Abstract
This study investigated the role that the School Governing Body plays in confronting violence in rural area primary schools. One of the main purposes of the study was to get the perspective of the School Governing Body’s understanding of the role that they play or can play beyond the legal responsibilities in schools. Furthermore, the School Governing Body members had to reflect on the actual role that they play in confronting violence. Through the constructivist paradigm, participants were able to answer questions freely from their subjective views. The research conducted was qualitative and the research design was a case study. The narrative data were collected through interviews at four schools – these were multiple case studies. The study also included an interview with one education official in school governance in the region. The second method of data collection used was the analysis of documents such as the code of conduct.
The existing literature on the topic of school violence guided the research and provided insights that led to answering the research questions. The study findings are presented in three themes, namely defining violence, legal measures and parental involvement. It was found that the legal measures that are put in place by the School Governing Body are minimally functional. The policies exist, however, there is little evidence of their functionality. Shockingly, one of the participant schools could not provide a code of conduct. The study also found that there is a challenge in getting parents involved in schools. This is particularly true when a child has victimised other children through violence. All of the School Governing Body members in the different schools defined violence through the lens of bullying.