An exploration of the experiences of principals in performing their dual role as school managers and ex-officio members of school governing bodies in the Capricorn District in the Limpopo Province

Abstract

The dawn of democracy in South Africa also led to the democratization of schools which added the role of ex-officio member of the School Governing Body (SGB) to that of principal as school manager. Many previous studies have left a gap in understanding how school principals manage their roles as managers and ex-officio members of SGBs. Hence, this qualitative study which sought to explore how principals perceive their roles as managers and ex-officio members of SGBs within their schools and their experiences of performing their roles in school management and governance; to identify the challenges experienced by principals in performing their dual roles; and to establish how school principals manage the identified challenges. Semi-structured interviews with, and documents received from, six participant principals were used for the purpose of collecting data for this study. The participants were selected from one circuit in a rural area of Limpopo Province. The six schools, used in this study, were three secondary schools and three primary schools. All the schools are „no fee paying schools.‟ Most of the parents are illiterate and unemployed. The selected primary schools are among the schools which obtained high scores in the Annual National Assessment (ANA). For the secondary schools, the performance of learners in their Matriculation examination was used as the selection criteria. The selected schools were, therefore, those with good academic performance in the ANA and the Matriculation examination and demonstrated good governance. The findings of this study show that the principals who participated in the study seem to struggle in coping with their teaching, management and governance roles. Most of the principals admitted that there is a need to balance their roles, which is not easy, due to other factors, such as teaching, social responsibilities and a lack of time – amongst others. Working with illiterate SGB members is an extra burden for principals as ex-officio members as they have to train them and, at times, perform duties that are often the responsibility of other members of the SGBs.