The education system in South Africa has undergone radical educational change over the past two decades, as discussed in Chapters Three and Four. The South African government has taken cognisance of global education changes while trying to remain committed to the restructuring of the education system to deliver quality education to all school communities. The South African education system therefore acknowledges trends in education together with the philosophy of democracy that underpins and informs educational practices. These democratic practices still need to be implemented systematically throughout the school system in South Africa, as Jansen (2013) states:
What has been noticeably missing over the past two decades is that the same democratic philosophy espoused in policies has not always under pinned and informed professional development that has occurred, which is vital during implementation of the plethora of new policies currently in our school system. (p. 82)
Central to all pre-1994 professional development was dogmatic fundamental pedagogical prescriptive practices. As a result of the dogmatic fundamental pedagogical prescriptive practices
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of pre-1994, it was necessary to restructure the South African education system and vital to introduce the plethora of new policies that have taken place since 1994. One of the most important concerns for teachers and school leadership and management teams, who are expected to implement the new policies, is the lack of adequate professional development and support (Christie, 2010).
Almost all black teachers and school leadership and management teams received very poor professional training during the apartheid education system, as explained in Chapters Three and Four, leaving them with poor pedagogical skills and even weaker content knowledge. The lack of both pedagogical skills and content knowledge makes the professional development process even more challenging. In many cases, the teachers’ and SMTs’ levels of literacy are so low that even familiarisation with new policy documents becomes a formidable challenge (Christie, 2010). The lack of CPD has resulted in many teachers and SMTs not having engaged meaningfully with policy documents and therefore having very little or no understanding of the purpose or how to implement these new policies. Policies have therefore not been implemented as expected, or at all, resulting in old apartheid-style practices still operating in many poor and rural schools. The situation described above is the greatest motivation for the provisioning of CPD that is democratic in nature (Jansen, 2013).
Carrim (2013) asserts that,
The success of South Africa’s education system hinges on the nature and extent of professional support and development that teachers and SMTs are likely to receive to offer quality education. Institutions of higher learning, NGOs, the education department and all stakeholders involved with education have to design their professional development courses to address the SMTs needs and in so doing prepare aspirant teachers and SMTs to appropriately deliver quality education. (p. 21)
How this professional development can occur given the large number of teachers and SMTs already in the education profession who were not equipped to implement all the required changes is a major concern. Realistically, it is not possible to close schools and return all teachers and SMTs to full-time studies. Therefore, practical models are required for engaging teachers and
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SMTs in professional support and development while they continue with their daily teaching and leadership and management responsibilities (Carrim, 2013).
The professionalisation of teachers and school management teams, through one or another model of professional development, to build their capacity to deliver quality education, must be an important factor in any reform strategy for schools. Over the last two decades, billions of Rands, have been directed to teacher subject knowledge improvement through a plethora of teacher in- service training (INSET) programmes. While pre-service (PRESET) training has also been restructured in the last 10 years, there is general dissatisfaction with their outcomes. INSET is similarly perceived to have been ineffective, while any improvement in the quality of newly qualified teachers and leaders is still to be demonstrated (NEEDU, 2013).
Table 5.1 below provides a summary of the key features of professional development pre- and post-democracy (DOE, 2010b).
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Table 5.1 Key features of pre- and post-democracy professional development (DOE, 2010b).
Key features of professional development pre-democracy
Key features of professional development post-democracy
Apartheid education system underpinned by fundamental pedagogical philosophy and practices. Behaviourist orientations.
Democratic education system underpinned by democratic philosophy and practices. Social constructivist orientations.
Attention to technical details Emphasis on facts
Directive information transfer Wrong and right patterns of thought
Wrong and right patterns of doing according to preformatted objectives
One dictated approach
Preformatted structures and procedures Step-by-step strategies that do not consider Context
Democratic
Collaborative participatory processes Contextualised
Subjectivity to knowledge Process of making meaning
Importance of socio-cultural influence on knowledge systems Attention to consequences of thoughts and actions
Patterns and trends geared to change Holistic understanding
Attention to values and attitudes Reflection
Demonstrations Coaching and mentoring
Table 5.1 above illustrates the key features involved in pre-democracy professional development. This table also shows what features are espoused in post-democracy policies, which need to feature in current professional development programs for SMTs to address the challenges that face them. The table illustrates the restrictive nature of leadership and management practices during the pre-1994 apartheid education system. The table also shows the contrasting post-1994 democratic and participatory vision that is expected to underpin current professional development programmes for SMTs, also reflected in the international literature reviewed. The purpose and main aim of the key features in post-democracy professional development is to address past imbalances with its associated restrictive practices (DOE, 2010b).