Governing bodies in South Africa are expected to have an important role in ensuring high quality education in schools as well as in the democratization of the post-apartheid South Africa. However, current legislation precludes governing bodies from involvement in the professional management of schools. Governing bodies are democratically elected and thus they comply with representative democratic expectations. The governing bodies are less successful in the participative democratic model because of factors such the literacy of parents, the expectations of parents, the negative perceptions of principals and parents and the availability of parents to attend governing body meetings. The Education Laws Amendment Bill of 2007 may provide an opportunity for some governing bodies with capable and committed members to be more involved in the governing body activities. Governing bodies may not be successful in supporting schools to improve the quality of the education provided. However, there are indications that governing bodies may play a positive role in the school and the community to build democratic foundations that will lead towards sustainable high-quality education for all children.
This article adopts an international perspective to examine the perceptions and practice of leaders in a South African and an English primary school and the leadership implications. Both schools have experienced a relatively swift and large scale diversification of learners away from the previous white majority. In each case the educators have not diversified to the same extent. Interview data is explored to consider how diversity is conceived, and the implications for practice. Similarities and differences are identified, in order to increase understanding of context, its relation to practice and the implications for development in diverse organizations and societies. The article concludes that in both countries there are assertions that skin colour does not matter. Such blindness is a barrier to building greater inclusion.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.