Abstract
M.Ed.
Surprisingly little debate about the role and responsibilities of parents has surfaced in the current wave of concern over the plight of public education. Has there been a decline in parent involvement in the schools and if so, is that decline part of the schools' problem? Should parents step in when schools are faltering? Should schools that seek to improve themselves reach out to parents to help? What can parents contribute to the education of their children, at home and in schools? However illuminating the answers might be, these questions are hardly being addressed. Even with adequate support from policy makers, should we expect educators to turn ailing schools around all by themselves, with no direct assistance from parents or other members of the community? The changing circumstances in South Africa up to date can be seen as the inspiration for the investigation of how school governance is affected by this. Dramatic reform is taking place in South Africa regarding changing political and constitutional views on education, with a rapidly increasing trend towards multicultural education. Multicultural education is a trend that has manifested itself world-wide. The primary goal is to accommodate pupils of diverse and different cultures in one education system.
This study dealt with parents views on participative management in school that need to
survive in the above context. The important role of school governance is to bridge the
gap between what happens at home and what is happening in schools. It aims at
fostering and promoting this relationship in a mutual way, in other words the school
should benefit the parent community and the parent community should benefit from the
school as well. The study was conducted by means of interviewing parents about the need for more information regarding participative management. The findings suggest that there is such a need in the parent community, and that they need education and training to learn skills needed for participatory management.