The effects of educator's rationalization on school governance in Public school of the Vhembe District, Limpopo Province

Abstract

As a way of addressing inequity, the Department of Basic Education had to address racial discrimination to equalize the supply of human resources in terms of teacher-pupil ratio, through staff rationalization and redeployment in the education system in consideration of South African Schools Act (SASA) (Act 84 of 1996). It was to ensure that a uniform system of school governance was introduced in all public schools. The implementation of those changes in education procedurally posed a serious challenge to some of the educators. Some even refused to be redeployed to new schools. This study aimed at investigating effects of staff rationalization on school governance. The quantitative approach was followed in this study, and sixty experienced participants were purposely sampled. The sample size comprises 28 educators, 8 school managers, 8 HOD members, 6 SGB members, 6 Trade Union members and 4 circuit officials. Participants were drawn within the Vhembe District in Limpopo Province. From there, data was obtained from those participants through means of constructed questionnaires. The researcher analyzed quantitative data through the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). It was expected that the results would reveal the outcomes of the implementation of staff rationalization by the Department of Basic Education. Finally, it was found that the implementation of rationalization and redeployment created a negative effect to most schools, which influenced the way in which schools are governed. Such ungovernability was a mechanism used by SGB members to demand more educators to address staff shortages at their schools. This research aimed at influencing the implementation of rationalization to be re- planned and implemented in a stress-free manner.