The challenges pertaining to professional development are vast and particular to each country, school district and school (Fullan, 2009). The challenges particular to the South African context for this study include limited:
• urgent need for ongoing school-based professional development that focuses on mediation of policies;
• exposure to examples of innovation and best practices; • sharing and implementing professional learning;
• exposure and development of a culture of becoming a lifelong learner;
• development of synergies and alignments between policy requirements and the professional development needs of school leaders;
• development of building confidence and competence to establish the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes and resources to implement change;
• exposure and development of quality appraisal and evaluation practices; • capacity to adopt, implement and support more holistic approaches;
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• ability to engage with unfamiliar practices through experiential learning; and
• engaging with experienced professional development Change agent in this study means facilitating professionals to enable them to identify and make their own required changes as suggested by, Fullan (2009). s.
The above challenges are presented below, together with solutions highlighted from the literature reviewed for this study.
Many SMTs are currently not implementing the democratic policy change requirements due to their lack of exposure to continuous professional development by the DOE (NEEDU, 2013). Therefore, there is an urgent need for ongoing school-based professional development focusing
on mediating school leadership and management practices, in order to better understand,
embrace and implement policy requirements. Examples of innovations and best practices are not part of most professional development being provided in South Africa (Davidoff et al., 2014). Christie (2010) concurs with Davidoff et al. (2014) by sharing that the challenge for most school leaders is how to share and implement their professional learning when they return to school. This includes the sharing of their learnings with their staff and motivating their staff to implement the required policy changes. Becoming a lifelong learner is a culture that is not being developed and therefore becomes a challenge for many SMTs. Many school leaders who are only accustomed to leading find it difficult to now engage themselves explicitly into the role of being a learner. As Jansen (2009) asserts, “restructuring power relations and establishing regular open communication about the importance of continuously learning how to improve one’s knowledge, skills and attitudes to embrace change can have profound effects on how professional development learning opportunities are viewed at school” (p. 91).
Another challenge emerging from the literature is developing synergies and alignments between
meeting policy needs and the professional development needs of school leaders. Professional
development cannot only focus on policy requirements, but needs to make sure that the school leaders expected to implement the policy requirements also have their professional needs catered for (Fullan, 2009). During and after school leaders have engaged in professional development, they must feel motivated to optimally use their improved levels of confidence and competence using the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes and resources to implement change. School
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leaders’ confidence and competence about their own professional development experiences should to some degree then encourage them to motivate, lead and manage their staff to implement the required change (Fullan, 2009). Care and attention to the induction into CPD are essential challenges for school leaders who have a responsibility to encourage their staff to engage in CPD. Care and attention need to be given to acknowledge the fears and anxieties that school leaders have about the professional development they have to engage with (Davidoff et al., 2014).
It is essential to know what is needed by school leaders and managers before conceptualising, developing and engaging with professional development programmes. The needs of all school leaders and managers vary and these varied needs must be acknowledged, addressed and supported during professional development to optimally effect change. A needs analysis is a vital entry component to reduce fears and anxieties for school leaders during any professional development programme. A needs analysis is an essential tool for school leaders to use with their staff as well after they have engaged with it in their own professional development, as the needs analysis can enable and empower school leaders to begin to build professional capacity and to reduce the fears and anxiety of their staff regarding professional development. Once school leaders know what the professional needs of their staff are, they can make provision for those needs (Davidoff et al., 2014). Professional development providers should therefore assess both the participants’ needs and policy requirements and align them to the training to be provided (Soudien, 2013).
The appropriateness, relevance and efficacy of professional development approaches need to be questioned about whether they are adequately meeting the participants needs. This includes asking the question of whether the conceptual frameworks underpinning the professional development are providing support equal to the complexity of the current problems in education and are they addressing real needs? (Soudien, 2013, p. 25)
Professional development must be viewed and acknowledged as a continuous process that aims to develop and support improvement and not be a once off event. Extensive time, attention and energy are necessary for school leaders and managers to engage with, understand, appreciate and integrate innovative, new and best existing practices to ensure effective transfer of learning
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during professional development sessions. Time, attention and energy must be given to professional development that demonstrates to school leaders that change is a long-term process and not a quick-fix event (Green et al., 2006).
