Acknowledgements

A research project of this magnitude depends on contributions from a wide range of people for its success. I would like to take an opportunity to acknowledge the many people who have contributed in different ways to the compilation of this report.

First, thanks are due to the SABC and the Department of Education for supporting this research project. Of course, their involvement included the funding of the research itself. In addition, however, people from both the SABC and the Department participated regularly in project meetings, workshops, interviews, resource provision, and conceptualization of key areas of the report. In addition to those people who participated in interviews and workshops (separately acknowledged in appendices to this report), I would like to single out the following, who have given of their time and ideas in compiling this report: Vis Naidoo; Mashala Kwape; Nicola Galombik; Sam Makhubu; Shamima Vawda; Fakir Hassen; and David Moloto.

In addition to these people, this research has relied on many people for research input. The final report does not reflect these individual contributions as clearly as it should, as the nature of the research has demanded that they be integrated to create a coherent document. Nevertheless, each has contributed an essential building block to the final product, and is worthy of acknowledgement. The following table summarizes the different research contributions made by people from outside of SAIDE to the research process.

We are also indebted to the many other people who contributed ideas through workshops, interviews, and e-mail and fax correspondence. There are simply too many people to mention individually here. We have, however, included appendices to this report that acknowledge the contributions of these individuals. This report would have been much less comprehensive and relevant without all of their inputs.

Finally, many people at SAIDE contributed to the construction of this report, and is worth mentioning separately:

• Jennifer Glennie – as director of SAIDE, Jenny has played an important role in planning the project and ensuring that the necessary organizational requirements were in place to enable its effective implementation. She has also participated actively in the conceptualization of key ideas, and has contributed to the general management of the project.

• Kali Sachinis – Kali was the SABC project manager. As such, she was responsible for a range of tasks, including: providing input to the project plan; monitoring budgets; contracting researchers; organizing workshops; and assisting with the compilation of the final report. Her contribution has been essential to the success of the project.

• Monge Tlaka – Monge played a vital role in coordinating and implementing various of the consultative workshops that we organized for this research.

• Terry-Ann Selikow – Terry-Ann took responsibility for leading and coordinating SAIDE’s primary research into physical infrastructure at schools. She designed the questionnaire that informed this research process, and then took responsibility for te entire research process from administration of questionnaires through to compilation of the final report that is appended to this document.

• Tessa Welch – Tessa participated in the development of our quality assurance strategy, ensuring that it is in line with national trends, as well as contributing many ideas and resources that have provided the foundation of this section of the plan.

• Vuyokazi Zozi – Vuyokazi participated in identified research activities and provided administrative support.

Two people at SAIDE have provided particular support to me in completing this project, and they are Carey-Ann Jackson and Nicky Roberts. Carey-Ann and Nicky were contracted on a full-time basis to provide research support to this project. They have worked tirelessly over the past four months, conducting research, contributing to conceptual development exercises, and participating in the report-writing process. Without their contributions, this report simply would not have been possible. Carey-Ann took responsibility for compiling chapters one, three, four, eight, nine, ten, and eleven, and associated appendices. Nicky was responsible for compiling chapters two and twelve, as well as associated appendices. I am particularly grateful to them both for the extensive contributions that they have both made to this project.

Neil Butcher

SABC Project Team Leader