not transpired in the schools that are largely rooted in classical leadership practices. This chapter provides an account of the study while elucidating the concept of distributive leadership and examines the role of formal leaders within a distributive leadership framework.

Exploring Distributive Leadership in South African Public Primary Schools in the Soweto Region

2016 ◽  
pp. 1041-1064
Author(s):  
Raj Mestry ◽  
Suraiya R Naicker
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Distributive Leadership ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Gauteng Province ◽  
Leadership Framework ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Formal Leadership

The increasing expectations of the principalship and the intensification of the challenges facing schools today have resulted in the emergence of distributive forms of leadership in schools worldwide. These developments prompted research in schools in South Africa, more specifically in the Soweto region, to inquire if distributed leadership had manifested. Soweto is a township in the Gauteng province of South Africa that is associated with the historic struggle against the apartheid government (pre-1994). A qualitative approach executed by means of focus group interviews was employed at three schools to explore the views of teachers who did not hold formal leadership positions. It was found that distributive leadership had not transpired in the schools that are largely rooted in classical leadership practices. This chapter provides an account of the study while elucidating the concept of distributive leadership and examines the role of formal leaders within a distributive leadership framework.

scholarly journals The role of Parliament in promoting active citizenship in relation to the Grade 11 Life Orientation in the South African curriculum

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnetha Arendse ◽  
Juliana Smith
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Active Citizenship ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Life Orientation ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Grade 11

The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa plays a pivotal role in promoting active citizenship to ensure the deepening of democracy. This article, as based on the study by Arendse, explored the extent to which Parliament as a key participatory institution promotes active citizenship in relation to the Grade 11 Life Orientation (LO) curriculum in South Africa. A qualitative, interpretive approach was employed. However, data were gathered through the crystallisation approach using different methods of gathering data such as document study, questionnaires and focus group interviews, which involved 461 Grade 12 LO learners who had completed the Grade 11 LO curriculum during 2012 and seven LO educators. The findings suggest that there is: (1) lack of exposure, knowledge and understanding about Parliament; (2) lack of public education programmes and initiatives about Parliament; and (3) limited information about Parliament in the LO curriculum.

scholarly journals The role of universities in promoting social entrepreneurship in South Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 67-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Mpele Lekhanya
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Gauteng Province ◽  
Comprehensive Universities ◽  
Kwazulu Natal

Social entrepreneurship can help to reduce socio-economic problems facing many countries including South Africa. Also it can be used as a strategic tool in building social cohesion in country. This paper aimed to examine the role of Universities in promoting social entrepreneurship in South Africa. The study also look assess the support that universities are providing to social entrepreneurship and to evaluate the extend of the support. The paper also analyses most strategies used by South African universities to help the development of social entrepreneurship. Mix approaches of qualitative and quantitative techniques were employed for data collection. The primary data was collected from six universities in South Africa where two comprehensive universities, two universities of Technologies from KwaZulu -Natal province and two comprehensive universities in Gauteng province were chosen for sample for this study. The sample consisted of 40 respondents made up of deans of faculties, heads of departments, and director of social entrepreneurship and head of social entrepreneurship department respectively according to structure of each university. Combination of structured qualitative and five –point Likert scale questionnaire were emailed to the respondents to complete. The results reveal that most of respondents are not involved in social entrepreneurship activities, or any entrepreneurship development programs. The findings also indicate that some respondents they had no clue about social entrepreneurship that their universities are involved in. the study was limited by exploratory nature. Therefore, generalization must be done with care. Further research should aim to target large sample and include other academic staff rather than focusing only on the deans and heads of departments.

The implementation of the school feeding scheme (SFS) in South African Public primary schools

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-42
Author(s):  
Paul N. Munje ◽  
Loyiso C. Jita
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Professional Ethics ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
School Feeding ◽  
Feeding Process ◽  
Group Interviews

In this paper the authors use the collaboration framework to explore the implementation of the School Feeding Scheme (SFS) in two primary schools within South Africa. The authors use a qualitative approach to gather data through individual and focus group interviews with two principals and eight teachers respectively. The feeding process was also observed. The authors found that despite recorded achievements, smooth implementation of the scheme was stifled by varied challenges. However, the current situation can be improved if principals initiate strategies that promote collaboration, while caterers and teachers are trained on collaboration and professional ethics. Monitoring and evaluation is encouraged to identify and resolve impending challenges.

ROLE OF LIBRARIANS IN TEACHING INFORMATION LITERACY IN ZIMBABWEAN AND SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Mousaion ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tinashe Mugwisi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
University Libraries ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
Information Skills ◽  
The University

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) and the Internet have to a large extent influenced the way information is made available, published and accessed. More information is being produced too frequently and information users now require certain skills to sift through this multitude in order to identify what is appropriate for their purposes. Computer and information skills have become a necessity for all academic programmes. As libraries subscribe to databases and other peer-reviewed content (print and electronic), it is important that users are also made aware of such sources and their importance. The purpose of this study was to examine the teaching of information literacy (IL) in universities in Zimbabwe and South Africa, and the role played by librarians in creating information literate graduates. This was done by examining whether such IL programmes were prioritised, their content and how frequently they were reviewed. An electronic questionnaire was distributed to 12 university libraries in Zimbabwe and 21 in South Africa. A total of 25 questionnaires were returned. The findings revealed that IL was being taught in universities library and non-library staff, was compulsory and contributed to the term mark in some institutions. The study also revealed that 44 per cent of the total respondents indicated that the libraries were collaborating with departments and faculty in implementing IL programmes in universities. The study recommends that IL should be an integral part of the university programmes in order to promote the use of databases and to guide students on ethical issues of information use.

