Advanced Diploma

School Leadership and Management

Working with and for the wider community

Module 5

Department of Basic Education

Department of Basic Education
Working with and for the wider community
A module of the Advanced Diploma: School Leadership and Management
© Department of Basic Education 2018

Department of Basic Education

222 Struben Street,
Pretoria
South Africa

Tel: +27 12 357 3000

[Link]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
([Link] This means you are free to share (copy and
redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt it (remix, transform, and build upon the
material) for any purpose, even commercially, as long as you give appropriate credit, with a link to
your source, and indicate if changes were made.

ii
Acknowledgements

This material is a product of a collaborative endeavour involving representatives of the following

organisations and institutions:

Department of Basic Education - Education Management and Governance Development Directorate

Education, Training and Development Practices SETA (ETDP SETA)

Zenex Foundation

Gauteng Department of Education

South African Institute for Distance Education (Saide)

South African Principals Association (SAPA)

Personnel associated with Schools of Education at the following Higher Education Institutions were
involved in developing and critically reviewing the course modules for the AdvDip (SLM) programme:

Rhodes University

University of Cape Town (Schools Development Unit)

University of Free State

University of Kwa-Zulu Natal

University of Pretoria

University of South Africa (Unisa)

University of Venda

University of the Witwatersrand

Additionally, a number of education specialists and school principals were also consulted.

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iv
Contents
Acknowledgements iii
Acronyms and Abbreviations vii
Module 5: Working with and for the wider community 1
Overview: 3
Unit 1: Understanding myself, my school and parental relationships 7
Section 1: Understanding community and social justice 9
Section 2: Leading for social justice education and schooling 21
Section 3: Understanding the school as a community and why it is important 61
Unit 2: Understand, map and build relationships with the community 73
Section 1: Understanding the broader community 75
Section 2: Mapping the community 117
Reflective Commentary Report 135
References 137
Appendix 1: Table of provincial learner numbers 2016/17 143
Appendix 2: Evaluation instrument for the role of the school principal 145
(For completion by principal)
Appendix 3: Evaluation instrument for the role of the school principal 147
(For completion by teachers)
Appendix 4: Caring school leadership questionnaire 149
Template1: Community mapping – the school ecosystem 151
Template 2: Balancing the ecosystem 153

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vi
Acronyms and Abbreviations
AdvDip (SLM) Advanced Diploma School Leadership and Management
AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
CBO Community Based Organisation
CoP Community of Practice
CSLQ Caring School Leadership Questionnaire
DBE Department of Basic Education
EE Equal Education
ELO Exit Level Outcome
HEI Higher Education Institution
HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus
LO Life Orientation
NGO Non-governmental Organisation
NPO Non-profit Organisation
OBE Outcome-based Education
OVC Orphans and vulnerable children
OWANS Organisation Wants and Needs
PESTLE Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental
PLC Professional Learning Community
PP Professional Portfolio
PTR Pupil to Teacher Ratio
RCL Representative Council of Learners
SGB School Governing Body
SIP School Improvement Plan
SJI Social Justice Initiative
SMT School Management Team
SWANS Stakeholder Wants and Needs
SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
WPP Workplace Project

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Module 5: Working with and for the wider community

AdvDip (SLM) course modules

Module 1 Professional Portfolio and Workplace Project

Module 2 Leading and managing teaching and learning in the school

Module 3 Leading and managing extra-curricular and co-curricular

activities

Module 4 Leading and managing people and change

Module 5 Working with and for the wider community 

Module 6 Leading and managing the school as an organisation

Module 7 Working within and for the school system

1
2
Overview
Welcome to Module 5: Working with and for the wider community of the AdvDip (SLM)! At this point
you are probably well underway with your Professional Portfolio (PP) and Workplace Project (WPP)
and have probably covered another three modules. You therefore have a good understanding of
how the programme works.

In this module, the following kinds of questions are addressed: How should community be defined?
How can you identify and analyse the needs of a community? What pressures, opportunities and
benefits does a community have to offer? and, How can the school and the community work
together harmoniously? These ideas are discussed in the context of a social justice approach, based
on the concepts of human rights and equality.

Purpose
The purpose of this module is to develop an understanding of the socio-economic context of the
community within which your school is located in order to establish collaborative, beneficial
relationships between your school and the larger community. You will also be encouraged to think
about how best to maintain and sustain these relationships.

This module will focus on the role of the school as a centre for, and of, care in the community. It will
also focus on the role of the school management team (SMT) in helping to identify, set up and
manage various forms of support by harnessing the assistance of individuals and organisations
located in the wider community.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of this module you should be able to:

1. Demonstrate the personal qualities necessary for effective leadership and management in
working with the immediate and broader school community.
2. Actively engage community resources in support of the school’s vision, mission and
curriculum in order to build the school into a broader community asset.

3
Units
This module comprises two units.

Unit 1: Unit 2:
Understanding Understanding,
myself, my school, building and mapping
and parental relationships with the
relationships community

Figure 1: Units in Module 5: Working with and for the wider community

Module credits and learning time

This module carries 9 credits. This is equivalent to 90 notional learning hours.

It is anticipated that you will take approximately 90 hours to complete the module successfully. The
90 hours will include contact time with your Higher Education Institution (HEI), reading time,
research time and time required to write assignments. It is also expected that at least half of your
learning time will be spent completing practice-based activities in your school. This will involve your
individual work on the activity, and it will also require you to discuss these school-focussed activities
with your colleagues. Each activity in this module indicates the suggested time for completion. All
these reflective and formative activities will form part of the Professional Portfolio (PP) and
Workplace Project (WPP) which is explained in detail in Module 1: Professional Portfolio and
Workplace Project.

In addition, information and assessment requirements will be provided by your HEI.

Exit level outcomes

This module contributes to the following four of the nine exit level outcomes (ELOs) of the AdvDip
(SLM) qualification:

ELO 2
Demonstrate accountability and take full responsibility for managing school leadership, teaching and
learning, whilst engaging in school activities, decision-making and projects, and ensuring the
responsible use of school and community resources in performing workplace tasks and projects.

ELO 3
Reflect on and develop own personal leadership attributes and characteristics, collaboration,
knowledge of systems and processes, and demonstrate the ability to work effectively with others in
the school context and beyond.

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ELO 6
Select, and apply effective and innovative organisational systems and processes (such as HR,
Finance, Safety, IT, etc.) to manage resources in a way that aligns with the school’s vision and
mission, as well as to ensure compliance with legislation, policy and best practice in addressing a
range of organisational needs.

ELO 9
Communicate effectively and clearly with all school stakeholders across a range of issues and
circumstances by using arguments and rationale effectively.

5
6
Unit 1: Understanding myself, my school and parental
relationships

Introduction
In this unit the focus is on leadership practices and characteristics required to be a school
leader and to relate effectively with the school and its community. As you work through this
unit, you will also need to refer to concepts such as distributed and ethical leadership which
were briefly introduced in Module 1: Professional Portfolio and Workplace Project, but which
expanded on in this Module. . Aligned to the professional development requirements of this
programme, you will be required, not only to learn about these concepts in theory, but also
to apply your knowledge in context.

Section 5.1.7: Developing and empowering self and others and Section 5.1.8: Working with
and for the community in the Policy on the South African Standard for Principalship (DBE,
2015: 20–21) are the source or foundational documentation that serves to guide the
selection of content and the approach used in this unit and the module. Discussion of policy
in this unit is underpinned by the principle of social justice as set out in the South Africa
Constitution. This unit therefore seeks to probe [investigate] the relationship between policy
and leading for social justice.

The structure of this unit is depicted in Figure 2.

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 Understandng the
school as a
community

Leading for
social justice,
education and
schooling

Defining
community
and social
justice

Figure 2: Understanding of community, self as a leader, and the school as a community

Unit 1 learning outcome

By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
• Demonstrate the personal qualities necessary for effective leadership and
management in working with the immediate and broader school community.

Unit 1 preparation
In preparation for Unit 1, access the Caring School Leaders’ Questionnaire (CSLQ) (van der
Vyver et al., 2014) – Appendix 2 and 3 at the end of this document.

Also access the following article and study it in preparation for the work on communities of
practice: Cambridge, D., Kaplan, S. & Suter, V. 2005. Community of practice design guide: a
step-by-step guide for designing & cultivating communities of practice in higher education. It
can be accessed from: [Link]

In addition to these readings, it is recommended that you access and read some of the
literature listed in the reference section at the end of the module, especially those
publications related to issues where you feel the need for further clarification.

8
Section 1: Understanding community and social justice

This section is about defining and establishing a firm understanding of the concepts of
community and social justice. Doing this is in direct relation to your role as a school leader
and alongside others in your school and community. Certain analytical tools such as a
learner’s questionnaire and a data gathering tool are provided to enable you to address any
areas of inequality and injustice that your school may face and which, typically are also
prevalent in many other South African schools and communities..

As you will have seen in Module 1, many important educational policies were implemented
soon after 1994. This was done in an attempt to promote the transformation of the
Apartheid-era education system which was the result of so much discrimination and
inequality. However, much of what currently happens in the South African education system
remains unequal, despite many well-intentioned policies. It is therefore important to
examine some of these policies and to try to understand their original social justice intention
and then to analyse what has happened since.

As a school leader in South Africa, the responsibility to lead for social justice should be a high
priority, but in order to try and implement the necessary changes that will help to bring
about a more equal education system, it is important to understand what is causing the gaps
that exist between intended policy and its implementation.

Start with Activity 1 in which you will develop a definition of community.

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Activity 1: What is a community?

Suggested time:
45 minutes

Aim:
To define the concept/idea of a community.

What you will do:

1. In your higher education institution (HEI) community of practice (CoP) discuss and
share your different ideas about what makes a community. Try and reach agreement
on a definition of community. When you have, write the agreed definition in your
Learning Journal.
2. In your group, watch the following YouTube video: Grace House Ministries. 2014.
What is community? Accessed from: [Link] (Duration: 2:16
minutes).
• Listen carefully to the way in which the narrator talks about community.
• Try to pick up the key words that he uses when talking about community.
3. Although this video is about a faith-based community clinic (not a school) decide
whether the characteristics of the community that are described in this video can
also be generalised to apply to a school community. Give reasons for your answers.
4. When you have finished watching the video, work through the following points with
the people in your school-based CoP and keep a record of the key points in your
Learning Journal:
• Discuss what is meant by community as used in the video.
• What do you think the statement "Community evolves around conversation"
means?
• Different terms are used to describe community. Some of these are:
intimate, needy, participative, relational, connected and alive. Which of
these words make the most sense to you when you hear the word
community and why?
• The narrator asks where the community begins and where it ends. Where do
you and the other HEI CoP members believe your communities begin and
end? What makes you set the boundaries in this way?
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 • Speaking as school leaders, do you all agree that you have a duty to serve the
community in the way the video suggests that you should serve it?
• How could your school, and those of your fellow CoP members, serve your
respective communities?

Discussion of the activity

From the activity above, you have probably realised that trying to reach a definition
of community is not simple and that there are clearly different ways of defining one.
Here are several definitions from different sources. How do they compare with what
you wrote?

Definitions of ‘community’

"A community is a group people who share a sense of belonging and experience meaningful
relationships because of a common identity"
(Hunt in Pfortmüller, 2017).

A community is a "group of people that care about each other and feel they belong together”
(Pfortmüller, 2017).

An article in the American Journal of Public Health defines a community as "A group of people
with diverse characteristics who are linked by social ties, share common perspectives, and
engage in joint action in geographical locations or settings"
(MacQueen et al., 2001: 1).

What you may notice, even if the definitions are slightly different, is that communities are
really about relationships between people. They therefore have a strong social aspect; they
are built when people interact with one another across fences. This is why it takes time to
become a trusted and true member of a community and for a community to become strong.
But, over time, relationships shift and the dynamics within a community may change. By this
it is meant that as people move about, have different experiences, develop different needs,
and relationships change, the community also changes. Communities therefore function at
different levels and in different ways. The one in the video was depicted as a well-functioning
community, but many communities across the world and in South Africa are not as stable

11
and well-functioning. Many communities in South Africa are torn apart by conflict or
violence.

In the video it was suggested that a community usually has some sort of a geographical
boundary, such as the one around a school (the school may have a physical fence which
defines its boundary) but at another level, a school is also part of a community of other
schools in its district and province. So these are considerations you have to take into account
when you define exactly what you mean by a school community.

Like the clinic in the video, schools also interact with, support and help the community. The
clinic prepared a video about itself and its contribution and invited the community to
participate. Getting the community involved creates a sense of belonging to that community.
In the education context, a lack of parental involvement is often cited as a factor in poor
learner performance (Mji & Makgato, 2006; Makgopa & Mokhele, 2013; Okeke, 2014).
Therefore, taking action to address the challenge of parental participation in all aspects of
the school, is an important school leadership and management matter.

Stop and think

What strategies can you employ as a school leader, to promote greater parental participation
in your school?

Definition of community to be used in this unit

In light of all that has been written above about community, the following working definition
of community has been developed because it fully encompasses the key ideas and will
therefore be used as the basis of the discussions in this unit:
A community consists of people from institutions or organisations and possibly
families, and probably a geographical location, who engage with one another
regularly and over long periods of time in order to discuss matters of mutual interest
and concern. A community changes over time as people, their needs and community
circumstances change. It is therefore fluid and complex.

Examples of this kind of community are ones with which you may already have strong ties: a
religious community, a political community, as well as your school community. Some social
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groups, such as a women’s league, become a community for its members. What this shows,
is that you can belong to more than one community at a time. As a participant in the AdvDip
(SLM) programme, you already belong to two CoPs – one based at the institution at which
you are registered for this programme and one school-based. In both communities you share
discussions about your common interests in school leadership and your WPP. You may even
belong to another one in relation to the team you lead and manage at school, for example if
you are a head of department in your school. Or you may be part of a teacher’s group which
is formed into a professional learning community (PLC) which promotes learning and
development in particular subject areas. However, what all these groups have in common is
that to function well, they require collaboration, communication and negotiation.

Think back to the definition of community that you decided on in your HEI CoP. Does it
provide a good basis for how to build relationships with your community? Remember, good
relationships are like the glue that hold communities together. In your discussions, did you
include learners as part of your community? They are an important part of the school
community, perhaps the most important members of the school community. Including the
learners' voice and listening properly to what they have to say is essential in order to develop
a balanced view of the community.

Stop and think

Listening carefully and respectfully to what the learners have to say is key to developing a
balanced view of your school community!

Lastly it is important not to confuse a community with a following, of which Twitter and
Facebook are examples. To clarify, the distinction between a following and a community,
carefully study Table 1:

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Table 1: The differences between a following and a community
A following, e.g. Twitter: A community:

Is short-term. Is long-term.

Focuses on quick growth. Growth is slow and steady.

Limited interaction between members. Unlimited, regular interaction.

Easy to belong to. Difficult to truly belong.

Focus is around an individual or core members. Focus is around relationships with others.

Allows for limited conversation - the focus is on Deeper conversations around topics with many
getting information. answers.

(Source: More Online Learning for Iowa Educators, 2015)

The next activity moves from understanding what a community is, to examining what
concepts such as a just society and social justice mean.

Activity 2: What is a just society and what is social justice?

Suggested time:
60 minutes

Aim:

The purpose of this activity is to describe what you understand to be a just society and
explore your understanding of the term social justice. The task begins by reviewing (briefly)
the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the South African Bill of Rights which
provide the cornerstone of social justice.

What you will do:

Do this activity with your HEI CoP

1. Read the two quotes below:

The first is from the Constitution of South Africa, Chapter 1, Founding principles:

14
 The Republic of South Africa is one, sovereign, democratic state
founded on the following values: (a) Human dignity, the achievement
of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms.
(Constitution of South Africa, 1996: 3)

The second is also from the Constitution, Chapter 2, The Bill of Rights:
This Bill of Rights is a cornerstone of democracy in South Africa. It
enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the
democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom.
(Constitution of South Africa, 1996: 5)
2. Discuss what these two extracts indicate about the most important principles that
underpin the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In your discussion, consider how
these principles relate to social justice in South Africa.
3. Develop a visual representation [a drawing or a diagram] of what a just society looks
like. Or if you prefer, you could prepare a symbol for justice. Share your drawing with
other HEI CoPs for discussion.
4. Access and watch the video SJI Social Justice Coalition. Accessed at
[Link] (Duration 3.55). Use the video to inform your
discussion of the following question:
• What is your understanding of social justice? Formulate a definition that
describes the concept as it applies to your school/s.
• Consider the importance of leadership in promoting social justice and
community engagement.
• Who do you think should be considered responsible for promoting social
justice in your school/s? Give an example of how each group (teachers,
learners and parents )could do so. Include learners as well because learners
represent an important voice in the school.
• What do you think the consequences for schooling are, if social justice is
ignored?

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Discussion of the activity
As the extracts from the Founding principles and the Bill of Rights in the Constitution clearly
indicate, social justice is an underpinning and fundamental concept to South Africa's
democracy. In this programme, social justice is emphasised because of the reality of the
conditions within the country, and the need for school leaders to respond to social justice
inequities in a responsible, measured and resilient manner. The AdvDip (SLM) envisages
responsive, courageous and caring principals who are able to analyse problems and find
ways to improve circumstances in their school, despite the many challenges they face.

As stated above, in South Africa, social justice is a founding principle of the Constitution and
most particularly, the Bill of Rights. The concept of social justice therefore underpins the South
African government’s strategies and policies.

According to Vera and Speight (2003: 260), social justice starts with the need to interrogate
structures that set up and maintain inequity [injustice] and those practices that result in
many people remaining on the margins of society, and where injustice is most strongly
evident.

The website for the Social Justice Coalition ([Link]) includes a very brief summary of
social justice in the South African context. See the text below.

An extract from the Social Justice Coalition website: The history and evolution of the
concept of social justice

The term 'social justice' was coined by Luigi Taparelli (a Jesuit priest) in 1840. Fifty years later,
Pope Leo XIII defended the working class, and by 1900 the cause had been taken up by the
Catholic Church in their campaign for a 'living wage' to ensure dignity for all workers.

By the 1960s the term took on a broader political tone, becoming associated with civil rights for
black people and gender rights for women.

In South Africa, social justice was reflected in the anti-apartheid movement, which not only
called for the abolition of racial discrimination, but also for the promotion of rights for women,
workers and other vulnerable people. Today, social justice projects in South Africa concern
themselves with economic justice, public participation and socio-economic rights,

16
 accountability and improved access to services in a range of different sectors
([Link]

In the same that a working definition of community was provided above, it is useful to agree
on a common understanding or a working definition of social justice.
Here are some definitions which may assist you:
Social justice has to do with how advantages and disadvantages are distributed to
individuals in society (Miller, 1999: 11).

The subject matter of justice is the basic structure of society, or more exactly, the way
in which the major institutions ... distribute fundamental rights and duties and
determine distribution of advantages from social co-operation’ (Rawls (1972) in
Gewirtz, Ball & Bowe, 1995: 49).

The relational aspect of social justice has to do with procedural rights and is
concerned with ordering social relations according to formal and informal rules that
govern the way in which members of the society treat each other at both micro and
macro levels. … Social justice … is concerned with the nature of the interconnections
between individuals in a society rather than focusing on an individual. (Martin (1999)
in Mncube, 2008: 6)

Social justice includes a vision of society in which the distribution of resources is

equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure. (Bell,
1997: 3)

In the previous activity you were required to formulate an understanding of the concept of
social [Link] this next activity, you will explore what happens when people within a
(school) community have differing points of view.

17
Activity 3: Conflicts of interest
Suggested time:
1 hour

Aim:
To consider opposing points of view within your school and community, and to think about
and reflect on how to respond to these as a school leader.

What you will do:

Read the conversation below that takes place in a school in Limpopo which does not have
legal electricity, but in which an illegal connection has been made. Sello, a member of the
school governing board (SGB), and Lerato, a parent who was actively involved in setting up
the illegal connection, discuss this matter:

Conversation between Sello (SGB member) and Lerato (parent)

Sello: This illegal connection undermines the SGB and makes it even more difficult for us to
do our work!
Lerato: What do you mean? No one has done anything and our children are suffering!

Sello: Any illegal action leads to chaos. Your children could get hurt or die.

Lerato: But my child’s education is suffering. This community is poor, it has nothing. The school
has nothing.

Sello: No, but... What's to stop other members of the community setting up their own illegal
connections?

Lerato: They why does the government not help us?

First, write your response to the following questions in your Learning Journal, and then
discuss the issue with either one of your CoPs.
1. What was Sello’s view and what was Lerato’s view? Why do you think they held
these views?
2. Is Sello right or is Lerato right? Or are they both wrong?

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 3. What action should you, as a school leader, take in a situation like this?

Discussion of the activity

Although it is often very difficult, school leaders (all leaders, in fact) should work hard to be
open to other people’s points of view, and if necessary to change their own.

It is not difficult to see why Lerato holds the views she does and why she did not see
anything wrong in putting up this electrical connection to the school. Her main concern is to
see her child at a school with better facilities as she believes this will give her child a better
education than she is currently getting. With electricity in a school, the possibility of
introducing a whole range of stimulating and exciting learning experiences is opened up. In
addition, classrooms can always be light and the children can see what they are doing,
regardless of the time, weather or how a classroom is built. So many changes to the learning
environment can take place with electricity.

But Sello knows this is an illegal action, a crime. Even if he understands and sympathises with
Lerato, he cannot support her action because he is a member of the SGB.

Under Section 15 of the South African Schools Act of 1996, a school is a legal person or
juristic person and an SGB acts on the school’s behalf. This means that if the SGB does
anything wrong, like supporting or not reporting the illegal electrical connection like the one
discussed in the conversation above, the SGB can be sued. Lerato’s despair is very real and
she is right to ask why the government is not doing anything to help her child’s education.
However, your responsibility as a school leader, with your SMT and SGB, in a case like this, is
to respond with empathy to parents like Lerato, while at the same time doing the right thing
. A parent is a situation like this one, needs to know that you understand why they are acting
illegally. While, at the same time, you need to explain the legal position of the school and the
SGB and that it is illegal for you not to report a crime like this. Together, you have to find a
solution to this type of very serious problem.

In Module 4: Leading and managing people and change, Unit 6: Circles of connectedness,
Activity 5 explores what can happen when guidelines and procedures are not followed
correctly by a school. The particular example concerns the human rights (freedom of
expression) of a grade 10 female learner (L,C.) at a Johannesburg based secondary school.
19
Because the school failed to follow procedure and policy, it lost a case brought by the South
African Human Rights Commission. The next activity in that unit (about Parow High School)
provides an example of the positive result for the school when a policy is applied correctly
and consistently.

