ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Leadership for Coping with and Adapting to Policy Change in Deprived Contexts: Lessons from School Principals
Author: Bhengu, Thamsanqa Thulani
Date: 2016-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Principals,Coping,Educational Change,Educational Policy,Qualitative Research,Rural Areas,Interviews,Observation,Profiles,Sense of Community,Indigenous Knowledge,Participatory Research,Leadership Effectiveness,Foreign Countries

This paper explores what, from school principals' perspectives, constitutes leadership for coping with and adapting to policy change within deprived school contexts. Using qualitative interpretive research, we drew from the practices of five principals that were purposively selected from a broader study, which focused on school principals' leadership in the changing education system within the rural context. The study included principals, heads of department, teachers and parents. The five principals selected for this paper were renowned for their positive image and their schools' success. From their stories we deduced three conclusions, which are important for theorising successful leadership for change in the deprived school context within a developing world. The findings suggest that principals' utilised creative and innovative ways to adapt and cope with change. Learning from their practices, this paper makes three important conclusions about leadership for coping with and adapting to change in the deprived context. We conclude that leadership practices are not fixed, but are fluid, and evolving, where leadership is not about compliance, but is about one's ability to identify what works at a given context. Leadership is also about being aware of the societal needs.
Leading Curriculum Change: Reflections on How &quot;Abakhwezeli&quot; Stoked the Fire
Author: Geduld, Deidre
Date: 2016-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Curriculum Development,Educational Change,Schools of Education,Change Strategies,Change Agents,Critical Theory,Transformational Leadership,Qualitative Research,Teacher Leadership,Educational Practices,Foreign Countries

Curriculum leadership is a complex and demanding practice, which goes beyond the research and disciplinary expertise of the curriculum leader. Engaging and leading educators in a process of curriculum change is not easy: it can be a difficult, and sometimes chaotic journey which is often characterised by philosophical debate, the calling into question of current practices, fear, and even openly acknowledged resistance. In order for change to succeed, leaders of curriculum change must facilitate a shared ownership of the change process. This will require the bringing together of individuals with different personal priorities and rallying them around a common goal, e.g. designing quality Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) programmes. Our curriculum renewal journey involved the use of problem-posing pedagogies and required us to employ transformative types of leadership strategies. In this paper, we reflect critically, on our roles, as members of the &quot;Abakhwezeli&quot;, in stoking the fires of curriculum change in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Faculty of Education. Furthermore, this paper will highlight particular defining moments during the curriculum renewal journey, where stakeholder consultation and the use of transformative methodologies assisted in prompting deep, critical reflection on the (re)designing of our B.Ed programmes.
A Strategy to Support Educational Leaders in Developing Countries to Manage Contextual Challenges
Author: Wolhuter, Charl
Date: 2016-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Developing Nations,Instructional Leadership,Organizational Culture,Organizational Development,Context Effect,Foreign Countries,Social Psychology,Theories,Cultural Context,History,Social Theories,Focus Groups

The central theoretical argument of this paper is that educational leadership and organisational development and change in educational institutions in developing countries will not be effective unless school leaders are aware of the challenges posed by contextual factors that might have an impact on their professional activities. The article contributes to the discourse on educational leadership in developing countries by explicating three such sets of contextual forces that educational leadership ought to take into account: (1) the contours of the education system in which school leadership, organisational change and development occur; (2) societal and (3) international contexts. These forces are viewed through Cultural Historical Activity Theory as theoretical lens, and then illustrated with findings from an empirical study in a developing country. The article concludes with a strategic plan for exercising school leadership that takes contextual conditions into account.
Leadership Development: A Lever for System-Wide Educational Change
Author: Naicker, Suraiya R.
Date: 2016-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Change,Leadership Training,Change Strategies,Principals,Superintendents,Management Development,Low Achievement,School Effectiveness,Capacity Building,Questionnaires,Observation,Interviews,Organizational Communication,Values,Collegiality,College School Cooperation,Program Implementation,Attitude Change,Foreign Countries,Case Studies,Participant Observation,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis

The continuous poor performance of South Africa's learners is detrimental to its developing economy. The need for education change prompted two universities to initiate a system-wide change strategy in a poorly performing school district. The leverage for change was leadership development, involving school principals and district officials. The global impetus for driving leadership development is based on the positive association between high-quality leadership and effective schools. The change strategy was a three year leadership development intervention programme. An evaluative case study was used to investigate the experiences of the participants during the implementation of the programme. Research methods included individual interviews, observation, and a survey by means of a questionnaire. Using systems theory as a theoretical framework, various disconnections were identified in the school district. These disconnections concern the interrelationships between the educational leaders which hinder organisational learning. Changing the culture of the school district through system-wide collaboration could be the key to systemic improvements. Strategies such as collective capacity building, joint problem-solving, networking and system leadership, might provide the essential &quot;glue&quot; for strengthening the interconnections within the school district.
Enabling Spaces in Education Research: An Agenda for Impactful, Collective Evidence to Support All to Be First among Un-Equals
Author: Ebersohn, Liesel
Date: 2016-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Research,Case Studies,Foreign Countries,Intervention,School Community Relationship,Partnerships in Education,Evidence,Risk

Single case studies are prolific in South African education research. I equate the abundance of case studies to the urgency for evidence to transform the highly unequal landscape of education opportunities. In contrast however, stand-alone case study evidence does not offer much impact in building an evidence-based body of knowledge for education interventions. I posit an alternative for education research in the absence of collective studies, and propose for education researchers to collaborate in order to be deliberate in building a collective body of knowledge on circumstances that enable positive education outcomes given a postcolonial context, such as South Africa. I use an egalitarian political philosophy position to posit the notion of schools as enabling spaces, so as to counter a dis-enabling disaster perspective and promote dialogue on evidence of that which supports positive learning and development, given high structural disparity. I show that, as with studies in which I participated, many studies exist locally to generate evidence on education responses given adversity. However, insights thus derived are fragmented, regional and mostly single case studies using multiple conceptualisations, measures and indicators. I argue that an intentional education research agenda to coordinate inquiries could inform design, conceptualisation, measurement, comparative value and data sharing. An enabling schools research agenda could intentionally guide inquiry into that which supports education, where chronic poverty renders society as characteristically less equal.
Causes of Financial Mismanagement in South African Public Schools: The Views of Role Players
Author: Rangongo, Paul
Date: 2016-08-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Public Schools,Financial Problems,Money Management,Qualitative Research,Semi Structured Interviews,Principals,Middle Management,Administrator Attitudes,Accountability,Governance,School Administration,Financial Services,Expertise,Ethics,Trust (Psychology),Administrator Effectiveness,Etiology

This paper investigates the underlying causes of financial mismanagement in public schools and focuses on the perceptions of various role players in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The various Departments of Basic Education in South Africa allocate funds to schools each year, and expect school principals and school governing bodies to manage it appropriately. The problem is that in some schools, the principals, teachers and school governing body members are perpetrators of various financial mismanagement activities related to financial mismanagement. This article reports on qualitative research used to arrive at an in-depth understanding of why financial mismanagement occurs in certain schools. For this purpose, data was collected through semi-structured interviews with principals, finance officers and departmental officials and analysed thematically. The findings revealed a lack of knowledge of legislation and skills, poor monitoring and control of funds, unavailability of financial policies in schools, omission to act against culprits, and lack of honesty, openness and trustworthiness. The article proposes remedies that might bring financial management in public schools in line with the principles of good governance.
Corporal Punishment Contestations, Paradoxes and Implications for School Leadership: A Case Study of Two South African High Schools
Author: Makhasane, Sekitla Daniel
Date: 2016-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Case Studies,High School Students,Punishment,Foreign Countries,Civil Rights,Activism,Interviews,Principals,Administrator Attitudes,Socialization,Qualitative Research,Instructional Leadership,Teacher Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Secondary School Teachers,Violence,Leadership

