Maximization of learning outcomes through improved Human Resources Management in schools

Abstract

While there is a new vision and direction as set out in the new education policy frameworks, human resources management in schools is still shaped by disempowering autocratic ethos, systems and procedures inherited from the apartheid era. Consequently, the management styles required to rehumanize the staff in schools, especially black township schools, is absent. Capacity building for service delivery is lacking. In this study, the researcher uses a qualitative research based on multiple selected sites to explore what barriers stand in the path of employees at school level with regard to the delivery of the expected learning outcomes and also to suggest ways and means to remove or limit these barriers. Research findings from this study suggest that managers in schools should not limit employees through their managerial actions, but rather empower their school staff by means of anchored freedom and enhance their performance through managing the environment surrounding them.