In the next section of this unit, you will examine several policies that have been put into
place to address situations such as schools without adequate services or infrastructure. This
will be done, specifically using a social justice and historical political perspective. The
intention is to assess the degree to which policies, that are deemed to be progressive, can
help SMTs to negotiate difficult or conflictual situations and help to find solutions.

20
Section 2: Leading for social justice education and
schooling
The politics of education lie at the heart of attempts to make societies more just. Unlike
other areas of social policy, education is paradoxically [unexpectedly/puzzlingly]
situated as not only one of the main causes of inequality, but also the solution to these
very same inequalities. (Power, 2012: 473)

If you apply what Power says to the South African situation post 1994, then it means that
one can assume that the education policies developed by the new government were
intended to make South Africa's education system more just. In other words, the new
democratic government believed that these policies were a solution to the inequalities
caused by Apartheid education policies.

It would be best if you interrogated all key educational policies to see to what extent they
have turned out to be the cause of unanticipated injustices or the solution to injustices since
1994. However, there is not enough space or time in this unit for you to do this. But because
South Africa now has the biggest gap between rich and poor in the world, and this is
reflected in the growing inequalities of South Africa's education system and schooling
contexts, one policy has been prioritised. The focus of this section is on the most important
laws and regulations governing basic education funding.

Activity 4: The role of funding policies

Suggested time:
1 hour

Aim:
To find and interpret the terms of key funding policies.

What you will do:

1. Access the policies listed below and read through them to ensure that you know what
each policy is about.
2. Answer the question below.

21
List of important policies governing basic education funding
National Education Policy Act (Act No. 27 of 1996)
South African Schools Act (Act No. 84 of 1996)
National Norms and Standards for School Funding (1998)
Employment of Educators Act (Act No. 76 of 1998)
Education Laws Amendment Act (Act No. 24 of 2005)
South African Schools Act ( Act No. 84 of 1996) Regulation Relating to Minimum Uniform
Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure 2013

The list above shows the most important laws and regulations governing basic education
funding. Respond to the two questions below about these policies. Write your responses
(with reasons) in your Learning Journal. Your own experience and knowledge of these
policies should be your starting point. If you have hard copies of these policies in your school,
then of course, work with those. The following two websites will provide access to these
policies: [Link] and [Link]

It is suggested that you do this activity with both your HEI CoP and your school-based CoP as
policy interpretation and experience of others can expand your own capacity to work with
policies a great deal.

Questions
1. What exactly does each of these policies deal with? What is different or similar about
them?
2. What has been your experience, as a school leader, of these policies? In what ways
have one or more of them helped you lead and/or manage your school and its
relationship to your community, more effectively?

Discussion of the activity

If you think about the intention of the policies in the list above, then the preambles
[introductions] to the National Education Policy Act (Act No. 27 of 1996) (NEPA) and the
South African Schools Act (Act No. 84 of 1996) (SASA) are important to study. Both these

22
early pieces of legislation show a strong social justice intention, i.e. a real desire to put a new
system of education in place that will meet the needs of all South African learners.

The National Education Policy Act (Act No. 27 of 1996) preamble, for example, states that:
WHEREAS it is necessary to adopt legislation to facilitate the democratic
transformation of the national system of education into one which serves the needs
and interests of all the people of South Africa and upholds their fundamental rights …

The South African Schools Act (Act No. 84 of 1996) preamble (shortened) states that:
WHEREAS the achievement of democracy in South Africa has consigned to history the
past system of education which was based on racial inequality and segregation; and
WHEREAS this country requires a new national system for schools which will redress
past injustices in educational provision, provide an education of progressively high
quality for all learners and in so doing lay a strong foundation for the development of
all our people’s talents and capabilities … uphold the rights of all learners, parents and
educators, and promote their acceptance of responsibility for the organisation,
governance and funding of schools in partnership with the State; and WHEREAS it is
necessary to set uniform norms and standards for the education of learners at schools
and the organisation, governance and funding of schools throughout the Republic of
South Africa.

The National Norms and Standards for School Funding (1998) document sets out "the
national norms and minimum standards for school funding in terms of the South African
Schools Act, 1996 (No. 84 of 1996). It also deals with the procedures to be adopted by
provincial education departments (PEDs) in determining resource allocation to their
schools." You will know that this policy gets amended fairly regularly but it is central to so-
called equitable funding. It also established what the relationship between the national
government and provincial government is with regards to handling funds allocated by the
government to provinces. In other words, the national government, through the National
Treasury, decides how much money to allocate to the Department of Basic Education (DBE)
who in turn decides how much to allocate to each province and how this money should be
distributed. Each province, therefore, is accountable to the DBE for its spending and works
directly with districts to channel this money to the appropriate schools, particularly Quintile
1 and 2 schools.

23
The Employment of Educators Act (Act No. 76 of 1998) set out to provide for the
employment of educators by the State, but perhaps more significantly, for the regulation of
the "conditions of service, discipline, retirement and discharge of educators and for matters
connected therewith." During the Apartheid era, inspectors and inspections were treated
with great suspicion by most black teachers and that system was often seen as policing or
surveillance. The intention of the Employment of Educators Act (Act No. 76 of 1998) was to
ensure that all teachers were treated in the same way, and for the sake of the profession,
regulations governing a range of conditions were designed and implemented.

The Education Laws Amendment Act (Act No. 24 of 2005) has been included in the list of
important policies above because it added new definitions to a range of matters already set
down in the South African Schools Act of 1996. This shows that what was originally intended
was not sufficient to deal with how South Africa’s history has unfolded since 1994. One of
the key funding-related matters that the 2005 amendment established was the quintile
system.

Two years later, this Act was again amended (Education Laws Amendment Act No. 31 of
2007) to include a further, critical focus on another range of issues. It is recommended that if
you have not recently read this amendment, and the South African Schools Act (Act No. 84 of
1996) Regulation Relating to Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for Public School
Infrastructure (DBE, 2013), you do so now. Ideally, you should be familiar with the whole set
of amendments.

To sum up, the first National Education Policy Act (Act No. 27 of 1996), the South African

Schools Act (Act No. 84 of 1996), the National Norms and Standards for School Funding
(1998) and the Employment of Educators Act (Act No. 76 of 1998) were passed at a time
when the politics of social justice drove the new democratic government’s agenda. The
original intentions of these policies (and others) were to be the solution to the injustices and
inequalities of the past. However, as the amendments given here show, these same policies
have had to be changed as time has gone on. The reality has become one where these
original policies have proved inadequate and because of this, have been the cause of
injustices which nobody imagined at the time. Take the equitable shares formula, for
example, which is the focus of the next section and activity.
24
The equitable shares formula
The government of South Africa is made up of three levels - national, provincial and local as
you may well know. The principle of co-operative government means that these three levels
should all work together for the good of all people. Sometimes, the national and provincial
governments are both responsible for the same area and education is one example of this.
So the DBE and the National Treasury work together with provincial education departments
and the Provincial Treasuries to manage education. This includes managing the budget.
When the national budget is debated, all provinces get a share of this budget. Each
province’s share is divided according to what is called, the equitable share formula [its name
implies that this formula is fair and equal]. In the following activity you will examine this
funding formula to determine whether it is really equitable or not?.

Activity 5: Analyse, critique and discuss the funding formula

Suggested time:
1 hour

Aim:
To develop school leaders as scholars who can analyse and critique policy.

What you will do:

Individual activity
Read the article below which has been adapted from Ally and McLaren (2016).

25
Figure 3: Classroom in the Eastern Cape
(Photo courtesy of Equal Education Law Centre.)

Education funding formula needs to be fixed

Western Cape and Gauteng achieved the highest matric pass-rates last year. But did you know
that these provinces were also able to spend 10% more on education per learner than the two
poorest provinces: Eastern Cape and Limpopo. How does this happen?

This lopsided [uneven/unequal] effect comes from the way that National Treasury allocates
money to provinces through the equitable share formula. This little-known formula is used to
divide about a third of the government’s budget among the provinces.

Around 90% of spending on education depends on the equitable share formula, and it is here
that the challenges for equality in South Africa’s education funding begin.

Equitable share formula: not so equitable

26
In 2016/2017 the provincial equitable share was divided among the provinces in such a way
that:
• The two poorest provinces – Limpopo and Eastern Cape – allocated more of their
equitable share to basic education than any other province (50.6% and 48.6%
respectively).
• Despite this, these provinces ended up with among the lowest education
allocations per learner (R14 058 and R14 473). How is this possible?

The equitable share is distributed in full to the provinces, who then decide how they want to
spend the funds.

But here is the problem: demand for education comes exclusively from the school-age
population. Yet the formula only counts how many learners there are in each province, not
what proportion of the total population these learners are. The table (see Appendix 1 at the
end of this module) shows that this varies greatly from province to province and has a big
impact on the amount that each province is able to allocate to education per learner. This is
because the more of your population that are school-age, the more of your equitable share
allocation you need to spend on education. Yet, because the equitable share formula only
accounts for the number of learners in each province, not the percentage of the provincial
population that are learners, some provinces end up spending less on education per learner.

The effect of this is illustrated by the following:

• The five provinces with the highest proportion of learners in their population (KZN,
Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Free State and Eastern Cape) also spent the highest
percentage of their equitable share allocations on education, but ended up with the
lowest education allocations per learner.
• By contrast, Western Cape and Gauteng, the two richest provinces with among the
lowest proportion of their population in school, were able to spend 10 to 17% more
per learner than the two poorest provinces, Eastern Cape and Limpopo.

This lopsided effect needs to be remedied in the equitable share formula. These distorted
education allocations are problematic for two further reasons.

Rurality and the cost of education

27
 The equitable share formula does not take into account the higher costs of education provision
in rural areas.

As well as being the poorest provinces and having the lowest allocations per learner on
education, Limpopo, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal are also among the most rural. It is more
expensive to provide quality education in rural areas than it is in urban areas. This is due to
greater economies of scale and population density and easier provision of a variety of goods
and services (internet, water and sanitation, books and furniture) in urban areas. For a variety
of reasons there is also a wider selection of qualified teachers in the urban parts of the
country. The equitable share formula doesn’t take account of any of this.

Source: Article by Nurina Ally and Daniel McLaren (29 July 2016)
Accessed from: [Link]

Figure 4: Equality versus Equity

(Source: [Link]

28
With your school-based or HEI CoP

1. Now that you have just read about the equitable share formula, and using the
picture above to help you, what is the difference between equality and equity?
Discuss this with your HEI or school-based CoP. Try and arrive at an agreed definition
of these two concepts and terms. Write the group’s final definition in your Learning
Journal.
2. Where do you, as a group, see the biggest problems with the current equitable share
formula?
3. Imagine you and your CoP are members of the National Treasury and have the
power and agency to change this funding formula. What changes would you make to
ensure that it is truly equitable?
4. Write a short entry in your Learning Journal on how this activity has impacted on you
in your capacity as a scholar and a school leader.

Discussion of the activity

This article has been specially included to promote your role as a scholar on the AdvDip (SLM)
programme. In other words, engaging with this kind of activity promotes your capacity as a
public intellectual to contribute to debates and discussions in important education matters.

As you engaged with the image of the children on the boxes for the first time immediately
after reading the article, could you see that these two pictures gave a very clear picture of
the difference between equality and equity? In the picture on the left, all three children have
a box to stand on making them equal in this respect. However, the tallest child on the left
has an amazing view, the child in the middle has a good view, but the child on the right is so
short, she can’t see anything. So giving each a child the same box has not ensured equity, i.e.
it has not given each child the same opportunity to have a good view. If your definition that
you reached is along similar lines then you are on track to understanding this very important
distinction.

If you transfer this understanding to how the equitable share formula is currently working,
you would have recognised that all provinces are being treated equally in that the money
they get is according to the number of learners in each province. However, there is not an
equitable distribution of funding because the percentage of a provincial population that are

29
learners is not being taken into account. For this reason, some provinces end up spending
less on education per learner than others.

To meet the requirements of the Constitution, a very different kind of funding model needs
to be brought into operation. Some provinces still have historical backlogs in terms of poorly
trained teachers and weak or old infrastructure. So the poorer provinces should receive
more funding than the richer ones. It is no good counting only the number of learners in a
province; what counts is the percentage of learners in relation to the total population of a
province. As Ally and McLaren (2016) say, "this would ensure that provinces with a higher
share of their population in school receive relatively more education funding, rather than the
opposite, as is currently the case."

Then there is the increased cost of providing quality education to rural areas compared to
urban areas. This is because of the availability of resources, transport costs, the fact that
many teachers no longer like to teach in rural areas, etc. And when rural areas are also poor,
have high unemployment rates and other related social issues, the funding should be even
greater.

Over the next two activities, you will explore the challenge of having the South African
Schools Act (Act No. 84 of 1996) Regulation Relating to Minimum Uniform Norms and
Standards for Public School Infrastructure 2013 implemented as it was intended.

Activity 6: The long walk to equal education

Suggested time:
1 hour

Aim:
To track the social justice challenges faced by schools.

What you will do:

Individual activity

30
 1. Access and watch the video Social Justice Initiative (SJI) Equal Education which you
will find on the SJI website, accessed at: [Link] (Duration
4.36).

When you open the website, you will see two video options. You have already seen
the Social Justice Coalition video, you must now choose the other one..

2. Once you have finished watching the video, respond to the questions below. Write
your responses in your Learning Journal.
• What does this video remind me of? Explain why?
• What do I agree with/disagree with? Explain why?
• What really interests me about this?
• What do I dislike about what I have seen?

Discussion of the activity

The video you watched is one which most teachers and school leaders find interesting. This is
possibly because of the way the narrator takes the viewer directly to the social justice issue
that Equal Education (EE) wants you to face. This is, how unequal education is for the
majority of the mainstream schools more than 20 years after democracy. These are the
schools which often draw their learners from poor and working class communities, are
under-resourced and classified as under-performing. Although it is clear from the Schools
that Work report (Christie, Butler & Potterton, 2007) that just because a school serves a low
socio-economic community and lacks resources, this does not mean that learners cannot
achieve excellent results. The schools in the Schools that Work reports are an inspiration to
all school leaders, teachers, learners and parent communitiesin similar circumstances. But
the majority of mainstream schools are still struggling, which is the focus of this video.

Perhaps it is because the EE team chose to work with learners, and how they approached
this emphasis, that makes it especially motivating. They asked the learners (not the teachers
and school leaders) two questions, i.e. What is wrong with conditions within the school? and
What needs to change? From there, EE ensured that they were campaign-led, meaning that
they took key issues the learners identified and made sure people and organisations bigger
than the school context took notice of what was going on. EE's aim was to build a movement
of young people who would make sure that society did not ignore them any longer. All this
31
was done, as you would have seen, while EE was challenging the Minister of Education, to
make the Norms and Standards for Infrastructure (at that point), official policy. This
examples shows how organisations in civil society have taken up the challenge of equal
education and the equity of provision for all schools and learners, even going as far as taking
the Department of Education to court. This, they were able to do as the South African
Constitution makes provision for such recourse [remedy].

However, it must be remembered, that organisations like Equal Education and others, are
made up of ordinary citizens and perhaps one of the roles of a school leader is to motivate
communities to exercise their agency and to contribute to civic movements that continue to
fight for equal and equitable education.

As you watched the video, you may have agreed with the issues or you may have disagreed
them. The questions under point 2, were intended to make you reflect on and formulate
your own opinions of the video content.

The purpose of the discussion was to enable you to become an increasingly critically
reflective practitioner and scholar, and a leader who thinks critically about policy
implications, about the impact on their own school/community and what can be done to
address these challenges. It is hoped that you were able to reflect critically on the
relationship between what is said or written in policies and regulations and what happens in
the real world (policy implementation) – and why this is the case.

Stop and think

What strategies can you as a school leader implement to improve the infrastructural
challenges at your school?

Activity 7: Work together to address infrastructure needs

Suggested time:
45 minutes

Aim:
To explore opportunities to address infrastructure needs through working collaboratively.
32
What you will do:

1. Read the news article below. It links directly to the video clip you watched in Activity
6 and provides a conclusion to the infrastructure story begun in that activity. By the
time you do this activity, it is possible that you have been able to make changes and
improvements to your school because of the court order passed on 17 July 2018.
Although Minister Motshekga was held responsible in this case, it must be
remembered that she (or any Minister) does not act alone when laws are supposed
to be implemented. The Minister, however, is the one who is held accountable when
a department fails in its duties to the public.
2. After you have read the article, work with your HEI CoP and compare the current
state of infrastructure in your schools. Make a list of what you have and what you
consider you still need for quality learning and teaching. What is similar and what is
different about each of your school’s gaps and needs? Can you explain why there are
these differences and similarities?
3. Now work as closely as possible with participants whose schools are geographically
close to yours. Consider how you, as a collective, can tackle some of the
infrastructure challenges you face. How can you help each other? What resources
from within your school, from the parent community and their networks, and
external stakeholders, can be harnessed for the good of all your schools?
4. You should record the outcome of this activity in your Learning Journal. The
conversations you have with either one or both of your CoPs about the state of your
school, and the school’s environment, should provide you with very interesting
points of comparison about context. Recording the outcome of this activity in your
Learning Journal will help you with contextualising your school in your WPP. Doing so
will also enable you to speak more confidently about what you, as a school leader,
can expect from policy and how you can actively improve your infrastructure needs
while you wait for the government to meet their commitments.
5. You could also start asking questions of the Department if your school’s
infrastructure is simply not meeting the standards set down. Or, more actively, you
could make lobbying for promised infrastructure part of your WPP.

33
Newspaper article: Equal Education hails school infrastructure judgment

An Equal Education march

All mud classrooms must be replaced, and it’s illegal for schools not to have water,
sanitation and electricity, the Bisho High Court ruled.

Equal Education says the Bisho High Court gave a Constitutionally sound interpretation of the
State’s duties to properly address the crisis conditions at South African schools.

This after the NGO won a protracted battle today against the Minister of Basic Education
regarding norms and standards for school infrastructure.

The court order will now ensure that the country’s law on school infrastructure will be
enforced. The court also found that the government’s indefinite delay in fixing unsafe and
inadequate infrastructure at schools was “unconstitutional” and “invalid”.

There will be no more excuses for failure by the nine provinces to comply with the deadlines
set for providing essential infrastructure at schools.

“For two years EE attempted to engage Minister [Angie] Motshekga on the problems in the
law, while following up on progress in work to fix South Africa’s schools. Our request was
simple: for government to commit to meeting its own infrastructure targets. During this time
Minister Motshekga failed to respond substantively to the problems that we identified in the
law,” EE said in a statement.

The regulations set a deadline for the replacement of unsafe structures at schools, as well as
the provision of basic levels of water, sanitation and electricity in schools by November 2016,
but the deadline came and went.

“The deadline by which Minister Motshekga had to ensure that no school was without water,
electricity or sanitation, came and went, with schools around the country still lacking the most
basic infrastructure. The Court has now made very clear that this is entirely unlawful. This
momentous victory has strengthened the ability of learners, teachers, parents, communities
34
 and civil society organisations to hold the State to its duty of protecting learners’ right to
dignity, equality and education.”

The court ordered today that all schools and classrooms built from mud and other
inappropriate materials must be replaced in accordance with the national building regulations,
as well as occupational health and safety regulations.

The Department of Education will now be forced to comply with its norms and standards in
that schools without water, electricity and sanitation must be provided with the services.

The court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the regulations not to provide for plans and
reports to be made public and ordered that this be amended by the Minister of Basic
Education.

In March, Lumka Mkhethwa drowned in a school’s pit latrine. The five-year-old’s body was
found inside the latrine in Bizana in the Eastern Cape, a day after she had gone missing. In
another incident, five-year-old Michael Komape drowned in a pit toilet at Mahlodumela
Primary School, outside Polokwane, four years ago.

(Source: African News Agency, 2018. Accessed from: [Link]

Discussion of the activity

The Equal Education video clip (Activity 6) and the news report (Activity 7) above reinforce
the point made at the beginning of this section, Leading for social justice education and
schooling began, namely that although policy intention may be to address social injustice, in
practice this does not always happen. In other words, although the concept of the original
Norms and Standards legislation (for funding and infrastructure) was in line with policy as the
solution to inequality and injustice, this same legislation has also ended up being the cause of
new injustices and inequalities. There are different ways in which one could respond to this
reality. The most positive and constructive would be for you, as a school leader, to continue
to develop your own inner agency, i.e. the ability to think and act clearly, independently and
confidently; and the inner agency of your learners, teachers, the SMT and SGB, parents and
external stakeholders. Christie et al. (2007: 102) in the Schools that Work report noted this
inner agency as a great strength in schools that maybe struggling against difficult
circumstances.

As a school leader, you can also share with your SGB and school community the results of the
court order reported on in the article in Activity 7 so that they too, as ordinary citizens, can
35
exercise their agency to ensure infrastructure promises from government are met. The
following four deadlines have been set by the government to meet the Norms and Standards
for Infrastructure (Veriava, Thom & Hodgson, 2017: 241). These are:
• Schools built entirely from materials such as asbestos, metal and wood, and schools
with no access to any form of power or water supply or sanitation: 3-year deadline
29 November 2016.
• Electricity, water, sanitation, classrooms, perimeter security, electronic connectivity:
7-year deadline 29 November 2020.
• Libraries and laboratories: 10-year deadline 29 November 2023.
• All other norms, e.g. sports and recreation facilities, universal access: 17-year deadline
31 December 2030.

Chapter 13 of the Basic Education Rights Handbook also offers school leaders the following
practical advice if their school has bad infrastructure:

Familiarise yourself with the norms and standards. Know what your school is entitled
to receive, and by when. KNOW YOUR PROVINCE’S INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN. Each
provincial MEC of education must annually provide the Minister of Basic Education
with an infrastructure plan stating how they will achieve the norms and standards. The
MECs must then report to the Minister every year, on the progress their province has
made. Each plan has a project list containing the names of schools that the province
intends to assist. Check if your school’s name is on the list, and if the infrastructure that
the list says your school must receive is correct. The MEC’s provincial infrastructure
plans, project lists and progress reports can be obtained on the DBE’s website (Veriava
et al., 2017: 244).

Up until now, this unit has focussed mostly on infrastructure requirements which, if not
provided in a school, are likely to affect staff and learners alike.

There may be other aspects of school and community life that impact on learner success. The
next activity is focused on turning your attention to your learners, and finding out their views
on what they believe would make their time at school more positive and successful.

36
Activity 8: What do learners say?

Suggested time:
Several days/a week

Aim:
To research learners’ views on wants and needs in your school and community.

