Managing teacher turnover

Concerns about educator turnover and attrition are reported widely as a global phenomenon. Turnover translates, amongst other things, into shortages in educator supply, costs in recruitment, training and mentoring, poor learner performance due to disruption of planning programmes and continuity, as well as overcrowded classes. This poses a challenge to the education system to manage turnover and retain teachers. This is critical to the future of quality education delivery, especially in the light of changes in the system generally and the demands placed on it to deliver education in line with the country's socio-economic expectations. A teacher turnover and retention strategy that addresses the sources thereof is therefore essential. This article draws attention to the phenomenon of teacher turnover, makes recommendations for the management thereof by education departments in the country, and is a first step towards comprehensive research into teacher turnover in South Africa. South African Journal of Education Vol.23(4) 2003: 287-29

The school organisational climates of well-performing historically disadvantaged secondary schools

In the study reported on here we investigated the nature of the organisational climates of well-performing, historically disadvantaged secondary schools. These schools were designated for Black learners during the apartheid era in townships and rural areas. Despite their “disadvantagedness”, many of these schools have consistently performed well in the National Senior Certificate (NSC)ii for 3 consecutive years or more. The Organisational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire-Rutgers Elementary (OCDQ-RE) was administered to 1,050 teachers from these schools in the Gauteng Department’s Sedibeng and Johannesburg South districts. Results reveal that although these schools are regarded as well-performing, their teachers perceived their organisational climates as closed with principal and teacher behaviours being closed. Teachers experienced very low engagement and above-average frustrated behaviour. An important consideration is that principals seemed to exhibit directive support, which seems to have led to teachers exhibiting features of engaged behaviour. The implication is for principals’ capacity-building, which should include features of holistic school organisational behaviour and development. Furthermore, the Organizational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire for Secondary Schools (OCDQ-RS) should be validated for the South African school context

Perceived collective teacher efficacy in low performing schools

The challenge of low performing schools continues to rear its ugly head in many countries, including South Africa. The responses to low performance differ from country to country, but none of these have included the enhancement of collective teacher efficacy in their repertoire. Research shows that collective teacher efficacy is positively related to improved academic performance of learners. Schools with a higher sense of collective efficacy outperform schools with a lower sense of collective efficacy. Schools with high efficacy are characterised by strong work ethic, and teachers who persist in the face of difficulty. Moreover, teachers in these schools are more persistent in their efforts, plan more, and view failure as a temporary set-back that does not discourage them. Therefore, if principals and their management teams could find a way to enhance collective teacher efficacy, the challenge of low-performing schools may be overcome. In view of this, quantitative research was conducted with the aim of determining the strength of collective teacher efficacy in low performing schools. Ten randomly selected schools in the Kenneth Kaunda Education District were involved in the research and in each selected school all the teachers were involved (N = 217). Data was collected using a questionnaire (The Collective Teacher Efficacy Scale: short version). The questionnaires were delivered and collected in schools by the researchers. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, frequencies, percentages and mean scores. The results show that collective teacher efficacy in these schools is medium to high pertaining to group competence, but lower in task analysis.Keywords: collective teacher efficacy; low-performing school; management; principal; school; teacher efficac

Management development as a task of school managers at institutional level

Thesis (PhD)--PU for CHE, 1999This study investigated management development as a task of school managers by focusing on: • the need for a new education management development approach in South African schools; • the nature and scope of management development; • the international and national perspectives on the education management development practice; • current education management development activities in Gauteng schools; and • an education management development model for Gauteng schools. The literature study exposed the need for a new education management development approach in South African schools, the nature, scope and major aspects of management development. Furthermore, management development approaches, techniques and methods as well as guidelines for a new holistic approach are described. The investigation into the education management development practice for school managers exposed advanced levels in this regard in the UK and USA. Malaysia, Zimbabwe and Namibia are engaged in customising effective programmes for school managers. South Africa is focusing on a holistic approach, with a significant step taken being, the establishment of the National Institute for Education Management Development. The empirical study consisted of a structured questionnaire distributed to a sample population of I 08 school principals, 80 deputy principals and 210 heads of departments to investigate their management development needs, experiences and activities. Main findings revealed a lack of training for school management, uncoordinated education management development programmes, with existing ones being reactions to crisis situations, and ill-defined management roles for school managers. School principals seem solely responsible for school management, thus exposing a need for a school-based management development approach. The management development model developed for Gauteng schools focuses on whole-school development, recognises the participatory management vision of the new education system, includes stakeholder involvement in education management development and provides school managers with a model that employs the ODE Quality Assurance Framework. The major recommendations flowing from this study include customising education management linguistics for South Africa, defining job descriptions for school managers, preparing and inducing school managers, setting education management qualifications for education management posts and institutionalising the National Institute for Education Management Development.Doctora

The Empowerment Approach To Parental Involvement In Education

The purpose of this study was to explore how parents perceive the essence of parental involvement in  education. A qualitative phenomenological design using eight group interviews of ten parent participants was used for data collection. The main findings of this qualitative study indicate that the meaning attached to  parental involvement falls short of its real essence, and focuses on parental responses to activities determined  by schools as against meaningful partnerships. The main recommendation, therefore, is advocacy that begins  with empowering all stakeholders, especially parents with regard to the essence of parental involvement. In  this regard, the approach recommended in this study proposes an approach that empowers parents, schools and  Communities through school–based and cluster–based forums using actions that recognize the power of zenzele (do it yourself) for  schools and parents, and masakhane (doing it for ourselves together) for school clusters and the community. http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/JSSA/JSSA-06-0-000-15-Web/JSSA-06-0-000-15-Contents/JSSA-06-0-000-15-Contents.ht

The possible cause of school governance challenges in South Africa

School governance in South Africa is about the single most important factor in education that appears to experience apparently insurmountable challenges. In this article I explore and analyse school governance challenges to find their possible cause. A qualitative study using interviews was conducted with principals, educators and parents as school governing body members. The results of the empirical investigation reveal numerous challenges in school governance, which challenges seem to be mainly related to school governors' ability or inability to execute functions prescribed by the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 (hereafter referred to as the Schools Act). An analysis of the challenges strongly indicates that these challenges are possibly caused by the nature of the prescribed functions, which require specialised skills and knowledge to execute. This is manifested in the various reasons advanced by school governors, such as the apportionment of blame among themselves. It is therefore concluded that school governing bodies are not really succeeding in facing the challenges of their roles and responsibilities and that the possible cause for these challenges resides in the specialist nature of most prescribed functions themselves