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Staffing as an aspect of Human Resources: Implication for school effectiveness
by
Fikile Beatrice Ngidi - Mtshali
MINI-DISSERTATION
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
MAGISTER EDUCATIONIS in
EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT
in the
FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND NURSING
at the
RAND AFRIKAANS UNIVERSITY
Supervisor: Prof BR Grobler Co-Supervisor: Dr CF Loock
November 1999
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to the following people who assisted me in the
completion of this project.
Professor B.R.Grobler, my supervisor for his cherishing encouragement,
professional guidance, support and the keen sense of responsibility that lie
showed, together with his gentle but firm manner guided me to successfully
complete this project.
Professor Bischoff, Dr C.F. Loock and Dr C, Moloi, our course leaders and co-
ordinators for their wonderful guidance and inspiring encouragement throughout
the course.
Mrs Maas and the staff of Rand Afrikaanse University Library for their constant
help.
All the members of the research group for the encouragement and motivation
during hard times.
Special appreciation and gratitude to Ronel Loock and !gnus Uys for their neat
and professional typing work.
My family, especially my husband, Mandla Mtshali, for his understanding and
moral support.
My daughter, Ncamsile and my two sons, Mduduzi and Siphesihle for their
understanding and moral support too.
Finally, my Lord Jesus Christ for giving me the strength and health which allowed
this project to reach fruition.
DEDICATION
This research is dedicated to my late parents — Ambroce Ngidi and Maggie Ngidi
(MaNgcamu), my late father-in-law Obed Mtshali and mother-in-law Agnes Mtshali
(MaMthembu) my sisters and brothers for the love and encouragement they gave me was
the fountain of inspiration for this study.
(iv)
SINOPSIS
Die fokus met hierdie navorsing was ouerbetrokkenheid as 'n aspek van skoolklimaat en
die implikasies daarvan op skooldoeltreffendheid. Aspekte van ouerdeelname word as
bydraende faktore tot die verbetering van kwaliteit en groter skooldoeltreffendheid
bespreek.
Die navorsingsmetode was tweeledig deurdat daar eerstens 'n Iiteratuurondersoek met
betrekking tot ouerbetrokkenheid plaasgevind het. Die navorser het hierdie inligting
gebruik ten einde haar navorsingsveld te ondersteun en om begronde afleidings te kon
maak. Tweedens is gebruik gemaak van gestruktureerde vraelyste wat deur opvoeders in
skole in Mpumalanga voltooi is. Die inligting afkomstig van 'n analise van die vraelyste
het die navorser in staat gestel om verskeie bevindinge oor die persepsies van opvoeders
en skoolhoofde ten opsigte van doeltreffende skole te maak.
In navorsing is die volgende bevind:
Doeltreffende skole in Mpumalanga is gebaseer op aspekte soos skoolkultuur,
skoolklimaat, visie, motiveringstrategiet, kurrikulum, leierskap en hulpbronne.
Bogenoemde aspekte kan tot drie faktore gereduseer word, naamlik aanspreeklike
koOperatiewe bestuur, oop demokratiese bestuur en normatiewe bestuur.
Die navorser het die onderrigmediumgroepe met mekaar vergelyk en aangetoon
dat die groepe se gemiddelde faktortellings statisties beduidend van mekaar
verskil. Die vier onderrigmediumgroepe het beduidend ten opsigte van al drie die
faktore van mekaar verskil.
Hierdie navorsingsprojek het sewe voorbeelde van twee onafbanklike en elf voorbeelde
van drie of meer onafhanklike groepe met mekaar vergelyk. Hipoteses is gestel en
meerveranderlike sowel as enkelveranderlike statistiese toetse is gebruik om die data te
(v)
analiseer en to ontleed. Beduidende statistiese verskille is ten opsigte van al drie faktore
gevind.
Met betrekking tot aanspreeklike kooperatiewe bestuur is beduidende statistiese verskille
gevind tussen groepe ten opsigte van:
bywoning van werkswinkels, seminare of kursusse oor skooldoeltreffendheid;
skoolbywoning deur opvoeders;
opvoederorganisasies;*
baat gevind deur bywoning van werkswinkels, seminare of kursusse oor
skooldoeltreffendheid;
moedertaalgroepe;
distrikte waar opvoeders werksaam is; en
vlak van dissipline in die skool.
(*Groep deur hierdie navorser bespreek).
Statistiese beduidende verskille tot oop demokratiese bestuur is gevind tussen die
volgende onafhanklike groepe:
bywoning van werkswinkels, seminare of kursusse oor skooldoeltreffendheid;
opvoederorganisasies;*
godsdiens;
skoolbywoning deur opvoeders;
baat gevind by werkswinkels, kursusse of seminare;
ouderdom van respondente;
onderwyservaring;
moedertaalgroepe;
hoogste onderwyskwalifikasie;
onderrigmedium van skool; en
(vi)
distrikte waar opvoeders werk.
(*Groep deur hierdie navorser bespreek)
Met betrekking tot die derde faktor naamlik normatiewe bestuur het die volgende
onafhanklike groepe statisties beduidend van mekaar verskil;
bywoning van werkswinkels, seminarc of kursusse oor skooldoeltreffendheid;
posvlak van opvoeder;
opvoederorganisasies;*
godsdiens;
skoolbywoning deur opvoeders;
ouderdom van respondente;
moedertaalgroepe;
onderrigmedium van skool
skoolbywoning deur leerders;
distrikte waar opvoeder werksaam is; en
vlak van dissipline in die skool
(*Groep deur hierdie navorser bespreek)
In Afdeling C van die vraelys is nie van 'n skaal met gelyke intervalle gebruik gemaak
nie. Gevolglik moes nie-parametriese statistiese metodes gebruik word om aan to dui of
die verskillende onafhanklike groepe statistics beduidend ten opsigte van hul persepsies
oor skooldoeltreffendheid van mekaar verskil. 'n Ooreenkoms in die bevindinge tussen
Afdelings B en C van die vraelys was dat die groepe wat in Afdeling B beduidend van
mekaar verskil het, ook in Afdeling C verskil het. Die Chi-kwadraat tesame met die
gestandaardiseerde residueel het die volgende statistiese beduidende verskille aan die lig
gebring.
by die skoolbywoning van opvoedergroepe het die groep met die persepsie dat
opvoederbywoning by hulle skole uitstekend was, die persepsie gehuldig dat hulle
tot 'n groter mate aan die meer doeltreffende skole behoort dan verwag sou word
op grond van kansfaktore.alleen. Uitstekende skoolbywoning deur opvoeders
barwloed dus die persepsie van skooldoeltreffendheid op 'n positiewe wyse.
die persepsie van skooldoeltreffendheid is nie onafhanklik van kulturele aspekte
nie;
opvoeders by multikulturele skole huldig die persepsie dat hulle aan die minder
doeltreffende skole behoort, tot 'n grow, - mate as wat 'n persoon sou verwag op
grond van kansfaktore alleenlik;
opleidingskursusse in skooldoeltreffendheid bernvloed die persepsies van
opvoeders ten opsigte van skooldoeltreffendheid op 'n konstruktiewe wyse;
onderwyserorganisasies speel 'n rol in die persepsies van hoe doeltreffend
opvoeders hulle skole beskou; en
respondente in Standerton, Malelane, Ermelo en Nelspruit huldig meer positiewe
persepsies van hul skole se doeltreffendheid, relatief tot die ander skole in hulle
distrik.
