Abstract
M.Ed.
The major problem in this research is that middle managers at the Foundation Phase seem not to be satisfying their roles of managing other educators, and learners’ activities and implementing curricula in class.
The main aim of the research is to probe how the management roles impact on the Foundation Phase middle managers’ performance and to suggest ways and means to assist in the running of their daily activities as both managers and educators. The other aim is to suggest how the middle managers could synchronise the two roles maximally and to make recommendations regarding the way the two roles could be executed with ease.
This is a qualitative research. The techniques and tools to be used are a phenomenological approach, in depth interviews, questionnaires and observations for data collection, while a descriptive analytical approach is used for data analysis.
The findings are that middle managers at the Foundation Phase have a responsibility far above their capabilities. They are overloaded, overburdened and over- worked.
The recommendations are that the middle managers should be supported by all stakeholders in education particularly the department of education which should reduce the educator-learners ratio and also provide them with assistants in classes. It is further recommended that future research should focus attention on establishing benchmarks for workloads in schools and colleges.