| Summary: | This small-scale study sought to investigate "The effectiveness of the training of School Governing Bodies provided by the KZN Department of Education: perceptions of parentmembers at three Phoenix West Ward schools of the Kwa-Mashu Circuit in the Ethekwini Region". This qualit ative study gathered data through the case study approach guided by the following key questions: 1. What are the parents ' perceptions regarding the training methods used at SGB workshops? 2. What are their perceptions regarding the adequacy and appropriateness of the training content? 3. What are their views in terms of how the training of SGBs can be made more fruitful ? The study entailed interviewing parent members of the SGBs at three Phoenix West schools, analysing training documents as well as observation of training workshops. The findings of the study revealed that the KZN Education Department basically uses the workshops approach and cascading method to train SGBs. It was also found that the cascade model used alone has problems. A lot of vital information gets distorted or lost as the information is cascaded to the lower levels. The cascade model also may lead to increased monopoly in attending workshops and consequently, marginalisation of other SGB members. In the light of the above challenges, I recommend that radio broadcasts be used to compliment the cascading model and other methods to transmit information to as many SGB members as possible. In addition to the written manuals that are provided to schools, it is recommended that other visual and audio resources such as training videos cassettes and CD materials be provided as part of the SGB training resource packs. This is possible now because most schools, even in rural areas, have electricity and television sets. The use of two different actors in the training field did not seem to add value to the objectives of training. These programmes were run by the School Governance Training Unit (SGTU) based at the Pinetown District Office and School Effectiveness Programme based at Ulundi (and later Pietermaritzburg) Head Office. They had separate programmes, budgets and officials. Instead of bringing development to the SGBs, these programmes seemed to have brought clashes of workshop dates and confusion to the SGBs. It is suggested that these programmes be amalgamated as they serve the same purpose for the SGBs. === Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.
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