Die CHAID-program was gebruik om aan to toon watter van die 18 onafhanklike
veranderlikes (as biografiese inligting in Afdeling A van die vraelys ingesluit) die beste
voorspellers van skooldoeltreffendheid was. 'n Statistiese beduidende verband op die 5%
beduidenheidsvlak is tussen skooldoeltreffendheid en die volgende groepe gevind:
die vlak van dissipline in die skool;
die bywoningsvlak van leerders;
die onderrigrnedium van die skool;
die bywoningsvlak van opvoeders;
die onderwyskwalifikasies van opvoeders; en
die bywoning van kursusse oor skooldoeltreffendheid.
Die Mann-Whitney U toets is gebruik in 'n poging om verband te toon tussen die drie
faktore onderliggend tot skooldoeltreffendheid in Afdeling B en wat respondente as
doeltreffende skole beskou in Afdeling C.
Die volgende is bevind:
Die Kolmogorov-Smirnov toets het aangetoon dat die respondente net statistics
beduidend ten opsigte van normatiewe bestuur van mekaar verskil. Toetse het
ook aangedui dat die persepsie besta .an dat uitermatige demokratiese bestuur
skooldoeltreffendheid nadelig kan beinvloed. Dit blyk ook dat normatiewe
bestuur, waar waardes en norme van uitnemende prestasie teenwoordig is, 'n
belangrike rol speel in die persepsie van respondente ten opsigte van
doeltreffende skole.
Ten einde 'n moontlike verband tussen die cerste orde faktore onderliggend aan
doeltreffende bestuur en die drie tweede orde faktore te vind, is gebruik gemaak van
meervoudige-regressieanalise. Die analisie het bevind dat die relatiewe belangrikheid
van die eerste-ordefaktore in aanspreeklike kooperatiewe bestuur volgens die persepsies
van die respondente soos volg daaruit sien:
versorgende klimaat;
doeltreffende spanbestuur;
kurrikulumaangedrewe bestuur;
hulpbronbestuur;
waardegesteunde bestuur;
etiese bestuur;
aandeelhouerbetrokkenheid;
opvoederaansporingsmaatreels
erkenning;
gelyke leerderprestasie; en
individuele prestasie
Die relatiewe belangrikheid van eerste orde faktore in oop demokratiese bestuur was:
deursigtige bestuur;
aandeelhouertoeganklikhcid;
verdraagsame samewerking;
ontwikkelingsbestuur;
ouerbetrokkenheid in professionele opvoederontwikkeling; en
kurrikulumkonsensus.
Die relatiewe belangrikheid van die eerste orde faktore as voorspellers van normatiewe
bestuur was:
gemeenskaplike waardebestuur;
bekwame besluitneming; en
finansiele betrokkenheid.
(x)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
MOTIVATION OF AND STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM, AND AIM OF THE
RESEARCH
TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGES
1.1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM 2
1.3 AIM OF THE RESEARCH 3
1.4 METHOD OF RESEARCH 3
1.5 ASSUMPTIONS 3
1.6 CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS 4
1.6.1 Staffing 4
1.6.2 Human Resources 5
1.6.3 School Effectiveness 5
1.7 OUTLINE OF THE RESEARCH 6
1.8 SUMMARY 7
CHAPTER 2
STAFFING AS AN ASPECT OF HUMAN RESOURCES:
IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS
2.1 INTRODUCTION 8
2.2 SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS 8
2.2.1 Instructional leadership 8
2.2.2 A Climate conducive for learning 9
2.2.3 High expectations 9
2.2.4 Educator collegiality 9
2.2.5 Characteristics of effective schools 10
2.3 STAFFING 13
2.3.1 Committed and dedicated educators 13
2.3.2 Strong leadership 14
2.3.3 Support staff 14
2.3.4 Important elements in staffing schools 14
2.4 STAFF RECRUITMENT 15
2.4.1 Methods and means of recruitment 16
2.4.2 Staff selection 17
2.4.3 Interviewing 18
2.4.4 Appointments 19
2.5 STAFF INDUCTION 20
2.6 STAFF EVALUATION 21
2.6.1 Staff appraisal 23
2.7 STAFF DEVELOPMENT 24
2.7.1 Professional development 23
2.7.2 Inservice Training (INSET) 23
2.7.3 Staff development programme 24
2.7.3.1 School goals and objectives 24
2.7.3.2 Needs assessment 24
2.7.3.3 Staff development goals and objectives 24
2.7.3.4 Designing a programme 25
2.7.3.5 Implementation 25
2.7.3.6 Evaluation 25
2.8 RECOGNITION OF STAFF 25
2.9 RATIONALISATION AND REDEPLOYMENT 27
OF EDUCATORS
2.10 SUMMARY 28
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT OF RESEARCH
INSTRUMENT AND SAMPLING
3.1 INTRODUCTION 29
3.2 THE PURPOSE OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH 29
3.2.1 The relationship of the researcher to the subject 31
3.3 THE STRUCTURED QUESTIONNAIRE AS INSTRUMENT
OF RESEARCH 31
3.4 DISCUSSION OF QUESTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH
STAFFING AS AN ASPECT OF RESOURCES 34
3.5 THE RESEARCH GROUP 38
3.5.1 Biographical details 39
3.5.2 Return of the questionnaire 44
3.5.3 Section C of the questionnaire 45
3.6 SUMMARY 45
CHAPTER 4
THE ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF A SELECTED
SAMPLE OF EMPIRICAL DATA
4.1 INTRODUCTION 47
4.2 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY 49
4.3 HYPOTHESES 57
4.3.1 Comparison of two independent groups 57
4.3.2 Comparison of three or more independent groups 60
4.4 DISCUSSION OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE
FACTOR MEAN SCORES PRESENTED IN TABLE 4.8 67
4.4.1 Accountable collaborative management 67
4.4.2 Open democratic management 71
4.4.3 Normative management 76
4.5 SECTION C OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE 80
4.5.1 Hypotheses 83
4.5.2 Frequency counts of the independent groups
where statistically significant differences were found to be
present 84
4.5.2.1 School attendance groups 84
4.5.2.2 Mother tongue groups 85
4.6 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCHOOL
EFFECTIVENESS AND THE VARIOUS INDEPENDENT
VARIABLES 87
4.6.1 The CHAID-technique 87
4.6.2 Hypotheses in respect of the various independent variables 88
4.7 A COMPARISON OF THE THREE FACTORS IN SECTION
B OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE WITH THE RATING OF
SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS IN SECTION C 92
4.7.1 Hypotheses for the one sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test . 94
4.7.2 The Mann-Whitney U Test 95
4.7.2.1 Hypotheses for the Mann-Whitney test 95
4.8 A MORE DETAILED DISCUSSION OF THE THREE SECOND
ORDER FACTORS THAT WERE FOUND UNDERLYING
SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS 96
4.8.1 Accountable collaborative management 97
4.8.2 Open democratic management 99
4.8.3 Normative management 100
4.9 SUMMARY 101
CHAPTER 5
SUMMARY, FINDING AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 INTRODUCTION 108
