Prueba proyectiva para los niños

It is evident from the response of the interviewees that managing curriculum changes effectively requires distributing certain curriculum tasks and activities. In a study researching curriculum planning in secondary schools, Ifeoma (2013:251) found that there are some curriculum planning tasks which principals need to distribute in order to avoid becoming overburdened and overwhelmed by the complexities in their instructional leadership roles. Further, according to Hallinger and Heck (2010), the distribution of responsibilities

141

empowers and encourages broad participation in decision making, and fosters shared accountability in respect of curriculum change management in schools. P2 provided a meaningful explanation of why she finds it important and necessary to distribute some of her leadership tasks.

I have to distribute some of my instructional duties because of the complexity of tasks required in facilitating curriculum changes.School management should be about leadership and empowerment and the SMT plays an integral role in this process. I believe that it is important we empower staff and potential future principals and leaders. It is difficult to have my hand in everything.

Harris and Muijs (2003:441) state that the leadership in today’s complex environment requires the efforts of many rather than a few to create change. They further add that principals as leaders are required to build on a new professionalism based on the principles of trust, motivation, empowerment and support. A general view expressed by the principals who participated in the study was that with their expanding responsibilities, distributing tasks to teachers and SMT members was necessary especially when it came to the facilitation of curriculum changes. The complex nature of the principals’ roles and responsibilities in facilitating curriculum changes and the need for them to delegate certain tasks is summarised by P1 as follows:

As an independent school we are fortunate to have a head of academics who sees to most if not all curriculum matters. There is so much of planning and preparation that goes into implementing curriculum changes. Firstly, one needs to understand the changes, place the proposed changes into context and allocate resources. I trust my SMT completely and delegate most of my instructional leadership responsibilities. Generally, my school days are consumed with administrative duties, dealing with learner issues, parent queries and complaints and the everyday operations of the school.

What I found to be quite contradicting was that while the principals claimed to delegate responsibilities to the SMT to empower and develop them, SMT members felt excluded from the curriculum change planning process. HOD 1 from School A was critical of the curriculum change planning process at his school and expressed his view as follows:

Being on the SMT, I think that it is important that we are trusted to manage, for example, the curriculum. When a curriculum change is to be implemented, we are not

142

conveyed the full information. We are not involved in the planning of a change. We just get written emails that a change has been made and we need to see that it is implemented.

My observational notes further conformed that principals merely delegate duties and responsibilities without being practically involved in the curriculum change process. Careful analysis of all the minutes of staff and management meetings reflect a failure to demonstrate an indication that principals planned workshops for teachers when curriculum changes were introduced; planned and prepared curriculum budgets, planned with their deputy principals regarding curriculum matters or initiating curriculum debate with their staff.

The findings derived from the review of relevant literature on leadership development together with the findings in this study confirm that distributive leadership is viewed as an important aspect of the instructional leadership role of school principal in effectively facilitating curriculum changes. Furthermore the quality of the interactions between the principal and the school management team and teachers may contribute towards facilitating curriculum changes effectively. It is therefore necessary for principals as instructional leaders to provide a supportive, collaborative environment, to provide structures for effective communication and to direct decision-making on curriculum changes at school level. This is discussed in detail in the following category.

4.3.2.2 Collaboration

Kouzes and Posner (2001) state that principals’ as effective instructional leaders are responsible for encouraging and creating opportunities that accommodate collaborative activities. Effective structures for collaboration (see section 2.16) will ensure that collaborative activities are well co-ordinated but more especially, principals will value and respect contributions made by members of the SMT in facilitating curriculum changes. This will encourage principals to delegate and share responsibilities.

P1 shared her sentiments on the importance of developing effective structures for collaboration:

Mmmm…. As principal, I play a pivotal role as instructional leader in implementing effective structures for collaboration. If the principal is able to facilitate curriculum changes and co-ordinate collaborative activities then it can be assured that effective teaching and learning takes place.

143

This sentiment is shared by the DoE (2004:6), stating that due to curriculum changes, curriculum facilitation and management in schools has to be more open, democratic and participatory, involving principals and teachers working in collaboration. P2’s utterances also align with the above statements:

Collaboration is good, it is certainly necessary as it ensures accountability by the principal and SMT and teachers to. But, if not properly and carefully managed it can result in ineffective implementation of curriculum changes…collaboration requires skill and practice.

P1 also emphasised the importance of collaboration between the principal and SMT members as follows:

The two cannot function without each other. Mutual support and trust must be earned in order to secure a functional working relationship.

P2 added that curriculum goals can be achieved through collaboration commenting as follows:

Collaboration is a key component to ensuring effective facilitation of curriculum changes. As a staff we all should have one goal and we all need to work together and strive towards achieving that goal.

