The implementation of the strategic management process by the school management teams in historically disadvantaged public secondary schools

Abstract

The problem this study sought to address was the inconsistent and inappropriate implementation of the strategic management process (SMP) by the school management teams (SMTs) in the historically disadvantaged public secondary schools in Motheo District (Free State province). This problem had a negative impact on the management of these schools, and ultimately led to the education system being unable to provide quality education to learners in these schools. To address the above problem, I employed a mixed methods research approach by following an explanatory sequential design. This design is composed of quantitative phase and qualitative phase. In quantitative phase, I employed systematic sampling to select 130 SMT members as the participants. The questionnaire was employed to collect data from these participants; and descriptive statistical analysis was employed to analyse these data. In qualitative phase, three participants were selected from the 130 participants selected in quantitative phase. Face to face semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data; and thematic analysis was employed to analyse these data. The findings of these two phases were integrated to form the findings for this study. The findings revealed that a majority of sampled SMT members consistently and appropriately implemented the SMP, while a minority of sampled SMT members either implemented SMP inconsistently and inappropriately or did not implement it at all. The concern of this study was the latter, who confirmed existence of the above problem in these secondary schools. It was found that these members were unable to implement the SMP in their schools as they had not been trained. This lack of training had manifested itself into confusion, and a lack of understanding and knowledge on how to implement SMP in their schools. As such, it was recommended that Department of Basic Education (DBE) ought to adopt a policy that deals directly with the implementation of the SMP. In addition, DBE ought to train all schools’ SMTs. Each SMT ought to adopt an SMP model, and each school governing body (SGB) ought to allocate enough school funds to address the above problem. It is the understanding of this study that if these recommendations are adequately and properly implemented, may contribute to the solution of the above problem.