Abstract
M. Ed. (Educational Management)
Schooling in South Africa has been influenced to a large extent by socio-economic and
political factors which resulted in a wide variety of schooling systems with vastly
differing frameworks and standards. This coupled with the high failure rate of South
African students in the 1995 matriculation examination as reported in The Star reflects
the need to critically examine the effectiveness of the teaching programme (Swart and
Mothibeli, 1995: 1).
The Provincialisation of Education in South Africa has introduced far reaching
changes which is aimed at improving the quality of Education and also at achieving
cost efficient and effective use of educational resources. In a series of articles carried
in The Star, increasing educational budget, introducing a single matric examination,
introducing practical curricula and implementing teacher upgrading programmes were
cited as some of the priorities of the new education department (Anon, 1995: 5).
- While the South African Education system undergoes radical changes the question
concerning educational productivity and school finance continues internationally.
Odden and Clune (1995: 6) stated that although the budgetary provisions for schools
in the United States for the period 1960 to 1990 rose by 200% there was only a slight
improvement in student achievement. Many significant studies have been conducted in
the past few years on school development and on school improvement but views on
teacher effectiveness still remain illusive (Dalin, 1994:10). In some instances it is
related to occupational roles while for others it is focused on routine aspects of work
activity...