Abstract
M.Ed.
The decline in the senior certificate examination (SCE) results has been an
ongoing phenomenon for the past five years in South Africa. Many studies and
newspaper reports (Sowetan, 1997:3) concerning the poor pass rate reflect the
need to compare the perceptions of educators on open democratic management
as an aspect of school effectiveness. The poor pass rate in the senior certificate
examination may be the result of numerous things, such as, the management style
of the principal, incompetence of educators due to poor qualifications and lack of
specialisation, learners unwillingness to learn, lack of involvement of parents in the
education of their children or lack of funds by the State.
Again, this phenomenon may be the result of the shift from the old content-based
education into the new paradigm of outcomes-based education (OBE). Therefore,
the purpose of this research is to investigate the nature of open democratic
management as an aspect of school effectiveness, compare the perceptions of
educators on open democratic management and to provide guidelines for
differently achieving schools to possibly improve the senior certificate examination
results. In this chapter, the background of the research problem is briefly
explained and the aims, research methodology and program of the dissertation
described.