When Decentralisation becomes Centralisation: An Ethnographic Study about Teachers’ Experiences of Participation in Decision-making in a Secondary School in the Pinetown District

Abstract This paper presents the perspectives of three teachers from Rosemary Secondary School about their experiences of participation in decision-making processes and the extent to which their participation had an effect on teaching and learning in the classroom. The school is located in the Pinetown District in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Restructuring and decentralisation of authority from the national levels to local levels has over the past 20 years or so, received increased attention worldwide including South Africa. This was based largely on the belief that where decision-making powers have been decentralised to local levels, better decisions and ownership prevail. However, the narratives from the teachers indicate that while decentralisation of power to school level has become a common feature in South Africa, centralisation tendencies can still be observed in certain schools such as Rosemary Secondary.

[1]  A. Bayaga,et al.  Management of schools: Teachers' involvement in decision making processes , 2013 .

[2]  Russell K. Schutt,et al.  Research Methods in Education , 2011 .

[3]  V. S. Mncube.  The perceptions of parents of their role in the democratic governance of schools in South Africa: Are they on board? , 2009 .

[4]  N. Duku,et al.  Negotiated identities: dynamics in parents\' participation in school governance in rural Eastern Cape schools and implication for school leadership , 2008 .

[5]  Martyn Hammersley,et al.  Ethnography : Principles in Practice , 1983 .

[6]  Daniella Tilbury,et al.  Tracking Our Progress , 2009 .

[7]  Fred C. Lunenburg,et al.  The decision-making process. , 1987, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[8]  Edith Lai.  Enacting principal leadership: exploiting situated possibilities to build school capacity for change , 2015 .

[9]  D. Gamage,et al.  Building trust among educational stakeholders through Participatory School Administration, Leadership and Management , 2007 .

[10]  S. Mokoena.  Participative Decision-making: Perceptions of School Stakeholders in South Africa , 2011 .

[11]  V. Mncube.  Stakeholders’ Perceptions and Experiences of Learners’ Involvement in Democratic School Governance in South Africa , 2012 .

[12]  S. Kvale,et al.  InterViews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing , 1996 .

[13]  T. Bhengu.  Principals as professional leaders : implications for management of rural secondary schools during transition. , 2005 .

[14]  T. Bhengu,et al.  School Governance, Financial Management and Learners’ Classroom Needs: Perspectives of Primary School Teachers , 2014 .

[15]  T. Bhengu.  School-community integration for school change: A case study of a rural secondary school in KwaZulu-Natal , 2013 .

[16]  A. Carl.  The voice of the teacher in curriculum development : a voice crying in the wilderness? , 2005 .

[17]  Dora Ho.  Teacher Participation in Curriculum and Pedagogical Decisions: Insights into Curriculum Leadership: , 2010 .

[18]  N. Wadesango.  The Influence of Teacher Participation in Decision-making on Their Occupational Morale , 2012 .

[19]  N. Wadesango.  Groupwork , 2012, Groupwork.

[20]  A. Somech.  Participative Decision Making in Schools: A Mediating-Moderating Analytical Framework for Understanding School and Teacher Outcomes , 2010 .

[21]  Bagiwa Zulaihatu Lawal,et al.  The impact of participatory decision making in organizational management , 2014 .