Another challenge pertains to the vital area of appraisal and evaluation of school leaders. In the past, appraisal and evaluation in South Africa were managed in a very strict, disciplined and authoritarian manner by school inspectors to maintain control over schools. Practices were observed and reports completed without any feedback (DOE, 2009). School leaders’ own values and practices were generally not accommodated or considered. As a result, many school leaders resisted being inspected and school inspectorates were barred from schools. Very few schools then developed any other form of appraisal or evaluation of their practices (Davidoff et al., 2014). “Resisting being evaluated, resulted in school leadership becoming an isolated practice and created a breakdown in accountability between schools and education departments” (Van der Berg et al, 2011, p. 51). As a result, the current government is still struggling to implement the existing appraisal and evaluation systems (DOE, 2010a). In order for appraisal and evaluation to be fully embraced by school leaders and managers, it must occur only after extensive professional development and support has been provided according to school leaders and managers’ own professional needs. The main aim of appraisal and evaluation must be about the sustainable professional development of school leaders and managers. Currently, appraisal and evaluation are done for salary increments, rendering them into administrative compliance events and not continuous processes for professional improvement (NEEDU, 2013).
The challenge currently facing professional development in South Africa is that the DOE does not have the capacity to adopt, implement and support holistic professional development approaches that consider the context and specific needs of SMTs and at the same time address policy requirements, in order to facilitate policy implementation. The DOE needs to adopt approaches that entail regular and sustained school-based interaction with SMTs and more participatory and democratic professional development practices (Taylor, 2009c). Christie (2010) argues that a school-based participatory professional development model needs to be based on the social constructivist theory of constructing knowledge, where the view is that knowledge is better understood if actively and personally constructed rather than given. Participants engaged in professional development should not be seen as passive recipients of knowledge, but rather as
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active participants who make their own meaning through collaboration with their peers or with ‘others who are more knowledgeable than themselves’.
Soudien (2013) contends that “the DOE must take responsibility for having contributed to what many see as the degradation of the fabric of the education landscape, and particularly the serious demoralisation of the teaching fraternity” (p. 26). In general, the DOE remains largely unable to meaningfully address professional development in schools, despite the visionary policies it has developed for the South African poor school context. It appears that policy developers have overlooked the profound inequalities throughout the education system and underestimated the time and resources it would take to address these inequalities (Soudien, 2013).
The outcome of the past 20 years of professional development clearly shows that government has misread the realities of the South African school landscape, pursuing their professional development agendas as if society were already the espoused society the state intended it to be (Soudien, 2013). Professional development in South Africa therefore urgently needs to be reviewed if policies that are intended to improve people’s lives are to be effected to enable envisaged changes. This is particularly true for the poorest schools that need change the most. When the focus of professional development is only on issues of policy compliance, serious and deeply unhealthy cultural and behavioural issues are downplayed (Jansen, 2013). Professional development as discussed above involves people having to engage in practices unfamiliar to their own personal histories and school cultures (Soudien, 2013).
The lack of capacity by the DOE to develop and support all school leaders and managers to engage with, embrace and implement policy change is evident after 21 years of democracy. This means that there is a lack of experienced professionals to develop and support the policy requirements (NEEDU, 2013). Using experienced professional development change agents to facilitate change through experiential learning is crucial. This involves providing opportunities for active participation through engaging school leaders in democratic practices, encouraging problem-solving, enquiry-based activities, and completing interactive and collaborative tasks. Refection on practice is built into all aspects for continual growth and development (Fullan, 2009).
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The assumption of transformative professional development is that, the changes in participant’s self-understanding and conception of cognition are necessary if participants are to take responsibility for transforming their practices. The participant’s ability to reflect critically and act appropriately within a particular context is what brings about effective and sustainable empowerment and change. (Fullan, 2009, p. 129)
The discussion above on professional development points to the vital and simultaneous need to focus on personal development as an integral part of professional development (Davidoff et al., 2014) that is discussed below.
The section on personal development begins with a brief description of personal development. Policies that espouse personal development are then highlighted. Aspects of personal development that can support professional development are presented, including developing self- awareness, using emotional intelligence, applying assertiveness, examining assumptions, clarifying values and developing a personal mission statement. The challenges of personal development are then presented, including fostering personal agency, capacity building, and personal and interpersonal dynamics.