5.2 SUMMARY 108
5.3 RESEARCH FINDINGS 111
5.3.1 Literature findings 111
5.3.2 Empirical findings 113
5.3.2.1 High quality educators 114
5.3.2.2 A variety of teaching resources 114
5.3.2.3 Good skills for self-management 114
5.3.2.4 Teaching experience 114
5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS 115
5.5 IMPLICATIONS OF THE OUTCOMES OF THE EMPIRICAL
RESEARCH FOR SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS 116
5.6 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 121
5.7 CONCLUSION 122
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY 123
7. ANNEXURE A 124
(xv)
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3.1
Perception of educators in the schools sampled
as to how effective their schools are.
Figure 4.1
Dendogram of the effect of the independent
variables on school effectiveness.
LIST OF TABLES
1. Table 3.1 Items associated with resources
PAGES
as an aspect of school effectiveness 32
2. Table 3.2 Distribution of responses for resources as an aspect of school effectiveness 33
3. Table 3.3 Attendance of workshop/seminar/ course related to school effectiveness in the past three years. 39
4. Table 3.4 Has the course benefited your management skills 39
5. Table 3.5 Gender 40
6. Table 3.6 Age of respondents (grouped for convenience) 40
7. Table 3,7 Present post level 40
8. Table 3.8 Teaching experience (grouped for convenience) 40
9. Table 3.9 Membership of educator organisations 41
10. Table 3.10 Mother tongue 41
11. Table 3.11 Highest educational qualifications 41
12. Table 3.12 Religion 42
13. Table 3.13 Language of instruction 42
14. Table 3.14 Attendance of educators 42
15. Table 3.15 Attendance of learners 43
16. Table 3.16 Principals gender 43
17. Table 3.17 Kind of school 43
Table 3.18 District in, which school is situated 43
Table 3.19 Discipline level at your school 44
Table 4.1 Factors associated with the factor accountable collaborative management 51
Table 4.2 Items associated with the factor open democratic management
54
Table 4.3 Items associated with the factor nonnative management
56
Table 4.4 Hypotheses with male and female educators as the independent variables
58
Table 4.5 Significance of differences between male and female educators regarding the following three factors
5')
Table 4.6 Ilypotheses with mother tongue groups as the independent variable
61
Table 4.7 Significance of difference between mother tongue groups in respect of the three factors 62
Table 4.8 Mean score of the independent groups in respect of the three factors making up school effectiveness
65
Table 4.9 Frequency table of the various categories of school effectiveness
80
Table 4.10 Combination of categories of school effectiveness 81
Table 4.11 Frequency counts of post level groups in respect of the school effectiveness categories 82
Table 4.12 Frequency counts of the educator attendance groups in respect of the school effectiveness categories 84
Table 4.13 Frequency counts of the mother tongue groups in respect of the school effectiveness categories
85
Table 4.14 Factor mean score in respect of the two categories of school effectiveness 93
Table 4.15 One sample Kolmogorov-Smirnow test 94
Table 4.16 Results of the Mann-Whitney test for the two categories of school effectiveness in respect of the three factors 95
Table 4.17 The first order factor involved in accountable collaborative management
97
Table 4.18 Stepwise regression development variable accountable collaborative management 98
Table 4.19 The first order factors involved in open democratic management 99
Table 4.20 Stepwise regression: dependent variable open democratic management 100
Table 4.21 The first order factors involved in normative management 100
Table 4.22 Stepwise regression: dependent. variable normative management 101
CHAPTER ONE
MOTIVATION AND STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM.
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Providing quality education to all South Africans is the responsibility of both the
National and Provincial Education Departments (South African Schools Act 1996 (Act
No. 86, 1996) The responsibility includes the provision of various kinds of resources
within the limits of a department's financial means. According to Bengu's budget speech
(1996/97) physical, financial and human resources have complementary purposes. Each
in its own right provides for the advancement and effectiveness of the school.
Amongst these resources, human resources are the most costly resource. Bot and Shirley
(1997:18) state that it would appear that the high personnel expenditure undermines the
provinces' ability to provide even minimally adequate resources to support the delivery
of effective education. As a result of the situation, the provinces are unable to finance
essential, non-personnel educational services whose distribution at present is both
inadequate and not equitable. Shortages of resources, overcrowding and poor staffing are
the causes for the high failure rate in the grade 12 examinations. Educators do not
provide learners with quality education mainly due to overcrowded classes and poor
staffing.
Public concern over the quality of education and the growing pressure on schools to
become effective make staffing with the best educators the top priority and the most
important aspect (Culture of Learning, Teaching and Services, 1998:3).
From 1994 it has been necessary to renew and restructure education, especially the
staffing of schools, in order to develop the youth of our country to their full potential.
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From 1994 it has been necessary to renew and restructure education, especially the
staffing of schools, in order to develop the youth of our country to their full potential.
In pursuit of this it is essential that sound guidelines are designed to regulate staffing as
an aspect of human resource development.
This chapter will concentrate on the following:
the problem statement;
the aim of the research;
the method of research;
the assumptions;
the clarification of concepts; and
the outline of the research.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
In the light of preceding information it appears as if the problem above can be focussed
by means of the following questions:
What are characteristics of effective schools?