When analysing the responses of the SMT it appears that their responses regarding the issue of collaboration differed from that of the principals. They felt that there is a lack of collaboration between the principal and SMT. They indicated that, on many occasions, the SMT were excluded from instructional responsibilities related to the curriculum change process. They further claimed that principals are not willing to share their power and duties. HOD 1 from School A commented as follows:

The principal excludes us from certain decisions taken when it comes to curriculum changes; Teamwork is not always encouraged at the school; there is no open communication; and our skills in assisting in curriculum change planning are not recognised.

The impression I got from the above response is that, although some principals claim to have a collaborative working relationship with SMT members and teachers in facilitating curriculum changes, this is not always the case. I believe that SMT members tend to hide their true feelings for fear that it may result in conflict. My observational notes provided sufficient

144

evidence that contrived collaboration is rife in schools. For example, in School B, when asked by the principal in a SMT meeting, “I think we should dedicate one period a week to developing learner’s thinking skills, how do you feel?” SMT members agreed with the principal because this is what they thought the principal wanted to hear. Thus, SMT members collaborated in an artificial manner because their feeling of dissonance forced them to agree with the principal’s decision. Furthermore, most of the participants found that it was difficult to find common times with all the relevant stakeholders to engage in curriculum change planning. This finding was also corroborated with my observations that there were very few records of meetings with the teachers and SMT regarding curriculum change planning.

4.3.2.3 Communication

Communication is referred to as the way in which the various subsystems of the school links up with one another (Davidoff & Lazarus, 2002). In this study, the focus group interviews conducted revealed that the lack of effective communication was one of the major reasons for the poor relationship between the principal and SMT in facilitating curriculum changes. Bisschoff (1997:104) asserts that communication needs to be used to create organisational structures, delegate, coordinate, establish relationships, motivate staff, and exercise control. It was pointed out frequently that teachers were not part of the curriculum change planning programme. “We are not always consulted when it comes to implementing curriculum changes” (HOD1); “The recent curriculum change was trust upon us and we teachers had to just comply”(T1) are some of their responses when asked about their involvement in curriculum change planning.

HOD 1 from School A expressed his frustration regarding the lack of communication between management and staff stating the following:

It is often very difficult to get hold of the principal or deputy principal for that matter. They are often in meetings and when they are available we are teaching. Finding a common time to approach the principal or deputy principal is practically impossible at times. As a result, we eventually do what we think is right without any guidance or support, eventually conflicts are bound to arise. At the end of the day, it is our learners that suffer the consequences.

What emerged from the responses above with regard to communication was that there is a significant lack of appropriate and essential communication resources when curriculum

145

changes are introduced. My observations indicated that there is also very little effort on the part of the principal in ensuring that curriculum changes are effectively communicated to the staff.

4.3.2.4 Motivation

According to the principals in the study, keeping staff motivated and focused on implementing curriculum changes is not simple or straight forward. It requires planning, effort and time. P3 was adamant that motivating staff is a full time job and claimed that the frequent curriculum changes are the reason for the low staff morale.

Keeping staff motivated is a full time job. I sometimes don’t blame them for their low morale. Look at how many curriculum changes we have had in the last 5 years! Teachers are constantly expected to go the extra mile, they are subjected to frequent curriculum changes, overcrowded classrooms and learner discipline problems. (P3)

I am constantly motivating my staff especially when curriculum changes are introduced. Happy staff means happy learners. Giving the occasional pep talks, inviting motivational speakers and giving incentives sometimes help. The key to successful curriculum changes implementation, I believe is having a motivated staff. (P2)

In this regard, P4 acknowledges that her approach of constantly motivating staff and as she puts it “stroking their egos” has led to her getting them more involved in curriculum change activities.

The excerpt below further details her opinion on the matter:

You need to stroke people’s ego because if you don’t, it doesn’t find you in a good place. I learnt that the hard way as well. Because of how I treat people, I had 98% of the staff behind me when the CAPS curriculum was introduced. Like I said, if you stroke their egos correctly, those staff that resist change start coming around and working together.

Reflecting on the above responses regarding staff motivation as well as my observational notes I am utterly convinced that P3 sees staff motivation as a burden. I noted his negative body language when responding to the topic of staff motivation. P2 on the other hand appeared to be sincere when stating that “happy staff means happy learners”. I have to argue

146

that P3 merely looked at motivating staff for her own gain as she over emphasised “stroking teachers’ ego” which I found be undermining and derogative.

