Investing In Leadership, Governance And Management To Improve Quality Of Teaching And Learning: A Human Capital Perspective

Abstract

While funding is undoubtedly necessary to promote the quality of the curriculum, teaching, and learning, funding in and by itself is not a guarantee to achieve equity and equality of outcomes.  Accordingly, in some cases, such as the South African context, a sound funding regimen to address inequities and quality in education in the post-apartheid setting, the quality of leadership, governance and management are equally key and sometimes more critical to achieving sustainable quality and equity improvements in education, including the quality of matric learners.

Five quintile 1s (non-fee paying schools) in the Fezile Dabi district in the Free State Province of South Africa were sampled for this study.  The schools were used as samples because they formed what is known as non-performing schools in terms of their matric results for the 2009 and 2010 academic years.  We used purposive sampling comprising schools that did not perform satisfactorily in their matric results and adopted an utilisation-focused strategy that could assist the Free State Department of Education to improve quality.  The data were collected from School Management Teams comprising the school principals of the five schools and Heads of Department.

Knowledge of how principals manage the curriculum in schools in South Africa is therefore limited. Although there are detailed normative frameworks (often from elsewhere) on what principals should do, there is little consideration of the reality of the work of principals, in particular contexts, and what they actually do.  There was a concern about some HODs with regard to their content knowledge of the different subjects’ streams.  There was an outcry of 45% of HODs in highly cognitive subjects, such as Mathematics, Accounting, and Physical Science, who did not possess the content knowledge required in their respective subjects’ streaming.  Consequently, a statement was made concerning the level of leadership in high-focus subjects.  Similarly, there is a perception that there should be a strong content knowledge from the HOD as an instruction leader as their subjects are regarded as highly skilled subjects.