Narratives of success and effectiveness in school management: a case study of Bojanala District, South Africa

Abstract

The focus of this research is in the area of narratives of success and effective school management in schools in Bojanala District of the North West Department of Education. Such a study is important in order to determine the activities that inform school success, the relationship between the challenges faced and the success pointers by and for school management. The research approach adopted in this mini-dissertation includes a literature review on management and school leadership as well as interviews to gather strengths for those schools that were regarded as having successful management. The literature review was conducted to provide the researcher with important facts and background information relevant to the research topic. This chapter reviewed what school research has established about the characteristics of effective schools; discussed the concept of school effectiveness; the characteristics of effective schools and the different factors that are responsible for creating effective schools. The review also examined how principals built school capacity through organisational decisions and actions. The qualitative approach was the research design chosen for this study in order to construct meaning and find answers to the research questions. The research tool used case studies, which involved interviews (thematic analysis), observation (supported findings) and document analysis (narrative analysis). To carefully sample the appropriate schools, a purposive sampling method was used to satisfy the objectives of this research. The research findings were used to compare data with the theoretical background and research problem that were stated at the beginning of Chapter One; and attempted to answer questions based on the success and effective management of schools in the Bojanala District of the North West Province. Findings were discovered with regards to school success and effectiveness in management, and the associated factors for success and sustainability. This mini-dissertation recommends that the unsuccessful schools need to consider implementation of the study recommendations for them to improve their performance and be more effectively managed towards attainment of success.