A B S T R A C TThis article examines the factors which impact upon the creation of a school environment for the effective management of cultural diversity as legislated for in the directive principles of the South African Schools Act of 1996 and the Schools Education Act of 1995. The two Acts determine that every person shall have the right to basic education and to equal access to schools and centres of learning. It is within this framework that this research was undertaken employing a quantitative research method. The research demonstrated that a school environment for the effective management of cultural diversity can be achieved through creative approaches to professional management and school governance, characterized by a collaborative management style. Managing cultural diversity can often be complicated by communication problems and stereotyping due to differences based on moral, ethical, socio-political and economic issues. The previous divisions of schools under the pre-1994 regime according to departments of education and mother tongue were found to be both statistically and substantially significant as independent variables for the management of cultural diversity. K E Y W O R D S collaborative management, cultural diversity, governance, management of diversity, school effectiveness
PurposeThis paper aims to explore and describe the limits of recent law‐based school reform in South Africa from an education management perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe research design consists of a qualitative, investigative, descriptive and contextual design which Merriam would classify as a basic or generic design type.FindingsThe findings revealed specific problems associated with recent mandated changes in South African schools. These were classified as categories (themes) within the research design and described in detail: lack of local skills capacity at school and district levels; the “knowing and doing” gap; the tensions created by legal issues between teachers and learners; too many changes too rapidly; bureaucratic red tape; top‐down approach; contextual factors.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper explored the problems associated with mandated changes in South African schools in one province. The sample is very limited and therefore further study is needed to fully understand the lack of implementation in the 25,139 public schools country wide.Originality/valueThis paper recognises the seminal work done by De Mitchell and Fossey on the limits of law‐based school reform but adds illumination on the lack of implementation of mandated changes within the South African context.
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