Dysfunctional Schools: A Mentoring Framework

 

During transformation (1994 onwards), the South African government instituted different interventions within Education as an attempt to redress learner achievement and throughput. However, various researchers and opinion leaders still view the quality of education in South Africa as disparaging and deficient as well as characterised by an increasing prevalence of dysfunctional schooling systems. Therefore, this research aimed to design a generic mentoring framework through which transformation within dysfunctional schooling systems can be facilitated. In order to achieve this, a micro-level analysis of schooling systems, using the functionalist perspective, specifically enabled through the contributions of Parsons and Merton was undertaken. In addition, insight gained from a broad range of literature and other secondary resources on mentoring, best practice and quality education was used to develop a number of premises. Based on these premises the generic mentoring framework can be adapted to enable a fit-for-purpose mentoring system within a school to allow facilitation of a process of sustained transformation which gravitates towards whole school development and culture that envisions quality education for all.