What you will do:

With your school-based CoP
1. Arrange with your school-based CoP that you each select 10-15 learners in a grade
you teach. Try and make sure that you get a cross section of grades so that you have
a range of ages responding to this short survey.
2. Each teacher will ask their group of learners the same two questions that you all
heard in the video clip in Activity 6. If you are a Foundation Phase teacher, it might
be necessary to ask parents these questions, rather than very young learners. The
two questions are:
a. What is wrong (with the conditions in your school that makes learning
difficult and success hard to achieve)?
b. What needs to change (to make your time at school safe, happy and
successful)?
3. As this is a research activity, you need to follow formal research protocols
[procedures]. This means you must:
• Explain to your learners and/or parents exactly why you are conducting this
small survey, why you want to gather this information. Explain what you
intend to do with the findings you make. Once the learners/parents
understand the purpose of the research, they are free to decide whether they
want to participate or not. This is called, giving informed consent.
• Explain how your learners and/or parents will benefit from participating. The
survey will try and address their needs.
• Inform your learners and/or parents that they do not have to answer your
questions. If the learners you first choose refuse to take part, try your best to
replace them with other willing participants.

37
 • Inform your learners and/or parents that they can ask you not to use their
answers in your final analysis. They have the right to withdraw at any time.
• Inform your learners and/or parents that you will not make their names
known publicly. They have the right to anonymity and confidentiality.
4. Type up the two questions in both the first language of your learners and English. It
is highly recommended that you provide learners with the questions in both
languages, for two reasons. The first is that it will ensure that every learner will be
able to understand the questions without any difficulties. The second reason is that,
by presenting the two languages together, learners can see how the same meaning is
formed by both languages.
5. Make copies of the questions for the number of learners you have selected to be in
your group. If you do not have the facilities to type and print the questions, give each
learner a piece of paper and simply ask them to write these two questions down for
themselves. The main point is for learners to write their answers on paper so that
you can collect them and have a record of their answers.
6. Once you have explained the purpose and process of the research project and given
each group of learners their questions, explain to them that you would like them to
answer the questions as honestly as they can. Emphasise that there is not wrong or
right answer. You simply want to learn about what they believe to be barriers to
their success.
7. Once all the learners have written their responses to the two questions on paper,
collect all the pieces of paper.
8. The next step is to analyse this data [the information provided by the learners].
Arrange to get together with the other members of your CoP one afternoon for
about two hours to analyse what the learners have said. Organise the learners’ view
into themes or categories if you can. Organising by themes means putting all similar
ideas/suggestions/etc. in one group and giving that group a name, for example,
Safety and security; Time on tasks; Extra-curricular activities; etc.
9. Then, once you have your first set of themes, see if it makes sense to combine any of
them. Try and reach agreement amongst all members of your CoP on the final
grouping of information into themes or categories.
10. Make sure that you keep a record of the categories into which you have grouped
your data in your Learning Journal. You can then include some of this in your PP as
evidence of your mini-research project.
38
Discussion of the activity
It is most likely that by this point in the programme, you would have completed
Module 3: Leading and managing extra- curricular and co-curricular activities. In Module 3,
reference is made to two articles on learner leadership clubs, one by Grant (2015) and one by
Grant and Nekondo (2016). In those articles, attention is given to what matters to learners.
Activity 8 also focuses on the importance of taking account of your learner’s opinions.

Activity 8 requires you to play two key roles. The first is a leadership one and the second is
that of a researcher. Both, in this case, are in the context of addressing issues of social
justice. Listening to what learners find 'wrong' with their present conditions for learning, and
what they think needs to change, is not something all school leaders and principals do. It is,
however, a critical leadership responsibility even though what the learners say might not be
what you want to hear. Recently, many school-going children in South Africa (and tertiary
level students), have demonstrated strong political views and activism. They have been at
the forefront of major calls for change which could not be ignored. Taking learners’ views
seriously is essential, particularly if a just, equitable and transformative education system is
to be established.

It is best, however, not to overreact to what your learners say, or to panic and rush to act.
This is where your role as a researcher comes in and why working carefully with the data
(evidence), and working as a collective, is so necessary. As researchers, you want to stand
back for a moment and study the words and ideas/suggestions/‘demands’ your learners have
written down. Go through the data at least three or four times together because each time
one or other member of your CoP will notice something different and come up with an idea
about how to proceed. In the end, what you want, is a clear understanding of the main issues
that learners feel are neglected or missing from their learning and school experiences. This
cannot be done in a hurry but needs time, commitment and thought.
In this next activity, more examples of Grant's 2018 research on learner’s concerns will be
discussed.

39
Activity 9: Respond to learners’ voices about what matters to them

Suggested time:
1 hour on task + school-based time

Aim:
To work with real examples of learners’ wants and needs and map these onto your own
context.

What you need to do:

Individual activity
Carefully study the table below. It shows the top five categories of concerns that learners in
70 learner leadership clubs in South Africa and Namibia voiced when they were surveyed
(Grant, 2018). When the Honours students who were researching these learner leadership
clubs had collected their data (in the same way you did in Activity 6) they also analysed this
data according to themes. There were many things that learners raised, but in the end the
students were able to group them into a number of themes. Grant then created the table
below, putting the themes under the heading of Category.

With your CoPs

First, with your school-based CoP and then with your HEI CoP, talk about the information
contained in this table, using the following questions to guide your discussion:
1. Are you surprised that these are the top 5 categories? How closely do they match
what you found out about your learners? If yes, why are you surprised?
2. Are you surprised at the order of these categories? Are you surprised that English
proficiency and physical environment definitely take 1st and 2nd place? Did your
learners also identify these categories as priorities? And if you look at the items in
the second column of each of these two categories, how many of these match what
your learners said?
3. Although learner conduct is ranked 3rd, the number of issues in the second column of
this category shows that learners themselves are very worried about discipline. How
many of these kinds of issues did your learners raise?
4. Go back to your analysis of your data and reorganise it, if after seeing this table, you
can make it more meaningful for presentation to a wider audience.

40
 5. Finally, because your research into your own learners’ wants and needs was a real,
authentic piece of research, your findings must now be taken forward for action.
Plan, with your school-based CoP, who would be the most relevant and necessary
individuals and groups to start acting on these needs. Remember that your learners
remain relevant participants in this process. Write your planning process in your
Learning Journal and negotiate with your principal (unless you are the principal),
your SMT and SGB for an appropriate time and date to present these findings,
together with the Representative Council of Learners (RCL), to a wider audience.

Table 2: Categories of learners' leadership

Focus areas of the learner leadership clubs No. of clubs
[n = 70]
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY (Total 23) 9
Speaking, reading and writing English

Library access and functionality; library corner

Academic performance (including homework club, learning skills, spelling quiz and reading 5
competitions)

Debating and assembly presentations

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
(Total 20)
10
Cleaner environment, anti-littering, recycling

Gardening and tree planting 6

Shading of an identified school area 1

41
Focus areas of the learner leadership clubs No. of clubs
[n = 70]
Maintenance of school resources 2

Addressing water problems 1

LEARNER CONDUCT (Total 15) 3

Drug and substance abuse intervention programme

Bullying 2

Late coming and absenteeism 3

Ill-discipline 2

Uniform 2

Learner pregnancy 1

Hygiene 1

Instilling values 1

CO- AND EXTRA-CURRICULAR (Total 8) 2

Introducing an extra-mural sporting activity

Improving the LRC election campaign 1

Introducing a cultural club 1

Running a poorly utilised computer room 1

Assisting with school tuck shop 2

Assisting with school feeding scheme 1

42
Focus areas of the learner leadership clubs No. of clubs
[n = 70]
LEADERSHIP TRAINING (Total 4) 2
Peer mentoring/twinning

Inviting learner voice 1

Opening communication channels 1

(Source: Grant, 2018)

43
Discussion of the activity

It is possible that your research findings differ from those of Grant (2018) in the table above.
The contexts could be very different, and learner leadership clubs would not have come up,
as this is not something common to South Africa schools. . Nevertheless, the majority of
mainstream learners in South Africa do have very similar experiences, particularly given that
nearly 80% of schools still do not have the same resources as the 20% who show records of
high achievement and success. This does not however, mean that nothing can be done to
improve the conditions for learners.

A key area to which attention can be paid, for example, is that of the language of learning.
Grant’s (2018) study shows that learners put a great deal of emphasis on English proficiency
as a need. For the learners in this study at least, a high level of proficiency in the English
language is associated with advancement in society. This is a long-standing perspective
shared by many African language speakers (see, for example, Barkhuizen, 2002; Sesati, 2002;
Singh, 2016; Parmigiani, 2017).

The reason for this lies in the very complex history of South Africa and Namibia’s language
practices. Since colonial times, English has been imposed on indigenous groups in Africa
(along with other European languages), even though each ethnic nation or group has their
own particular indigenous language. And while the Constitution and the SASA guarantee the
right to education in learners’ own language, it is important to recognise that the Language
In Education Policy In Terms Of Section 3(4)(M) of the National Education Policy Act, 1996
(Act 27 of 1996) allows for a condition of practicability. In other words, only if there are more
than 40 learners between Grades 1 and 6, and 35 between Grades 7 and 12, who ask to learn
in a particular language, is a provincial department required to respond. Even then, issues of
sufficient resources in terms of qualified language teachers and learning materials play a
role. While Afrikaans and English speakers in South Africa are very well served by the
education system, children who speak an African language are lucky if they are taught in
their home language up until Grade 3, even though this is a policy requirement.

44
As English has rapidly come to be seen as the language of power, global communication,
advancement and opportunity, African languages are in real danger of losing their status in
social, economic and political terms. This is despite research and current activism that shows
that learning exclusively in one’s home/mother tongue until one is at least 12 years old
establishes a better foundations for further bilingual learning than any other approach. It is
not surprising, therefore, that the learners in the Grant (2018) study identified English
proficiency as their number one need, and that they gave several ideas about how they
thought their proficiency could be improved. They have come to believe, very sadly, that
their own languages are no longer relevant to their progress in life. English, to these learners,
is the language of advancement and opportunity and so school leaders do have an obligation
to pay a great deal of attention to helping these learners achieve mastery in English. At the
same time, it is critically important that the school also make provision for the advancement
(through reading, writing, oral presentations, listening, etc.) of learners’ home or first
language as this will contribute to the development of their proficiency in both English and
their home language.

In the South African case study reported on in Grant (2015), learners gave particular
emphasis to their environment. Grant says of this:
This focus on the school environment is unsurprising given the poor
condition of the majority of our South African school buildings. Like Flutter
(2006), I contend that the general poor condition of many school buildings
reveals the low status assigned to learners and symbolises a lack of
commitment to their education, a message which is not lost on learners. It
stands to reason then, that this would be an area which learners would
like to change. (Grant, 2015: 101)

However, as you can see in the table above, this was equally important to the Namibian
learners as this table reflects combined findings. There are also many good and simple ideas
provided by learners here for simple ways to improve the school environment to which
everyone can contribute.

When it comes to what the learners here identify as conduct, it is possible all schools will be
dealing with similar issues. What is important of course is that it is the learners who are
worried. They clearly want school leaders to do something about the situation – more than is
45
being done right now. Besides having school rules, and providing learners with open and
honest education around drug use and abuse, responsible sexual behaviour, bullying, etc.
teachers and school leaders have to ensure that they lead by example. As professionals,
teachers and school leaders can do much to positively influence learners’ attitudes, opinions
and behaviour. They need to model what they would like to see in their learners.

In conclusion, here are some examples of a few actions that you and your staff can carry out
that will help to achieve a more socially-just school environment for your learners.

Model principles of social Set an example of non-

justice, equality, redress, sexist, non-racist and Insist on high standards
respect in all your non-discriminatory of behaviour from all and
interactions behaviour towards all in your school

Do not remain silent when Ensure that pastoral care Speak about human
you witness sexist, is made available to rights and social justice in
discriminatory, everyone - learners, your meetings, school
defamatory, or unfair teachers, administrators assemblies and with
behaviour & ground staff parents

Put yourself in the shoes Remind teachers, the SMT

of a learner who is and SGB about service
disadvantaged and delivery standards and the
consider how you could duty of care to learners
and should respond

Figure 5: Actions to achieve a more socially-just school environment

Up until now, content of this unit, has focused mainly on infrastructure demands and
related issues. Attention to learners’ needs and ensuring that their voices are heard has also
been an important area of emphasis in this unit. .
In this final section, you are reminded of what it means to be a member of a community of
practice, and more specifically, the value of a principals’ CoP.

46
Being a member of a community of practice
In preparation for Activity 10, you need to study the following article (you were asked to
read as pre-work for this module):

Cambridge, D., Kaplan, S. & Suter, V. 2005. Community of practice design guide: a step-by-
step guide for designing & cultivating communities of practice in higher education. You can
accessed it at [Link]

Activity 10: Explore the challenges of a Community of Practice

Suggested time:
90 minutes to read the case study and answer the questions

Aim:
The purpose of this activity is for you to think about the issues faced by a CoP leader.

The concept of a Community of Practice (CoP) was introduced in Unit 4 of Module 1:

Professional Portfolio and Workplace Project. As you already know, you are required to
participate in TWO CoPs: one in your HEI and one in your school.

To refresh your memory, here is the definition of a CoP as used and discussed in Module 1:
Professional Portfolio and Workplace Project:
A COP needs to be understood with respect to the support systems it offers
(Wenger,1998: 46), how learning is translated into the workplace and why it is more
effective than a hierarchy (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2009: 244). Hargreaves and Shirley
(2009: 92) state it is in the using of quantifiable evidence and shared experience, to
discuss issues and pronounce judgments on them, that relates to improvement. A CoP
offers the opportunity of ‘an indirect, lateral capacity-building powerful learning from
peers’ (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2009: 283) aspects of which may manifest via the group
member in a particular manner specific to a context. (Adapted from Wylie & Silbert,
2018).

47
What you will do:
1. With a fellow participant discuss the purpose of the two CoPs in which you are
currently participating for this diploma. What is the purpose of each, how do they
differ and how are they similar?.
2. Now consider what the purpose of a principals' CoP would be.
3. The article by Cambridge et al. that you were asked to read in preparation for this
activity, sets out the stages of development and implementation of a CoP. Bear the
stages in mind when reading the case study below and answering the questions that
follow.
4. The extended case study describes the process of setting up a CoP. After each
section of the CoP story, questions are posed which you must answer in your
Learning Journal.

Case Study: A community of practice leader speaks out.

Part 1: Launching a CoP

A provincial Department of Education decided that bringing principals together to meet and
dialogue on common ideas and challenges in their schools would be a good idea. The
Pecanwood District does not have the capacity to assist all the schools and delegating action to
principals made sense. The recent case of a learner bringing a gun to school had warranted
immediate action by district officials. The learner had been suspended but there were
unresolved, broader community problems that needed more consistent intervention and so
the idea of setting up a problem-solving approach, using a CoP, was put forward. CoPs had
worked in other districts. It makes sense for Pecanwood District, which includes Acornwood
and Oakleaf Circuits, to trial this approach as the circuit managers feel that the area was about
to explode. Youth tend to drop out of school at Grades 10 and 11 to join the many that are
unemployed. Drug usage is high, as is unemployment. Teenage pregnancy has risen in the past
eight years and this means that many parents who are bringing children to school for the first
time are themselves young and inexperienced. More serious is the seeming lack of care that
some of these young mothers display, preferring to spend grant money on clothes, rather than
on their children.

The schools in the Acornwood and Oaktree Circuits had been sent a circular requesting the
principals to form a CoP to discuss and explore possible solutions to what was a growing level
of violence in the community and within their schools, plus other emerging issues. The district

48
 office had engaged an external facilitator to get the CoP up and running. The appointed
facilitator is a white female, experienced in running CoPs across the province, and an expert in
school leadership and management.

The principals from eight schools have been invited to meet as a CoP on the last Friday in
September: two from the local secondary schools and six from the feeder primary schools. The
principals know each other as they attend principals' meetings every month in the district. Of
the eight principals, five were females and six were experienced principals, having been
principals for over six years. The remaining two principals were new, and had been appointed
in January. It had been decided that each CoP meeting would be no longer than two hours and
would run from 13h30 to 15h30, once a month, on dates to be decided.

Part 1 questions to be answered in your Learning Journal:

a. Why should principals want to meet as a CoP?
b. What do you think will happen at this first meeting?
c. Is an external facilitator the right person to get the CoP going, or should it be a
district official and why?
d. What challenges do you think the group of principals will face, considering the
community picture that has been painted?

Case study: Part 2: The CoP continues to meet

At the first meeting, the facilitator was confronted with six principals and two deputies who
had been asked to attend on behalf of their principals. This presented an awkward situation
and the facilitator explained that the CoP was only for principals and was not a meeting where
attendance could be delegated. She wondered what part of the brief that had been sent to the
missing principals had not been understood. The two deputies seemed annoyed when the
situation was explained to them and left reluctantly. The rest of the group were quiet but all
agreed it was for the best. The facilitator agreed to visit the schools where the principals had
sent deputies. She then opened the dialogue by asking the schools to list the problems they
experienced in the school and the community.

Mr Khosa started the conversation by saying he was fed up with the amount of drugs
circulating in the community and that he had recently caught two Grade 10s smoking dagga in
the toilets. Their parents had been informed and both learners had agreed to attend
counselling but it was the drug dealer that needed to be caught. Mr Khosa said he thought he

49
 knew the pusher but was not certain. He declined to share the name. Mr Gole, the principal of
the second secondary school, was also worried. He had similar incidents last year but no one
to date had been caught. His concern was Grade 11 learners falling asleep in class with signs of
having smoked something. They were also lethargic and slow in verbal responses. He was
reluctant to search the learners, or even inspect their bags, as the father of one of the Grade
11 learners was a powerful SGB member, who was rumoured to be a violent person when at
home. His wife had arrived at the school with a bruised face which she said was because she
had fallen.

Mrs Molefe, the principal of a well-respected primary school in the area, said that she would
look into the boy’s bags for signs of drugs and that this was allowed as the learners were on
school property. A robust exchange happened between all but two principals and Mr Gole
appeared on the defensive after the primary school principals said he must search the
learners’ bags. His response was that primary schools do not have the same problems and that
he was also worried about how other learners would view this so-called invasion of privacy. He
said he was dealing with teenagers and they were more violent than primary school children,
they held grudges and bullied others. It was his school where one learner had been found with
a gun.

There was disagreement over what are the rights of learners compared to the rights of a
school but the facilitator was aware that there were other issues that were emerging.

Part 2 questions to be answered in your Learning Journal:

a. What issues do you believe Mr Gole is facing?
b. What advice should the CoP give Mr Khosa?
c. What else appear to be challenges for the CoP?
d. Why did two principals remain silent and not join in the debate?

50
Case study: Part 3: School problems surface
The debate on drugs and associated issues had taken the best part of the two hour session and
so the facilitator ended with a reflection on what had been discussed and set a date for the
second meeting on the 20th October. All agreed to attend although Mrs Morris and Ms Nkosi,
who had said very little for the two hours, were not smiling. The facilitator decided that a visit
to their schools was in order to ascertain what they were thinking.

The facilitator visited the schools the following week and was pleasantly surprised to find Mrs
Morris laughing with a colleague in the staffroom. She was pleased to see the facilitator but
said she thought the CoP was not for her and her school. She explained that the school was a
former Model C school and was still staffed with older white teachers and had strict rules and
regulations that had been in place for at least 20 years, which was the length of time that she
had been principal. Mrs Morris said her school was the best in the area and, even though the
demographics of learners had changed, the staff turnover was small and there was a great
demand for places in the school. She said she had been appalled by what Mr Khosa and Mr
Gole had said about drugs and guns as her school did not experience such issues. She was
wondering if she should remain a member of the CoP as it was obvious to her that her
challenges were small and different compared to the other schools. The facilitator spoke about
what else could emerge in the CoP and that it was too early for Mrs Morris to make a decision
about the relevance of the CoP conversations. Mrs Morris said she would "give it another go”.

Ms Nkosi was equally welcoming when the facilitator arrived but said she did not say anything
as she had not been a principal for very long and felt that others would not accept what she
said as being relevant. The facilitator persuaded her to talk to one of the other CoP members
and to try and work out what the CoP could do for them. Ms Nkosi said she would attend the
next meeting.

The two schools which had sent deputy principals said they had misunderstood the brief, and
that the principals would be at the next meeting. The facilitator was satisfied with their
responses.

51
Part 3: questions to be answered in your Learning Journal:
a. What could be the range of reasons for Ms Nkosi and Mrs Morris not wanting to be
part of the CoP?
b. Could other CoP members assist the facilitator in getting them to attend?
c. Should the facilitator bring district officials into the mix at this point to talk to Ms
Nkosi and Mrs Morris?

Case Study: Part 4: Growing a CoP

At the next meeting, three of the principals were not in attendance, due to visits by the circuit
managers to look at their School Improvement Plans (SIPs) which had been identified as not
being developed enough. Ms Nkosi was one of absent principals. However, Mrs Morris was
there and she decided to talk about her challenge which was different to everyone else's. She
was having some diversity problems in her school between a white teacher and two black
teachers.

Apparently, a blazing row had erupted the previous week between the teachers over
attendance at the memorial service of another teacher in a neighbouring school. The white
teachers had argued that if all teachers in all schools went to every memorial service of every
local teacher then there would be no teaching in any schools. The schools could just “close up
shop”. Apparently, the memorial service was for a prominent SADTU branch member and this
person was well known in the whole area. Mrs Morris said the row had divided the staffroom
into groups of white, Indian and black teachers and there was no communication between the
various groups. The other principals listened carefully and Mrs Molete asked if this was the
first time such an event had happened. Mrs Morris said it was not the first time but she was
concerned as this time the debate had been ferocious and some racial comments were heard,
not directly, but inferred in the way teachers responded. She said she had not wanted to come
to the CoP and share this with others but she felt and hoped, as a white principal, she could
get help from her black colleagues. There was silence in the CoP and the facilitator wondered
what was going on.

52
Part 4 questions to be answered in your Learning Journal:

a. As a principal, how would you handle this situation with Mrs Morris? What action
would you suggest?
b. Do you think the CoP was the right place to address this issue? Explain your answer.
c. Should other principals offer to intervene and assist in Mrs Morris’s school?
d. Do you think Mrs Morris is the right sort of principal to be a member of a CoP?

Case study: Part 5: Sustaining a CoP

The third meeting was held in November and this time there was a full house. Ms Nkosi was
there but seemed nervous and anxious. Mrs Morris reported that she had had some success
in bringing the parties together and there was a level of calm back in the staffroom. She said
she was grateful to Ms Nyozi, from a neighbouring school and a CoP member, who had
popped into the school and had helped tremendously by being a sounding board for her.
Mrs Morris said she would be at all CoP meetings from now on. She smiled openly and
warmly at Ms Nyozi.