What are the perceptions of the various stakeholders in respect of staffing as an
aspect of human resources and its implication for school effectiveness?
-3-
What guidelines can be designed for school principals so that selection of
educators and interviewing techniques can possibly be improved?
1.3 AIM OF THE RESEARCH
In exploring the problem framed above the general aim of this research project is to
investigate the components of effective schools in Mpumalanga South Africa and the
implication that this may have for the management of schools.
In order the achieve the general aim, the following objectives for this specific research
project are:
to investigate the perceptions of stakeholders in respect of staffing as an aspect of
human resources and its possible impact on school effectiveness; and
to provide guidelines for staffing as an aspect of human resources that could be
recommended to school principals in order to enhance school effectiveness.
1.4 METHOD OF RESEARCH
A literature study will be utilised in order to investigate the various characteristics of an
effective school. These will be taken up in a structured questionnaire which will probe
the perceptions of various stakeholders of the Mpumalanga Province in respect of the
staffing as an aspect of human resources and its impact on school effectiveness.
1.5 ASSUMPTIONS
An assumption is a statement that is presumed to be true, often only temporarily for a
specific purpose. This research project could for example have assumptions such as:
-4-
Educators obtain most of their psychic rewards from the act of enabling effective
learning to occur.
School personnel have a wide range of teaching experience.
Most educators and principals want to increase their effectiveness.
Educators are committed and they spend most of their time teaching.
Educators use a variety of teaching resources.
1.6 CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS
Clarification of concepts gives insight to a topic and clarifies intentions the writer has
about the topic, therefore it is significant that the following concepts be clarified and
explained.
1.6.1 Staffing
Allen (1996:454) defines staffing as a means of providing institutions with personnel.
McLeod and Markins (1993:1141) define staffing as an act of supplying schools with
educators. According to Mmola (1982:12) staffing means placement of personnel, that
is, appointing the right person for the job in order to avoid and to minimize overstaffing.
Staffing in this context refers to supplying the right personnel in an institution to meet the
expectations of learners, parents and the community. Staffing involves recruiting,
placing and inducting educators. Redeployment and rationalisation of educators from
overstaffed institutions to understaffed or needy schools is part of staffing.
-5-
1.6.2 Human Resources
Smit and Cronje (1992:262) refer to human resources as people within an organization —
the lifeblood of an organization. According to Smit and Cronje (ibid) human resources is
the most complex resource of all resources, hence people are the only resource with
personal objectives and demands. For instance, people demand and insist on
development, people strive for higher status, they display different backgrounds and they
are from different backgrounds.
Human resources for the purpose of this research will mean the availability of personnel
to carry out duties for the effectiveness of the institution, this includes professional staff
(educators), support staff (non-teaching staff), groundsmen, security and cleaners.
1.6.3 School effectiveness
Stoll and Fink (1996:28) define a school as effective if it:
promotes progress for all of its learners beyond what would be expected given
consideration of initial attainment and background factors; and
ensures that each learner achieve the highest possible standards.
Mortimore (1991:9) defines an effective school as one in which learners progress further
than might be expected from consideration of its intake. Sammons, Hillman and
Mortimore (1995:3) describe an effective school as a school which "adds extra value to
its students' outcomes when compared with other schools serving similar intakes". Myers
(1996:7) refers to effective schools as schools that make a difference for the better
academic achievement of learners.
-6-
For the purpose of this research school effectiveness will refer to the whole educational
stimulation of learners, and not only the examination results, which unfortunately is used
as the most important yardstick to determine the progress of learners. An effective
school is an institution which prides itself on meeting the needs of individual learners in a
warm, supportive environment.
1.7 OUTLINE OF THE RESEARCH
Chapter one provides the research problem, the aim of the research and the methodology
to be used. It outlines certain assumptions involved and clarifies the concepts of the
research title.
Chapter two reviews the literature and builds a conceptual framework of school
effectiveness and reveals the contextual nature of this concept by applying it to the
situation in South African schools. Staffing schools with educators will also be clarified.
Chapter three deals with the design of the research instrument and a discussion of the
questions formulated in respect of staffing. The possible implication of their responses of
effective management of the school will also be indicated.
Chapter four deals with the statistical analysis of the data. The reliability and validity of
the questionnaire will be analyzed and the various statistical techniques
used to analyze the data will also be discussed.
Chapter five links the interpretation of the findings of chapters two, three and four and
reflects on the reliability and validity of the research findings. It also deals with the
recommendations of the research and provides a conclusion.
-7-
1.8 SUMMARY
In this chapter the importance of research in school effectiveness and staffing as an aspect
of human resources was dicussed. A literature review will be postulated in chapter two.
CHAPTER 2
STAFFING AS AN ASPECT OF HUMAN RESOURCES: IMPLICATION FOR
SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS: A LITERATURE STUDY
2.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter will discuss school effectiveness, the opinions of other researchers
about school effectiveness as well as the features of an effective school as
highlighted by other researchers. Staffing as an aspect of human resources and its
impact on school effectiveness will also be discussed. It is therefore necessary to
discuss basically what school effectiveness means.
2.2 SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS
School effectiveness means a school that focuses on helping learners to progress and
achieve the highest standards they can (Rosenholtz, 1989:95). This can be achieved in
many ways because school effectiveness is multifacetted. It consists of many aspects
such as strong and instructional leadership, a conducive climate for learning and
teaching; high expectations and educator collegiality. The first aspect to be explained is
instructional leadership.
2.2.1 Instructional leadership
Effective schools are managed by effective instructional leaders. Stoll and Fink
(1996:05) describe an instructional leader as a leader who is prepared to work with
educators to promote classroom learning; a leader who demonstrates a variety of teaching
strategies to the staff. An instructional leader understands the needs of the school and is
actively involved in school activities.
The second aspect of school effectiveness to be discussed is that of a climate conducive
to learning.
-9-
2.2.2 A climate conducive for learning
Creating a conducive atmosphere for effective learning to take place is the educator's
most important task. The educator needs to organise the classroom as comfortably and
effectively as possible. Cangelosi (1993:59) confirms this when he states "a classroom
climate that encourages on task, engaged learner behaviours can be cultivated by creating
a business like atmosphere." Educators should be prepared and organized, and lessons
should be prepared in advance.
A climate that is conducive to learning will also be forstered by an educator who projects
high expectations to his/her learners.
2.2.3 High expectations
It is important that educators convey high expectations to their learners. This will
motivate learners to perform better if they know that their educators have high
expectations of them. School principals must also have high expectations of the staff,
and they must know what the expectations of their subordinates are, and should take
active steps to meet these expectations (Mol, 1990:99).