The continued use of corporal punishment in some South African schools and the reasons advanced for it make this subject topical even now, twenty years after the abolition of this practice. Corporal punishment is a worrying issue among human rights activists and scholars. This paper reports on contestations and paradoxes regarding the use of corporal punishment arising from a qualitative study in two high schools, and the implications thereof for school leadership. Data was generated through interviews with the principals, selected teachers and learners. These participants were purposively selected with the understanding that they were information-rich regarding the issues at stake. The paper was informed by a two-pronged theoretical framework, involving the social learning and distributed leadership theories. The former was adopted to seek explanation regarding the use of corporal punishment, while the latter served as a lens through which to draw implications for school leadership. Findings show that on the one hand, some community members at the two schools saw corporal punishment as an acceptable, tried and tested disciplinary measure, and that on the other hand, it is viewed as a form of violence, and a thing of the past. Overall, it seemed that the two schools were failing to root out the use of corporal punishment. The paper argues leadership to be the missing link in the two schools' apparent failure, and that the stronger and more distributed leadership was, the more likely corporal punishment would be to be eradicated, and other disciplinary means practised.
Illness as Teacher: Learning from Illness
Author: Yoo, Joanne
Date: 2017-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Diseases,Human Body,Work Environment,College Faculty,Teacher Education,Personal Narratives,Health,Nontenured Faculty,Learning Processes,Writing (Composition),Relevance (Education)

This article is a conceptual exploration into the value of illness, bodies and embodied practice in teacher education. It draws on my reflections and practitioner accounts of poor health to investigate the potential to learn from illness. I position myself in this discussion as a non-tenured academic who experiences the challenges of her uncertain work environment through her body. I examine the functionalist approaches that devalues the body and explain how the disruptions triggered by illness can enable individuals to create more authentic professional narratives. This paper explores the author's growing awareness of illness, its impact and learning opportunities. Finally, the author investigates the value of writing about illness and the significance of teaching as a witnessing act. Such discussions of illness are pertinent to teacher education as illness is an inevitable part of life and can evoke powerful learning experiences.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Using Peer-Dialogue Assessment (PDA) for Improving Pre-Service Teachers' Perceived Confidence and Competence to Teach Physical Education
Author: Eather, Narelle
Date: 2017-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teachers,Self Esteem,Teacher Competencies,Physical Education,Foreign Countries,Higher Education,Teaching Methods,Feedback (Response),Physical Education Teachers,Peer Evaluation,Educational Improvement,Academic Achievement,Self Efficacy,Pilot Projects,Questionnaires,Statistical Analysis,Undergraduate Students,Instructional Effectiveness

Developing effective methods for improving student learning in higher education is a priority. Recent findings have shown that feedback on student work can effectively facilitate learning if students are engaged as active participants in the feedback cycle; where they seek, generate and use feedback in the form of dialogue. This novel study investigates the use of peer dialogue assessment as an assessment for learning tool used in an existing undergraduate physical education course. Our findings demonstrate that when thirty six undergraduate physical education students were provided with instruction and practice using peer dialogue assessment after consecutive teaching performances, they exhibit significant improvements in perceived teaching confidence and competence, and teaching self-efficacy. Process evaluation results implying that embedding peer dialogue assessment in higher education courses may be a feasible approach for facilitating learning, and that students were satisfied with using peer dialogue as a feedback method for improving teaching practices.
Educational Reforms and Implications on Teachers' World of Work: Perspectives of Fijian Primary Teachers
Author: Lingam, Govinda
Date: 2017-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Change,Elementary School Teachers,Teacher Attitudes,Foreign Countries,Likert Scales,Questionnaires,Faculty Workload,Questioning Techniques,Faculty Development,Mixed Methods Research

This preliminary study reports on educational changes and its impact on primary teachers' world of work in Fiji. Data were gathered from 38 primary teachers, using a questionnaire of Likert scale items and open-ended questions aiming to identify the intensity of the changes that have occurred in their work. The data analysis reveals the educational reforms as having intensified the work of teachers. In this regard, the principal stakeholder needs to be mindful of cumulative ongoing changes, to avoid any serious ramifications for teachers' workload and in turn children's learning outcomes. Teachers themselves highlighted the need for future changes to include more opportunities for continuous professional development to enable them to cope well with new demands of work. Implications of the study's findings are also pertinent to other developing contexts such as those in the Pacific region and beyond because of ongoing transformations occurring in education systems worldwide.
Schools Performing against the Odds: Enablements and Constraints to School Leadership Practice
Author: Naicker, Inbanathan
Date: 2016-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Leadership,Case Studies,Developing Nations,Foreign Countries,Observation,Content Analysis,Instructional Leadership,Realism,Semi Structured Interviews,Public Schools