At this meeting, the facilitator asked what should be discussed and all said that violence and
guns in the community needed to be addressed. There was a very vigorous debate on the
topic and all, for once, were agreement as to what should happen. Mr Gole and Mr Khosa
were asked to lead the group and to try and decide what action needed to be taken. It was
agreed that all principals should meet further and come up with a plan in detail that would
help the community to deal with violence as it rises. The group started to talk about guns in
schools. This led to a few agreed points of common action, to get them going:

School leaders would gather local community religious leaders together, to talk about the
misuse of guns and increasing violence in the community. The hope was that the leaders
could give some insights into what factors drive young people to be violent and then a
community dialogue could be set up with parents, police and church youth groups.

A motivational speaker would be paid for by the schools and asked to visit each school to
give a talk on the problems of violence and safety. Ms Nkosi said she knew someone who
would be appropriate.

The principals would work together as a group and would ask the district at the next
principals’ meeting to make this topic one that all could discuss.

53
Part 5 questions to be answered in your Learning Journal:
a. Why do you think the group suddenly got together and began planning?
b. What dynamics are you seeing emerging in the CoP?
c. Is the action the CoP members have taken the right action? Explain your answer.
d. Do you think trust plays an important place in how a CoP works and if so, in what
way?

Stop and think

Are you able to see yourself as a member of a CoP? Think about, the sort of problems that
such a CoP would tackle? What else can a CoP do?

Discussion of the activity

As you read the situations described and the dilemmas faced by the CoP, you may have
found them to be familiar to you as a school leader. Change and innovations are received in
different ways. Also, you may have experienced similar levels of participation or resistance
from groups in your school. The two CoPs in which you are already working in the
programme may also lead to similar group dynamics and dilemmas, so thinking about how
the issues described in the case study could have been handled, may enable you to sort out
issues thoughtfully in the future.

The first phase of a CoP is often focused on inquiry. This is described by Cambridge et al.
(2005: 2) as ‘‘a process of exploration and inquiry, [identifying] the audience, purpose, goals,
and vision for the community." It may or may not be a good idea to have an outsider to run
the CoP. The advantages that an outsider provides include perspective and confidentiality. It
is sometimes awkward to raise problems that may reflect poorly on oneself as a leader, or
the school. Another possibility is for a leader to emerge from the group but this sometimes
takes time. An emergent leader can assist the CoP in attaining sustainability. Whoever leads
the CoP should make the building of trust a priority, but not allow individual issues to derail
the focus.

A matter to consider is whether the CoP facilitator was correct in making the judgement to
exclude the two deputy principals from the second meeting. It is necessary to consider the
reasons why she did this. It might not have been the right decision because, for instance, it
54
might have been useful to get the perspective of other leaders in the schools, not only that
of the principal.

The challenges described in the case study are outside in factors, i.e. where social issues from
outside the school impact on its functioning. This needs strong community action and agency
as the issues are too big for one school alone to solve.

Cambridge et al. (2005: 2) name the second phase of a CoP as the definition of roles, how the
group will work together and also establish the goals of the community. Trusting
relationships begin to form during this phase, based on contact and collaboration. Members
realise that they have something to learn and also something to contribute, no matter what
their school circumstances are. A collegial and collaborative relationship, and a supportive
learning space is what is desirable.

Four important characteristics of a CoP, described in a document published by the

organisation Bridge (2011) are relevant: a purpose greater than individual goals; a desire to
share experience, expertise and common problems; commitment to the group and its
enterprise (purpose, task); an awareness of commonalities even across different
circumstances; and a desire to contribute to finding solutions.
Being a member of a CoP means being open to collaborative discussion, feedback and
suggestions. The next activity gathers insight from yourself, as well as feedback from
colleagues, on your leadership approach. Opening oneself to feedback is not always easy, but
can be most enlightening.

Take note

For more information on Communities of Practice, access the Bridge site: [Link]

55
Activity 11: Use the Caring School Leadership Questionnaire

Suggested time:
90 minutes
• 60 minutes for the completion of the quiz and collation of scores
• 30 minutes in-class discussion
Aim:
To reflect on your leadership practices by completing a self-reflective questionnaire and to
gather feedback from colleagues to compare perceptions accordingly.

What you will do:

1. Use the Caring School Leadership Questionnaire (CSLQ) (van der Vyver et al., 2014).
This is available at the end of this document as Appendix 1: Evaluation instrument
for the caring role of the school principal (self-evaluation) and Appendix 2:
Evaluation instrument for the caring role of the school principal (to be completed by
teachers). The questionnaire was designed for principals but could of course be used
by other leaders in the school.
2. Follow the instructions regarding completion and scoring for yourself.
3. Provide the teacher’s questionnaire to 2-3 trusted, and fair colleagues (perhaps your
school- based CoP?) and ask them to complete the questionnaire and collate the
scores.
4. Compare your scores with those of your colleagues.

Individual activity
1. Reflect on the following questions:
a. What new insights have you gained as a school leader as a result of the above
activity?
b. If there are areas that you need to work on, what action/s do you think you can
take. (See Module 1: Professional Portfolio and Workplace Project Unit 4 on your
personal and professional development.)

56
Discussion of the activity

You have been given the opportunity to complete the questionnaire and to share it with
others. The comparison of scores from your questionnaire and that of others may be
interesting as to what you can learn from this. Insight into the difference between how you
perceive yourself and how others perceive you, can make you feel vulnerable, but can also
provide great insight.

For each group of items in the questionnaire a score is tallied based on the person’s response
on the Likert scale. (The Likert scale is simply a range of options for your score. In this
questionnaire, respondents choose their score on a scale of 1–4. The overall scores for a
sections are added up according to the scoring rubric provided as Appendix 4.)

Table 3: Caring School Leadership Questionnaire scoring sheet

Question number Your score Average of Highest possible Comment
range teachers’ score
scores
1-25 100 If your score is
Psychological close to 100, your
determinants mannerisms and
behaviours are
more empathetic
[understanding,
aware] and open.

26-39 54 If your score is

Workplace closer to 54, the
determinants environment, i.e.
the workplace is
more caring and
supportive.

40-59 80 If your score is

Management closer to 80, your
determinants leadership is
conducive to
creating a caring
environment.

(Source: Adapted from van der Vyver et al., 2014)

The questionnaire looks at caring and empathy as characteristics of leadership. These

characteristics are key to building collaborative relationships, and are developed through
effective communication. The three categories, namely psychological, workplace and
management determinants, may also provide useful insights to you. The first category,
psychological determinants, reflects your inherent personality and degree of empathy. This is

57
related to emotional intelligence and orientation to others. The second category, workplace
determinants, refers to the culture and atmosphere of the school. Of course, as a leader in
the school, you have the chance to influence the way that people interact, behave and treat
one another. The third category, management determinants, is about how leadership
approaches impact on the creation of a caring environment. Again, this is something that a
school leader can influence.

Roberts and Roach (2006: 52) report that in successful schools "the relationships between
the SMT and SGB are cordial, collaborative and collegial, and a great deal of informal
collaboration and meetings between different groups of teachers occur during break time
and after school." This is obviously the ideal, but it may be that the results of the
questionnaire reveal low scores in one or more categories, or perhaps even in all of them. As
a school leader, this indicates that a lot of personal work needs to happen in order to
improve the level of caring and empathy in the school. A suggestion in such a case would be
to seek out a mentor who could guide the self-development process.

Activity 12: How do I relate to others?

Suggested time:
90 minutes

Aim:
The purpose of this individual activity is for you to explore and analyse the way in which you
relate to others, as a way to enhance your relationship with the school community.

What you will do:

1. Reflect in your Learning Journal on the following:
• What insight do you have in terms of how you interact with others? Are you
collegial, domineering, quiet, withdrawn, etc.?
• How well do you listen? Or do you formulate your answer or response while the
other person is talking?
• Are you easily intimidated by others who may be more experienced or better
qualified? Or are you confident in yourself?

58
 • How comfortable are you when interacting with diversity? This includes gender,
class, culture, religion, etc.
2. Read the information below and then answer the questions that follow in your
Learning Journal:

Hallet (2014) provides a succinct summary of the key characteristics of effective

working relationships. Unsurprisingly, constructive relationships are the backbone of
effective interactions with others. Before you engage with parents, it may be useful
for you to ponder how to build constructive (and collegial) relationships. See below
for more information and some reflective questions about your own tendencies.
• Assess yourself by responding to the questions in the table below on the
characteristics that make for constructive relationships.
• Add any other characteristics and explain why they are important for
effective relationships.

Characteristics for constructive relationships

Trust is the basis of relationships. Trust is a powerful bond that assists teams to
communicate more effectively. Trust breeds honesty and openness.

How easily do you trust others, and how trustworthy do people find you? Is this an area
that you need to work on?

Respect between people/parties is essential for constructive relationships. Solutions can

be discussed openly and creatively, with collective insight.

Are you a person who commands respect, not through fear but through personal power,
knowledge and experience? Do you give respect to others, especially those who may be
different from you or have diverse experience or mannerisms, or is this an issue that you
need to work on

Mindfulness refers to taking responsibility for actions and words spoken. CoP members
who are mindful of the language they use and the tone they use contribute to the creation
of a positive learning environment.

How mindful are you of the impact of your words and actions? Are you able to be assertive
and straightforward when you disagree, or do you come across as aggressive?

Diversity enables and enhances creativity and innovative thinking.

How open are you to working with a diverse group of CoP participants, whose experience,
point of view and point of departure may differ considerably from yours? Are you sensitive
about the language you use?

59
 Open communication and honest, timeous communication between members is
essential. It is essential to be open and transparent when communicating, even when
what you have to say is difficult or challenging.

How effectively do you communicate? Is your mode of communication appropriate, as well

as your manner? What happens when you are annoyed or worried or stressed? Is your
communication style something that you should work on?

(Source: Adapted from Hallet, 2014)

Discussion of the activity

The important outcome of this activity is to identify the characteristics you need to develop
and use to improve your engagement with others. Check if you selected characteristics that
reflect collaborative and participative leadership. Take careful note of the caring qualities
that you identified in yourself and see how you can apply them in your school.

In Module 4: Leading and managing people and change Unit 3, the information and activities
around negotiation skills are useful to consider as an aid when working with others and
especially when discussing difficult issues.

In the next section, you focus on the school as a community.

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Section 3: Understanding the school as a community and
why this is important

A school that works well as a community uses every opportunity "to forge relationships
between parents and foster communication between school staff, parents and SGB members
in a less formal setting" (Roberts & Roach, 2006: 39). In Unit 6 of Module 4: Leading and
managing people and change, you looked at circles of connectedness within the school and
with school stakeholders. This idea, of the interrelatedness and interdependence of the
various stakeholders that make up a school community, was further developed In the
previous section of this unit in which you started to explore ways of collaborating and
working with others in your school community.

In this section, the emphasises is on the importance of developing supportive relationships

within, between, and across communities.. In particular, this section focuses on building
positive relationships with parents/caregivers. It is recognised that their involvement with the
school and in their children’s schooling, plays a key role in effective teaching and learning and
ultimately in promoting good educational achievements.

This section is about the nature of the support and the connections that you, as an aspiring
school leader will need to build to ensure quality teaching and learning in your school.

Support ensures that all the stakeholders work together, interacting, sharing and working
collaboratively. The stakeholders include, but are not limited to: the SGB, SMT, parents,
teachers, learners, alumni, service providers, district, and support staff. It is important to
understand that the parents and/or caregivers can also be a sources of support to each other,
as well as to the school.

Building positive relationships with parents and caregivers

Research shows that family engagement in schools improves learner achievement, reduces
absenteeism, and restores parents' confidence in their children's education. Learners with
involved parents or caregivers have better school attendance, homework completion rates
and achieve higher results. Typically, parental support also results in the children having better

61
social skills and generally demonstrating better behaviour. The parents/caregivers are
therefore a very important support to the school.

However, Ezekiel-Hart (2013: 157) warns of barriers, chief amongst which is power [that the
parents/caregivers have] and positionality [the influence that parents have in relation to what
happens in a school]. She states if parents are treated "as powerless or unimportant" they will:
...be discouraged from taking an interest in school thus promoting the development of
attitudes which inhibit achievement among students. Conversely schools that
synergistically [collaboratively, for mutual benefit] work with these stakeholders do
better in all areas. (Ezekiel-Hart, 2013: 157)

To develop a deeper understanding of what is happening in your school, you need to collect
relevant information to inform how your work with parents and others in the community.

The next activity is about working with your school based CoP to assess the extent and quality
of parental involvement in your school. The activity may provide information that could assist
with your WPP.

Activity 13: Assessing parental involvement

Suggested time:
1 hour

Aim:
To review the extent to which your school is actively working to involve parents in their
children’s learning.

What you will do:

With your school–based CoP
1. Complete the checklist for parental involvement practices (Table 4) below. Do so as
honestly as possible. This is both a leadership task and also a research task.

2. Use the rating scale provided to rate the extent to which your schools is actively
working to involve parents in their children’s learning.3. After you have completed the
checklist , add up the scores on the scoring sheet (Table 5).

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 1. Note low scores and start to think about and plan how you could strengthen parental
engagement in your school.
2. With the school-based CoP members, brainstorm a list of actions that could be taken
to promote greater parent involvement.
3. Write down the results of the checklist activity and your initial planning in your
Learning Journal.

Rating scale

1 = Very poor 2 = Poor 3= Satisfactory 4 = Good 5 = Excellent

Table 4: Checklist for parental involvement practices

1 2 3 4 5
TOTAL

Engagement with families and improving

relationships
1 The school aims to improve engagement
with families
2 Clear plans to improve engagement with
families are in place
3 The school focuses on building relationships
with parents
4 There are clear plans to improve
relationships with parents
5 Plans to improve relationships with parents
are being implemented
Total for the section

Goals for parental involvement

The school works with parents to work out
6
goals for parental involvement
Efforts are made to monitor progress on
7
improved parental involvement
Teachers assist parents with ideas on how to
8
support learners at home
Total for the section

(Source: Adapted from Spielberg, 2011; Flamboyan Foundation, 2011)

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Table 5: Scoring sheet for checklist for parental involvement practices

Category No. of Highest Your Score for Comments/actions required

questions score score concern
possible
Improving 5 25 15 or
engagement below
with families
and building
relationships
Goals for 4 20 14 or
parental below
engagement
(Source: Adapted from Spielberg, 2011; Flamboyan Foundation, 2011)

Discussion of the activity

After completing the checklist (Table 4) and working out the score, were you satisfied with the
results or is there still room for improvement regarding the degree to which your school is
actively working to involve parents in their children’s learning? If not, what action can you
take to bring about positive change in this regard?

If you should decide to make improvement of parental involvement in the school the goal of
your WPP the information summarised in the tables 4 and 5 and the notes in your Learning
Journal will be helpful.

The next activity investigates strategies for parental involvement.

Activity 14: Improving parental involvement

Suggested time:

2 hours

Aim:
The purpose of this activity is to explore suggestions from an article on improving parental
involvement in the school.

64
What you will do:
Individual activity
1. Download and read the article: Okeke, C. 2014. Strategies for parental involvement.
South African Journal of Education, 34 (3): 1-9. Accessed from:
[Link]

2. Look at Figure 6 which summarises the range of activities that Okeke (2014: 1) has
provided after surveying strategies for parental involvement.

Holding special
Helping their children with Planning and attending
consultations on children's
homework parent-teacher evenings
problems

Holding and participating Helping in the school and

in parent councils in the classroom

Figure 6: Joint parental/guardian and school responsibilities

(Source: Adapted from Okeke, 2014)

3. Respond to the questions and points listed below. Write your responses in your
Learning Journal. You should feel free to write in the language of your choice:
• What is the main argument the article puts forward concerning a correlation
between parental involvement and academic achievement? Write one or two
paragraphs (only) in your own words,
• Explain in one or two paragraphs, what you understand by cultural capital?
Explain how its absence or presence could either enable or hinder parental
involvement. (In Module 4: Leading and managing people and change Unit 1,
the concept of various forms of capital was introduced. You may like to look
back to Module 4 to refresh your memory.)

65
 • What is your opinion on the suggestion that parental involvement may
improve if the following two factors are present? Write your response down
and provide reasons which substantiate the view that you hold.
o A formal written policy on parental involvement.
o Leadership from the principal of the school.
• Review all the suggestions that Okeke makes and select the top five that you
think would work in your context.
• Prepare a table ( with three columns). Insert the five strategies into column
one, in column two, provide reasons for why you selected the five strategies.
In the last column, explain how you could use the five strategies in your
school to improve parental involvement.

Do this activity with your school-based and HEI CoP

• Share this in you school- based CoP and with your fellow participants in your
HEI CoP for their comment.
• If you plan to make improved parental involvement in your school the focus
of your WPP, model the same process with your WPP team.

Discussion of the activity

It is important that the top five strategies for parental involvement that you select are suitable
for the context of your school. School strategies for improving parental involvement could
include a variety of actions such as establishing structures for doing homework, teaching for
understanding and developing child learning strategies. Suggested involvement activities from
the parent and/or caregiver could include volunteering in the classroom to support activities
such as reading or story telling (in the primary school) and for extra-mural and/or extra-
curricular activities. (Think back to topics that you have covered in Module 3: Leading and
managing extra-curriculat and co-curricular activities.)

The purpose of parental involvement is "to benefit their children's educational outcomes and
future success" (Okeke, 2014: 2). Parental involvement is also seen as a response "to school
obligations by parents of children in the school. These include getting the child to school on
time, involvement in curriculum implementation, volunteering, self-education, and taking a
leadership role at the child's school" (Okeke, 2014: 2).

66
Parental involvement includes opportunities for the parent, alongside the school’s expectation
of a parent’s response to their requirements. This suggests the development of mutual respect
is necessary for continued positive interactions. How do you think parents could be persuaded
of the benefits of increased involvement in your school?

The next activity explores communication strategies to develop and maintain the
parent/school relationship for the benefit of learners.

Activity 15: Communicating with parents

Suggested time:
2 hours

Aim:
The purpose of this activity is to examine successful communication and involvement
strategies used in schools and to select appropriate strategies for use in your school context.

What you will do:

Individual activity
Reflect on your experience of communication between your school and parents or caregivers.
Record your thoughts and answer the following questions in your Learning Journal:
1. What successes or challenges have you experienced with regard to communicating
effectively with parents and what have been the consequences?
2. As a parent (if this applies to you) how would you describe communication from your
child’s school?
3. Are there any new/ additional communication strategies that you think should be
introduced at your school? What are these and why do you think they may be useful
and/or effective?

With your HEI CoP

1. Watch the TEDx video: Carroll, C. 2013. Teacher and parent relationships - a crucial
ingredient. Accessed from: [Link]
(Duration: 9:20 minutes).
2. Discuss the following with your fellow participants:

67
 • Cecile Carroll mentions several successful communication strategies that she has
found helpful. Carroll uses a teacher survey. Why do you think she finds it useful?
• he talk discusses the teacher’s open attitude where she disclosed her teaching
plans and then provided tips for the parent to follow. How helpful do you think this
tactic could be for you and for parents in the school, and why?
• Do you think that the teacher’s request for assistance has potential for success?
• Carroll refers to the good, the bad and the ugly communication. Why do parents
feel disrespected when they receive only bad news?
• The talk covers a range of communication modes and mediums. Which of these
would work best for your school? What makes you say this?
• Finally, what do you think about the statement that "a teacher’s working
conditions are a student’s learning conditions"? What implications does this have
for you as a leader in your school?

Discussion of the activity

Christie et al. (2007: 58–59) emphasises the importance of a reciprocal and committed
relationship between the school, the parents and the community:
In some cases, this was manifested in a sense of ownership of the school and its
community. The sense of custodial [care-giving responsibility] and reciprocal [mutual]
responsibility among teachers, principal and the community is evident in the following
statement from a rural school:

SMT: Actually, we own the school. This school does not belong to the principal alone.
Both parents and teachers are owning the school. … We have support from the
community. The community understands the vision and the culture of the school. If we
have parents’ meetings, they come in big numbers. (School J) (Christie et al., 2007: 59)

Ownership in the school above translates into a sense of belonging and commitment amongst
its learners:
At this school, you are here not just to learn. You feel at home. Teachers work hand in
hand with learners. They advise you with problems. And educationally, try to identify
your problems and help. That is why this school gets 100% pass rate. Learners are
committed. (School J) (Christie et al., 2007: 59)

68
Leadership in the school is critical:
Quality leadership - of different sorts - is clearly a key dimension of success. Principals
in all cases demonstrated an understanding of the history and identity of the school
and deep commitment to the community in which the school was located. (Christie et
al., 2007: 78)

Christie et al. (2007: 58) reports that school stakeholders say we own the school. The parents
and teachers are taking ownership of this school which foregrounds the role of distributive
leadership and parents in building reciprocity [interchange, exchange] and collaboration for
effective teaching and learning. The more distributed and participative the leadership in a
school is, the more powerful its impact is likely to be. Module 4: Leading and managing people
and change discusses distributed leadership as well as further collaborative and relational
leadership approaches.

If you have identified areas for improvement related to parental participation in the school
community as the planned focus of your WPP, it would be a good idea to idea to also discuss
your new insights ( from this activity) with your WPP team. You may be able to feed some of
the new ideas into your WPP action plan.

Figure 7 illustrate the type of shift that you may expect if parents are encouraged and
supported in becoming more involved .

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 Unacceptable behaviour from parents changes – through involvement –
to acceptable behaviour

Disrespectful Respectful

Disengaged Engaged

Negative Positive

Insensitive communication Sensitive communication

Culturally incompetent Culturally competent

Focus on blame Welcome letters, positive phone

calls & home visits

Interaction is around problems Regular interaction (regardless)

Irregular interaction Frequent opportunities for parents

to raise questions

Feedback from parents is taken Feedback from parents is listened

negatively to and acted upon
Don’t know families – who they are, Families are known – who they are,
what they do, issues etc. what they do, issues etc.
Goals for children are not known Goals for children are known and
and shared by parents / teachers shared by parents / teachers

Minimum information on how to Teacher gives information on how

support at home learning
to support learning at home

Figure 7: Shifts due to parental involvement

(Source: Adapted from Speilberg, 2011; Flamboyan Foundation, 2011)

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Key points
Unit 1 focussed on the following key points:
• Defining community.
A definition of community provides a context for the Module as a whole.
• Social justice.
Referring to the Constitution, the term social justice was discussed. Practical examples
of instances where community members do not feel that social justice has been
implemented or achieved, were also highlighted
• Equitable share.
The discussion of the equitable share funding policy provided a starting point for
critiquing the funding formula in the light of the principles that underpin social justice.
• Learner voice.
A research project provided insight into learners’ wants and needs and suggestions for
action.
• Community of Practice.
Exploring nuances of participating in a CoP through a case study provided practical
examples of how a CoP typically operates..
• Leadership capabilities and attitude towards community relationships.
Gathering information about your leadership style from a questionnaire was intended
to ensure that you understand and are able to reflect on your own leadership
capabilities and attitudes to others, and on how you relate to others.
• Assessing parental involvement in your school.
The value of parental participation in the school community was discussed with key
readings on this matter were provided. In this section, various instruments were also
provide to help you to gather information on parental involvement in your school.
Suggestions for improved parental engagement, including improved communication
were discussed.