It is important that educators work together as a team to promote school effectiveness.
2.2.4 Educator collegiality
It is the duty of the principal to establish an effective team, a team which will generate
enthusiasm to all learners, and will be actively engaged in the learning process. Such a
team will enable the staff to work together as smoothly and effectively as possible
(Blanchard, Carew and Parisi — Carew, 1992:72).
Collegiality involves mutual sharing and co-operation, in which people do not compete
but are prepared to "swim together" or "sink together" as a team. They have a shared
vision, a shared mission and shared goals. (Rosenholtz (1990:13) describes shared goals
-10 -
as "a sense of direction that places teaching, learning and learners' interest, first and
foremost and drives every one in the school to pursue the same vision". A high level of
professional collegiality amongst staff members contributes to school effectiveness.
Having discussed the four aspects of school effectiveness mentioned in 2.2 it is pertinent
to investigate what other researchers write about school effectiveness.
Reynolds (1985:1) describes schools as effective if their learners are performing at a
higher average level that the average school. Uline, Miller and Tschannen — Moran
(1998:462) identify factors such as administrative functioning, morals, level of trust,
leadership behaviour, culture and climate and the commitment, loyalty, and satisfaction
of educators as the most important factors of effective schools.
The researcher agrees with Uline, et al (1998:465) because if educators are satisfied,
motivated and committed, they give more than the average amount of time, energy and
care to their work. They will for example motivate learners and help them with an array
of academic, social and emotional problems.
Effective schools share common characteristics. These characteristics as identified by
other researchers will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
2.2.5 Characteristics of effective schools
Stoll and Fink (1996:15) identify the following characteristics that are associated with
effective schools:
a common mission, which is a shared and communicated vision of the school's
goals and priorities;
an emphasis on learning, characterized by educators who have and convey high
expectations to their learners. Educators who use a variety of teaching and
monitoring strategies and work together to create curriculum materials linked to
the school goals; and
a climate conducive to learning, where morale and self concept are high due to
active involvement and responsibility on the part of learners, and where
recognition and incentives also plays an important part.
Effective schools normally have principals who display the following characteristics
(Kelly, 1980:15):
a positive leader with exceptional personal qualities;
a leader who establishes structure and strategies for effective communication with
the school community;
a leader who has an open door policy and is accessible to the educators in the
school; and
a leader who communicates the school accomplishments on a regular basis to the
stakeholders in the community.
Good leaders share the vision and goals with the relevant stakeholders. They also
involve all stakeholders in drawing up the school's mission and hold high performance
expectations of what learners can achieve.
Squelch and Lemmer (1994:11) assume that school effectiveness consists of eight key
factors:
developing as a leader;
planning the well managed school;
building a winning team;
co-operating with parents;
staff appraisal;
managing change and conflict; and
coping with stress.
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These key factors as identified by Squelch and Lemmer (ibid) are amongst the most
important factors that contribute to the effectiveness of a school.
Sammons, Hillman and Mortimore (1995:8) have identified eleven key characteristics of
effective schools, these are as follows:
professional leadership;
shared vision and goals;
a learning environment;
concentration on teaching and learning;
purposeful teaching;
high expectations all round;
positive reinforcement;
monitoring progress;
learner rights and responsibilities;
home — school partnership; and
a learning organisation.
These schools' attributes need to be developed and nurtured.
Schools that display the above characteristics can be regarded as effective schools
because they focus and put emphasis on learners (learner centred).
This research project has taken school effectiveness to consists of the following aspects:
school culture (Craythorne, 1995);
school climate (Freiburg, 1999)
vision (Holmes, 1993);
motivation strategies (Petri, 1996);
curriculum (O'Neil, and Kitson, 1996);
leadership (Harris, Bennett and Preedy, 1997) and;
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• resources (Preddy, Glatterand and Levacic, 1997).
This particular mini-dissertation is dealing with resources and more specifically with
staffing as an aspect of human resources and its impact on school effectiveness. Staffing
and its role in effective schools will now be discussed.
2.3 STAFFING
Staffing in schools refers to providing schools with suitably qualified personnel.
Personnel can be divided into two categories: teaching personnel (educators) and non-
teaching personnel (support staff). Personnel plays an important role in promoting school
effectiveness. Therefore, it is essential that schools are adequately staffed with
committed, dedicated and well qualified educators, strong leadership and sufficient
support staff.
The first aspect of staffing to be discussed is committed and dedicated educators.
2.3.1 Committed and dedicated educators
Commitment and dedication are the key aspects to school effectiveness. Schools may
have a lot of resources but that do not make them effective if there is lack of
commitment. According to Rosenholtz (1989:97) commitment of educators to the school
and the welfare of learners has been shown as a critical aspect of effective schools.
Schools need to select educators who are well qualified, committed and who use a variety
of educational instructional resources for the benefit of learners (See Questions B 29, B
105, B67 Annexure A).
The second aspect to be explained is strong leadership.
-14-
2.3.2 Strong leadership
Research on school effectiveness have acknowledged the importance of strong and
effective leadership in keeping the schools effective. Post establishment of schools
should consists of the principal as the head of the institution, the deputy principal and the
heads of department (HOD). This will enable the principal to delegate a certain amount
of work hence sharing of responsibility promotes effectiveness.
Strong leadership gives a direction to whatever is done in the school because the leader
understands the needs of the school and is actively involved in the school work. For
instance, the role of the principal as an instructional leader is to keep focussed on
activities which pave the way for high learner achievement, both academically and
personally.
The third aspect of staffing to be discussed is support staff.
2.3.3 Support staff (non -teaching staff)
Non-teaching staff is an essential part of the school organisation; therefore all schools
should be provided with support staff. Bondesio and De Witt (1996:292) state that
principals of schools should recognise the importane of contribution of non-teaching staff
to the orderly running of the school machine. This will encourage the non-teaching staff
to become real pillars of strength people who have pride in their work and who find real
joy in doing it.
What do other researchers say about staffing in schools?
2.3.4 Important elements in staffing schools
Elloit (1996:203) suggests the following as important factors in staffing effective schools:
highly committed teaching staff;
high expectations and standards;
a positive attitudes towards learners by educators and the principal;
-15-
strong and competent leadership; and
an emphasis upon high achievement in academic subjects.
In selecting educators for effective schools the above elements should be considered.
Principals and educators with these qualities will definitely make a difference in the
learners' lives.
The process of filling a post involves three phases, namely personnel recruitment,
selection and appointment, according to Bondesio and De Witt (1995:243).
