parents and principals as partners in creating a culture of learning

1.4.4 Parents
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Reference is usually made to "the parents" as a collective term. However, not
everyone shares the same understanding of the concept. Some view parents as
"those entitled to educate". Others think of a specific group within the whole (for
example, working parents) or consider the concept serves to differentiate parents
from the "non-parents" in the community (Dekker & Lemmer, 1993:153). The
researcher is of the view that parents are neither an amorphous nor a homogenous
mass. They have only one trait in common, namely that they have children.
Parents come in all sizes, shapes, attitudes, races and ethnic groups, and display
all kinds of skills, attitudes, and interests. This study assumes that "parents"
include the entire parent community of a specific school in a specific environment
with all the diversity which may occur in that parent school community.
1.4.5 Principal
The principal in a school situation means the person who is first in rank. The fact
that the principal is referred to as an educational leader and/or educational
manager automatically implies that he is in charge of a particular kind of an
organisation - a school. It also implies that he offers guidance to teachers and
pupils of his school as well as to the parents and other parties concerned, and that
his guidance is calculated to bring out the best in every facet of teaching and
learning (De Witt, 1993:9).
1.4.6 Theory of Partnership
Van Rensburg, Landman & Bodenstein (1994:554) describe the concept "theory"
as a plan or scheme existing in the mind only but based on principles verifiable by
experiment and observation; a proposed explanation designed to account for any
phenomenon.