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Conceptual framework

Literature consulted alluded to the fact that school health programmes are premised on a traditional conceptual definition of health and safety (Marx, Wooley & Northrup 1998). A number of conceptual frameworks have been proposed in literature. The most widely used conceptual framework for comprehensive school health is the “co-ordinated school health” model proposed by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA and later refined by Marx, Wooley and Northrup (1998). This framework identifies eight major conceptual components considered critical to a co-ordinated or comprehensive programme for school health. The areas include health education, physical education, health services, nutrition services, counselling, psychological and social services, a healthy school environment, health promotion for staff and parent or community involvement. For this research study the conceptual framework was located within the notion of health and safety in schools.

Theory in administration

There may be more than one theory of administration, but the theory selected for this study was the one propounded by Halpin (1966:50), who asserts that the ultimate criterion of an administrator’s effectiveness should be expressed in terms of group or organisational achievements in respect of the changes in the organisation’s accomplishments that can be attributed to the behaviour of the administrator. Two different administrators can accomplish different achievement levels, depending on their administrative efficacies. This criterion reflects the differences between the organisation’s achievement at time “A” and its achievement at time “B”. Cattell in Halpin (1966:50) defines a leader as a person who has a demonstrable influence upon group syntality. Leadership is measured by the magnitude of the syntality change (from the mean) produced by that person, i.e. by the difference between syntality under his/her leadership and the syntality under the leadership of the average or modal leader (Ibid).
The fact that two different principals or pre-school managers have different leadership capabilities, implies that their administrative efficacies can also be different. In a school situation, it therefore depends on the administrative efficacy of a particular principal, that FA provisioning is effectively administered.
It is possible to compare two schools in terms of their administrative efficacies in FA provisioning represented by A and B. In the case of this study, the task of the paradigm is FA provisioning. The behaviour of two administrators with reference to FA provisioning in two different schools will show results. Assuming that all other variables are the same and all things being equal, if the administrator for school A has superior leadership behavioural skills than the one for school B, it would follow that the amount of “desirable” change in the achievement of school A would be greater than the amount of change in the achievement of school B. I used this paradigm in my study to compare and demonstrate how the administrative efficacies of the different sampled schools’ capabilities translated into desired FA provisioning achievement levels.
The Education Service Advisory Committee of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) says in the introduction to a book written by Lauplugh and Pagan (1996:3):
“ensuring health and safety in schools and colleges is an essential part of a school manager’s responsibility”. This cannot be achieved by one person alone. Overall effective health and safety management, including personal safety and security, has to be in place. It also has to affect the more general aspects of management as well as each member accepting responsibilities (Ibid). It calls upon principals to be qualified first aiders to initiate sustainable change in schools.
Weber’s (1894) legal-rational theory was adopted for this study. According to Max Weber (1894) the purest form, the ideal type of authority, is bureaucracy. In a school set-up, nothing matters so much for the school management team (SMT) as adherence to the dictates of rules, regulations and policies as expounded by the relevant departments and government, in this case the Department of Education (DoE). School administration has to be carried out within a prescribed legal framework – the Constitution, the NEPA and the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 (SASA). Weber (1894) argues that authority is vested in a set of rules and rule-bound institutions. The creation and changing of rules are outside the control of those who administer them.
This is a form of leadership in which the authority of an organisation or a ruling regime is largely tied to legal rationality, legal legitimacy and bureaucracy (Ibid). FA administrative efficacy has to be evaluated within the legal framework of the requisite policy guidelines.A cursory glimpse of the policy guiding FA provisioning leaves a lot to be desired. The policy was basically crafted with HIV/AIDS in mind, not FA provisioning. FA provisioning is subsumed under the policy that is heavily skewed in favour of curbing HIV/AIDS transmission.
First aid provisioning has to be viewed in the context of laws governing health and safety in schools. Adherence to the dictates of the provisions of the acts were used to evaluate the administrative efficacy in FA provisioning for the sampled schools. The task for the school administration was to comply with the demands of the relevant rules and regulations governing FA provisioning in schools. The efficacy of FA provisioning in Gauteng schools had to be evaluated against the backdrop of the relevant laws and the constitutional mandates.