In this research project the following strategies are regarded as the most important to be
considered in staffing of schools:
staff recruitment; staff selection; interviews and appointments;
induction, in-service training, development appraisal; and
recognition of staff.
Staff recruitment as the first strategy in staffing schools will now be discussed.
2.4 STAFF RECRUITMENT
In every school people must be recruited, selected, placed, appraised and recognised.
The main objective of staff recruitment is to influence the best potential and suitable
candidates to apply for the vacant posts. If the school is committed to the belief that the
quality of the educators it employs determines its effectiveness, a systematic approach is
necessary to find the right people who meet the needs of the school. The most suitable
staff should be recruited, screened and appointed, for example, well qualified educators
(See Question B 105 Annexure A).
In order to recruit educators various methods are employed.
-16-
2.4.1 Methods and means of recruitment
The most common methods which can be used for recruitment as cited by Rebore
(1991:81) are "referrals, personal interviews, vocational guidance to media advertising,
recruitment talks and contracting employment agencies." Advertising staff vacancies is
an attempt to attract high quality and a wide range of educators.
The package that the Department of Education (DOE) offers is one of the most important
reasons for learners to become educators. This package includes financial remuneration,
fringe benefits, working conditions, opportunities for promotion and potential work
satisfaction.
The Department of Education prepares a vacancy list to advertise vacancies for educators
that exist in schools. The advertisement of vacancies must be clear and must include the
minimum requirements for the post; the procedures to be followed for application; the
preferable date of appointment and the closing date for the receipt of applications.
It must also be accessible to all who may qualify or are interested in applying for such
posts (Bondesio and De Witt, 1995:245). It must be in keeping with the provisions of the
constitution of the Republic of South Africa and must clearly mention that the state is am
affirmative action employer (Education Labour Relations Council Resolution No 5 of
1998:6).
All vacancies in public schools should be advertised in a gazette, bulletin or circular and
these must be circulated to all educational institutions within the province (Education
Labour Relation Council Resolution No 5 of 1998:6).
The next step to fill a vacant post is the selection of an educator from a pool of
applicants.
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2.4.2 Staff selection
Staff selection is a decision making process in which one individual is chosen above
another to fill a position on the basis of how well the characteristics of the individual
meets the requirements of the position. The Department of Education has delegated the
task of staff selection to the school governing bodies (SGB'S). The Department has the
task of sifting the application forms and ensuring that the candidates satisfy the minimum
requirements to fill the post advertised. The application forms are then sent to the SGB
to select a suitable candidate for a particular post, for instance, a school may need an
educator who is well qualified and who shows good skills of self-management.
Robbins (1980:260) states that there are only two choices in selection — accepting or
rejecting an application. It should be noted that no application is rejected on the basis of
"race", "gender", "age", "religion" or "sex".
Bondesio and De Witt, (1995:246) give a short review of the selection process to
determine the interviewing panel's role more accurately:
Step one:
The identification of the general and particular criteria applicable
to the post.
Step two:
The assessment of the applications against the above criteria. The
next stage of selection begins with the candidates who have been
shortlisted.
Step three: The choice and utilisation of a single means of selection or
combination thereof.
Step four: A decision is made concerning the appointment.
Once the SGB had shortlisted the candidates, arrangements are made to interview these
candidates.
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2.4.3 Interviewing
The interviewing panel comprises of members of the school governing body (SGB),
excluding educator members who are applicants to the advertised posts; the principal of
the school in his or her capacity as a department official; one union representative per
union that is party to the provincial chamber of the Education Labour Relations Council
(ELRC). The Union representatives will have observers' status to the process of
shortlisting and interviews. Resolution No 5 (1998:7) states clearly that they should not
take part in the discussion and recommendations of the panel.
The interviewing panel should plan carefully their line of questioning. The questions that
the interviewing panel ask candidates, should relate to the qualifications, experience, and
personnel qualities previously identified as relevant to the post (See Question B 105
Annexure A). Irrelevant questions should be avoided at all costs. All interviewees must
receive similar treatment during the interviews. There should be no discrimination at all.
The necessity of training and in-service training is evident in the employment interview.
Panel members need to be trained on interviewing skills, especially if all of its members
are not experienced or/and experts on conducting interviews. Bondesio and De Witt
(1995:249) suggest that discussing objectives of the interview beforehand with the panel
is important and provides questions beforehand to the panel members together with the
expected responses, is essential. This enables the interviewing panel members to
evaluate candidates accordingly.
After interviewing all the prospective candidates, the panel will be in a position to select
the candidates, who in their opinion will best fit the needs of the school. They will
recommend to the Department of Education to appoint the successful candidates.
2.4.4 Appointments
The Department of Education, after it is satisfied that agreed upon procedures were
followed and that the decision is in compliance with the Employment of Educators Act of
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1998; the South African Schools Act, 1996 and the Labour Relations Act, 1995, will
make a final decision. The decision to appoint will be based on the panel's
recommendations and motivations.
The successful candidate will receive an offering letter from the Department of
Education. This letter will provide the candidate with the necessary information and
conditions of service so that the candidate can decide whether to accept the offer or not.
The appointment can only be made after the candidate has accepted the offer, (Bondesio
and De Witt, 1995:251)
Newly appointed educators should go through an induction programme organised by the
school management team (SMT).
2.5 STAFF INDUCTION
Staff induction is a process by which recently appointed individuals are helped to become
orientated into a new environment, which includes the school system, the teaching
position, and the people with whom they will be working.
Castetter (1986:260) defines induction as a "systematic organizational effort to assist new
personnel to fit into and to adjust readily and effectively to a new working environment,
so that the goals of the organisation can be achieved as effectively as possible".
Beginning educators have a need to develop professionally and to be satisfied with their
teaching profession. They also need to be integrated into the culture of a school and its
system (Hirsh and Ponder, 1991:46).
The process of induction or orientation into the profession should begin immediately.
Induction programmes should be planned and should address certain major areas as
(Bondesio and De Witt, 1995:253).
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According to Bondesio and De Witt (1995:254) the new educator should:
know what is expected of him or her;
plan and organise his or her departments and offices;
motivate and evaluate learners;
counsel and discipline learners;
establish friendly and co-operative relationships with other members of the
school; and
communicate with parents.
According to Rebore (1991:136), induction programmes must be effective and must have
well-defined objectives. The objectives of an induction programme will vary among
individual schools but some objectives are common to all programmes. Rebore
(1991:137) suggests that the leader should executes the following programmes:
to make the employee feel welcome and secure;
to help the employee become a member of the team;
to inspire the employee towards excellence in performance;
to help the employee adjust to the work environment;
to provide information about the community; school systems, school building,
faculty, and status;
to acquaint the individual with other employees he or she will be associated with;
and
to facilitate the opening of school each year.
