Parents' role in governance: the case of early childhood development centres in Mabopane

Abstract

Good governance occupies a centre stage in the development discourse. Since there are currently no guidelines on the practice of good governance for ECD centres, this qualitative study followed the exploratory research approach and employed the case study research design to gain insight into how ECD centres in Mabopane practiced good governance concerning the roles played by parents in decision-making and accountability. The study used the Social Capital and Stakeholder theoretical frameworks to contextualise the investigation and employed eclectic methodological approaches involving triangulated sampling techniques, data collection methods and tools as well as data sources to generate data. The data were analysed using thematic content analysis and it was found amongst others that there were weaknesses in the governance practices within the ECD centres regarding parents’ roles in decision-making and accountability. The study recommended, amongst others, for concerted efforts involving all stakeholders to address those flaws.