In Unit 2, the focus is on the broader community in which the school is located and on how to
build and maintain relationships with individuals and organisations in the community that can
support the achievement of quality teaching and learning in your school context.

71
72
Unit 2: Understand, map and build relationships with the
community

Overview
This unit focuses on how to identify, encourage and maintain relationships that are mutually
beneficial – to the school and to the community. In carrying forward the theme of
collaboration as essential to working successfully for and with communities, think about the
following initial comment:
Successful principals were particularly effective at working with the surrounding
community on its own terms and with the local education district office, and in making
these interfaces productive, allowing the school to play a key role in improving the
community and supporting changes in the district office. (Prew, 2007: 447).

In Section 1 of this Unit, you will start by analysing the external factors that provide the
context within which your school operates. Understanding this context is important. The
failure to analyse and understand the context could mean that a school (and the school
leaders) do not develop clear "outcomes toward which they are striving" (Wolhuter, van der
Walt & Steyn, 2016: 7). Teaching and learning, and the focus on developing people who can
cope with an "unknown future" (Wolhuter et al., 2016: 7) is thus a priority. This cannot be
done without cooperation and trust between the school and the community. Thereafter you
will give attention to the human element – to identifying those who have some interest in or
influence on your school (i.e. external stakeholders – individuals and organisations that have
an interest in your school).

As part of this section, a story of a school is presented which provides an example of what
can happen when leadership, relationships and the basic functions of a school have broken
down. Finally, you will look at how school-community relationships can be maintained,
through the effective communication and marketing of the school.

In a well-functioning community, individuals, as well as various structures in the community

including government and non-government organisations, are all a potential resource and
providers of support to the schools located in their community. Support that can be
harnessed to benefit the education and well-being of the children in a school

73
In this section you will also be provided with a tool that will assist in analysing context so as to
prepare you to respond to both the opportunities as well as the threats that present
themselves.

Unit 2 learning outcomes

By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
Actively engage community resources in support of the school’s vision, mission and curriculum
and build the school into a broader community asset.

This unit comprises two sections which are illustrated in Figure 8:

Understanding the broader community

• Analysing the context

• Using tools to identify role-players and stakeholders

Community mapping

Figure 8: The sections in Unit 2

74
Section 1: Understanding the broader community
Wolhuter et al. (2016: 1) say 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". They foreground three key
external contexts that school leaders in developing countries must consider. The authors
highlight that unfortunately, these three external contexts are not paid sufficient attention in
the research agenda on school leadership in developing countries . These contexts move from
the macro, i.e. the global context, to the societal context within a country, to the education
context within each society. These three different contexts and their relationship to each other
can be seen in Figure 9 below.

Education system

Societal context

Global context:
Developed and
developing countries

Figure 9: External contexts and their relationships to each other

Wolhuter et al.’s emphasis on these three contexts is useful and provides a rationale for why it
is important that you understand the global and local contexts that surround you and your
school.

Taking this understanding into consideration, this section is arranged as follows:

75
Understanding the contextual factors
Contextual factors are not generally about people but about circumstances, conditions,
events, phenomena and legislative and policy frameworks that govern how you are able to
operate and define your powers. In this section, you first locate a contextual analysis within a
broader context – that of South Africa as a developing country. You may recognise that many
of the challenges in the South African context are challenges shared by many developing
countries in other parts of the world, such as Kenya, India, Cuba, and Mozambique.

Identifying and understanding the community

Community consists of the human element – all the people who have some involvement or
interest in the activities of a school. This includes people internal to the school (teachers,
parents, the SGB, learners, the SMT, and so on) as well as people and organisations external to
the school (community members, religious leaders, traders, service providers, professionals,
and so on).

These facets are key considerations for school leadership. Activity 17 will look briefly at the
educational system, and Activities 18–20 concentrate on understanding the societal context.

Activity 16: The impact of class size on school leaders

Suggested time:
3 hours: preparation, writing (drafts and final copy)

Aim:
To explore the impact of education systems in developing countries, particularly class size, on
school leaders.

What you will do:

• Work through the steps of this activity, reading the extracts below and engaging in
discussion with your higher education institution community of practice (HEI CoP) as
specified.
• This activity will end in a written task (an essay) as set out in point 5
below.

76
 • Once you have finalised your essay, put it into your Professional Portfolio (PP). This
essay forms important evidence of your ability to prepare an academic argument.

Individual activity

Read the following extract from Wolhuter et al. (2016):

The principal … in a developing country … is working in an education system that was
constructed and functions in a particular manner … [they] find themselves amidst a
worldwide trend to decentralise power, duties and responsibilities … deal[ing] with
budget allocations, where public spending on education in their countries is
substantially less than in developed countries … the pupil/teacher ratio at primary
schools is 38.4, whereas in Asia it is 23.5; in Latin America 20.3; in North America 18.4;
and in Europe 14.1 … [and] working … amidst a lack of efficient civil services in their
country …Principals in developing countries are also in situations where schooling is in
greater demand than ever before … [and] contend with curricula heavily influenced
by models inherited from developed countries … [and] the need for indigenising
curricula in accordance with the needs and contexts of the developing countries in
question. (Wolhuter et al., 2016: 3–4)

As you can see from the sections in bold above, Wolhuter et al. (2016) identify seven systems
elements that make the work of school leaders in developing countries much more difficult
than for school leaders in first world or developed countries.

Work with your HEI CoP

• Discuss each of these systems elements.
• Decide how much they affect your schools and your leadership teams’ roles and
responsibilities in terms of providing quality teaching and learning.
• Are you challenged by all of them or only by one or two?
• Does it make a difference if your school is situated in an urban, semi-urban or rural
area?

Make notes in your Learning Journal of what each person says as these ideas you talk about
will help you to contextualise your Workplace Project (WPP).

77
Individual activity
Think about class size. Turn your focus to class size, in particular, in developing countries and
the impact this factor has on the quality of teaching and learning – and the role of the school
leader. When discussing class size in Kenya, Ndethiu et al. (2017: 59) make the point that, for
teachers in developing countries, "the reality of … large, and even overcrowded, classes is
daunting and one that may not go away any time soon". This is true for South Africa too,
despite government statements on this matter. For example, in an interview (Ritchie, 2018)
the Minister of Basic Education, Ms Angie Motshekga cited the norm for the learner-teacher
ratio as 45 to 1 in primary school and 35 to 1 in secondary school. These ratios are used for
funding purposes. Ms Motshega, however, mentioned that actual ratios in classrooms depend
on the school’s popularity. Remember that this ratio includes all teaching staff, including those
who have lighter teaching loads, so the number of learners in a single class may differ. As
everyone knows, in many classes around the country, class sizes far exceed the funding
purposes ratios (which is already high for primary schools). A change in this situation is unlikely
to happen soon in South Africa. So, what can be done? Where do the main challenges lie?

Ndethiu et al.’s (2017) study gives some interesting insights into this challenge. When they did
their research, they were guided by the following four questions:
1. What are the sizes of secondary school classes in Kenya?
2. What are teachers’ perspectives regarding the effect of class size on teaching
and learning?
3. What are principals’ perspectives on the effect of class size on teaching and
learning?
4. What are teachers’ practices in teaching large classes? (Ndethiu et al., 2017:
66)

With your HEI CoP

Discuss questions 2, 3 and 4 above, in terms of the contexts of your own schools:
• How much do you know about how your teachers feel about large classes?
• What teaching methods are they using in them?
Make notes in your Learning Journal of what others say, as you will be required to take
this exercise further in the next step of this activity after you have studied the table below.

78
In terms of support for more effective teaching in large classes, Ndethiu et al.’s (2017) findings
are shown in Table 6. These findings are based on the results of a questionnaire sent to 148
teachers in 12 regions of Kenya.

Table 6: Teachers' identification of areas of support

Category Number of teachers

listing* the item

Professional development 41

Workload reduction

Employ more teachers 39

Reduce numbers of students per teacher 22

Reduce number of lessons per teacher 10

Integrate ICT into teaching and learning 8

Revise the syllabus to cover less material 4

Resources

Materials for teachers and/or students 39

Facilities, including labs, computer rooms, classrooms, libraries 19

Equipment, including internet 12

*Some teachers listed more than one item

(Source: Ndethiu et al., 2017)

Individual activity – writing task

In a formal piece of writing, you are now are required to argue for or against the view that it
is the teachers that are key to addressing the challenge of large classes.

In this next section the role of good teachers is emphasised. This provides a starting point for
you to think about and to formulate your own ideas on this issue.

Buckingham (2003 in Ndethiu et al., 2017: 60) says that, "class size has less effect when
teachers are competent and the single most important influence on student achievement is
teacher quality. Research shows unequivocally [without a doubt] that it is far more valuable
both in education and fiscal [economic] terms, to have good teachers than lots of teachers"
(emphasis added). What Buckingham stresses is that it is the quality of teacher preparation
that is critical.

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If you take what Buckingham (2003 in Ndethiu et al., 2017: 60) says, and put it together with
what the teachers in Kenya identify as a top priority for managing large classes, i.e. more
professional development, there is a clear indication that it is teachers who are key to the
large class problem.

It is clear from Table 6, that many teachers also saw the appointment of more teachers as a
solution to the problem of large classes. Why do you think this is the case?
but for the moment your focus is on effective teachers rather than more teachers.

Essay topic
The role of school leaders in providing a solution to large class teaching (and possible
overcrowded classrooms), is to ensure better on-site and in-service education for their
teachers. Nothing else will make a real difference to learner achievement in these situations.
(Length 750–1200 words)

Writing guidelines
Here are some guidelines for how to approach writing this essay.
• Introduction.
The function of an introduction in in a formal, academic piece of writing like this is to
set the scene for your reader. Generally, when writing in Education (Social Sciences
and/or Humanities disciplines) you need to provide three moves in an introduction.
These are:
o Two to three sentences that provide a context/justify why you are writing the
essay at all. In other words, in a general sense, what is the problem or issue
you are addressing? Why does it exist? How has it come about? In this essay,
you would talk about the issue/problem of large classes and overcrowding in
most developing countries.
o Follow this with how you are going to respond to the topic. It is often useful to
write a sentence that starts, 'This essay argues that …' and complete it by
telling the reader whether you agree or disagree with the topic. You should do
this briefly in two sentences. This is called your thesis statement.
o Then conclude the introduction by telling your reader the pathway your essay
is going to take, e.g. 'In this essay, I start by describing my discipline and what
kind of knowledge counts in it. I then … Following that I …, etc. Finally, I … .'

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 • Development of argument paragraphs.
After the Introduction you will need to develop your argument. Do this in several
paragraphs not one long one! Focus on the following items – one per paragraph:
o Increasing the numbers of teachers.
o Providing enough textbooks for every learner.
o Provide more resources like laboratories, libraries, computer rooms and
classrooms.

Remember that if you are agreeing with the topic, you will not be saying that these
items are more important than teachers, but if you are disagreeing, you might think
they are the solution.

• Conclusion.
The function of a conclusion is to close the argument and piece of writing you have
just done. This is not the time for new information. It is a time to sum up, for your
reader, the main points you have made. It is often a good idea to end on a positive,
optimistic note in your last sentence. If you have been able to draw on sources from
the reference list in this module or anywhere else, then make sure you have
acknowledged them in your writing and in a Reference List at the end of your essay.

Take note

Writing is a process that ends in a product, so writing two or three drafts is necessary.

Remember to edit and proof read your final copy.

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Discussion of the activity
This activity began by considering the factors that most education systems in developing
countries share. All seven systems elements that Wolhuter et al. (2016) identify are evident in
South Africa’s education environment. The South African Schools Act (1996), for example,
represents a key policy allowing for the decentralisation of power, duties and responsibilities in
terms of governance in schools. While the national government does provide a level of funding
(which was referred to above in the interview with Minister Motshekga), other factors and
systems, e.g. the Equity Share Formula, combine to leave many state schools inadequately
funded. Quintile 1 and 2 schools have felt this lack of financial support the most since many of
their parent communities experience poverty and unemployment and cannot supplement
government funding allocations. And as Wolhuter et al. (2016) say, school funding generally in
developing countries is far less than in developed countries. The many service delivery
protests around the country are one reflection of a lack of efficient civil services in South
Africa.

South Africa’s school and higher education student populations have expanded enormously
since 1994 and the Constitution’s promise of education for all. In Kenya, the number of
learners in primary and secondary schools have doubled since 2008 (Ndethiu et al., 2017). It
must be remembered too, that when Outcome-based education (OBE) was adopted as the
model for Curriculum 2005, it was heavily influenced by models inherited from developed
countries which mirrors the experience of other developing nations. As a result, but only over
time, there are now strong calls in South Africa to indigenise, decolonise or Africanise school
and tertiary level curricula in order to give learners and tertiary students learning experiences
that more authentically reflect their African reality.

In your discussions with your HEI CoP you may or may not have raised the same or similar
points. If you didn’t, perhaps add them to your entries in your Learning Journal. The main
point is that you should have considered very carefully how the factors identified by Wolhuter
et al. (2016) impact on quality teaching and learning and your role as a school leader.

The issue of teaching and managing large classes is not an easy one to address as the vast
majority of teachers (in all contexts) have come to dislike them intensely and so have very
negative views of them. School leaders hold the same view as they have to try and manage
teachers who have lost confidence in their ability to be effective, are unmotivated as a result,
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discipline learners harshly and stay away from schools too often. In addition, learner
achievement is low, absenteeism is high, etc.

But "sub-Sahara Africa is home to some of the largest classes in the world where pupil-to-
teacher ratios (PTR) are 70:1 in countries such as Congo, Ethiopia and Malawi" (UNESCO, 2011:
2). According to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO
2011) data from 45 African countries shows that sub-Sahara Africa has an average of 50 pupils
per class, "a number that is much higher than average class sizes in the European Union or
Organisation for Economic Cooperation Development member countries which are below 20
in the majority of classes and below 30 in all countries" (Ndethiu et al., 2017: 59). And this
situation is not going to change in the foreseeable future.

There will never be sufficient funds to employ more and more teachers, build enough
laboratories, libraries, computer rooms and classrooms for every school, or supply every
learner with their own textbook for every learning area/subject. The only factor that can be
relied on is the teacher who is currently in the classroom. So, as Ndethiu et al. (2017: 59) say,
"it is imperative that teachers in the context of developing countries be equipped with the
capacity for large class pedagogy (LCP)". This means that much more attention has to be given
to providing teachers in pre-service education courses and in professional development in-
service courses, with strategies that enable them to see themselves once again as effective,
confident teachers with a special skill in large-class teaching. From a Ugandan study that
Ndethui et al. (2017) speak of, it was things like teachers having well-prepared, detailed lesson
plans to work from; repeating themselves if necessary; praising the learners at every
opportunity; speaking loudly and clearly; constantly looking over the class to keep an eye on
everyone; asking lots of questions and making sure that as many learners as possible got a
chance to answer, that made the teachers successful. Finally, and perhaps the most important
thing, the teachers were energetic, active and enthusiastic in the classroom. The school leader
in this forever context has a very significant role to play. It is, with the SMT and SGB, to provide
as much on-site, in-house development workshops and seminars that focus specifically on
large-class teaching; to engage with the community, for example, to see who can offer
classroom assistance – with reading, group work and so on; with stakeholders to see who can
help with additional resources, etc. Most importantly, the school leader can model enthusiasm
and a positive attitude to a situation that is normal.

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It is not possible to comment on whether you agreed or disagreed with the topic for your
essay but whatever position you took, the practice you got in thinking and writing about these
important issues will stand you in good stead for future debates and formal, well-structured
written arguments around them.

Recommended readings
1. The following research publication focusses on curriculum management and curriculum
coverage in large, multi-ability classes in Kwa-Zulu Natal: Learning about sustainable
change in education in South Africa: The Jika iMfundo campaign 2015-17 (Christie, P.
and Monyokolo, M. (Eds) (2018) Saide Johannesburg. This book can be downloaded
free from: [Link]
2. The Report on the Colloquium on Sustainable Change in Education, is a collection of
presentations and discussion papers based on the research contained in the above
publication. The report is published by Saide (2018) Johannesburg and is also availbe
for free download at: [Link]
3. A readable and thought provoking report on the need for schools to adapt teaching
methods to a new future is: Teaching for global competence in a rapidly changing
world. Accessed from: [Link]

In this following section, the (negative) impact that the external contextual factors can
have on a school are examined. You will also be introduced to a tool that you will be able to
use to help you understand both positive and negative contextual factors..

Understanding context and circumstances

It is clear that external and internal factors have an impact on a school (both positive and
negative). School leaders, therefore, should plan concrete ways to minimise negative and
maximise positive factors, where this is possible. If you understand the political, economic,
social, technological, legal and environmental (PESTLE) context better, you can plan actions to
address where you are able, i.e. in those areas where you have influence.

Start by considering broad external factors over which the school has little or no control, but
which, when taken together, create a particular context within which the school operates.

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Take note

Understanding the context external to the school may assist you in identifying, and ultimately
selecting, the focus area and topic for your WPP. You completed a strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis in Module 1: Professional Portfolio and Workplace
Project. The PESTLE analysis looks in depth at external factors that impact on a school. This work
may assist you in implementing your WPP.

What is a PESTLE analysis ?

PESTLE Analysis is an analytical tool used for strategic planning and organisational change. By
understanding the external environments in which they operate, organisations can maximize
the opportunities and minimize the threats to the organisation.

Why use a PESTLE analysis/

A PESTLE analysis provides a way to develop a broad idea of the external factors which exist
around your school and which impact upon its functionality, either to enhance and support it,
or to hinder and constrain the activities of the school.
It is a useful process to undertake before embarking on a course of action. If for example, you
have identified an area of weakness in your school that you want to address e.g. you are
planning to implement a new strategy or initiative to promote greater parental/caregiver
participation in your school, it is important to understand the context or situation in which you
will be attempting to bring about positive change. The PESTLE analysis will help to give you a
more realistic idea of how to plan your intervention, who you can draw on for support and
what to avoid. It will help you to develop your plan of action.

See Table 7 for an example the kind of questions to ask when implementing a PESTLE
analysis. The

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Table 7: PESTLE analysis

Aspect Explanation Example

P Political Ask: What political factors Degree of government stability; appointment of the
are likely to have an impact Minister; budget decisions; union agreements/action.
on the school?

E Economic Ask: What economic factors Joblessness and unemployment (in the country, and
may have an impact on the also in the community); levels of indebtedness of
school? parents; retrenchments; employment opportunities
available (or not available to parents/caregivers or
adults within the household); poverty.

S Social Ask: What social factors may Education level of community; life style; child-headed
have an impact on the households; religion and beliefs; population and
school? overcrowding; housing; levels of alcoholism and drug
taking; violence, crime and gangsterism, HIV and AIDS.

T Technological Ask: What technological Infrastructure: access to electricity, water, telephones,

factors may have an impact sanitation, internet, and reliability thereof.
on the school?

L Legal Ask: What legislative factors The legislative framework on all issues; regulations and
may have an impact on the policy (National and provincial), which provide
school? requirements on any number of issues from
appointments to school enrolment, school funding etc.

E Environmental Ask: What environmental Climate change; weather (drought, flooding, storms);
factors may have an impact impact of pollution; waste management; landfills / tips;
on the school? availability of running water and electricity.

(Source: Adapted from Cross et al., 2013: 24)

The general rule is that the more negative forces that are identified when applying the PESTLE
analysis, the more challenging it will be for the school to function as an effective learning
organisation. (You are reminded that the topic of a school as a learning organisation was
discussed in some detail in Module 2: Leading and managing teaching and learning in the
school) The PESTLE analysis will assist you to analyse the significance of the problems faced
and to identify the where of the problem.

Activity 17 provides an opportunity for you to practise doing a PESTLE analysis. This builds and
extends on the SWOT analysis that you undertook in Module 1: Professional Portfolio and
Workplace Project in preparation for your WPP.

The further knowledge you gain from undertaking this analysis may also help you as you
continue with your WPP.

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Activity 17: Apply the PESTLE analysis to the example of Uitzig
Primary.

Suggested time:
• 20 minutes readi the case of Uitzig Priamry School
• 30 minutes work with your HEI CoP to apply the PESTLE analysis to this case
• 30 minutes discussion and reflection on your PESTLE findings

Aim:
To practise developing a PESTLE analysis to inform your understanding of the external context
that influences your school environment.

What you will do:

1. Read the newspaper report about Uitzig Secondary School ( in the textbox below)
where almost everything has gone wrong.
2. Look carefully at the photographs that accompany the newspaper article, these
contribute to telling the story of how the school was vandalised.
3. As you read the account of what happened at Uitzig Secondary School, you should
hold the following questions in your mind:
• Why has this happened?
• What went wrong, not only in terms of the vandalism, but also in terms of
parent/partner/community?
• What is the role of school leadership in this kind of circumstance?
4. After reading and reflecting on what you have read, you are required to do a PESTLE
analysis of the case presented by the Uitzig Secondary School with your HEI CoP. This
is an opportunity to practice doing this kind of contextual analysis of external factors.

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News report: SAHRC inspects conditions at vandalised Cape Town school

2017-01-24 18:08
Jenni Evans, News24

Cape Town - The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) paid a surprise visit to the severely
vandalised Uitzig Secondary School in Cape Town on Tuesday, ahead of a protest by pupils
outside the provincial legislature to demand that it is repaired and guarded.

Provincial SAHRC commissioner Chris Nissen and colleagues took in the stripped kitchen,
smashed toilets, plundered electricity cables, as well as a trench dug by thieves who stole water
pipes.

In an area declared unsafe, and cordoned off with wire, the delegation stepped gingerly through
the remnants of ceiling boards with sharp nails protruding, shards of broken glass, and rotten
food strewn around the classrooms and ablution blocks.

The textbook storeroom had also been broken into, with thieves climbing through the roof,
kicking the ceiling panels out, and then making off with the books, which are sold as scrap paper.

The school has no electricity and has only one functional tap that was repaired by a plumber
arranged by Congress of SA Trade Unions provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich.

This outside tap supplies the entire school with water, and a hose pipe has been fitted to supply
water to the prefabricated toilet block. The sandy school grounds are littered with broken glass.

The only working tapat the school. The hosepipe supplies the new prefab toilets.

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School transfers
While the unsafe area has been cordoned off with a wire fence, teaching is continuing in clean
new prefabricated classrooms brought in by the Education Department as a temporary fix.

These accommodate around 200 pupils who refuse to budge.

Rubble and discarded animal bones from a butcher lie strewn about on a road leading to the
school from a run-down block of flats.

