Developed teacher leadership in a township high school : an interpretive case study
- Authors: John, Daisy Mary
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Educational leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , School management and organization -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Teacher participation in administration -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Teacher effectiveness -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:2052 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018548
- Description: South Africa’s future success depends on a number of national priorities, amongst them the transformation of its education system. Education is the best route to follow to alleviate poverty and many other social ills. One way to overcome some of the complex challenges and crises that we face in South African schools is to pay attention to issues of leading and leadership, including the leadership of teachers. This study is done with the hope that research into teacher leadership will be one of the answers to the crisis in education. It should become a beacon of hope for all educationists who passionately want progress in the youth of South Africa. What better way than to ‘Awaken the Sleeping Giant’ of teacher leadership, borrowing the term from Katzenmeyer and Moller (2009). This study was designed as a case study, the purpose of which was to find out about the enactment of teacher leadership in an Eastern Cape township high school as well as the enhancing and hindering factors to this enactment. This study was done as a replication study of a similar study done by a group of 11Master’s students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2010. Similar to the original study, this case study was located within the interpretive paradigm and drew on school profiling, survey questionnaires, a focus group interview, selfreflective journals and individual interviews for its methods of data collection. The study was framed by distributed leadership while Grant’s (2008; 2012) Model of teacher leadership was adopted as the analytical tool. It emerged from the data that the three teacher leaders, my primary participants, exhibited teacher leadership across all four zones of Grant’s (2008) Model. The first zone was leadership in the classroom where all three teacher leaders showed leadership to varying degrees. Zones Two to Four are about leadership beyond the classroom into the school and beyond. In Zone Two, the zone where teachers work with each other and the learners outside the classroom, substantial levels of leadership were enacted by the three teacher leaders. Zone Three, where leadership is exhibited in whole-school development, the three primary participants showed distinct leadership qualities as well. The fourth zone, which is about interaction with neighbouring schools, also revealed that all three teacher leaders demonstrated active leadership on a regular basis. Findings further revealed that there were only a few inhibiting factors to the leadership of teachers at the case study school, including limited resources and infrastructure as well as insufficient support and acknowledgement from the relevant stakeholders when leadership initiatives were made, either successfully or otherwise. However, the enhancing factors superseded the inhibiting factors. A functional committee culture guided by a shared vision existed in the case study school together with an ethos of trust which enabled the staff to work collaboratively. Though there was certainly room for improvement in leadership practices at this case study school, the enactment of teacher leadership in this school illustrated a strong case of ‘developed’ teacher leadership (Muijs& Harris, 2007) within a dispersed leadership framing (Gunter, 2005)
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: John, Daisy Mary
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Educational leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , School management and organization -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Teacher participation in administration -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Teacher effectiveness -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:2052 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018548
- Description: South Africa’s future success depends on a number of national priorities, amongst them the transformation of its education system. Education is the best route to follow to alleviate poverty and many other social ills. One way to overcome some of the complex challenges and crises that we face in South African schools is to pay attention to issues of leading and leadership, including the leadership of teachers. This study is done with the hope that research into teacher leadership will be one of the answers to the crisis in education. It should become a beacon of hope for all educationists who passionately want progress in the youth of South Africa. What better way than to ‘Awaken the Sleeping Giant’ of teacher leadership, borrowing the term from Katzenmeyer and Moller (2009). This study was designed as a case study, the purpose of which was to find out about the enactment of teacher leadership in an Eastern Cape township high school as well as the enhancing and hindering factors to this enactment. This study was done as a replication study of a similar study done by a group of 11Master’s students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2010. Similar to the original study, this case study was located within the interpretive paradigm and drew on school profiling, survey questionnaires, a focus group interview, selfreflective journals and individual interviews for its methods of data collection. The study was framed by distributed leadership while Grant’s (2008; 2012) Model of teacher leadership was adopted as the analytical tool. It emerged from the data that the three teacher leaders, my primary participants, exhibited teacher leadership across all four zones of Grant’s (2008) Model. The first zone was leadership in the classroom where all three teacher leaders showed leadership to varying degrees. Zones Two to Four are about leadership beyond the classroom into the school and beyond. In Zone Two, the zone where teachers work with each other and the learners outside the classroom, substantial levels of leadership were enacted by the three teacher leaders. Zone Three, where leadership is exhibited in whole-school development, the three primary participants showed distinct leadership qualities as well. The fourth zone, which is about interaction with neighbouring schools, also revealed that all three teacher leaders demonstrated active leadership on a regular basis. Findings further revealed that there were only a few inhibiting factors to the leadership of teachers at the case study school, including limited resources and infrastructure as well as insufficient support and acknowledgement from the relevant stakeholders when leadership initiatives were made, either successfully or otherwise. However, the enhancing factors superseded the inhibiting factors. A functional committee culture guided by a shared vision existed in the case study school together with an ethos of trust which enabled the staff to work collaboratively. Though there was certainly room for improvement in leadership practices at this case study school, the enactment of teacher leadership in this school illustrated a strong case of ‘developed’ teacher leadership (Muijs& Harris, 2007) within a dispersed leadership framing (Gunter, 2005)
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Teacher leadership : a study in a township high school
- Authors: Kumalo, Elizabeth Nomso
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Educational leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Teacher participation in administration -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Teacher effectiveness -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:2038 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017349
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Kumalo, Elizabeth Nomso
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Educational leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Teacher participation in administration -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Teacher effectiveness -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:2038 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017349
