Session Information
26 SES 11 A, Heading for the Future- Principalship beyond 2020 Implications for Research (Part 2)
Symposium continued from 26 SES 10 A
Contribution
A democratic South Africa was established with the aim of promoting social cohesion as a means to end apartheid, (Spaull 2013:436). A study conducted by Nzimande (1993:193) revealed that Black parents needed good education for their children but, could not get it from the schools that catered for Blacks only "because of the inferior education offered in such schools.” Parents explained that they had resorted to taking their children to effective, multi-racial schools, as the government seemed reluctant to deal with the calamity in the Black schools (Nzimande 1993:194). Effective schools with effective school cultures were sought and this resulted in a large influx of learners from outer areas to effective, suburban schools. In this paper, we investigate the practices of principals who shape effective culture for school improvement. This emanates from the assumption that a positive school culture is essential for school effectiveness and, that principals are in a position to exert a greater influence on the school culture than any other member of the school community. This interpretative inquiry utilised Zhang’s (2008) conceptual framework of the four constructs of culture viz. environmental culture, the culture of rules and regulations, spiritual culture and the etiquette culture and expand Schein’s theory 3-level theory of culture. The qualitative study was conducted in two purposively selected public primary schools in Pretoria. The study employed the photo-voice method, narrative interviews and structured observations. The findings emphasise the fact that effective principals adapt to changing circumstances and use all available resources to drive the school towards effectiveness in teaching and learning, and to encourage collaboration and communication amongst all stakeholders. Social cohesion seemed to be the antidote used by effective school principals in school improvement in South Africa. Will the model for effective school culture in this study be useful for school improvement in other developing countries?
References
Beckman, J. & Bipat, K, (2016) Research on South African Public School Principals, an Uncompromising Desire to Improve the Quality of Education In Helene Ärlestig, Christopher Day, Olof Johansson (Eds) A Decade of Research on School Principals: Cases from 24 countries (Dordrecht: Springer),
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