Dropout risk
The handful of teachers left at the school – where the reception area was in darkness because
there was no electricity – did not want to speak for fear of violating department policy.
Later, a group of around 150 pupils, parents and their supporters protested at the Western Cape
provincial legislature.
They demanded that Premier Helen Zille and the education department prioritise fixing the
school.
"The children will have to change their subjects, we will have to buy new school uniforms, the
walk is long, and some will definitely drop out," said an angry Chantal Simons.
"The school is being guarded now by us," said Simons, demanding that Schafer step in and help
them.
"There are five primary schools in the area, and only this high school. Where will the children go
to?" asked Simons.
She said that even the school feeding scheme had ground to a halt because of the uncertainty,
leaving many poor children hungry.

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Tygersig Primary next to Uitzig Secondary is heavily fortified with a guard house and guards.

Fences stolen
Schafer said last week that the guards posted at the school by the department had been
targeted by the thieves and vandals who were literally carrying the school off brick by brick.

Uitzig community activist Pastor Alex Alexander claimed the department had allowed the school
to become a target by failing to maintain it.

Department chief director responsible for districts, Clifton Frolick, accepted a memorandum
from Grade 12 pupil Chanae Slinger.
The memorandum contained the pupils' and parents' demands that the school be fixed.
Frolick said the school was not officially closed and that just the unsafe section was cordoned
off.
The department was trying to find the best option for the school, he said.
Frolic said the community alleged the damage was done by gangsters and people with substance
abuse problems.

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 Thieves break through the roof to steal whatever they can including textbooks to be sold to
paper recyclers

"But we do not see evidence of a community that wants to protect the school," he said.
Asked whether a higher or stronger fence would help, his colleague, deputy director of
institutional matters, Tau Matseliso, said, "Three fences have already been stolen."
Frolick said the councillors in the area also needed to step up and deal with the rubbish thrown
into the streets near the school.

Schooling continues in neat prefabs next door.

(Source: Article and photographs, Jenni Evans, News24)

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 5. Undertake the PESTLE analysis with your HEI CoP

• Apply your understanding of the PESTLE analysis process to conduct a PESTLE

analysis. Use the information presented by the reporter in the newspaper and
apply the process that has been exemplified in Table 7Are there any comparisons
you can make between your school and Uitzig Secondary or Tygersig Primary? If
so, what are these similarities and what is the cause? Place these causes into the
PESTLE framework.

6. Once you have completed the PESTLE analysis , re-read the section of the article by
Wolhuter et al. (2016: 4–5) under the sub-heading: The second facet of external
context: societal context,accessed from: [Link] and discuss the
following points with your HEI CoP:
• After your reading of the article , identify at least three contextual forces or factors
that Wolhuter et al highlights as typical in developing countries.
• Are these contextual factors that you have identified, present in your PESTLE
analysis of Uitzig Secondary School? Justify your response.
• Discuss at least two contextual factors that you have identified from the article
that apply to your school.

Discussion of the activity

You and your HEI CoP would have gathered interesting insights by undertaking the PESTLE
analysis. Admittedly, the article only reflects the view points of the reporter, and the
persons quoted in the article, but it is clear that there is something going very wrong at Uitzig.
It may be that a combination of factors played a role. Other factors may have been identified
by your HEI CoP, based on the information made available.

A dilemma remains – which is how and why an adjoining school seems to function so well.
Perhaps the role played by school leadership needs to be considered?

Clearly, the problem described in the newspaper report on Uitzig Secondary School is not a
simple one. Many factors may have contributed. As an example (though not a diagnosis of this
particular school), Wolhuter et al. (2016) highlight the factors such as the role of the
principal, and the role of the school within the community:
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 Principals should see themselves as the leaders of their schools, as well as community
leaders. … They should, furthermore, occasionally look beyond the fences of their
schools and be aware of the needs of the communities that they serve. They should
then ascertain whether their schools effectively help the community (through
equipping the children and their parents) to meet those needs. It follows that they
should also be constantly prepared to make the necessary adjustments to the
functioning and offerings of the school in order to remain valuable and relevant to
their communities. (Wolhuter et al., 2016: 7)

Whereas Wolhuter et al. place an emphasis on the principal as school leader, in the AdvDip
(SLM) programme a more inclusive approach is promoted i..e a distributed approach in
which leadership responsibility is shared amongst various school stakeholders.

It is hoped that by analysing the context, you may develop a deeper understanding of the
factors that facilitate, and hinder, teaching and learning in your schools.

As a school leader, it is important to understand the school in a broader context:

Good leaders are inward- and outward focussed. Effective leaders managed to
maintain an inward focus on the school as an organisation, but were also able to see
the school in a broader context – as part of a local community, as part of an
educational community and as contributing to South Africa. (Roberts & Roach, 2006:
51)

You need to consider how much of what happened at Uitzig Secondary School was due to poor
or absent leadership, and how much to overwhelming contextual factors?

The story above clearly depicts a school where everything has broken down and yet it is
possible to still see a great deal of resilience and the strength in the staff, learners and parents
connected to Uitzig Secondary School to keep going on. Christie et al. in their report Schools
that work, mention their surprise at discovering that schools which were found to be resilient
were nevertheless still found to be lacking as follows:
Three anticipated sources of resilience that were not strongly present were
Governance and community relationships; Parental involvement; Relationships with
education departments. (Christie et al., 2007: 27)

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So, the schools that work demonstrate a range of positive characteristics such as: a sense of
responsibility and agency; leadership; centrality of teaching and learning; safety and
organisation; authority and discipline; and a culture of concern (Christie et al. 2007: 22).
However, even in schools that work, matters of community and parental involvement were
generally not present. This was an unexpected finding by Christie et al. (2007: 22). These
findings suggest that specific relationships – those with parents, with community and with the
department – are particularly challenging for schools to achieve. The challenge for school
leaders is how this can be remedied.

School leaders also need to be aware that the community around the school can change
radically – even within a short time. For example, there may be an influx of immigrants,
refugees, people from other provinces or people from rural areas into an area. This has
implications for the language of teaching and learning, for example. So schools need to scan
the environment regularly and monitor what is happening in the community so that they can
adapt and plan accordingly.

Regarding Uitzig Secondary School, no doubt the PESTLE analysis revealed a strong influence
of a decaying environment with poverty, crime, neglect and the breakdown of services all too
evident. The influencers in Uitzig seem to be non-existent. The reasons behind what has
happened are not revealed, but it seems as though leaders and influencers had given up. It is
puzzling that the school adjacent to Uitzig appears to be fully functional, with services,
security, and a neat and clean environment. The difference between the situations of the two
schools is stark. Identifying what makes such a difference will provide interesting insights,
primarily about leadership. Grant, Jasson and Lawrence (2010: 93) identify characteristics of
resilient mainstream schools as having a clear pastoral role, an atmosphere of care, as well as
commitment and a sense of agency among stakeholders.

Through the examination of an aspect of the social context, you can see how a PESTLE analysis
can deepen an understanding of the school within the wider community in which it is situated,
and that ignoring the political, economic, technological, social, legal and environmental
context could potentially result in poorer decision making and the development of plans that
fail. As indicated previously, the school does not exist in a vacuum.

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In this next section, you will look at how HIV and AIDS (a social factor in the PESTLE analysis)
can impact on a school community. It is also an example of how external factors impact on a
school. For example, economic factors such as poverty and unemployment impact on learners
who arrive at school hungry, ill or cold. Given its high prevalence in South Africa, HIV and AIDS
has been selected as an aspect for some further thought and investigation. It is not intended
in any way to be a full investigation, but a reminder and another example of how an external
factor can and does impact on a school. Especially one as prevalent as HIV and AIDS.

Reviewing the impact of HIV and AIDS

This section looks at analysing the social context of schooling in more detail by considering the
HIV and AIDS pandemic and the impact it has on South African school and communities. It is
hoped that through this example, will you obtain a better understanding of the way in which
each component of the PESTLE analysis, in this case the social aspect, can inform the culture of
the school. It is only once you have engaged with the results of this social analysis, that you
can talk about and plan the best way of responding to the effects of this pandemic within
your school context.

HIV and AIDS has been selected as an example of a social issue that impacts on the schooling
system as many schools have learners and teachers that have been infected or affected by
HIV and AIDS. Some schools accommodate a number of orphans and vulnerable children .
Child – header households are also a concern of many schools. Of concern is also the fact that
the HIV and AIDS

pandemic continues, despite various national awareness programmes and interventions;

many schools do not know how many orphans and vulnerable children are in their care,
and thus how many child-headed households there are, which are vulnerable to
exploitation by unscrupulous persons; and HIV and AIDS has a cross cutting impact on the
school’s functioning (when teachers are ill and absent) and on learner performance and
achievement (again, when teachers are absent but also when/if learners are absent or ill-
cared for).

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Understanding statistics on HIV and AIDS
Most school leaders will know that the Department of Education developed a policy for
disseminating correct information around HIV and AIDS in schools, through the curriculum.
The Department of Basic Education National Policy on HIV, STIs and TB (2017: 3) proposes that
“the strategies required to realise a systematic and sustained response to HIV and TB and
ensure that it is the business of everyone in the sector to prevent disease and promote the
health and wellbeing of learners, educators and officials in all our schools.”

With policy is in place, school leaders are required to work within the required policy
framework. One of the requirements being to ensure that they have the necessary knowledge
about HIV and AIDS and the relevant statistical information related to their schools. t This will
help school leaders to provide leadership related to the various ways in which HIV and AIDS
may need to be addressed in curriculum, in the school with teachers and learner and in the
broader school community.

The impact of HIV and AIDS on society broadly, and on schools in particular, is a challenge
that most school leaders will be required to [Link] next activity provides you with an
opportunity to engage with information about HIV and AIDS so that you can be informed
and empowered in this field. ..

Activity 18: Discuss the impact of HIV and AIDS

Suggested time:
30 minutes

Aim:
The aim of this activity is for you to study information presenting the reality of HIV and AIDS,
its impact on schools and also research on how effectively or otherwise information about HIV
and AIDS is handled in schools. You will achieve this by examining extracts from research on
HIV and AIDS. This activity is preparatory to a school-based research task (Activity 20).

96
What you will do:

1. Discuss with your HEI CoP how HIV and AIDS has or has not impacted upon your
school.
2. Examine the actual HIV and AIDS statistics for South Africa (2017) presented here:

Figure 10: HIV and AIDS statistics for South Africa (2017)
(Source: AVERT, 2018)

Key points

• South Africa has the biggest HIV epidemic in the world, with 7.1 million people living
with HIV. HIV prevalence is high among the general population at 18.9%.
• Men who have sex with men, transgender women, sex workers and people who inject
drugs experience even higher HIV prevalence rates.
• South Africa has made huge improvements in getting people to test for HIV in recent
years. 86% of people are aware of their status.
• The country has the largest antiretroviral treatment (ART) programme in the world,
which has undergone even more expansion in recent years with the implementation of
test and treat guidelines.
• South Africa was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to fully approve pre-exposure
prophylaxis (PrEP), which is now being made available to people at high risk of infection.

Further UNAIDS statistics of relevance (AVERT, 2018):

• In 2017, 280 000 children aged 0–14 were living with HIV.
• 2 million children were orphaned by HIV and AIDS.

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• The HIV infection rate for South African women is four times higher than for men. This
is attributed in part to gender-based violence (GBV), sweethearting, and gender
stereotyping.
• Gender-based violence accounts for 20–25% of new HIV infections amongst women.
• The She Conquers campaign focuses on empowering girls and thus reducing infection
with HIV.

3. Study the extract below:

The variety of different life skills curricula currently being implemented by South
African schools and institutions focus largely on HIV and AIDS awareness and
information. They do not sufficiently emphasise the importance of physical and
mental wellness in youth. The curricula seem to be having a positive effect on
students’ knowledge and awareness of HIV and AIDS, but they do not
adequately meet the goals of the national policy – namely, to promote healthy
behaviour and positive attitudes. … The curricula being implemented emphasise
information about HIV and AIDS and not the advancement of life skills that
would allow students to develop ‘healthy life styles’. … This over-emphasis on
HIV and AIDS information is focused too much on HIV and AIDS prevention
awareness … There is a ‘dire need’ to emphasise physical and mental health and
wellness. … Students are not being exposed to the life skills (decision-making
skills, communication skills and the development of positive attitudes) that are
an integral part of the national policy.

Edited extract from Thaver & Leao, 2012: 1)

4. Do the following together with your HEI CoP:

• Identify three issues within the Life Orientation (LO) curriculum around HIV
and AIDS as reported by the researchers and in the literature they surveyed.
(The LO curriculum is referred to in Module 3: Leading and managing extra-
and co-curricular activities.) The purpose of the task is to determine gaps in
how the LO curriculum is taught. Record your findings in your Learning
Journal.
• In your HEI CoP, discuss the impact of improper information, cultural beliefs
and poor communication around HIV and AIDS in your schools. Note key

98
 points of your discussion in your Learning Journal. (You might find ideas for a
topic that you could suggest for the next activity.)

Discussion of the activity

The HIV and AIDS statistics remain worrying. A concern is the high percentage (52%) of adults
who are infected but who did not, in 2015, have access to appropriate treatments. The
statistics (2–3 million orphans) mean that it is almost certain that every school will have
stakeholders whose lives are impacted upon by HIV and AIDS. It may be that your school does
not know how many learners are orphaned because of HIV and AIDS. That is why the activity
you have just undertaken and the previous one, are important and necessary.

Clearly, schools cannot work alone in tackling issues such as HIV and AIDS. Collaboration with
clinics and organisations that offer support, counselling and information services becomes
essential. In this regard, the community mapping exercise in Section 2 of this unit should prove
useful, as it will improve knowledge of resources in the community.

School leaders need to understand that there are a range of circumstances that could lead to
a child being vulnerable. A family affected by HIV and AIDS is one circumstance; further
examples include poverty, abuse, chronic illness, family or community violence and conflict, or
combination of various of these aspects.

Thaver and Leao’s (2012) literature survey on the policy implementation and the subsequent
curriculum, highlights the shortcomings and issues with the teaching of content around HIV
and AIDS. As a school leader, you are likely to have encountered a number of these.

You may have experience of teachers who lack the confidence to implement the Life
Orientation curriculum, especially with regard to teaching about HIV and AIDS. As a school
leader, you will need to ensure that curriculum implementation is being appropriately
monitored and supported. (See Module 2: Leading and managing teaching and learning in the
school for more detail on this). This will include both monitoring what is taught in relation to
HIV and AIDS and how it is taught As a school leader, you will need to take cognisance of the
possible impact of your teacher’s cultural beliefs and practices on the effective teaching of the
curriculum. This may be evident not only in teachers’ attitudes but also in parent’s responses.

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Stop and think

As a school leader, you will need to develop strategies to deal with the clash that may occur in
certain instances between cultural beliefs and practice and the curriculum requirements.
Teacher development strategies may need to be revisited and new priorities identified if the
teaching of sensitive content such as HIV and AIDS is not currently handled adequately by all
teachers.

You will need think of ways in which to address resistance to discussion or the teaching of
topics related to HIV and AIDS which could come from staff, parents, learners and or community
members. (The issue is not entirely dissimilar to the matter of prohibiting corporal punishment
in schools, an issue which has the backing of law, but which is strongly resisted by some religious
groups, and by others on cultural grounds).

As school leaders you will be required to take a stand on such matters, while at the same time
being aware of the views and beliefs of your teachers and others in your school community.
How will you balance policy requirements while still respecting the differing views of various
stakeholders– not a simple task.

Activity 19: A school-based response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic

Suggested time:
45 minutes preparation and time gathering information

45 minutes completion of task

Aim:
The aim of this activity is for you to use an aspect of the HIV and AIDS information (whether
information for learners, improved teaching of curriculum related to HIV and AIDS, social
attitudes, prevalence of infections, girls as vulnerable groups, orphans – whatever seems the
most appropriate for your particular school) and write a persuasive memorandum to the
school governing body (SGB) – a call to action, after collecting some information from parents
through a questionnaire.

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Take note
Remember that when you conduct research, you need to observe proper research protocols. (
Research protocols were outline in Module , Unit 3 in relation to your WPP). In a sensitive
matter such as HIV and AIDS you need to obtain permission (in writing) from participants. If the
participants are learners, permission must be obtained from parents or guardians. You must
observe strict confidentiality and anonymity protocols and also ensure that any questions asked
are agreed to by your school-based CoP.

What you will do:

With your school-based CoP

A stigma remains regarding HIV and AIDS and in many cases it is still not spoken about. School
leaders have a real responsibility to provide leadership and encourage discussions and
appropriate action. This research – and call-to-action task provides such an opportunity.

This leadership and research- oriented task should involve your school-based CoP and school
stakeholders, including parents. Together with your school-based CoP, prepare a
questionnaire to be administered to parents in order to gather information on attitudes to HIV
and AIDS impact and teaching in the school. This could focus on beliefs, cultural attitudes to
HIV and AIDS education, myths – whatever seems to be the most important for your school.

1. Follow these steps:

STEP 1: Prepare a simple table which includes the following headings:

• Does the school have an HIV and AIDS policy (YES/NO)
• Number of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) per class, per grade and
disaggregated [separated] by sex (boys and girls)
• Total number of OVC
• Number of child headed households per class, per grade and disaggregated by sex
(boys and girls)
• Total number of child headed households
• Is the school providing support ( YES/NO)
• If NO, why not? What are the problems?
• If YES, state what is being done.

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 STEP 2: Collect information
• Ask all the teachers in your school to help you to collect this information.
• Complete the table and study the results. This will help to give you a sense of how big
or how small the problem is in your school.

STEP 3: Decide what aspect of HIV And AIDS you want to address first
• You are now going to go one step further. Select an aspect, an issue related to HIV
and AIDS in the school that the school-based CoP thinks is important and where a
task could be undertaken to address a concern. It could be about teaching of LO,
or information dissemination, or whether the school should make its premises
available for a mobile clinic, or whether an NGO that specialises in
information/teaching on HIV and AIDS should be invited to interact with
parents/caregivers.
• Once you have selected the area/issue you want to focus on, prepare a
questionnaire on this issue which will be administered to parents/caregivers. Its
focus needs to be on attitudes and opinions about HIV and AIDS. See below for
guidance on how to prepare the questionnaire:

Guidelines: Prepare a questionnaire

• You need to gather qualitative information to inform how best you can address barriers
that hinder the transmission of information.
• The research project should look for some insight on a topic related to HIV and AIDS in
the school – such as how it is or should be taught, what cultural attitudes exists, what
worries parents/caregivers may have about orphans or vulnerable children in the
school?
• The precise focus of the small research project should be decided by the school-based
CoP.
• The questionnaire could ask for written or oral responses. Decide which of these would
be more suitable for your parents?
• What language will be used for the questionnaire?
• The school-based CoP must agree on the questions to be asked.
• The type of question asked should be:
o What do you think about …?

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 o What are you worried about regarding …
o Why are your worried about…?
• The questions should be asked in a private room and permission must be obtained from
the participants – stress that answers are confidential.
• The project should try to interview about 20 parents or caregivers.
• If you could arrange oral discussions in small focus groups, that may be a good way to
gather the information required.
• Decide on the length of the discussion – for a small number of questions, no longer than
15 minutes should be sufficient.
• Only 3–5 questions should be asked.

STEP 4: Analyse results and record them

• The results of the research should be captured in a short report that clusters responses.
With the assistance of the school-based CoP, analyse the results collected from the
questionnaire, according to themes.
• See STEP 5 for the sections of the memorandum – each of which could be a theme.
• These results should be prepared for inclusion in your PP.

Step 5: Prepare a memorandum

Together with your school-based CoP prepare a persuasive memorandum to the SGB for a
small project designed to address one problem or gap around HIV and AIDS and its impact on
the school. The purpose of the memorandum is to identify a problem; give the scope (extent)
of the problem; explain why it should be addressed; state how you think is could be
addressed; provide an idea of what success will look like; give a budget amount or a plan; and
make a call for action or a decision by the SGB.

Guidelines for preparing the memorandum:

• The purpose is clear; problem has been identified; scope of problem clarified; rationale
supplied; action; success indicators; budget/resource requirements; call for action
included.
When you prepare your memorandum, do so in this order:
• Decide which language will be used in the memorandum.

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 • Decide on tasks for the preparation of the memorandum with school-based CoP
members.
• Determine time lines.
• Prepare the memorandum according to the following:
o Clarify the purpose of the memorandum;
o State the scope (extent) of the issue;
o Say why it should be addressed;
o Give ideas about how it could be addressed;
o Provide a simple but clear budget;
o Have a closing sentence stating what needs to be decided/agreed upon.
• Present the memorandum to the SGB.
• Follow up on the decision after the agreed upon time (1–2 weeks).
• Act on the decision made.

The memorandum, and any response received from the SGB, should be included in your PP.

Discussion of the activity

HIV and AIDS has impacted upon different schools in very different ways. The short survey that
you were asked to prepare and administer, together with your school-based CoP, will have
revealed important information (if not already known) about orphans and vulnerable children
in your school and also child-headed households. Knowing the information is one matter –
now, the issue is how this knowledge will be used in the school.

Getting parents and learners to voice their opinions on a difficult topic such as HIV and AIDS is
a very important.. As a school leader, you may gather very interesting insights into the clash
between official policy and cultural beliefs. You need to consider how your school could
manage such tensions if they do exist in your community.

You might like to refer to the useful information on school responsiveness to HIV and AIDS in
the following document: Bialobrzeska, M. et al, (Saide: 2009). Creating a caring school: a
toolkit for school management teams with accompanying guide.
Accessed from: [Link]
.

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Unit 2 of the toolkit has practical and implementable solutions that you could suggest in your
memorandum.

Even if a problem is really large, some action can make a significant difference. Think about
whether the kind of project suggested in your memorandum is reactive (responding to a
situation that already exists) or preventative (designed to provide information that will
prevent a situation even arising). Also consider whether the proposed project represents and
reinforces a caring and collaborative culture within the school. Another factor to think about is
how the broader, external community could be involved in the project – think about clinics,
community based organisations, churches offering support to those affected by HIV and AIDS.

The next step in the task was to decide what the school, in your sphere of influence, wanted to
do to address the situation where possible. Undertaking a research project is a good way to
find out what people think and what suggestions they have.

Practising the preparation of a persuasive memorandum is one way that you, as a school
leader, can learn to influence the SGB and to further your aims of creating a caring school
ethos. In this case, it is about taking an issue that may be contextually relevant to your school
community and acting to make a difference. Dealing, even in a small way, with an issue related
to HIV and AIDS is a social justice issue.

The second component of this unit, namely identifying the people and organisations in the
community that have an interest in and influence on the school, is next.

