The coming into being of a democratic South Africa in 1994 has resulted in many changes in the education system. Many changes in the education system have taken place in the area of curriculum and management of schools. These have reversed all changes that had been implemented since the introduction of Bantu Education in 1953. Among the new changes is the introduction of the Further Education Training curriculum. A qualitative research was undertaken whose purpose was to develop a better understanding of the SMT in relation to their roles in facilitating the introduction of FET curriculum in schools. This study was undertaken among 3 secondary schools in Pinetown District. Purposive sampling procedures were used to select schools. Factors used for selection were schools geographical contexts such as urban, township and rural settlement. Three schools participated. The following stakeholders were identified and participated in each school; principals, deputy-principals, Heads of Department and post level one educators. There were three participants from each school. A rich qualitative data was produced through semi-structured interviews. The SMT interviewed members believe that no stakeholder within schools participated in the interviews ready for the FET curriculum implementation. SMTs do not understand it; thus they have not built capacity among educators; SMTs do not attend the FET workshops but SMTs send educators and educators who attend do not provide feed back to SMTs; SMTs do not hold workshops within schools; educators know more about the FET curriculum than SMTs, yet they are supposed to monitor its implementation; the cascade model used by the Department of Education is ineffective. The Department needs to monitor the implementation of training provided at these workshops.

Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.