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Educator perceptions of the impact of the departmental matric intervention strategies on selected under-performing schools in the Queenstown district
- Authors: Mrali, Amos Mzoxolo
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: High school teachers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , High school students -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Teacher effectiveness -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , High schools -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Examinations , Academic achievement -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , School improvement programs -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , School crisis management -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Ed
- Identifier: vital:16180 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1006232 , High school teachers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , High school students -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Teacher effectiveness -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , High schools -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Examinations , Academic achievement -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , School improvement programs -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , School crisis management -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: The problem of school under-performance as defined by the level of pass rates of learners in the matric examinations has been a point of educational debate in South Africa for a number of years, especially after the attainment of democracy. In the Eastern Cape, Matric Intervention Strategies (MIS) have been used to address the problem. The aim of this study was to investigate educator perceptions of the impact of the MIS on selected under-performing high schools in the Queenstown District.Two case study schools classified as consistent under-performers participated in the study. Data was collected through in-depth interviews of key educators in these schools. There were five main findings. First, educators felt that Departmental intervention strategies had not made any significant improvement in addressing underperformance in the two case study schools. Second, participants saw underperformance by schools as caused by a myriad of factors which include those related to leadership and management at school and district levels and educator and learner factors, as well as teacher union interference. They did not see MIS as being able to address the causes simultaneously. Third, the implementation of the (MIS) at school level was poorly monitored by the Departmental officials. It was reported that under-performing schools were hardly visited and supported by the subject advisors and (MIO)s. Fourth, educators perceived the role of subject advisors to be limited to CASS moderation as they did not provide any developmental support to educators experiencing content gaps. Finally, educators saw the MIS as a money making scheme for certain educators and district officials. They claimed this was linked to corrupt practices during the appointment of tutors. The teachers did not have confidence in the appointment procedures used by the district for tutors.It can be concluded that the Matric Intervention Strategies in the two schools arenot likely to achieve the intended results as long as educators do not think thatthe strategies are addressing the problems they face. Another conclusion is that the Matric Intervention Strategies are seen as ‘quick fix’ responses to what arereally deep-seated and systemic problems in education. Given the findings of this study, it is recommended that the impact of Matric Intervention Strategies be the focus of a survey research for which a probability sample must be drawn that can generate findings that are generalisable across the participating target population. For the delivery of the MIS it is recommended that the weaknesses identified by educators of the two schools be further investigated so that new implementation plans can be developed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Mrali, Amos Mzoxolo
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: High school teachers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , High school students -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Teacher effectiveness -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , High schools -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Examinations , Academic achievement -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , School improvement programs -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , School crisis management -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Ed
- Identifier: vital:16180 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1006232 , High school teachers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , High school students -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Teacher effectiveness -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , High schools -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Examinations , Academic achievement -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , School improvement programs -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , School crisis management -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: The problem of school under-performance as defined by the level of pass rates of learners in the matric examinations has been a point of educational debate in South Africa for a number of years, especially after the attainment of democracy. In the Eastern Cape, Matric Intervention Strategies (MIS) have been used to address the problem. The aim of this study was to investigate educator perceptions of the impact of the MIS on selected under-performing high schools in the Queenstown District.Two case study schools classified as consistent under-performers participated in the study. Data was collected through in-depth interviews of key educators in these schools. There were five main findings. First, educators felt that Departmental intervention strategies had not made any significant improvement in addressing underperformance in the two case study schools. Second, participants saw underperformance by schools as caused by a myriad of factors which include those related to leadership and management at school and district levels and educator and learner factors, as well as teacher union interference. They did not see MIS as being able to address the causes simultaneously. Third, the implementation of the (MIS) at school level was poorly monitored by the Departmental officials. It was reported that under-performing schools were hardly visited and supported by the subject advisors and (MIO)s. Fourth, educators perceived the role of subject advisors to be limited to CASS moderation as they did not provide any developmental support to educators experiencing content gaps. Finally, educators saw the MIS as a money making scheme for certain educators and district officials. They claimed this was linked to corrupt practices during the appointment of tutors. The teachers did not have confidence in the appointment procedures used by the district for tutors.It can be concluded that the Matric Intervention Strategies in the two schools arenot likely to achieve the intended results as long as educators do not think thatthe strategies are addressing the problems they face. Another conclusion is that the Matric Intervention Strategies are seen as ‘quick fix’ responses to what arereally deep-seated and systemic problems in education. Given the findings of this study, it is recommended that the impact of Matric Intervention Strategies be the focus of a survey research for which a probability sample must be drawn that can generate findings that are generalisable across the participating target population. For the delivery of the MIS it is recommended that the weaknesses identified by educators of the two schools be further investigated so that new implementation plans can be developed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
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