WP | The Role of School Governing Bodies
A working paper by Noma Pakade and Thokozani Chilenga-Butao School governing bodies (SGBs) are the nerve centres of schools in South Africa. Their main purpose is to create and maintain…
The Education Governance Programme was premised on dealing with a central problem in South Africa’s basic education system: how education institutions, their internal dynamics and processes affect education outcomes in the country. Thus the programme focused specifically on education governance as a key constraint in the sustainable, effective and equitable provision of basic education in South Africa.
As such, the Education Governance Programme sought to provide an institutional and governance lens of the basic education system in South Africa, that demonstrated the effects of the historical legacies, institutional dynamics and practices within the education system that led to uneven and skewed outcomes in the system. This lens relied on empirical research of the challenges in education institutions such as provincial education departments (PEDs), school governing bodies (SGBs) and teachers’ unions, thereby providing a practical understanding of why education is not meeting the system’s demands and expectations and how to confront this reality.
The Education Governance Programme aimed to shift the debates on education governance from pedagogy and policy failures, to an examination of the intricacies of education governance which would be fit for both academic and practical application. This programme began closing out in June 2021.
