Strategic tools for the management and improvement of public schools in the Cape metropole

Abstract

Education plays an essential role in economic growth. The realisation of the ideal of a high-quality education system depends on sound financial management. Certain strategic tools are required to minimise the impacts of financial incompetence, mismanagement, and insufficient resources at public schools and thereby promote their effectiveness. The aim of the study is to examine the utilisation of beyond budgeting and the rolling forecast as strategic tools for monitoring management for improving public schools in the Cape Metropole. To address the research objectives, the study employed a quantitative-type questionnaire administered to 100 public schools in the Cape Town Metropolitan area of the Western Cape province in South Africa. In this study, the researcher conducted reliability, validity, discriminant validity, and structural modelling analysis by using version 27 of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and the partial least squares-structural equation modelling approach (PLS-SEM, version 3.3.3) for data analysis. The examined relationships generated satisfactory results consistent with how they were hypothesised, according to the results of the structural equation modeling analysis. The results revealed a positive and significant relationship between the variables beyond budgeting and rolling forecast and the improvement of management in public schools. Furthermore, the participants in this study always uses the rolling forecast and beyond budgeting. In the latter, the results of the study could serve to educate representatives of public schools operating in the Cape Metropole on effective financial management. The researcher recommends that department of education should provide training to the management of public school. Particularly in the flexible tools such as beyond budgeting and rolling forecast to improve their financial performance.