These objectives support the purpose of an induction programme, which is to promote
quality education for learners.
Once the induction of new educators in their new environment has been completed, the
school management team can commence with staff evaluation, which is part of
development and in-service training and will be continued until they leave the service.
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2.6 STAFF EVALUATION
Evaluation is the act of placing value in judging the educator. Grobler (1992:2) defines
personnel evaluation as a process where a group or an individual is evaluated to
determine whether they have worked efficiently and have achieved the goals set for them.
Evaluation is aimed at improving the work performance of an educator in order to benefit
the education of the learner. It is also aimed at personal recognition for outstanding
service. An educator's evaluation can be used as a controlling mechanism or as a
developmental tool. Evaluation is part of the management of school effectiveness.
An appraisal system can be used as a developmental tool.
2.6.1 Staff appraisal
In South African schools, particularly in the former Department of Education and
Training (DET) which specialised in black schools, inspection has been used to enforce
compliance with departmental regulations rather than as a tool for educator development.
Educators in Mpumalanga Province have repeatedly criticised the system of educator
appraisal. The resistance led to the near collapse of the entire appraisal system in
Mpumalanga.
Chety (1993:23) confirm that this resistance has led to a breakdown and a suspension of
the system in many parts of the country and a decline in the quality of education
provision.
Stoll and Fink (1996:4) believe that the main objective of educator appraisal is to
promote educators' personal and professional development with the aim of contributing
to school development and school effectiveness. Therefore, appraisal is aimed at the
acknowledgement of the positive aspects of educators' performance. According to
Grobler (1992:2) appraisal rests on the belief that "nobody is just full of faults, and
-22-
nobody is only totally negative." Appraisal also looks into strengths and the positive
aspects of educators' performance.
According to Department of Education (1998:55) appraisal forms a very important part of
educators' work and should be done regularly. Educator's work should be evaluated and
monitored regularly. This will enable the principal to meet individual members of staff
to discuss work, performance, progress and achievements.
Squelch and Lemmer (1994:113) state that the appraisal system enables educators to
become more effective and to improve the quality of their teaching in general. They view
effective and efficient staff appraisal as a way of maintaining a high level of academic
standard and achievement as well as building and maintaining effective school.
Beveridge (1975:73) views the improvement of work performance as the main objective
of appraisal. Therefore appraisal should be an ongoing programme because it is
important for all educators, including those with experience. As educators appraise their
present performance and set goals for future performance, they gain in stature and add
stature to their profession (Rebore, 1991:351).
Effective schools value appraisal. They recognise the need for and importance of
continually reflecting on what they are doing and how they are doing it, so that they can
seek ways of improving learning and teaching.
Appraisal is an essential tool for identifying staff development needs and for encouraging
professional and personal growth and development. It will also enable educators to use a
variety of resources (See question B 67 Annexure A).
One of the main reasons for staff appraisal is for developmental purposes. The appraisal
documents should indicate to the principal and his management team the needs of
individual educators are and how to devise a training and development programme to
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help educators improve the effectiveness of their teaching (See question B 71 Annexure
A).
2.7 STAFF DEVELOPMENT
Nathan (1991:153) defines staff development as a deliberate and continuing process
which supports the growth both of individuals and the institution in which they work.
Castetter (1986:291) refers to staff development as professional development and in-
service and training.
2.7.1 Professional development
Professional development is one of the most important aspects in an institution. School
principals should devote much attention to it, by creating conditions which focus on
achieving excellence.
Fullan (1991:344) states that "as long as there is the need for improvement, forever, there
will be need for professional development." According to Stoll and Fink (1996:152)
when educators are professionally fulfilled and demonstrate job satisfaction, skills and
knowledge they are more likely motivate the learners to learn and this will result in
effective schools.
2.7.2 In-service training (INSET)
The ultimate goal of INSET is to bring about the improvement and development of the
educators in an institution Clatter, Preedy, Riches and Masterton (1988:338) believe that
educators need opportunities for INSET as a part of their professional and personal
development. INSET opportunities enable educators to keep abreast of developments
both in teaching methods and in their subjects.
Bruce, Showers and Bennett (1987:11) are of the opinion that INSET should be created
with curricular and instructional improvement in mind. The effective guidance equip
-24-
each member of staff with skills which enable him/her to fulfill her/his task successful. It
is thus necessary for the principal to draw up a staff development programme.
2.7.3 Staff development programme
Staff development programmes should be created with curricular and instructional
improvement in mind. Principals and educators should be striving for particular amounts
of increase in student learning when any given programme is offered (Bruce et.al (ibid).
Staff development programmes consist of the following:
2.7.3.1 School goals and objectives
School goals and objectives must be established, and these will become the foundation of
the programme.
Once the goals and objectives have been formulated and agreed upon by all stakeholders
a needs survey must be undertaken.
2.7.3.2 Needs assessment
Assessing the needs of the educators to determine if there is a discrepancy between the
competencies of the staff and the requirements of the school is essential. Glatter, Preedy
and Richer (1988:335) agree with Bruce in this regard.
The needs assessment will be used to develop staff.
2.7.3.3 Staff development goals and objectives
Staff development goals and objectives are formulated after the need assessment of staff
members have been undertaken.
The school principal needs to establish staff development goals and objectives. Goals
continually change to meet the continually changing needs of individual staff members
and the school.
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Goals and objectives provide direction to the next phase in creating a staff development
programme — designing the programme.
2.7.3.4 Designing a programme
According to Castetter (1986:294) a programme that will meet staff development should
be designed. Designing a programme is a process of matching needs to delivery
methods.
The environment in which in-service training, seminars, workshops, and other forms of
staff development are held can be a critical element in the success of the programme. It
is therefore important that the environment is conducive for the training sessions.
The implementation and delivery phase should follow after designing a programme.
2.7.3.5 Implementation
The designed programme should be implemented when all concerned are happy with the
arrangements and agree to participate in the programme and in such a way that effective
learning may occur. Effective evaluation is the final stage in a staff development
programme.
2.7.3.6 Evaluation
Nathan (1991:154) suggests that the programme must be evaluated to ascertain whether it
is meeting its objectives, which in turn will affect future programme designs.
Educators who, after undergoing staff developments show improvement and are effective
in their classrooms need to be recognised for their efforts.
2.8 RECOGNITION OF STAFF
Recognition as an element of motivation can be highly motivating if managed correctly.
