Letrero ingresando a la ciudad de Ilave

The process of transforming underperforming schools in deprived areas has its own merits and demerits. There are similarities in terms of the nature of the challenges, which were experienced by the principals regardless of the location in which the schools are situated. Every transformation has its own positives and the negatives like the one regarding the changing of underperformance in schools. Among the challenges I noted from the data is that the principals had to address the issue of correct staffing especially in Grade 12 as part of the turnaround strategy. This meant that the principals had to either reshuffle (move) educators, to other grades and provide development or just provide development without changing anyone or they had to

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look for someone who had to assist the school to get the desired outcomes in the subjects seen as being underperforming and dragging the schools to the underperformance bracket.

I also noted that there were instances of resistance and that such resistance came from the educators across the spectrum (from some SMT members and teachers). The subjects that contributed more to the schools’underperformance were Mathematics, Physical Sciences, Accounting, Life Sciences and Geography. Immediate support was needed not just for these subjects only, but for others as well to ensure that schools changed their performance trajectory. What is noted is that some of these teachers had been teaching the underperforming subjects for some time without any positive outcome. As the turnaround process unfolded, there was resistance from the educators across all seven schools, and this manifested itself in different forms and was directed to the change that was being introduced. The notion of resistance to change and how to handle it is not new (Bouchamma, 2012; Chikoko, 2018; Flintham, 2015; Gillet, et al., 2016). The form of resistance displayed will be discussed in detail as it occurred in each site in the ensuing paragraphs.

The second common challenge among all seven schools was that the principals had to address the issue of learner discipline as learners came from different social backgrounds as indicated in Section 7.2 above. The schools had to instil discipline, high moral standards and provide some form of motivation to ensure that learners support the schools turnaround plans by doing what they were asked to do in order to contribute to the schools’ turnaround strategies. The third challenge addressed by the principals was poor parental involvement and support. They had to call parents to meetings to explain the turnaround plans and to solicit their support. Some principals like, Mathafeni, went further and sought the support of the Traditional Council and the neighbouring farms to ensure that the school received various forms of support although the educators at the school later rumoured that he was going around talking about them to all these stakeholders. Principals of the rural schools like Thando and Siyaphambili Secondary schools had also to grapple with the challenge of learners who were traveling more than ten kilometres to the schools. This was affecting the morning and afternoon classes because learners could not come on time in the mornings and they could not remain in the afternoons as security was a concern especially for Thando Secondary school learners where there were faction fights. The principals of the rural schools (Thando, Siyaphambili and Mathafeni Secondary schools), had to change their curriculum by phasing out some subjects in order to

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adhere to policy which stated that the school with an enrolment of 320 and below should have one package. Whilst this policy is assisting schools especially educators, not to be over loaded but it leaves learners with only one package, and in a way, limits their career choices. Therefore, the principals of these rural schools had to conduct thorough consultations in order to ensure that the SGB, parents and the wider school community, had a buy-in on the subjects that the schools had to keep in their curriculum. In the next paragraphs, I present the challenges in more details as they unfolded in each research site.

At Kuhle Secondary School, the principal reshuffled some educators, for example, Grade 12 Accounting was given to another educator who was teaching other grades other than Grade 12. That subject was taught by the DH for commercial subjects and he was not happy when the subject was taken away from him. Other educators were also moved to Grade 12 to take up certain subjects, like Business Studies, Mathematics and Geography. This resulted in some kind of resistance, which included nasty sarcastic and teasing from those who were replaced in Grade 12. These kinds of negative messageswere directed to the new coming educators. Every transformation has its victims as observed at Kuhle and Mathafeni Secondary schools, where some teachers negotiated to be transferred to other schools.

The Principal of Mathafeni Secondary conducted a staff audit, which revealed that seven educators were not suitably qualified to teach the subjects they were teaching and some of them were not qualified to teach at the secondary school. Among these educators, there was a DH for siences, who did not have any science related subject and had a primary school qualification. Other educators not suitably qualified were Accounting educator, who had a fake master’s qualification with Accounting that was later declared invalid, the Life Sciences educator had only Grade 12 certificate, and this is not a teaching qualification. The Tourism educator had only a diploma in tourism and had no Post Graduate Certificate (PGCE) to make him a qualified teacher. The Economics educator had only a Grade 12 certificate. These educators requested to be moved to primary schools through the support of the Circuit Manger. The effect of their transfers did not go smoothly though as the principal was later accused by some educators of talking about them at the Traditional Council. Whilst this issue was resolved but the principal later received death threats from the unknown sources calling on him to leave the school. The Circuit Manager had to intervene by talking to various leadership structures to ensure that the principal was protected and to show support for the changes that were

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implemented. The Principal of Mathafeni Secondary School also reflected that he was attacked and nearly stabbed by a learner, who had become unruly when he tried to discipline him.

At Siyaphambili Secondary, a member of the SMT left the school due to failure to cope with work. However, other teachers felt this kind of pressure to be oppressive, to point that the principal was perceived as an oppressive leader. The Principal of Siyaphambili Secondary further noted that some teachers used to come to school unprepared for lessons, while others came late and with a smell of alcoholic beverages. This principal also revealed that he was attacked by unknown people around the school, which was perceived as being some form of resistance to the changes that were introduced. He decided to stay at the school and continue with the changes, which were introduced to turn around the schools performance trajectory. The Principal of Siyaphambili Secondary, further reported that one SMT member, DH for Humanities left the school when he realised that he could not cope with the working measures that were introduced to achieve the shared vision.The scourge of ill-discipline at Siyaphambili Secondary manifested itself in the lack of cooperation and a relaxed atmosphere on the side of the learners, who had false hopes of cheating during examinations.

The nature of the challenges experienced at Thando Secondary was different from those experienced in other secondary schools in the sense that both the parents and the learners were considered non-cooperative for different reasons. For instance, at Thando Secondary, learner attendance in morning classes was negatively affected by the distance learners had to travel to a school. Other learners at Thando Secondary could not attend the Saturday classes due to their religious affiliation to the Shembe belief system, which requires that they attend services on Saturday. The issue of over-aged learners was also raised as one of the factors which was causing ill-discipline as those learners had other motives other than focusing on the learning process. The Principal of Thando, Secondary further reported that some learners were not able to come on time to the morning classes due to the long distances they had to walk to school. The school applied for learner transport from the Department of Education and they have been waiting since the department’s response cited the lack of funds as the reason for the non- provision of learner transport to curb this anomaly.

The Principal of Thuthuka Secondary School revealed that he faced challenges from the teachers, learners and the drug lords. He contended that when he was appointed as the principal, the school had been underperforming for a number of years and he was just brought in to