Identify people and organisations in your community to determine

their needs and interests

In this sub-section the focus is on the broader community around the school. The purpose is
to identify those people and organisations in your community who have an interest in your
school. These people and organisations/institutions – the school stakeholders. It is important
not only to identify who the stakeholders are, but also understand their wants and needs in
relation to your school. Once you have identified the people and organisations and their g
wants and needs, you will be able to determine their level of interest and influence., This will

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ultimately help you to know how best to respond to them and how to go about building
relationships with them.

Activity 20: Identifying stakeholder types and understand their value

Suggested time:
30 minutes

Aim:
To practise identifying stakeholders and to be able to understand what can happen when
relationships with them break down.

What you will do:

1. In your Learning Journal, create a mindmap of people and organisations in your
community who have an interest in your school. The mindmap should be inserted into
your PP.

If you need to refresh your memory on mindmaps, access the following YouTube
video: MacGrercy Consultants. 2009. How to make a mindmap. Accessed from:
[Link] (Duration: 2.51).
2. Access and watch the YouTube video: TRT World. 2018. Violent protests over school
language policy. Accessed from: [Link] (Duration: 2:20).
If you had to describe the level of emotions about the issue of language policy at the
school in the video, would you describe this as green (safe); amber/orange (cause for
concern) or red (danger)? Why? Record your response in your Learning Journal.
3. Write a short paragraph in which you:
a. Identify at least two stakeholder groups in the video.
b. State the wants and needs of each group you identified.
c. Explain (in your own words) what you understand are the issues about which
each group feels strongly.
4. In a second short paragraph, state what you think the solutions are and why.

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Discussion of the activity
The community around a school will have a variety of interested parties. As one of the leaders
in the school, it is important to be able to identify these and work towards establishing
mutually beneficial relationships.

But very often, wants and needs of different parties clash. In the South African educational
context, you should be acutely aware of the political roots of school governance and
community involvement. Think of recent events where community activism has impacted on
schools, as the wants and needs of stakeholders in the community were not acknowledged
and/or recognised, such as:
• Vuywani, Vhembe, Limpopo – schools were burned down by community members
because of unhappiness about proposed municipal boundary changes (April to
September 2017).
• Klipspruit, Johannesburg – schools were closed over a dispute about the appointment
of a black principal in a coloured school; the SGB is complaining about due process not
having been followed in the appointment (July to November 2017).
• A Secondary school, Johannesburg – intervention by the MEC over the retention of a
teacher accused of racist remarks to black, Indian and Greek learners, which he
excused as humour (July 2017 to May 2018).

No doubt there are other examples from around the country. In each case, stakeholders in
these communities felt that their needs and interests were not being heard or met by those in
authority and those who should be held accountable for actions, were not being called to
account. Higher level interventions, violence, school shutdowns, intimidation and threats were
the result. Conflict within and between communities will be dealt with again later in this unit.

This stakeholder interest is along a continuum – from those who are more invested in the
school (and may have a closer relationship with the school and be involved in the day-to-day
activities of the school) to those who are less directly involved on a day-to-day basis.

Look at a simple analytical model in Table 8 which can assist in understanding what
stakeholders want and need.

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Table 8: Comparing SWANS and OWANS
Acronym SWANS OWANS

Meaning Stakeholder Wants And Needs Organisation Wants And Needs

Explanation The community around the school, The organisation (in this case, the school) has
parents, businesses and service its own priorities, driven by departmental
organisations have their own requirements, its contextual realities, the
interests, wants, needs and focus legislative framework and its professional
areas. aims – teaching and learning.

As you can see from the above, when conducting a stakeholder analysis, it is important to not
only look at stakeholders' wants and needs (SWANS) but also at your own organisation’s wants
and needs (OWANS).

Stakeholders and the organisation (the school) probably have some wants and needs in
common. But there are possible areas of difference as well. Finding the areas of intersection of
interests is an important first step. It is also necessary and important to identify areas where
the needs and interests of the school and the community may differ, sometimes quite
considerably.

The best results for collaboration are most likely to derive from the area of common interest
as seen below:

Wants, needs and

Wants, needs and
interests of the
interests of stakeholders
organisation

Figure 11: Intersection of interests

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Having conducted a PESTLE analysis, this can be taken further by considering how stakeholders
can and should be prioritised. This is based on understanding which stakeholders have the
most interest and the greatest influence. The next activity provides an opportunity for you to
analyse the wants and needs of stakeholders and the school (the organisation).

Activity 21: Identify stakeholder and organisational wants and needs

Suggested time:
30 minutes

Aim:
To identify stakeholder and organisational wants and needs – SWANS and OWANS.

What you will do:

1. Together with your school-based CoP, conduct a SWANS/OWANS analysis process. The
Uitzig Secondary School (Activity 17 of this module) must be the subject of your
SWANS/OWANS analysis, as a follow up to the PESTLE analysis you conducted in
Activity 17.
2. For each stakeholder, identify (through discussion) their interest in the school –
vested/direct, collaborative, vendor/supplier/service provider.
3. Report back on your findings in plenary with your school-based CoP and discuss these.
4. After the plenary discussion, use your Learning Journal to record tips and caveats
[warnings] to bear in mind so that you can amend or add to the analysis of your own
context that you conducted in Activity 17 (PESTLE) of this module.

A good collaborative and cooperative strategy to use when working with your school- based
CoP (or with any team) is to agree upon roles and tasks that each person will perform, and to
discuss why each task is important and necessary.

Discussion of the activity

Understanding stakeholder and organisational wants and needs require an analysis of the
school/community interface, where the use of PESTLE and SWANS/OWANS processes serve to
identify useful information. Using such tools before a crisis point is reached (as in the case of

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Uitzig Secondary School), could serve a school and community well, as you could plan how to
lessen or limit disaster.

It was presumably challenging to conduct a SWANS/OWANS analysis about Uitzig Secondary

School as the group would have had to make a number of assumptions. The situation at the
school (as described in the newspaper article) seems to be relatively bad.

Your group may have decided that the stakeholder group with the greatest interest in the
school is the desperate parents who still send their children there. Or there may be a differing
view that the vandals who have stripped the school of amenities and assets have exerted the
greatest influence. Certainly, the analysis is happening in a situation that is already deep-
rooted.

The OWANS analysis as conducted at this point reveals that the school’s needs are extensive,
as almost nothing at all works or is usable. The kind of questions that the OWANS analysis may
have raised are: Why was action not taken early on to intervene and prevent more vandalism
and theft? Why did the school not involve those stakeholders who might have had an interest,
and work together with them to protect the school? What has caused the relationships within
the school to be so broken? Taking these questions to a more personal level, is the question:
How can I as a school leader prevent such a situation from happening in my school?

Another issue to consider around SWANS and OWANS, is that a balance of stakeholder and
organisational wants and needs is necessary. If, for example, only the wants and needs of the
school are considered, then stakeholders are likely to become disgruntled and lose interest.
Or, the organisation and the stakeholders could both want and need something that is not
ultimately good for the school. An example could be an over-emphasis on sport or the choir,
or union work with teacher absences and lessons cancelled. A further question to ask is: Are
both the SWANS and the OWANS reflecting the best interests of teaching and learning at the
school? If not, remedial action needs to be taken.

Collaborators and partners working together

Turn once again to the collaborative relationship. The words collaborators and partners
suggest an alliance, a fruitful and mutually beneficial relationship. One party, the school, does

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not benefit the most from the collaboration or partnership; neither does the collaborator or
partner. They each offer and each gain something from the interaction.

As you have seen above, the school, stakeholders, collaborators and partners all have different
interests in the school and various levels of influence. For convenience sake in this section of
the discussion, all parties as listed above, will be referred to as stakeholders. To clarify the
distinction between influences and influencers, see Table 9 below:

Table 9: Distinction between influences and influencers

Distinction between influences and influencers

Concept Explanation Scenarios

Influences: These are external or internal Dissatisfaction with service
factors that impact on a project or delivery from a municipality as
process or even on school well as disputes over the
functioning. demarcation of municipal
boundaries spills over into violence
and some school buildings are
burned down during protests.
A school in a nearby township has
initiated a very successful ‘clean up
and recycle’ campaign that the
community has embraced. The
success of this campaign results in
requests to the SGB to organise a
similar campaign.
Influencers: These are people who are A very popular and charismatic
interested and have the authority teacher, who is enthusiastic about
or power to communicate their soccer, has resulted in an increase
wishes and preferences to others. in the number of girls joining the
This can be accomplished either in soccer squad.
a pleasant, intimidating, or
aggressive manner. Influencers
could be for your project or
strongly against it.
A community member who is
extremely popular and influential
is upset because a family
member’s child has been
suspended from the school for
repeated bad behaviour. The
community member threatens to
arrange a boycott of a planned,
and usually very popular,
fundraising event at the school.

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Stakeholder prioritisation is a useful and highly visual tool on which to plot stakeholders’
interests and influences. Understanding where and why people or groups are placed on the
grid (Figure 12) will enable you to assess how closely you should keep them involved and
informed about the process or project, i.e. how you should communicate with them.

2. Assess whether their interest

1. List all possible stakeholders
and power to influence the
who would have an interest in
change (positively or
the school and its activities
negatively) is high or low and
(especially a change in the
place them in the appropriate
present conditions).
position on the grid.

3. Consider practical ways of

communicating with each
stakeholder (based on where
they are placed on the grid) to
maximise positive influencers
and minimise those that are
negative.

Figure 12: How to use a stakeholder prioritisation grid

Activity 22: Using a stakeholder prioritisation grid

Suggested time:
60 minutes

Aim:
• To practise stakeholder prioritisation, and then getting commitment from
stakeholders.
• To develop a communication plan in line with stakeholder interests and influence.

What you will do:

1. Use the stakeholders identified in Activity 21 and locate them on the grid in terms of
interest and influence.

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 You will need to limit the number of stakeholders to 5 or 6 different types – not too
many to be confusing but not so few to be overly simple.
Use a range of stakeholders, for example, internal – teachers, learners, administrative
staff, grounds people (select 2); community organisations; parents; service providers;
education officials.
2. Now, take a key stakeholder from each quadrant (a group who need to be listened to)
and indicate what should be communicated to them and what form this
communication should take.
3. Also think about strategies that could be used to keep the widest range of
stakeholders, vendors and collaborators interested and committed.
4. Your stakeholder prioritisation task should be included in your Professional Portfolio.

Figure 13: Stakeholder prioritisation grid

(Source: [Link], 2018)

Discussion of the activity

According to whatever interest and power intersection the various role players were
identified, the advice given about further actions would differ. If done thoughtfully and
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strategically, this type of analysis allows the school principal to direct their energies fruitfully.
Naturally, the most effort and intentionality should be directed at those who have high power
or influence and also high interest (top, right quadrant).

The least amount of effort should be directed at those who have low interest and low power
(bottom, left quadrant). As such stakeholders are not interested, they will probably not
become involved. The challenge is in whether you are just guessing or assuming they have no
interest, or whether this has been established for certain. It may be that a stakeholder is silent
because they does not think that they will be heard. The next group (bottom, right quadrant),
are stakeholders who have little power but are interested. This group needs to just be kept
informed. This communication strategy may assist in keeping them interested and not
resistant.

Stakeholders with low interest and high power need to be kept satisfied (top, left quadrant). If
such stakeholders feel that their high interest projects are side-lined or completely ignored,
they may decide not to support the current project. And of course stakeholders with both high
interest and high power need to be included, but not in such a way that they do as they
please.

You will have decided on possible ways of communicating with others. There will be those who
have high power and high influence, who will resist the actions taken by the school to address
specific issues. The table below outlines what you should not do when influencers resist:

Table 10: What not to do when influencers resist

Do not... Why not…

Reason You could spend too much time providing good reasons for
the change. Negative influencers or resistors will find ways to
disprove or discount what you say.
Bargain/bribe This may get you the support you need in the short term, but
it could backfire badly if the word gets out.
Manipulate Dangerous move – you cannot gain more than a temporary
show of support, and may lose all credibility.
Use power If you force compliance, the backlash is inevitable. The
resistance that results has been called malicious obedience.
Ignore Many resistors respond to being ignored by becoming more
outspoken.

When working with influencers, it is best to state your case, simply and clearly. Allow the
influencer to make up their own mind.

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Clearly, working with stakeholders requires a nuanced and thoughtful response. Thinking
strategically about how to keep stakeholders committed and interested in the school means
thinking beyond the school’s interests. What can the school offer to stakeholders,
collaborators and other potential partners that would be seen as a benefit to them?

Having seen what happens when there is apparently no commitment in a school, the question
is how to keep stakeholders committed.

As reviewed earlier in this activity, one of the ways that a community engagement process is
kept on track is by communicating. This communication needs to be clear and frequent.
Remember, that leaders and managers in a school need to manage their behaviours and
attitudes. People believe what they see, before they believe what is said. Communicating
progress can be done in a number of ways, such as, a regular newsletter update; the SMT
modelling enthusiasm and buy-in for the process/collaboration; Friday emails; discussion
forums; agenda items at staff/SMT/SGB meetings; questionnaires to gather opinions; update a
change blog; check-in by walking around; presenting data on the facts about the
process/collaboration; and so on.

A combination of face-to-face and written communication is a good idea. By communicating

well and frequently you (Pennington, 2013):
• Keep stakeholders engaged and interested.
• Ensure that momentum is maintained.
• Let stakeholders know what is important for the school, the principal, the SMT, and
the SGB.
• Provide stakeholders an opportunity to gather their thoughts and ideas.
• Involve stakeholders at all levels in the process.
• Utilise the power of technology.
• Can gather ideas about how to overcome barriers to success.
• Have a greater chance of school activities and projects being successful.

Of course, in South Africa, the language of the communication is critically important as many
learners in schools will be taught in a language that is not their mother tongue.

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The next section of this unit provides a technique for the school to use in order to understand
its community. Even as a member of a community, if you do not actively and intentionally
engage with the structures and meaning of your own community, you are not necessarily
aware of all its complexities. This is where community mapping comes in.

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Section 2: Mapping the community

To understand the complexities of a community, how it functions, how it grows and changes,
and how its people live, requires substantial effort. Bloch (2010) outlines several interventions
and ways forward in order to improve educational conditions in South Africa. Schools,
government, civil society, and other interested stakeholders are in positions to contribute to
the betterment of education. It is difficult to know where to start problem-solving when some
challenges seem insurmountable. One of the tools that community practitioners, government
officials, and university researchers from all over the world use to understand complex
environments and inform developmental interventions is called community mapping.

The next activity provides an opportunity to explore what a community map is and how it is
created.

Activity 23: Understanding community mapping

Suggested time:
60 minutes

Aim:
To understand the purpose and processes of Community Mapping

What you will do:

1. Watch the YouTube video: Blackwell, Q. 2010. Community mapping training. Accessed
from: [Link] (Duration: 4.38).
2. Discuss the questions below with your HEI CoP, basing your discussion on the
information provided in the video:
• What is community mapping?
• What is the purpose of community mapping?
• Who should be involved in creating a community map? (Think of learners,
parents, SGB, community members… .)
• What do you observe and note during a community mapping process?
3. Make notes of your discussion in your Learning Journal.

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Discussion of the activity
The colourful community map presented below was prepared by a community in Cape Town.
The Community Map is presented as it was prepared, incorrect spelling (Girraffes) and all! This
liveliness is typical of a community map.

Figure 14: An example of a community map of available resources

(Source: Panek & Vlok, 2013: 7)

Community mapping is a tool that opens up and explores the inner workings of a community.
It is about noting the places and the resources available within a community. You will find
examples of completed community maps included in this unit. A community map is intended
to capture and describe specific community information for a particular purpose. Therefore, a
community map differs from a normal map that represents the physical environment. While a
community map can include the physical surroundings of a community, it does not necessarily
need to focus only on the physical. It can include symbols to indicate important places,
dangerous spots or useful resources within the community.

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Community maps could include buildings and places, but also the people in the community
and what they do. Delving [digging] deeper, requires asking questions such as: What type of
people are in the community? How old are they? What are their occupation? What challenges
do they face? What do they seem to do with their time?

A community is a very complex ecosystem [living and non-living things together], where
infrastructure, institutions and individuals interact in a changing environment. Community
mapping can go some way to achieving this goal.

A community map is created by the people who identify as part of that community. They put
all their own knowledge and understanding of their community into the map. It is not a purely
academic exercise, conducted by professors and researchers from an institution with no real
connection to the community. For this reason, a community map, put together by people who
live, breathe, sleep, eat and engage in the community, can capture a lot of the details that
might be missed in an outside assessment of the community.

A community map is also a useful tool because it can have a very empowering effect on the
people creating the map. Residents who may previously have felt powerless to make any
change in their community, can now feel that they are actively contributing to the betterment
of their lives. In addition, armed with a deeper knowledge of their community and the
challenges they face, as well as the resources at their disposal, community members are better
able to negotiate with government officials for the services that they require (Pinfold, 2015: 2,
6).

There is not only one way of compiling a community map. Some community maps are
compiled in partnership between community members and members of civil society
organisations, NGOs, universities or government. While most maps are a collaborative project,
with multiple people contributing to the map, there can be stages in the mapping process that
are carried out by just a few individuals. As a school leader who is wanting to identify a solid
and relevant project to undertake within your school (your WPP), you might choose to lead a
community mapping process to understand your school within its community in a profound
way. If the community mapping is not relevant to your selected WPP, you may choose to
include the evidence of the task having been completed in your PP. (This relates to later
activities where you will complete a community map.)

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The next activity provides a chance to think more deeply about what type of community map
you need to prepare for your school.

Activity 24: Ensure that a community map is fits for purpose

Suggested time:
45 minutes

Aim:
To explore community map scenarios to understand how a community mapping process is
planned to fit a purpose.

What you will do:

1. Read the scenarios that describe different community maps prepared for two different
schools.
2. Once you have read the two scenarios, answer the questions below.
3. Write your answers in your Learning Journal, compare and contrast the two
community maps that are described in the scenarios, using the following headings:
• What is the purpose of each community map?
• What people or groups were consulted when compiling each community
map?
• What does each community map look like and why is this important?
• How is the purpose of each community map in the scenarios linked to what
the map looks like?

Scenario 1: A community map for safety

A school in a high crime area has a problem with learners not attending school because of risks
to their safety. The school wants to increase learner attendance and so it partners with the local
Community Policing Forum to compile a community map. The map contains crime hotspots,
including where there is a gang presence. The school talks to the parents of the learners who do
attend school about the routes that they take to school and how they travel (car, bus, on foot,
etc.), and all this information is recorded on the map. The school also asks learners to share how

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 they feel about coming to school every day, and what coping methods they use to deal with the
stress of the neighbourhood crime.

In this mapping exercise, the school went beyond trying to understand exactly which street
corners were dangerous, and focused attention too on how some parents were able to get their
children to school despite the crime. By doing so, the school was able to share information with
other parents and organise walking busses along main routes from public transport hubs to the
school gates. (Walking busses are groups of people who walk together. This is a planned activity
that provides the group with a level of protection.) In addition, by including information on the
psychological wellbeing of the learners, the school was also better able to equip learners with
the coping skills necessary to deal with the anxiety they might experience coming to school.

A community map can sometimes not be concerned with the physical environment at all. For
example in Scenario 2:

Scenario 2: Donor funding

A school has received funding from an international donor to upgrade some of its facilities. The
school’s SMT wants to ensure that the money is spent on a facility that will benefit not only the
school’s learners but also the broader community. The school calls a community meeting to
engage with stakeholders who live and operate around the school and asks for input. As part of
the consultation process, the school compiles a catalogue that lists all of the current public
facilities in the community. The map does not locate the physical buildings but rather draws up
categories of facilities such as: cultural, sporting, recreational, etc.

With the list compiled, the school is able to see which facilities are already present in the
community, and where it might be worth investing in new facilities.

Discussion of the activity

It is easy to see from the first scenario how the community map goes far beyond the
infrastructure of roads and buildings, and extends into questions about parental involvement,
safety and security, and learner resilience. This first map may include symbols or pictures to
indicate danger or gangs. The second map may look quite different and consist mainly of
words in lists. Each is valid if the map serves the purpose for which it is intended.

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One thing that the two examples have in common is that they could not have been made by a
satellite orbiting the community from outer space. It required many conversations with
community members about their behaviour, feelings, and ideas in order to generate the maps.
Therefore, a community map always includes community participation. It can be difficult to
know who to include in the mapping process, as the community does not speak with one voice
(Aggett et al., 2012: 5). However, even if some people are excluded, community participation
is necessary.

A community map never focuses only on the negative, needs, or deficits of a community. In
the educational context, a community map would not just include the toxic variables, for
example. A community map always includes assets, resources, and the capacity or potential for
change. Community mapping belongs to an approach to development called asset based
community development [an approach that identifies assets rather than deficits), which is
defined below:
Asset based community development is an approach to working with communities that
emphasizes people’s assets, rather than their deficiencies, and encourages the
mobilizing of community assets to meet opportunities in genuine community-driven or
citizen-driven development. (Mathie, 2006: 1).

In the examples above, the schools engaged with the community on what they did have. The
schools spoke to parents who were successfully getting their children to school, and they
spoke to learners who were coping with the stress of being educated in a high-crime
environment. The assets of the different stakeholder groups were drawn on to compile the
community map.

When using an asset based community development approach, there are usually five
categories of assets in a community that can be included (Daughty et al., 2012). See Table 11
below:

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Table 11: The categories of community assets

Category Description

1. Individuals Community members who have gifts, talents, skills and assets.
Development draws on what these individuals can offer.
2. Associations Small informal groups of people who have mobilised around a shared
interest or goal, for example, street committees, book clubs, etc.
3. Institutions Professional and structured bodies, including government, business, and
religious institutions that are present in a community.
4. Physical assets Public facilities, available land, and any other infrastructure that
supports the community.
5. Connections Relationships and partnerships made between people in the community
and outside of the community.
(Source: Daughty et al., 2012: 11–12)

Community mapping is always part of a larger process of development. A community map will
never be the endpoint of a developmental initiative, it is usually just the beginning. As such, a
community map must be carefully thought-out, it must serve a specific purpose, and it must
be linked to a next step. Sometimes there are developmental objectives that only emerge
during the mapping process, when the true assets and needs of the community are identified
(Panek & Vlok: 2013), but at the outset of the mapping process, there should be a larger,
developmental or learning agenda of which it forms a part.