There are many schools in developing countries which, despite the challenges they face, defy the odds and continue to perform at exceptionally high levels. We cast our gaze on one of these resilient schools in South Africa, and sought to learn about the leadership practices prevalent in this school and the enablements and constraints to the school leadership practice. Underpinned by a critical realist lens, and drawing on social realist theory, this case study of one school generated data through interviews, observation, document analysis and transect walks. The school principal, one head of department and two teachers, were selected as participants. The findings indicate that the school embraced an expansive form of teacher leadership comprising leadership within and beyond the classroom. Further, the structural, cultural and agential climate was receptive to the expansive leadership. We conclude that the professional capital of teachers, together with teachers serving as social actors rather than remaining primary agents, are key resources to change and transformation in an emerging economy.
Improving the Instructional Leadership of Heads of Department in Under-Resourced Schools: A Collaborative Action-Learning Approach
Author: Seobi, Boitshepo Audrey
Date: 2016-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Instructional Leadership,Department Heads,Disadvantaged Schools,Foreign Countries,Action Research,Participatory Research,Qualitative Research,Elementary Schools,Experiential Learning,Educational Quality,Elementary School Teachers,Teacher Aides,Educational Improvement,Educational Cooperation

An unacceptable number of learners in under-resourced schools in South Africa are failing to perform adequately in national and international benchmark tests. Poor learner performance has been linked to poor-quality teaching, which, in turn, can be attributed in part to a lack of instructional leadership at schools. According to policy, heads of department (HODs) are best placed to offer such leadership, but in many schools this is not happening. We explain how we engaged HODs in one such school in a participatory action research process, to help them construct a framework for improving their instructional leadership. Qualitative data was generated through open-ended questionnaires, transcripts of recorded action learning set meetings, photovoice narratives, and reflective journals, and these were thematically analysed. The action learning framework developed by the participating HODs, while not being a definitive answer to improving the quality of teaching and learning, may provide guidelines for other HODs to improve their own instructional leadership practices. Since it is a process-based model, application of the model as an approach to improve instructional leadership could prove beneficial in both well-resourced and under-resourced contexts.
Can Curriculum Managers' Reflections Produce New Strategies through Moodle Visions and Resources?
Author: Khoza, Simon Bheki
Date: 2016-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Focus Groups,Management Systems,Administrator Attitudes,Curriculum,Sampling,Action Research,Foreign Countries,Diaries,Reflection,Strategic Planning,Graduate Students,Assistant Principals

This article presents a critical action research of three curriculum managers (managers) who used Moodle visions to manage their school curriculum at a school in Durban, South Africa. The curriculum managers' main aim of using Moodle was to improve teacher and learner performance. The purpose of the study was to explore the managers' reflections on their use of visions of Moodle for curriculum management. The managers' reflective journals, one-on-one semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussion were used for data generation. Purposive and convenience samplings were used to select the three most easily accessible participants. The managers' reflections on curriculum management through Moodle visions (personal, social and professional) suggest new strategies for curriculum management (habitual, opinion and factual). The study concluded that the managers understood/learned new strategies of managing curriculum through their reflections on their use of visions for the use of Moodle. This article consequently recommends the use of Moodle visions for curriculum management and the incorporation of a reflective process to help managers to interrogate their past and present in order to generate new strategies to improve future management knowledge/skills.
Leadership Intelligence: Unlocking the Potential for School Leadership Effectiveness
Author: Gage, Timothy
Date: 2016-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Leadership Effectiveness,Intelligence,Instructional Leadership,Postmodernism,Emotional Intelligence,Organizational Change,Holistic Approach,African Culture,Foreign Countries,Models,School Administration,Administrator Characteristics

Top performing companies have long used intelligence tests in their selection procedures to predict who the best leaders are. However, no longer are the brightest favoured, or guaranteed success. A post-modern world demands a fresh outlook on leadership. How can school leaders judge their effectiveness? How can school leaders lead intelligently? This article explores a theoretical approach to effective school leadership in an emerging context, which embraces a holistic understanding of intelligence. While individual rational (IQ), emotional (EQ) and spiritual (SQ) intelligences are necessary for a leader, their true power lies in maintaining a balance among all three. This is known as leadership intelligence (LQ).