Abstract
M.Ed.
In Chapter One, light was shed on the description of the problem, the outline of the problem, the methodology used and clarification of some of the concepts that were used in this research. The problem that the Department of Education faced after 1994 was that there had been no system of evaluating the performance of schools or comprehensive data on the quality of teaching and learning or standards achieved in South African schools. These problems led to the introduction of the policy on Whole School Evaluation, which aims at analyzing the performance of schools, and also to help schools improve. This study therefore investigated the way in which this policy is implemented and the role-played by school districts. A focused literature review was conducted and a structured questionnaire was used.
Chapter Two focused on the review of literature based on THE ROLE OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF WHOLE SCHOOL EVALUATION.
The main aim of the research project was to see how school district teams provide support to schools in the implementation of WSE, which would lead to improvements at schools, and the enhancement of education. Against this background, the question is: How will schools benefit from the implementation of WSE? The study supports the view that schools, educators and school districts need to be accountable to their clients, and the department must ensure that all learners receive quality education. To achieve this, schools need to be evaluated and supported so that suitable strategies are put in place and a suitable range of management information is made available to enhance performance. From the literature review, it became clear that, in countries where WSE has been implemented, the accountability of stakeholders has increased and the performance of schools has improved with the help of recommendations that translate into School Improvement Plans (SIP).
The design of the research was explained in Chapter Three. A description of the empirical investigation was provided. The questionnaire was discussed and the course of the research was briefly outlined. The items (questions) were arranged into three factors and ranked according to their mean scores. One of the questions that ranked high was the question that aimed at finding out if respondents thought that WSE should be conducted at all schools. This question had a mean score of 5,08, which means the majority of respondents (81,5%) agreed or strongly agreed that WSE should be conducted in all schools, probably because it is mandated.
The analysis and interpretation of the empirical data were discussed in Chapter Four. The construction validity of the research instrument was investigated by means of two successive factor analytical procedures that reduce the 50 items to just three factors namely:
• The extent to which educators feel positive about WSE (FB) 25 items with a Gronbach-alpha-reliability coefficient of 0,9202.
• The general support (indirect) provided by school districts to schools (FC 1): 17 items with a Gronbach-alpha-reliability coefficient of 0,9202.
• The specific (direct) support provided by school districts to school (FC 2): 7 items with a Gronbach-alpha-reliability coefficient of 0,8802.
The three factors could thus serve as a basis for evaluating the role of school districts in the implementation of WSE.
The detailed statistical analysis of the research was confined to a comparison of one example of two independent groups and one example of three or more independent groups. Hypotheses were set and multivariate statistics were used to analyse and interpret the data. The Hotelling T² test was used to examine the difference in the vector means if the two factors were taken together. Where significant differences were found at multivariate level, they were further investigated by means of the Student t-test. For three or more groups, the multivariate hypothesis on, for example, age was investigated, using the MANOVA. Where there was a statistically significant differences, the researcher investigated further by means of Scheffe and Dunnett T3 tests.
After this summary of the aspects discussed during the research, findings emanating from the research are made. These findings are now briefly examined and recommendations for the role of the school district in the implementation of WSE are made.