Die rol van die skoolhoof as fasiliteerder van verandering

Abstract

Change is a part of the education system in the RSA. This change brings the need for people who can act as facilitators of change. Within school context the principals are the appropriate people to act as facilitators of change. To ascertain the role of school principals as facilitators of change, a study of certain literature was made to discover within which essential features change takes place and what the essential character of change implies. The study of literature has further had the goal of ascertaining what role principals should play as facilitators of change. An empirical investigation was furthermore made to discover which skills principals already possess to employ in facilitating change. From the literature study a structured questionnaire was compiled with the questions that relate to it, among others, principals' views about change, the planning of change and the facilitating style of the particular principal. The target population is all the school principals of state aided primary and secondary schools within jurisdiction of the Transvaal Education Department. One of the most important findings in the literature study and the empirical investigation, is that school principals generally have the skills to perform as facilitators of change. Another important discovery is that intervening-management plays a deciding role in the facilitating of change. The empirical investigation also showed that school principals are generally not involved and that it is not considered important to obstruct resistance to change. Another aspect wherein school principals are not highly involved, is in the circulation of written information among the school community, about the process of change. In conclusion, guidelines were set whereby school principals can effectively facilitate change.