The management of communication between a school district office and its primary schools in Johannesburg South

Abstract: The democratic South African educational landscape over the past two decades has undergone a radical makeover. Fundamental changes include the change from a system of nineteen racially based education departments to a multi-layered non-racial and provincially-based education system. Central to all the business operations of the different departments within the education system is the management of communication. The purpose of this research was to explore how communication is received, processed, interpreted and responded to by key role-players within the local education district-school partnership. It focused on the organisational structures and partnership and how information is communicated, acted upon and what barriers retard the effective and efficient communicative processes. A generic qualitative research study was employed with particular focus on the management of communication within a regional education department namely a school district office and the schools under its jurisdiction. To answer the research question data was collected by means of a purposive sample of district and school leaders through individual interviews. School and district based officials were interviewed to look at how they manage communication. In addition, the study also looked at what factors impact on the management of communication. The researcher obtained permission from the Gauteng Department of Education and the District Director to conduct the research. All participants willingly participated and written approval was provided. The research findings emphasised the importance of communication in the day-to-day operations between the school district and the schools it services. Critical information is managed by different people and passes between the two organisations in different ways. Individual interviews afforded the researcher the opportunity to learn how the different stakeholders experience and manage communication within and across their organisations. Recommendations presented offer suggestions to both organisations on how to improve cross organisational communication which is the driving force behind all school and district operations. The impact of better communication will impact on the quality of service each offer which ultimately will improve the quality of education across all our institutions.M.Ed