Marketing culture in public schools : implications for school management

M.A.The purpose of this study is to determine what school marketing entails and furthermore to gauge the perceptions of public school principals on marketing and its implications on school management. Information pertaining to school marketing will be collected, inter alia, through the study of the relevant literature and through interviews with the principals of four schools. Through an analysis of the data collected from the literature study and interviews with the principals, guidelines will be provided on how principals of public schools can both create and maintain a marketing culture through effective management. The research does not propose to undertake any type of comparative international study of marketing in education. While the latter is worth pursuing, for the purpose of this research it is sufficient to note that de-zoning (open enrolment), cost cutting, deregulation and devolution of an increasing number of management functions of schools are the most immediate impulses behind the marketisation of public schooling in South Africa. In view of the stipulations of the South African Schools Act 84/1996 and the consequent need for schools to embark on a programme of marketing, the aims of this research study can be outlined as follows : To determine: 1.3.1 What school marketing is. 1.3.2 The perceptions of school principals on school marketing culture and its implications on management, and 1.3.3 how a school principal can create and maintain a marketing culture through effective management