scholarly journals Truth and reconciliation in South Africa: Hindu experiences and concerns

2004 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
P.G.J. Meiring
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
The South ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Hindu Community ◽  
The Way

The author who served on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), focuses on the Hindu experience in South Africa during the apartheid years. At a special TRC Hearing for Faith Communities (East London, 17-19 November 1997) two submissions by local Hindu leaders were tabled. Taking his cues from those submissions, the author discusses four issues: the way the Hindu community suffered during these years, the way in which some members of the Hindu community supported the system of apartheid, the role of Hindus in the struggle against apartheid, and finally the contribution of the Hindu community towards reconciliation in South Africa. In conclusion some notes on how Hindus and Christians may work together in th

Ethnicity and Voting Patterns in South Africa

1979 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 458-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Lever
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Categorical Data ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Party Choice ◽  
Political Choices ◽  
Electoral Behaviour ◽  
Log Linear ◽  
Published Research

There is some controversy concerning the role of ethnicity in South African electoral behaviour. Since the society is segmented on ethnic lines it is to be expected that ethnicity would play a crucial role in affecting political choices. Some writers have gone so far as to suggest that ethnicity is the only significant factor affecting voting preferences. The controversy arose at a time when Goodman's method of log-linear analysis for hierarchical models had not yet been developed. This method provides the most powerful tool available for the multivariate analysis of categorical data. A re-analysis of previously published research using Goodman's method shows that ethnicity is not the only significant factor having a bearing on voting preferences. The first four-way table of voting preferences in South Africa is presented. The order of importance of the variables affecting party choice is: (1) ethnicity (2) socio-economic status (3) age of the voter. The recursive model suggested by the analysis explains approximately 98 per cent of the data.

Conserving inequality: How private conservation and property developers ‘fix’ spatial injustice in South Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 251484862110663
Author(s):  
Lerato Thakholi ◽  
Bram Büscher
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Structural Inequality ◽  
Conservation Property ◽  
Private Profit ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Housing Estates ◽  
Property Developers

In 2016, South Africa launched its National Biodiversity Economy Strategy. This strategy aims to facilitate the development of a ‘wildlife economy’ as a solution to unemployment, loss of biodiversity and rural development. Central to the strategy is the role of private conservation actors, who keenly posit their commercial model as the best way to achieve these objectives. This stands in sharp contrast to recent critiques that suggest that private conservation reinforces structural inequality by denying access to land and perpetuating unjust labour conditions. Using ethnographic data from the South African Lowveld region that includes the Kruger National Park, the paper takes these points further by arguing that a rapidly growing alliance between private conservation and property developers actively conserve inequality by maintaining and even extending spatial injustice in the region. Two popular recent manifestations of this alliance in particular, share block systems that distribute ownership of access to real estate in private reserves and wildlife housing estates, have established new conservation-property linkages that entrench capitalist socioecological fixes. Not only do these initiatives lead to further engrained spatial injustice, we conclude that this conservation-property alliance at the centre of the ‘wildlife economy’ also willingly sacrifices environmental sustainability on the altar of white conservation imaginations and private profit.

scholarly journals The essential role of physiotherapists in providing rehabilitation services to people living with HIV in South Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Cobbing ◽  
V. Chetty ◽  
J. Hanass-Hancock ◽  
J. Jelsma ◽  
H. Myezwa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
People Living With Hiv ◽  
Highly Active ◽  
Hiv Epidemic ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Living With Hiv ◽  
Education Courses

Despite increased access to highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) in South Africa, there remains a high risk of people living with HIV (PLHIV) developing a wide range of disabilities. Physiotherapists are trained to rehabilitate individuals with the disabilities related to HIV. Not only can South African physiotherapists play a significant role in improving the lives of PLHIV, but by responding proactively to the HIV epidemic they can reinforce the relevance and value of the profession in this country at a time when many newly qualified therapists are unable to secure employment. This paper offers recommendations that may help to fuel this response. These ideas include enhancing HIV curricula at a tertiary level, designing and attending continuing education courses on HIV and researching Southern African rehabilitation interventions for HIV at all levels of practice. furthermore, it is vital that physiotherapists are at the forefront of directing multi-disciplinary responses to the rehabilitation of PLHIV in order to influence stakeholders who are responsible for health policy formulation. it is hoped that this paper stimulates discussion and further ideas amongst physiotherapists and other health professionals in order to improve the quality and access to care available to PLHIV in South Africa.

The Development and Establishment of Technology in South Africa

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-31
Author(s):  
N.P. du Preez ◽  
P. van Eldik ◽  
M. Möhr ◽  
H.H. van der Watt
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Literature Survey ◽  
Manufacturing Efficiency ◽  
Perceived Importance ◽  
High Level ◽  
Detailed Questionnaire

In a two-part analysis (see pp 17–26 for Part 1), the authors discuss the key results of a South African project conducted during 1996 which focused on the factors relating to the development and establishment of technology in a country. The study investigated through a detailed questionnaire survey and a literature survey the various factors that promote the development and establishment of technology by comparing their perceived importance with the actual role they currently play in South Africa. This paper, Part 2, concentrates on the role of industry. The study showed that the availability of high-level technological people dominated the top (at 90%) of the list of factors relating to individual organizations and the role they play in the development of technology. Other prominent factors were the existence of a corporate technology strategy (88.4%), the need to improve manufacturing efficiency and processes (88.4%), the ability of top management to understand new technologies (87.9%), and the availability of funds for research and development (86.2%). The survey clearly indicated that South African organizations were not performing well with respect to these and other factors evaluated. All of them have been rated below 50%, indicating the seriousness of the problem. The corresponding recommendations made are of importance to younger countries with developing economies.

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