La Ley 8051 de Ordenamiento Territorial y Uso del Suelo (LOT)

Behavioural system meets the adaptive needs (Parsons, 1971). In other words, the behavioural system is concerned with the functionality of individuals and collectives within the systemic environment (Wallace and Wolf, 1980; Parsons, 1971). Functionality is expressed in terms of roles and status relations but also involves the personality (Parsons, 1977). This relates to how individuals adapt to their specific environmental context. In the case of the school as a social system, an educator has the role of teaching and learning but this role also prescribes a certain kind of behaviour to enable positive learning within a classroom (Van Der Merwe, 2010). Educators with a low morale, poor self-worth and esteem would, therefore, find it difficult to feel confident and competent within the instructional environment. Educators who are motivated to, inter alia, enhance their competencies, are willing to enter into mentoring relations as well as seek opportunity to apply their newly found skills, will enhance their esteem and acquire, in a sense, a personality functional within a schooling environment.

46 2.9 Pattern Variables and their importance with reference to schooling systems In order to indicate the importance of pattern variables, table 2.1 has been developed as a summary of pattern variables within the schooling system.

Table 2.1: Examples of how pattern variables are operationalized within a schooling system

Affectivity Affective Neutrality

This set of pattern variables enables actors to decide whether to allow or disallow emotions to govern relationships in order to gratify needs.

Actors allow feelings, emotions to govern the relationship. Actors do not allow feelings / emotions to become established within the relationship.

Educator-learner relationship: When consulting with a

learner who has experienced an episode of bullying, an educator shows empathy in order to provide the learner with support and comfort.

Educator-learner relationship: While an educator may feel sympathy for a learner who cheated during an assessment, other learners will expect the learner to be formally sanctioned, and not to receive sympathy from educators.

Mentor-mentee relationship: Such relationships require trust

which allows a bond to form and institutes certain values which maintains their relationship.

Task team-senior coordinator relationship: A

senior coordinator expects excellence; therefore s/he will apply performance criteria to assess the outcome of a task. The criteria enhance objectivity during assessment, thus preventing (subjective) emotions to influence assessment.

Self-Orientation Collective-orientation

This set of pattern variables enables actors to decide if they want to gratify their own needs or that of the collective.

Actors are orientated towards their own needs-gratification. Actors will rather consider gratifying the needs of others than their own.

Educator-learner relationship: Educators who strike for

salary increases neglect their learners in the process. . Educator-learner relationship: Educators who put in extra hours after school to assist learners who are struggling in certain areas of their academic work do so for altruistic reasons to improve learner performance rates.

Mentor-mentee relationship: An educator who chooses to be

a mentor for its status value does so for self-gratification and not because s/he is primarily concerned with development of a novice educator.

Mentor-mentee relationship: Senior educators who

mentor novice educators in their private time and without being remunerated do so to contribute towards the school‟s vision of WSD that aims to enhance quality education for all.

Universalism Particularism

This set of pattern variables enables actors to decide between the type of value orientation standard to be used

Actors apply objective criteria favouring none in particular

maintaining all are to be equally considered. Actors give importance to their own primary group as against interests of all others Educator-learner relationship: When marking assessments

an educator is not expected to show favouritism towards a most-liked learner, and to mark the assessment according to a

Educator-learner relationship: Educators who stay away from school place importance on their group‟s interest rather than on the interest of the collective

47 memo designed for its purpose even if the learner would fail in

the assessment.

Educator-learner relationship: In terms of the school‟s code of conduct educators should not who leniency for norms that are violated.

who envision best educational practice in order to enhance quality education for all.

SMT-SGB relationship: Members of a SMT will not assist their SGB unless they have completed their task irrespective the sanction that might be applied. Mentor-mentee relationship: It is expected that mentees will

work with their mentors towards developing competences that will enhance quality of education within the classroom setting. Whether the mentee is a novice or more seasoned educator a mentor has the right in terms of the mentor-mentee relationship to indicate his/her disapproval and to withdraw from the relationship should the mentee continuously take a negative approach towards mentoring.

Mentor-mentee relationship: Seasoned educators who are forced to participate in a formal mentoring endeavour as decided by their SGB and SMT and only do so half-heartedly act out of self-interest and not for the good of the school‟s reputation.

Achievement Ascription

This set of pattern variables enables actors to choose between the modalities of the social object.

Actors place high premium on achievement. Actors emphasise the qualities of other actors irrespective of their achievement. Learner-learner relationship: Learners who compete for the

first five places on the academic achievement list in order to receive a reward at the end of the year do so because they place a high premium on achievement even at the cost of maintaining relationships with their peers.

Educator-learner relationship: Learners who do not achieve positive academic results but are respected by their educators for their other qualities experience self-respect in knowing that their other qualities are also appreciated.

Mentor-mentee relationship: When a mentee is interested in

whole-person development s/he is therefore willing to adapt in all areas of her/his life; especially when s/he experiences that her/his mentor is interested in her/him as a person, and not only because s/he is an educator. The mentee is therefore most likely to stay within the relationship to ensure whole- person development that just to achieve short-term competence as an educator.

Mentor-mentee relationship: Mentors who place

significance on all qualities of a mentee are more likely than those who only emphasise one quality to gain a reputation as a preferred mentor.

Specificity Diffuseness

This set of pattern variables enables actors to define the choice of their scope of interest in the object

Actors do not feel obligated towards others and is selective in their involvement for a specific reason.

Actors feel obligated and involved in others. Educator-learner relationship: Educators who prefer not to

become involved in extra-mural activities do so because they do not feel obligated to enhance the positive affect that the hidden curriculum can have on learners.

Educator-educator relationship: Educators who envision WSD will attempt to involve all peers in activities that envision this even if they at times meet with rejection or ridicule.

Mentor-mentee relationship: Some seasoned educators will not become involved in mentoring simply because they feel that there are other ways to enhance teacher competence.

SMT-senior educators: Despite the negative attitude of a SMT some seasoned educators feel obligated to help novice educators gain confidence as practitioners and will therefore involve themselves to enable this. By so doing this will result in a larger pool of educators working towards various goals that will benefit learners.

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With reference to operationalising these variables, different perspectives can be held. Firstly, in terms of their position within the Parsonian systems framework, and secondly, with reference to the envisaged mentoring framework.

In terms of the Parsonian framework, these variables serve to guide interaction and relational networks. Depending on the situation actors find themselves in, it will require a decision on how to interchange. The nature of interchange is motivated and gratified by using a specific variable or combination thereof. Broadly speaking, the nature of the situation will call for either expressive or instrumental modes of behavior, or a combination of both. In similar vein, a need for gratification and urgency pre-empts a choice of variables. Therefore, the decision of what variable combination to utilise within a situation or interchange will be determined by whether or not actors will allow or disallow emotions and feelings to govern; the direction of their motivation, the values present, and the emphasis they place on quality and scope of alter-actor attributes, and the obligation implied within involvement.

In the second instance and with reference to the research which aims to develop a mentoring framework, these pattern variables can be utilised to create an environment in which transformational processes can be decided and established to optimise opportunity for quality education for all. Furthermore, by establishing an environment for transformation, a team work approach is enhanced while taking care not to disrupt stability of existing systems irrespective of their nature and quality. Secondly, these variables can play an important role in training mentors or enabling mentors to gain insight in decisions pertaining to the type of relationship that is required to ensure successful mentoring outcomes.