Research: Education Management in SA (5)
The South African Standard for School Leadership
The National Department of Education has responded to this evident need for leadership preparation by developing a package of measures linked to the South African Standard for School Leadership (SASSL). The Department has acknowledged that:
Existing management and leadership training has not been cost effective or efficient in building management and leadership capacity, skills and competencies for the transformation process or in enabling policies to impact significantly on the majority of schools’ (DoE, October 2004).
To attempt to address this it has rooted the new professional development initiatives for principals and aspiring principals in its Policy Framework for Education Leadership and Management Development (DoE, October 2004). The Department has linked that policy framework to the South African Standard for School Leadership (SASSL) (DoE, August 2005), which clarifies exactly what the education system now expects of its principals. These documents are explicit in stating that school management and leadership are primarily about making sure that the teaching and learning process, as the main purpose of the school, is managed competently and effectively for the benefit of all learners. The Standard identifies six key areas of principalship:
• Leading and Managing the Learning School;
• Shaping the Direction and Development of the School;
• Assuring Quality and Securing Accountability;
• Developing and Empowering Self and Others;
• Managing the School as an Organisation;
• Working with and for the Community.
The new development strategy has two main elements:
1. An initial entry-level qualification for principals
This is set at the level of an Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE). The qualification has been developed by the Department of Education in collaboration with 14 universities, the unions, the Professional Association of Principals (SAPA), and a number of NGOs. The ACE will be used to train aspirant school principals and to upgrade the skills of those already in the post. The ACE is a vocational, professional management qualification; it is to be largely site-assessed and based to a large extent on proof of ability to apply the skills and knowledge in the participant’s own school. The initial cohort will comprise 400 practising principals and this is expected to rise to 1500 candidates when the first group of aspiring principals is enrolled in 2009. The intention is to create a pool of trained school managers so that, by 2011, the Department of Education can make successful completion of this course a prerequisite for being short-listed for the post of principal.
2. Improved conditions of service of principals
Principals have been re-graded and their pay adjusted upwards to reflect the number of staff they manage (rather than the number of learners in their school). This is the first stage in identifying principals as a separate employment category, to be known as a ‘Principal Management Service’ or PMS.
The de-linking of principals’ salaries and conditions from those of other teachers is intended to make it easier to reward them as well as to deploy them more flexibly. The intention is to professionalise this level of post and to ensure stronger accountability systems related to clear roles and responsibilities for principals and the performance of their institutions. There is also to be a defined career structure and precise conditions of service balanced with criteria against which to identify failing principals and have them removed.
The Department of Education (DoE, October 2004; August, 2005) has identified principals, as distinct from other school managers, as the main focus in the improvement of schools. The intention is to provide an overall package so that there is a concerted and systemic response to the professionalisation of principals linked to the improvement in their schools. According to the DoE, the result is a holistic and integrated approach, which, they claim, has broad-based support for the changes outlined in the two documents.
The Department of Education’s starting point is that teaching and the management of a school are fundamentally different jobs requiring different skills. It asserts that it is imperative that a vocational professional development programme and qualification be introduced. This is to ensure that those who are employed as principals in government schools are fit for the job. Whether this approach, and the holistic package outlined, will be able to address the evident problems of school management and leadership poses a research question of critical importance.
Learner discipline
The issue of learner discipline is widely regarded as having its roots in the years of protest against the apartheid government. As Bush and Anderson (2003:95) note, “one of the ‘weapons’ of the black majority was for youngsters to ‘strike’ and demonstrate against the policies of the white government”.
This made it difficult to establish a culture of teaching and learning (Bush & Anderson, 2003) and led to an emphasis on learners’ rights (Enslin & Pendlebury, 2000). McLennan (2000:295) links these issues together in her study of schools in Gauteng: “Discipline and the lack of a culture of teaching and learning was another common issue … In township schools, there was a culture of entitlement which made (students) unwilling to do any work”.
Mukhumo (2002), Pienaar (2003), and Porteus, Vally and Ruth (2002) claim that the ‘burning issue’ is the abolition of corporal punishment with no effective alternative measures provided to ensure classroom discipline. Most authors do not draw out the management implications of their research, but Harber and Trafford’s (1999) study of a former white school in Durban shows how the institutional structures and organisational culture of the school were changed to improve communication and to involve pupils in democratic decision-making.
Teacher discipline and reliability
There is a general acceptance that teacher reliability and punctuality are problems that contribute to a weak culture of teaching and learning and are likely to impact negatively on learner attitudes and discipline. However, the evidence on which this assessment is based is largely anecdotal. While Jansen (2004), and Peacock and Rawson (2001), deal with aspects of teacher competence and professionalism, there are few sources that directly address the issue of teacher reliability, or consider management strategies for dealing with this problem.
