Abstract
M.Ed.
This study arose from the existing employment disparities and imbalances that pervade
most of the public schools and it focuses on explaining and describing the role of the
education human resource manager in implementing the policy of employment equity and
affirmative action in public schools as an intervention strategy that will equalise
employment opportunities by giVmg preferential treatment to the previously
disadvantaged.
The purpose of this study is to explore and understand the role played by the education
human resource manager in implementing the policy of employment equity and affirmative
action in public schools. When South Africa became a non-racial and non-sexist
democratic country in 1994, various pieces of legislation were enacted to correct
discriminatory employment practices and policies and to bring these in line with the norms
and values of the new constitution.
The research was conducted by means of qualitative research because it sets out to
investigate the phenomena in its natural setting thereby seeking to understand the inner
thoughts and feelings of the respondents with regard to their employment barriers. To this
end, semi-structured interviews were conducted and the researcher immersed himself in the
real life situation of the participants thus allowing for an in-depth description of their
behaviour and attitudes. Transcripts of raw data were analysed by means of coding.
The main findings arrived at was that there is an inestimable gap between the good
intentions of a policy to redress the past employment disparities and the practical
imperatives of the policy of employment equity and affi.rmative action. The implication
derived from this is that in-depth training and development of school governing bodies and
school management teams by the education human resource manager is critically
necessary. The proper implementation of the aforesaid policy will enhance effective
service delivery in public schools.