The findings that emanated from my observations revealed that the positive nature of the teacher-principal relationship has important consequences for teacher motivation and the creation of a positive environment in which effective facilitation of curriculum changes takes place. According to Masuku (2011), teachers that display a low morale and self-esteem and who receive little rewards or recognition are more likely to lack the motivation to embrace curriculum changes. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to witness the principal at School D conversing with one of her teachers who was relaying her frustration after attending a cluster meeting. The cluster meeting discussion placed new demands and expectations in the teacher’s subject. I could ascertain from observing the principal’s body language and listening to her response that she was empathic and concerned with the wellbeing of her teacher. In addition, what transpired from this entire episode was that understanding how to help teachers while maintaining a positive emotional state of mind is necessary for a principal as instructional leader to effectively carry out his/her duties. I was however concerned about the teacher’s low level of motivation in Schools B and C, because without the passion for implementing successful curriculum changes, performance in schools will be affected and learners will be the ones to suffer.

I argue that school principals as instructional leaders should be able to inspire, motivate, challenge and support teachers to achieve the desired curriculum objectives. This argument is supported by Marishane el al. (2011) in the literature review above (see section 2.12. 5).

4.3.2.5 Teamwork

According to Cohen and Bailey (2007:239) teamwork consists of a collection of individuals who are interdependent in their tasks, who share responsibility for outcomes, who see themselves and who are seen by others as an intact social entity embedded in one or more larger social systems, and who manage their relationship across organisational boundaries. Findings in this study confirm that by teachers and SMT members working in teams they support one another by giving constructive criticism, advising on problems experienced, come up with corrective measures, encouraging perseverance and sharing of ideas.

147

What emerges from the interviews is that teamwork plays a major role in the effective facilitation of curriculum changes. There was a common understanding among participants that principals, SMT members and teachers need to work together as a team in order to ensure that curriculum changes are managed effectively. Principal 1, 3 and 4 spoke extensively of effective teamwork which, according to them contributes meaningfully to the effective facilitation of curriculum changes. In response to the question: Have you experienced any problems/obstacles in working together with the SMT in facilitating curriculum changes at your school, P2 responded as follows:

It is quite frustrating when SMT members don’t cooperate and are not willing to work together when it comes to facilitating curriculum changes.

Findings from this study reveal that there seems to be disagreements between the principal and SMT members when it comes to the facilitation of curriculum changes. I am of the opinion that while some principals see the participation of the SMT in facilitating curriculum changes as beneficial, they are at the same time concerned that SMT members are not willing to work together.

It further emerged from the observations that principals make decisions without consulting the SMT. It was noticed that P1 excluded her SMT from broad decision-making. Furthermore, an analysis of SMT meetings indicated that three out of the four principals made the final decision even though they may have had resistance with regard to certain curriculum decisions taken. This lack of collaborative discussions is evident in P1’s response to one of her Grade 3 teachers who requested cutting down on the number of assessment tasks set per term after attending a cluster meeting. P1 made the final decision without listening to the teacher’s point of view and reasons to wanting to make a change.

I think it is best we continue with setting three assessment tasks per term for each of the learning areas as we have always done for the Grade 3’s.

Further, emanating from the interview responses, it was quite evident that without the support of the SMT and taking into account their viewpoints, principals are severely hampered in fulfilling their role as instructional leaders in facilitating curriculum changes. All four principals felt that conflict between the SMT and principal is as a result of insufficient insight and knowledge of the duties and responsibilities of the principal and SMT members when it

148

comes to facilitating and managing the curriculum. P4 vented her frustration claiming that her SMT fail to understand their role and responsibilities:

Some of the SMT members believe that they can run the school better and if you confront them and set boundaries, they get angry and threaten to take you to the Department.

The findings from the interviews and minutes of meetings of School A and D evoked a concern that the strained relationship between the principal and the SMT impedes the effective facilitation of curriculum changes. The principal of School C was adamant that his SMT have distinct roles within the organisational structure of his school.

SMT share a common set of values, beliefs and norms. There is a definite organisational structure that determines the roles performed by individuals in managing curriculum change.

Contradictory to P3’s response above, I found that SMT members interviewed in this study revealed that their role is not fully understood. HOD 1 from School D commented strongly regarding the roles and responsibilities of the SMT at her school:

There is also a clear lack of understanding and distinction in the roles and responsibilities of the SMT and the principal. Also the workload and responsibilities of SMT members are not distributed fairly.

Within this context, T1 in School D asserted:

There are sometimes disagreements over curriculum change. The principal lacks knowledge and skills on curriculum planning which is no fault of hers as she spends most of her time on administrative duties. There are often disagreements between the SMT and principals when it comes to managing curriculum changes.

Teachers generally look for the support of their principals especially when there are changes made to the curriculum. I argue that a supportive principal is one who gets involved in all aspects of facilitating curriculum changes and is primarily focused on providing quality education. T2 of School D explained that when principals are involved in curriculum matters they are able to understand the concerns and struggles teachers experience when it comes to implementing curriculum changes:

149

It would be great if Mrs X (P2) understands our concerns and struggles when it comes