READ A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH LITERATURE ON CHILDREN’S TRANSITIONS

CHAPTER 1 OVERVIEW AND RATIONALE OF STUDY
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Background to the need for first aid in schools
1.3 Statement of the problem
1.4 Aim of the study
1.4.1 Objectives of the study
1.5 Research questions
1.5.1 Sub-questions
1.6 Rationale and significance of the study
1.7 Theoretical and conceptual framework
1 7.1 Conceptual framework
1 7.2 Theory in administration
1 7.3 Theories of evaluation
1.8 Research design and methodology
1 8.1 Research design
1.9 Population and sampling procedures
1.9 1 Units of analysis
1 10 Data collection methods and tools
1.11 Limitations and delimitations
1.12 Emergent data treatment
1.13 Clarification of concepts
1.15 Summary
1.16 Projection for the next chapter
CHAPTER 2 THE ADVENT OF FIRST AID IN SCHOOLS
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The critical structure of the literature review
2 2.1 Historical literature research
2 2.2 Critical analysis of the literature review
2 2.3 Relevance of the literature review
2 2.4 The organisation of the literature review: A synthesis
2 2.5 Primary sources
2 2.6 News broadcasts
2 2.7 Newspaper articles
2 2.8 Acts of parliament
2.3 The beginning of first aid on the world scene
2.4 History of first aid in South Africa
2.5 First aid comes to schools
2 5.1 The context of first aid in schools
2 5.2 Emergency care in schools
2 5.3 The need for first aid in schools
2 5.4 Importance of first aid in schools
2.6 First aid skills and knowledge
2 6.1 Principles of first aid
2 6.2 First aid ethics
2 6.3 First aid procedures and accessories
2 6.4 First aid box/container
2 6.5 School nurses/doctors versus first aid trained teachers/learners
2 6.6 Health education
2 6.7 Health promotion
2 6.8 The place of first aid in health education and promotion
2.7 The psychology of workplace safety
2.8 First aid legal framework
2 8.1 The obligation to act in an emergency
2 8.2 The basis of liability: Negligence
2 8.3 Negligence in case of trained people
2 8.4 Negligence in case of unqualified or untrained persons
2 8.5 General guidelines
2 8.6 Legal liability for first aiders
2 8.7 The supply of medicines
2 8.8 Acting in loco parentis
2.9 The role and responsibility of the school nurse
2 10 A case study of school health services and first aid in the United Kingdo
2 10.1 Responsibility for first aid in UK schools
2 10.2 School first aid administration in the UK
2 10.3 The first aider’s duties
2 10.4 The role of the appointed first aid person
2 10.5 First aid: What schools need to do (UK)
2 10.6 Information
2 10.7 Insurance
2 10.8 Risk assessment of first aid needs
2 10.9 Accident statistics
2 10.10 Selection of first aiders
2 10.11 Communication and contacting first aid psonnel
2 10.12 Qualifications and training of first aiders
CHAPTER 3 PREVIOUS RESEARCH STUDIES ON FIRST AID PROVISIONING IN SCHOOLS
3.1 Introduction
3.2 First aid can be taught to minors: Research study in Bergen (Norway)
3.3 Feasibility of compulsory first FA for learners and teachers: Research study in France
3.4 First aid knowledge and skills training should start early in life: Research study in Sweden
3.5 First aid is crucial in curbing morbidity and mortality: Research study in India
3.6 Continuing and professional development of FA is essential for skills and knowledge retention: Research study in Chin
3.7 First aid training is necessary to increase knowledge and skills: Research findings in Egypt
3.8 Doctors and nurses may or may not possess the requisite FA skills and knowledge: Research study in India
3.9 First aid research studies in South Africa and Gauteng province
3 10 Summary of first aid findings in the research studies 140
3.11 Implications of previous research findings for this study
3.12 The identified “gap” in the studies
3.13 Summary
CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Restatement of the research questions
4 2.1 Sub-question
4.3 Theoretical framework
4.4 Research design
4 4.1 The emergent research design
4 4.2 The researcher as a data-gathering instrument
4 4.3 Data collection methods and tools
4 4.4 Population and sampling procedure
4 4.5 Observations
4 4.6 The record sheet
4 4.7 Focus group discussions
4 4.8 Sampling and group composition
4 4.9 Running focus group discussions
4 4.10 Selecting stimulus material
4 4.11 Semi-structured interviews
4 4.12 Setting up appointments
4 4.13 Gaining entry
4 4.14 Face-to-face interviews
4 4.15 Data analysis
4 4.16 Coding
4 4.17 Identifying patterns and being analytical
4.5 Ethical measures
4 5.1 Letters of assent
4 5.2 Recruitment and ethical issues
4.6 Measures to ensure trustworthiness
4.7 Summary
CHAPTER 5 PRESENTATION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
CHAPTER 6 SYNTHESIS OF FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND
CONCLUSION