The National Department of Education has responded to this evident need for leadership preparation by developing a package of measures linked to the South African Standard for School Leadership (SASSL). The Department has acknowledged that:
Existing management and leadership training has not been cost effective or efficient in building management and leadership capacity, skills and competencies for the transformation process or in enabling policies to impact significantly on the majority of schools’ (DoE, October 2004).
To attempt to address this it has rooted the new professional development initiatives for principals and aspiring principals in its Policy Framework for Education Leadership and Management Development (DoE, October 2004). The Department has linked that policy framework to the South African Standard for School Leadership (SASSL) (DoE, August 2005), which clarifies exactly what the education system now expects of its principals. These documents are explicit in stating that school management and leadership are primarily about making sure that the teaching and learning process, as the main purpose of the school, is managed competently and effectively for the benefit of all learners. The Standard identifies six key areas of principalship:
• Leading and Managing the Learning School;
• Shaping the Direction and Development of the School;
• Assuring Quality and Securing Accountability;
• Developing and Empowering Self and Others;
• Managing the School as an Organisation;
• Working with and for the Community.
The new development strategy has two main elements:
1. An initial entry-level qualification for principals
This is set at the level of an Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE). The qualification has been developed by the Department of Education in collaboration with 14 universities, the unions, the Professional Association of Principals (SAPA), and a number of NGOs. The ACE will be used to train aspirant school principals and to upgrade the skills of those already in the post. The ACE is a vocational, professional management qualification; it is to be largely site-assessed and based to a large extent on proof of ability to apply the skills and knowledge in the participant’s own school. The initial cohort will comprise 400 practising principals and this is expected to rise to 1500 candidates when the first group of aspiring principals is enrolled in 2009. The intention is to create a pool of trained school managers so that, by 2011, the Department of Education can make successful completion of this course a prerequisite for being short-listed for the post of principal.
2. Improved conditions of service of principals
Principals have been re-graded and their pay adjusted upwards to reflect the number of staff they manage (rather than the number of learners in their school). This is the first stage in identifying principals as a separate employment category, to be known as a ‘Principal Management Service’ or PMS.
The de-linking of principals’ salaries and conditions from those of other teachers is intended to make it easier to reward them as well as to deploy them more flexibly. The intention is to professionalise this level of post and to ensure stronger accountability systems related to clear roles and responsibilities for principals and the performance of their institutions. There is also to be a defined career structure and precise conditions of service balanced with criteria against which to identify failing principals and have them removed.
The Department of Education (DoE, October 2004; August, 2005) has identified principals, as distinct from other school managers, as the main focus in the improvement of schools. The intention is to provide an overall package so that there is a concerted and systemic response to the professionalisation of principals linked to the improvement in their schools. According to the DoE, the result is a holistic and integrated approach, which, they claim, has broad-based support for the changes outlined in the two documents.
The Department of Education’s starting point is that teaching and the management of a school are fundamentally different jobs requiring different skills. It asserts that it is imperative that a vocational professional development programme and qualification be introduced. This is to ensure that those who are employed as principals in government schools are fit for the job. Whether this approach, and the holistic package outlined, will be able to address the evident problems of school management and leadership poses a research question of critical importance.
Learner discipline
The issue of learner discipline is widely regarded as having its roots in the years of protest against the apartheid government. As Bush and Anderson (2003:95) note, “one of the ‘weapons’ of the black majority was for youngsters to ‘strike’ and demonstrate against the policies of the white government”.
This made it difficult to establish a culture of teaching and learning (Bush & Anderson, 2003) and led to an emphasis on learners’ rights (Enslin & Pendlebury, 2000). McLennan (2000:295) links these issues together in her study of schools in Gauteng: “Discipline and the lack of a culture of teaching and learning was another common issue … In township schools, there was a culture of entitlement which made (students) unwilling to do any work”.
Mukhumo (2002), Pienaar (2003), and Porteus, Vally and Ruth (2002) claim that the ‘burning issue’ is the abolition of corporal punishment with no effective alternative measures provided to ensure classroom discipline. Most authors do not draw out the management implications of their research, but Harber and Trafford’s (1999) study of a former white school in Durban shows how the institutional structures and organisational culture of the school were changed to improve communication and to involve pupils in democratic decision-making.
Teacher discipline and reliability
There is a general acceptance that teacher reliability and punctuality are problems that contribute to a weak culture of teaching and learning and are likely to impact negatively on learner attitudes and discipline. However, the evidence on which this assessment is based is largely anecdotal. While Jansen (2004), and Peacock and Rawson (2001), deal with aspects of teacher competence and professionalism, there are few sources that directly address the issue of teacher reliability, or consider management strategies for dealing with this problem.