Abstract
The aim of this thesis is to investigate the role of the principal in a functional school situated in a dysfunctional environment in the Gauteng province of South Africa and to make recommendations to assist schools in dysfunctional or disadvantaged areas to achieve school functionality. Functional schools were classified as those obtaining pass rates of between 80 – 100% (coded 0) in the Senior Certificate Examination (SCE) whilst schools obtaining less than 40% were classified as dysfunctional (coded 1). The SCE is the final examination written by learners in South Africa after twelve years of schooling. The dependent variable was thus categorical and dichotomous.
It was postulated that the functionality of a school would be related to facts involved with a school’s background, principal’s background, staffing issues, school facilities, school finance, school governance, school inspection and supervision, attendance rates and school management. The stepwise logistic regression models showed inter alia, that the younger a principal, the fewer the teacher posts funded by the School Governing Body, the more a school relies on Government grants: the larger is the probability of the school being dysfunctional. The major characteristic of dysfunctional schools was “low socio-economic background” or dysfunctional areas.
Further research was carried out to investigate the emotional intelligence and culture creation in two schools, a dysfunctional and a functional school, in the same socio-economic area. Hence, socio-economic background was kept constant for both schools and as such was removed from the investigation.
A literature study was undertaken to gather background and explore various aspects linked to what makes a school functional in a dysfunctional area. Schein’s (2004) qualitative contributions argue that leadership and culture are two sides of the same coin. However, Kets De Vries (1993) argued that leadership styles are largely inconclusive. Goleman (1996), on the other hand, argues that while style may be inconclusive, the leader’s emotional intelligence is common to all styles. Therefore, the researcher argues that emotional intelligence (rather than leadership) and culture are two sides of the same coin.
Observations, semi-structured interviews and document analysis were used to gauge the emotional competencies of the principals in the two schools. Furthermore, an Organisational Culture Profile (OCP), adapted by O’Reilly and Chapman (1996), was completed by the principal and educators in both the schools. The dimensions of the OCP were used to determine the difference in the strength of the school culture in the dysfunctional and functional schools.
The findings of this thesis displayed that leaders must have most of the competencies in emotional intelligence in order to be able to embed a strong culture in his/her school. The role of the principal in creating a strong culture in his/her school is essential in achieving a functional school in a dysfunctional area.
Prof. B.R. Grobler