Creating Functional and Sustainable School-Community Partnerships: Lessons from Three South African Cases

Autor/in	Myende, Phumlani Erasmus
Titel	Creating Functional and Sustainable School-Community Partnerships: Lessons from Three South African Cases
Quelle	In: Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 47 (2019) 6, S.1001-1019 (19 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Myende, Phumlani Erasmus)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1741-1432
DOI	10.1177/1741143218781070
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; School Community Relationship; Partnerships in Education; Sustainability; Cooperative Planning; Participative Decision Making; Power Structure; School Culture; Leadership Responsibility; Teacher Leadership; Educational Improvement; College School Cooperation; Secondary Schools; Academic Achievement; Social Influences; Educational Environment; South Africa + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Hochschulpartnerschaft; Nachhaltigkeit; Schulkultur; Schulleben; Lehrerfunktionsstelle; Teaching improvement; Unterrichtsentwicklung; Sekundarschule; Schulleistung; Sozialer Einfluss; Lernumgebung; Pädagogische Umwelt; Schulumwelt; Südafrika; Süd-Afrika; Republik Südafrika; Südafrikanische Republik
Abstract	Globally, there is agreement that school-community partnerships are one of the mechanisms to address challenges that schools cannot address alone. However, evidence suggests that where school-community partnerships have been initiated, their functionality and continuity is not always easy to achieve, and research locally and internationally has not sufficiently addressed this concern. To bridge this gap, guided by Epstein's theory of overlapping spheres of influence, this paper examined what makes school-community partnerships functional and sustainable. The research used a qualitative case study and employed discursive oriented interviews (both individual and focus group), a researcher's reflective journal, and document reviews to generate the data. Participants were principals, teachers, and academics from two universities. It was found that for partnerships to be functional and sustainable there is a need to ensure that there is collaborative planning and decision-making, effective two-way communication, eagerness to address power issues, and the creation of a culture that promotes participative leadership. From these findings, the paper concludes that principal's leadership is only critical at the beginning stage of partnerships, and teacher leadership is central in the functionality and continuity of partnerships. In relation to the theoretical framework, it is further concluded that power is an important element to consider, which either brings partners together or pushes them apart. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01