Abstract
D.Ed.
One of the central themes that permeate the concept of learning organisations is its focus
on individual and collective learning. Learning organisations are characterised as organisations that are capable of creating learning cultures, where acquisition of skill and
knowledge is seen as an investment in tomorrow. Individual learning is promoted at
personal, interpersonal and professional levels. Collective learning is promoted through
conversation, inquiry and relationship building on collaborative cultures. This research
focuses on how school principals and educators can transform their schools into learning
organisations.
This research concentrated on Black schools due to the enormous problems that exist in
these schools. Use was made of a two-phase methodology namely the quantitative and
the qualitative methods to elicit the perceptions of educators with regard to the school as
a learning organisation.
In relation to the quantitative method, a structured questionnaire consisting of 88 items
was administered to 100 educators, with a return of 74,3%. After two successive factor
analyses of the responses the 88 items were reduced to two factors only, namely:
a collaborative culture consisting of 74 items, with a Cronbach-alpha reliability
coefficient of 0,971; and
educator commitment consisting of 13 items with a Cronbach-alpha reliability
coefficient of 0,749.
The two factors, namely collaborative culture and educator commitment were then used
as parameters for the qualitative individual and focus group interviews. Thus the merging
of the two traditional methodologies, namely the qualitative and quantitative paradigms,
enriched the research.
The researcher used one individual interview and two focus group interviews to elicit the
opinions of educators concerning the concepts collaborative culture and educator
commitment. The responses of the participants were coded and analysed. Eight themes
emerged from the analysis namely:
personal mastery;
mental models;
shared vision;
team learning;
systems thinking;
reflection;
dialogue; and
leadership/management
(iv)
Categories related to these themes were also identified. The direct quotes of the
respondents were transcribed and these together with the themes and categories were
discussed in relation to relevant research literature.
The results of the data analysis showed that the learning organisation is built around
collaborative cultures and educator commitment. There was congruence between the
literature review, the structured questionnaire and the individual and focus group
interviews in that the themes that make up a learning organisation were personal mastery,
mental models, shared vision, team learning, systems thinking, reflection/inquiry,
dialogue and leadership/management.
The recommendations that are provided in this research are based on the eight themes
identified in the individual and focus group interviews, on the findings from the literature
review as well as from the findings from the structured questionnaire. Although eight
themes were identified these themes are closely related and interactive.
The research was concluded with a chapter on the findings, results and recommendations,
as well as possible areas that needed further investigation.