Abstract
Ph.D.
Since 1994 desegregation in schools has resulted in school management and governance structures adopting diverse ways of responding to the racially diverse learner population. However, researchers are doubtful as to whether such attempts at proving an equitable and quality education for learners with racially diverse backgrounds, interests and abilities are successful. It is in this context that this research was carried out, with the purpose of investigating the effectiveness of school management and governance structures in managing and facilitating racial integration in public secondary schools. A sequential explanatory mixed method approach involving three phases was used. Phase 1 was quantitative in nature and gathered data from racially diverse Grade 10 learners, educators, members of the school management team (SMT) and school governing body (SGB) in racially mixed schools in the province of Gauteng, South Africa. Purposeful sampling was used to select four schools from Johannesburg Districts (South and Central) within the categories of former departments of education, namely House of Assembly (HoA), House of Delegates (HoD), House of Representatives (HoR), and Department of Education and Training (DET). Although a large number of questionnaires were handed out to the different participants only 336 learner questionnaires were completed and some educator questionnaires were not returned or were incomplete, leaving 88 completed, including those from members of the SMT and SGB. The data was analysed using SPSS 22.0 software for descriptive statistics and factor analysis. Phase 2 was qualitative in nature and focused on obtaining an in-depth view of the issues that had arisen from the quantitative phase by conducting individual interviews with eight learners from racially diverse backgrounds and four focus groups with10 participants in each group, comprising members of the SMT and SGB as well as educators combined. Quantitative results indicated that SMT and SGB were effectively managing racial integration in the previously White, Indian and Coloured schools, whereas in Black schools there was no need for racial integration because there was only one race group. The qualitative results showed that racial integration was not evident in these schools but rather there was heightened racial conflict and racial incidences prevalent in former White, Indian and Coloured schools. The qualitative findings were: that policies were not in line with the country’s Constitution, which advocates racial equality and social justice, and this has a negative impact on effective racial integration at school level; a curriculum that does not accommodate the diverse needs of learners from racially diverse backgrounds, especially in respect of the language of teaching and learning; the dynamics of conflicting interrelationships both amongst learners themselves as well as their educators manifested through name-calling, labelling and stereotypical behaviour on a daily basis; and the need for capacity building of educators to equip them with the necessary knowledge, values, attitudes and skills to manage racial...