Abstract
To address safety and security in schools, the Department of Basic Education recommends formulating a safety committee in order to manage school safety and security matters. The school safety committee is formulated to ensure safety and security in the schooling environment by preventing and combating crime, violence, incidents, abuse and all forms of abuse and or bullying. The study’s main purpose was to determine the principals’ experiences in supporting the school safety committee in secondary schools. The study used the qualitative research approach and the generic qualitative research design within the interpretivist paradigm. The data from the five secondary school principals were collected through individual semi-structured interviews. The interview schedule was created before the actual interview, and the interview questions were aligned with the main research questions of the study. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse and interpret the data through coding processes and formulating codes, themes, sub-themes, and categories. Research findings revealed that once-off training is provided to the safety committee by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) after being appointed into the committee, and the training is not enough for the safety committee to effectively undertake their roles and responsibilities of ensuring safety in schools. The findings showed that the safety committee members are unable to provide services and materials to ensure school safety and security since there is less or no budget for school safety. The findings suggested that there must be a budget set aside for school safety and the committee must develop a fundraising programme to capacitate the budget on safety. The safety committee members have the role of developing, reviewing and amending policies on school safety with the assistance of the school principal and other specialists in the field of policy development. The DBE may increase school safety, security, and maintenance allocations for easier FINCOM allocation. The DBE may support the school safety committee through continuous capacity development programs, prepare needs analyses, and offer tailored training to each school. The DBE may establish guidelines for the school safety committee to develop policies and procedures, including guidelines for documents and training on policy development and auditing
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processes, to ensure effective school safety. The data revealed that the school principals may support the safety committee in recording incidents, reporting data to stakeholders, and identifying potential hazards in the school environment. They must also assist in hazard identification. In the process of developing policies, the school principal's responsibility is to assist with the establishment, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the policies. The safety committee may be supported by the school principals through the inclusion of safety in the school budget.