The impact of effective schools infrastructure and facilities management on learners and educators.

Abstract

The school infrastructure and facilities management are the key components towards the actualisation of the core business for which the school was designed for. The attainment for the educational objectives relies solely on the physical learning environment; societal teaching and learning environment, as well as facilities management. Physical environment for learning denotes various school building locations; school cultures and contexts under which the teaching and learning takes place. Societal teaching and learning environment, on the other hand, refers to the effects and the state of the surroundings; communities or societies under which educators teach and learners receive their education prerogatives. Infrastructure and facilities management are facing diverse challenges regarding: the state or conditions; maintenance; management; schools support by officials; implementation problems and bureaucratic processes which are a stumbling block to effective service delivery. The KwaZulu-Natal DoE (KZNDoE) has implemented programs in order to face infrastructure challenges and facilities management. However, their effect was minimal and inadequate. There seems to be a connection or link challenge in the endeavours of dealing with the above-mentioned. An in-depth study to unpack the missing link on the impact of effective schools Infrastructure and Facility Management on Learners and Educators is vital and might address the frustrations facing KZNDoE school management teams and officials responsible for the implementation thereof. A quantitative study approach was adopted in this research since it measures problems by formulating numerical information that can be converted into the statistics that can be useful. It further enumerates attitudes; opinions; behaviours; as well as generalising results from a larger sample population. A survey was conducted at KZNDoE schools, targeting iLembe district, in which 100 schools were selected out of 123. A 98% response rate was registered, whereby a primary tool used to collect data was a questionnaire. The study revealed the following: unsatisfactory health and safety ethics in schools; exposed poor infrastructure management; ignored learning environment in schools; inadequate support on infrastructure planning and facilities management. Provincial and District management teams need to review and refine their operations towards obtaining better service delivery. All the stakeholders involved need to take their full responsibilities. This study will be beneficial to all concerned.