The two fictional examples above illustrate another characteristic of a community map: it is a
very versatile [useful, adaptable] tool. Some maps are quite literal (realistic), others are more
metaphorical [symbolic]. Some use computer-generated data as a base, while other maps use
oral histories as a base. How the map is used, in what format, and for what purpose, should
always be the decision of the community itself. Once community members have learnt how to
use the mapping tool, they should not be told how to apply it. It is their map! See below for
examples of symbols that could be used in a community map:

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Figure 15: Symbols suitable for a community map
(Source: [Link] )

In the two mapping examples above, the school SMT took a leading role in planning and
compiling the community map. However, they relied on the support and input from a much
wider audience. As a school leader, your role is to ensure that all important voices are included
in consultative practices like mapping. Important does not just refer to people in authority –
the learners of a school are one of the most important stakeholders, and very often they are
not given the opportunity to offer input. Representative councils of learners, class monitors or
even the captains of sports team are all learner leaders who could add value to a community
124
map. If you are asked to compile a community map and you do not have the opportunity to
engage with a wide body of stakeholders, it is your responsibility to think about exactly who
those stakeholders might be and what they might want to contribute. For example, as a senior
leader in the school, the ladies selling sweets and chips at the school gates might not be very
important to you, but to your learners, they might be the most important adults on the school
premises! When given the opportunity to lead a mapping process, the responsibility lies with
you to ensure that even if some stakeholders aren’t active participants in the mapping
process, their interests are still considered.

The community map below was prepared after a consultative process with a community in a
poor area of Madurai, India. The community map concentrates on the things they have (the
assets) in the community. The point about community mapping is that the community looks
for the resources that it does have as a start. In some communities, this could be people and
their energy or interests, rather than fancy buildings or infrastructure.

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Figure 16: Community assets map
(Source: Rengasamy, 2009: 47)

Activity 25: Map your community

Suggested time:
• 60 minutes group work with school-based CoP and community members
• 30 minutes in-class discussion

Aim:
To apply the community mapping steps and prepare an assignment.

126
Take Note

This task provides another opportunity for you to apply your role as a researcher. Apply the
correct research protocols.

Your school is a community in itself – it has buildings, community members such as the
leadership team, teachers, administrative staff, ground staff and learners, and is governed by a
set of school rules. Your school also forms part of a broader community. Think of the
neighbourhood beyond the school gates – the parents, service-providers, and partner
organisations that support the school. Even further, your school is not only governed by its
own school rules, but also by national and provincial regulations and policies. Quite simply,
your school is a community within a community.

The aim of this activity is to map the school in the context of its community. Refer to the first
example of a community map, where a few streets were mapped. Think about the metaphor
of a community as an ecosystem, and imagine that your school is at the centre of that
community ecosystem. Just like any other ecosystem in nature, your school’s ecosystem can
be healthy, strong and productive, or, it can be under threat by predators, unsustainable and
at risk of collapse. Together with the community, you need to decide on the area you will
cover – but be careful not to make it too large.

What you will do:

Study the information provided in Figure 17 and follow the steps provided to prepare a
community map. The map that you compile for this activity will not be an in-depth analysis of
the ecosystem, but rather the first step to understanding the school in community.

127
 Stage 2: Define the borders of the
Stage 1: Establish the need for the community:
community map: Your community map will extend
The purpose of your community beyond the immediate school
map is to establish the health of community and stakeholders into
your school community’s the surrounding neighbourhood.
ecosystem. You decide where to put the
boundaries for your map.

Stage 4 and Stage 5: Stage 3:

Plan the map and gather Ensure that all relevant
information: Stages 4 and 5 are stakeholders are supportive of the
carried out through Steps 1 – 4 project: Explain the purpose of the
below. map.

Stage 7:
Stage 6: Share the map: When you have
Compile the map: This is carried out completed the activity, you will be
in Steps 5 – 7 below. required to share your community
map with your class.

Figure 17: Steps to developing a community map.

There are several ways of compiling a community map. Different approaches can still give
positive and useful results but one of the simplest methodologies for mapping is to follow the
steps below in the order they are given. Together with your school-based CoP, create your
community map by following these steps:

Step 1: Refer to Template 1 in the appendix. Write the name of your school in the centre
circle.

128
Step 2: In the next circle, list all the internal school stakeholders. An easy way to ensure that
you have thought of everyone is to imagine an important school assembly and ask yourself
who would attend.

Step 3: In the larger circle, list all the external school stakeholders. These are the people and
institutions who do not belong to the school but that engage with the school on a regular
basis. This list should include the people and institutions that the school has contracts with,
anyone who engages with school learners or teachers in any way, and any governmental
structures to which the school is accountable.

Step 4: In the area outside of the circle, list all of the people and institutions that are not
linked to the school directly but have an impact on the school’s operations. For example, is
there a gang in the area which endangers the learners’ lives? Or, does the city municipality cut
off water supply to the school thereby requiring learners to go home? Try to be as detailed
and comprehensive as possible.

You now have the beginnings of your school community’s ecosystem.

Step 5: With a green pen or pencil, circle all of the stakeholders that add to the good health of
your ecosystem. Then, with a red pen or pencil, circle all of the stakeholders that introduce
toxic elements and put your school’s ecosystem at risk.

Step 6: Refer to Template 2 in the appendix. Write the name of your school in the centre
circle. To the left, list all of the healthy components of your school ecosystem, to the right, list
all of the unhealthy components.

Step 7: The healthy components are your community’s assets and opportunities, and they
indicate the community’s capacity to grow and develop. The unhealthy components are your
community’s needs and risks, and they indicate threats to your community’s wellbeing. Ideally,
in a healthy ecosystem, potential dangers and problems are balanced out by interest, action
and resilient resources. As the final step in your community map, try to link up unhealthy
components with a healthy counterpart. For example, if a local gang is an unhealthy threat to
your school, can you link them up to a supportive Community Policing Forum?

129
Discussion of the activity

After following these steps, you should be able to see which threats cannot currently be
addressed with available resources. You should also be able to see which assets are being
underutilised or wasted when they could be used to address challenges to the school
ecosystem. As you complete the exercise, you may want to add additional stakeholders (use
Template 2).

The purpose of preparing a community map is to use the map to plan ways to collaborate with
the community. Your community map (see Template 1 and Template 2 in the appendix for
formats) must be inserted into your PP which will form part of the programme assessment.

Take note

• It is suggested that this activity may be used as formative assignment for

assessment and submitted for purposes – this should be discussed with your
university lecturers.

• You may also be able to use information from your community map to adapt or
enhance your WPP.

Once the community map has been prepared, it needs to be used.

130
Activity 26: Use the community map to plan collaboration

Suggested time:
2 hours planning and consultation

Aim:
To use the rich and diverse information gathered from the community mapping process to
gather information from the community
Use this research task to plan a collaborative and mutually beneficial relationship with the
community.

What you will do:

1. Refer to your community map that you have just developed.
o Think about the type of relationship the school wishes to develop with the
community. Your response could link to your school vision, mission and values.
o Be clear about the purpose and nature of the collaboration that you wish
establish with stakeholders in the broader community.
o Record this process in your Learning Journal.
2. Plan a strategy of consultation with clusters of community stakeholders – religious
organisations, NGOs, non-profit organisations (NPOs), community based organisations
(CBOs), community forums, municipal and government support structures, and
services (police, clinics, sexual health clinics, fire and safety forums), adult education
programmes, businesses, formal and informal community leaders. Be as inclusive as
possible – embrace the diversity of your school’s community. The district offices of the
education department are also part of the community.
3. Work out how to draw the community in, i.e. what can the school offer them, and
what can they offer the school? You could also ask yourself the following questions to
extend your thinking in this situation:
Where are the areas of overlap in interests between the identified stakeholders
and the school?

Where is the common ground?

4. Start to implement the plan.

131
 5. This activity needs to be conducted collaboratively with school-based colleagues and
then taken further into the community.

This activity is an ideal task that could contribute valuable information to your WPP.
Certainly, the map that is created, as well as the action plan, should be included in your
PP.

Discussion of the activity

This activity has the potential to demonstrate distributed teacher and learner leadership in
action. It is not about the school imposing solutions and plans on the community, but about
engaging the community in a joint planning process, and enabling leaders in the community to
engage meaningfully in discussions so that all parties are able to gain mutual benefits.
An example of the extreme opposite of a mutually beneficial collaborative process is Uitzig
Secondary School. The only persons who have benefitted from that situation are the criminals
who have looted the school and that is a situation you do not want to repeat.

In this section, you should have gained an understanding of school leadership in relationship
with the community. At the same time, the importance of mapping the community was
highlighted as a way to respond appropriately to the needs, wants and interests of the
identified community. This investment of time in mapping the community with others, allows
the school community to develop plans that take account of the context, whilst looking to the
future. When implementing your action plan, remember what you have learned in Unit 1 and
2. There may be times when relationships break down, and processes have been suggested in
Unit 1 that you can use, if this happens. School leadership has a responsibility to foster good
relationships with learners, their parents and the community.

The school is a beacon of light for the community. Christie et al., (2007: 78)

This is what is aimed for in terms of school-community partnerships. Collaboration alongside

commitment is one way in which a school can become a beacon of light for the community.

132
Key points
Unit 2 focussed on the following key points:
• Locating the school within its context.

Examination of the broad education system and how it impacts on schools and
schooling.

• Analysing the context (using PESTLE, SWANS and OWANS).

The tools provide a useful way to consider the circumstances inside and outside the
school that impact on it. HIV and AIDS were focussed on as an example of a health and
socio-economic issue that affects schools and schooling. This led to a school-based task
addressing a relevant aspect of the HIV and AIDS pandemic.

• Identifying and analysing stakeholders’ wants, needs, interests and influences.

After identifying stakeholder types, as well as stakeholder and organisational wants

and needs (using SWANS and OWANS), you practised prioritising stakeholders in order
to develop a communication and management plan.

• Mapping the broader school context and community.

Understanding what community mapping is, how it is undertaken and how it is

intended to work.

• Developing an appropriate action plan with and for the wider community.

Applying what was learnt: Developing a community map and using it to plan how
best to promote collaboration between the school and the wider community.

133
134
Reflective Commentary Report on Module 5

The Reflective Commentary Report is used to record your reflections, thoughts and ideas
related to your own learning and professional development journey as you work through this
module (and later, the other modules of the AdvDip (SLM) programme). As discussed in
Module 1: Professional Portfolio and Workplace Project Unit 4, this information will also be
useful when you prepare your Personal, Professional and Organisational Development Plan
(PPODP).

Take note

The reflective commentary that you prepare for this module is important as it has to be included
in your Professional Portfolio which will be submitted for summative assessment.

Suggested time:

One and a half hours

What you will do:

Step 1: If you have made any notes in your Learning Journal about this module, refer back to
these notes now.

Step 2: Reflect on your experience of working through this module. Make brief notes on what
you think are the most important learning points.

Step 3: Read the guidelines below, to assist you to structure the writing of your Reflective
Commentary Report.

Guidelines for writing a Reflective Commentary Report

1. Write a short introduction which explains what the focus of the reflection is.
2. Write the story of your learning. Differently put, explain what you have learnt from
studying this module.
3. The application of your learnings to your school context: Explain how you have applied
what you have learnt in this module to your own school.

135
 4. The result of your attempts to use these new learnings from this module in your
context: Write up positive outcomes achieved as a result of you applying your new skills
and knowledge related to working with and for the wider community.
5. Prepare and write up the conclusions that you can draw about these learnings and their
application.
6. End your reflection by stating what you believe you still need to learn about working
with and for the wider community in which your school is located.

Step 4: Write your Reflective Commentary Report and make sure you have addressed each of
the points above.

Step 5: Read aloud what you have written, and make revisions as necessary.

Step 6: Share your Reflective Commentary Report with your HEI CoP partner. Ask your partner
to give you constructive feedback. Carefully consider the input received from your HEI CoP
partner and incorporate relevant feedback that you have received into your report.

Step 7: Ensure that you include your Module5 Reflective Commentary Report in your
Professional Portfolio.

136
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36(4): 1–9. Accessed from:
[Link]

Wylie, J. & Silbert, P. 2018. Building organisational capacity through a principals’ community of
practice. In P. Silbert, R. Galvan & J. Clark. (Eds) Breaking boundaries: university-school-
community partnerships in action. Cape Town: HSRC Press.

142
Appendix 1: Table of provincial learner numbers in 2016/17
(Source: Veriava et al., 2017: 49)

2016/17 Total Of which % Share Share of Learners Equitable 2015

Province & equitable allocated Equitable of total as % of share Matric
Poverty share to share learners provincial province’s allocation pass
Ranking allocation education allocated in SA education total to rate
(R to expenditure population education ranking
Million) education per
learner

Limpopo 48 709 24 635 50.6% 13.7% 12.7% 28.2% R14 058 7

(1) (1) (2) (9)

E Cape 58 060 28 207 48.6% 15.2% 14.6% 24.3% R14 473 9

(2) (2) (5) (8)

North West 28 062 12 824 45.7% 6.4% 6.6% 17.0 % R15 771 4
(3) (7) (9) (4)

Mpumalanga 33 450 16 234 48.5% 8.4% 8.4% 26.3% R15 068 5

(4) (3) (3) (6)

KwaZulu- 87 898 41 905 47.7% 22.5% 21.6% 30.6% R14 575 8

Natal (4) (1) (7)
(5)
Free State 22 995 10 693 46.5% 5.3% 5.5% 25.1% R15 695 3
(6) (5) (4) (5)

Northern 10 863 4 769 43.9% 2.3% 2.4% 24.2% R16 488 6

Cape (8) (6) (1)
(7)
Gauteng 79 600 36 857 46.3% 17.6% 19.0% 21.9% R16 400 2
(8) (6) (7) (2)

Western 41 062 17 455 42.5% 8.6% 9.0% 17.7% R15 944 1

Cape (9) (8) (3)
(9)
Total / 410 699 193 580 47.1% 100% 100% 23.3% R15 148 -
average

143
144
Appendix 2: Evaluation instrument for the caring role of the school
principal
(Source: van der Vyver et al., 2014)

To be filled in by principals for self-evaluation.

The following items consist of statements regarding your care function as principal.
For each item, use the scale below to evaluate the degree of care that you as a principal
demonstrate.

1 = Not at all 2 = To a small extent 3 = To some extent 4 = To a large extent

Please answer each item

Read each statement as if it commences with:
Not at Small Some Large
As far as the working environment of the educators in my all extent extent extent
school is concerned...

1 I am able to control my emotions 1 2 3 4

2 I understand their feelings 1 2 3 4
3 I demonstrate sympathy with their circumstances 1 2 3 4
4 I can imagine myself in their situation 1 2 3 4
5 I can understand their point(s) of view 1 2 3 4
6 I am conscious of their feelings 1 2 3 4
7 I take their individual circumstances into consideration 1 2 3 4
8 I am interested in their personal lives 1 2 3 4
9 I am interested in them as human beings 1 2 3 4
10 I consider their ideas to be important 1 2 3 4
11 I treat them with warmth 1 2 3 4
12 I have empathy with them as staff 1 2 3 4
13 I am interested in their experiences 1 2 3 4
14 I trust them 1 2 3 4
15 I respect them 1 2 3 4
16 I am sincere towards them 1 2 3 4
17 I support them so that they can achieve their ideals 1 2 3 4
18 I give recognition to them 1 2 3 4
19 I protect their self-interests 1 2 3 4
20 I see to it that other people treat them as professionals 1 2 3 4
21 I am honest with them 1 2 3 4
22 my relationships with them are based on moral values 1 2 3 4
23 I care for them as staff members 1 2 3 4
24 I accept each one of them as they are 1 2 3 4
25 I behave in a cheerful manner towards them 1 2 3 4
26 I see to it that they work in a safe work environment 1 2 3 4
27 I see to it that they work in a school where healthy discipline is 1 2 3 4
maintained
28 I see to it that there is a school safety policy 1 2 3 4
29 I see to it that they work in a school where the school buildings 1 2 3 4
are kept in a good condition
30 I see to it that the school grounds are well kept 1 2 3 4
145
 Read each statement as if it commences with:
Not at Small Some Large
As far as the working environment of the educators in my all extent extent extent
school is concerned...

31 I see to it that vandalism at the school are limited 1 2 3 4

32 I see to it that they experience job security 1 2 3 4
33 I exercise fair labour practices according to legislation 1 2 3 4
34 I see to it that the necessary physical resources are available so 1 2 3 4
that they can do their work well
35 I provide training opportunities for them regarding the use of 1 2 3 4
physical resources
36 I share the commitment towards achieving organisational 1 2 3 4
outcomes
37 I support them in their work 1 2 3 4
38 I consider their values when decisions have to be made 1 2 3 4
39 I work towards the benefit of the whole school community 1 2 3 4
40 I delegate certain tasks to them 1 2 3 4
41 I empower them through participative decision making 1 2 3 4
42 I express appreciation for the work that they do as educators 1 2 3 4
43 I see to it that their rights are protected. 1 2 3 4
44 I do not favour some educators at the expense of others 1 2 3 4
45 I allocate resources equally 1 2 3 4
46 I listen attentively to them when we talk 1 2 3 4
47 I am not self-centred in my approach towards them 1 2 3 4
48 I share the successes of the school with them 1 2 3 4
49 I am accessible 1 2 3 4
50 I demonstrate self-confidence as a leader 1 2 3 4
51 I know how to resolve conflict in a reasonable manner 1 2 3 4
52 I am prepared to make personal sacrifices 1 2 3 4
53 I make an effort to defend them 1 2 3 4
54 I am committed to promote collective values in the school 1 2 3 4
55 I commit myself to the vision and mission of the school 1 2 3 4
56 I share leadership responsibilities with them 1 2 3 4
57 I support them personally 1 2 3 4
58 I support them in developing professionally as an educator 1 2 3 4
59 I create a positive environment for change in the school 1 2 3 4

146
Appendix 3: Evaluation instrument for the caring role of the school
principal
(Source: van der Vyver et al., 2014)

To be filled in by teachers/colleagues of the principal.

The following items consist of statements pertaining to the care function of the school principal.
Use the scale below to evaluate the degree of care demonstrated by your school principal:

1 = Not at all 2 = To a small extent 3 = To some extent 4 = To a large extent

PLEASE NOTE: IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU ANSWER EVERY ITEM

Read each statement as if it commences with: As far as my Not at Small Some Large
psychological welfare is concerned, my school principal... all extent extent extent

1 can control their emotions 1 2 3 4

2 understands my feelings 1 2 3 4
3 demonstrates sympathy with my circumstances 1 2 3 4
4 can imagine themselves in my situation 1 2 3 4
5 can understand my point of view 1 2 3 4
6 is conscious of my feelings 1 2 3 4
7 takes my individual circumstances into consideration 1 2 3 4
8 takes an interest in my personal life 1 2 3 4
9 shows interest in me as human being 1 2 3 4
10 sees my ideas as important 1 2 3 4
11 treats me with warmth 1 2 3 4
12 shows empathy towards us as staff 1 2 3 4
13 is interested in my experiences 1 2 3 4
14 trusts me 1 2 3 4
15 respects me 1 2 3 4
16 is sincere 1 2 3 4
17 supports me to achieve my ideal(s) 1 2 3 4
18 gives me recognition 1 2 3 4
19 protects my self interest 1 2 3 4
20 sees to it that other people treats me as a professional 1 2 3 4
21 is honest 1 2 3 4
22 relationship with me is based on moral values 1 2 3 4
23 truly cares for their staff 1 2 3 4
24 accepts me as I am 1 2 3 4
25 behaves in a cheerful manner towards me 1 2 3 4
26 sees to it that I work in a safe environment 1 2 3 4
27 sees to it that healthy discipline is maintained 1 2 3 4
28 sees to it that there is a school safety policy 1 2 3 4
29 sees to it that school buildings are kept in good condition 1 2 3 4
30 sees to it that school grounds are well kept 1 2 3 4
31 sees to it that vandalism at school is limited 1 2 3 4
32 sees to it that I experience job security 1 2 3 4
33 exercises fair labour practices according to legislation 1 2 3 4

147
 Read each statement as if it commences with: As far as my Not at Small Some Large
psychological welfare is concerned, my school principal... all extent extent extent

34 sees to it that the necessary physical resources are available so 1 2 3 4

that I can do my work well
35 provides adequate training opportunities for me regarding the 1 2 3 4
use of physical resources
36 shares the commitment towards achieving organisational 1 2 3 4
outcomes
37 supports me in my work 1 2 3 4
38 considers my values when decisions have to be made 1 2 3 4
39 work towards the benefit of the whole school community 1 2 3 4
40 delegates certain tasks to me 1 2 3 4
41 empowers me through participative decision-making 1 2 3 4
42 demonstrates appreciation for the work I do as educator 1 2 3 4
43 sees to it that my rights are protected 1 2 3 4
44 does not favour specific educators at the expense of others 1 2 3 4
45 allocate resources equally 1 2 3 4
46 listens attentively when I talk 1 2 3 4
47 is not self-centred 1 2 3 4
48 can share the successes of the school with the educators 1 2 3 4
49 is accessible to me 1 2 3 4
50 demonstrates self-confidence to lead us 1 2 3 4
51 deals with conflict in a reasonable manner 1 2 3 4
52 is prepared to make personal sacrifices for educators 1 2 3 4
53 makes an effort to defend me 1 2 3 4
54 is committed to promote collective values in the school 1 2 3 4
55 commits themselves to the vision and mission of the school 1 2 3 4
56 shares leadership responsibilities with us 1 2 3 4
57 supports me personally 1 2 3 4
58 supports me in developing professionally as an educator 1 2 3 4
59 creates a positive environment for change in the school 1 2 3 4

148
Appendix 4: Caring School Leadership Questionnaire scoring rubric
(Source: van der Vyver et al., 2014: 4)

Summary of determinants of caring leadership and the item numbers (in brackets) that relate to them
in the CSLQ
Psychological determinants Workplace/organisational Management determinants
determinants
Items 1–25 Items 26–39 Items 40–59
Emotional intelligence (1, 2) Safe working environment (26, 27, Trust (40)
28)
Interest in the person (13) by Adequate physical infrastructure Empowerment (40, 41)
displaying: (29, 30, 31)
Sympathy (3) Job security (32) Recognition (42)
Empathy (4, 5, 6) Conduct and behaviour of the Protection of rights (43)
principal (33)
Concern (7, 8) Safe school climate Fairness (44, 45)
Attention (8, 9, 10, 13) Provision of resources (34, 35) Listening (46)
Compassion (11, 12) Creating a caring environment (38, Subservience (47, 48)
39)
Meeting psychological needs Accessibility (49)
(2, 6, 14, 15, 16)
Intrinsic motivation (17, 18, 19) Leadership effectiveness (50)

Respect (5, 10, 15, 20) Consistency (51)

Honesty (21) Commitment (52, 53, 54, 55)

Morality (22, 23) Participative decision making

(56)
Love for others (23) Support (57, 58)

Acceptance of others as they Staff development (58)

are (24)
Cheerfulness (25) Altruism (52, 53)

Transformative influence (59)

149
150
Template 1: Community mapping – the school ecosystem

151
152
Template 2: Balancing the ecosystem

153