Blandford (1997:86) views the ability to motivate staff as the most important element of
-26-
leadership. Personnel who are positive, highly motivated and committed to educational
excellence create an environment which motivate learners to perform better.
According to Holman (1998:13) research has shown that educators' motivation levels
have dropped by thirty seven percent (37%) from three to five years ago. Nearly seventy
percent (70%) of all educators have considered leaving the profession.
Motta (1995:41) believes that educators leave the profession because of the "lack of
growth and recognition on the job." The educators feel insecured in their job.
Rationalisation and redeployment of educators have increased the uncertainties and
anxieties amongst educators.
Knouse (1995:27) identifies several principles that underlie the effective use of
recognition.
Recognition should be immediate — it should be timely and should relate to
specific accomplishments.
Recognition should be personal — it is a joint celebration of accomplishments
improving teaching and learning.
Recognition should not be based on luck. If employees believe that recognition is
controlled by events beyond their control, they will reduce their efforts.
Recognition systems should not create winners and loosers. Staff members must
work as a team co-operatively, not against each other.
The abovementioned recognition principles will, if managed correctly, motivate
personnel members to excel in their work and this in turn will promote school
effectivenss.
Rationalisation and redeployment of educators is another way that the Department of
Education uses to redress the imbalances of the past.
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2.9 RATIONALISATION AND REDEPLOYMENT OF EDUCATORS
Rationalisation means equal distribution of posts throughout the province. After the 1994
elections and the dissolutions of homeland government, it became clear that there was an
over-supply of personnel in the public service.
This over-supply of personnel was more obvious in the Education Department (Education
Labour Relations of 1996). A concommitant problem was that of the uneven distribution
of personnel. A need arose for regulating the redistribution of personnel.
On 2 September 1994, the President signed proclamation 138 of 1994, which was
entitled: "Rationalisation of Public Administration under the Constitution of the Republic
of South Africa 1993: Replacement of some of the laws on education" (The Educators'
Employment Act, 1994). This gave relief to Mpumalanga Education Department because
for the first time, the Department considered redeploying educators declared in excess to
schools which are understaffed.
School principals were expected to take the process forward. They were required to
make decisions over issues, such as identifying and declaring in excess. This was the
difficult and stressful positions in which school principals found themselves (Evettes,
1994:110).
Because of this sensitive exercise principals have been accused of providing fake
information to the Department in an attempt to keep more educators. It was also alleged
that they declared educators in excess simply because of their personal feelings towards
those educators and this resulted in many disputes (Grey and Mtshali 1999:1).
Redeployment has caused uncertainties and anxieties amongst educators. Educators feel
insecure in their jobs. According to Erasmus and Van der Westhuizen (1996:235) job
security has always been very important to educators and to their quality of workinglife.
If educators are secure in their jobs, they improve the quality of teaching and learning.
-28-
It is therefore important that the processes of rationalisation and redeployment are
finalised so that post provisioning for schools is fair and just. All schools will then be
adequately staffed and effective teaching and learning will take place.
2.10 SUMMARY
The literature review has provided insight into various issues surrounding staffing in
schools and its impact on school effectiveness.
Personnel provisioning was discussed in detail. The importance of the selection
processes which includes staff recruitment, selection, induction, development, evaluation
and recognition were highlighted.
The design of the research instrument and a discussion of the questionnaire formulated in
respect of staffing will be dealt with in chapter three.
CHAPTER 3
DESIGN OF THE RESEARCH INSTRUMENT AND EMPIRICAL
INVESTIGATION
3.1 INTRODUCTION
The literature study in chapter two formed the bedrock of the structured questionaire that
was used to probe the perception of educators and principals in respect of effective
schools. The specific aim of this research was also highlighted in chapter two as
"Staffing as an aspect of human resources: implication for school effectiveness".
In this chapter an attempt will be made to outline the mothodology the researcher used to
collect data. The research design focuses on the following aspects:
the purpose of quantitative research;
the design of the questionnaire as research instrument;
a discussion of the questions used by this researcher; and
a discussion of the respondents used, biographical details requested and the return
of the questionnaire.
A brief discussion to elucidate the merits of quantitative research now follows.
3.2 THE PURPOSE OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Data obtained from respondents will be transcribed in the form of scores that can be
tabulated and analysed. The purpose of quantitative research is to make objective
descriptions of a limited set of phenomena and also determine whether the phenomena
can be controlled through certain interventions. Thus, initial quantitative studies of a
research problem typically involve a precise description of the phenomena and a search
for pertinent variables and their interrelationships. Ultimately, a theory is formulated to
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account for the empirical (Borg, Gall and Gall, 1993:195-196).
Deductive reasoning is fundamental to quantitative research. It assumes that a researcher
should be able to move from general kinds of statements to particular ones. For example,
all effective schools have good discipline (general statement). All missionary schools
have good discipline. Therefore all missionary schools are effective schools (specific
statement). These statements are regarded as objective and independent of human
experience and it is a means of linking theory with observations made.
According to Borg et.al., (1993:195) quantitative researchers make the assumption that
they can discover "laws" that lead to reliable prediction and control of educational
phenomena. They view their task as the discovery of these laws by searching for
irregularities in the behaviour of samples of individuals. This search is aided by
statistical analysis, which reveals trends in the sample's behaviour. Quantitative
researchers believe that such trends or laws are sufficiently strong to have practical value,
even though they do not allow for perfect prediction or control. Quantitative researchers
use a deductive form of reasoning and begin with hypotheses and move towards proving
these. More specifically in this research project use will be made of statistical
hypotheses.
A statistical hypothesis usually postulates the opposite of what the researcher predicts or
expects. In this form it is known as a null hypothesis and is usually represented by the
symbol Ho. If the researcher thus expects that there will be statistically significant
difference between the mean scores of SADTU and NAPTOSA members with respect to
learner discipline (research hypothesis) then the hypothesis will be stated in the form of a
null hypothesis. It is the null hypothesis that is tested using statistical techniques. In its
null form the hypothesis will then read:
• Ho — There is no significant statistical difference in the mean scores SADTU
members get and those of NAPTOSA members with respect to learner discipline
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-31-
Ha — There is a significant statistical difference in the means scores SADTU
members get and those of NAPTOSA members with respect to learner discipline.
Should it be found that there is a statistically significant difference between the mean
scores of male and female educators with respect to learner discipline then the null
hypothesis (Ho) is rejected and the alternative hypothesis or research hypothesis or
research hypothesis (Ha) is accepted.
3.2.1 The relationship of the research to the subject
In quantitative research, the investigator's goal is objectivity. That is, they seek to keep
their personal values, beliefs and biases from influencing the process of data collection
and analysis. Thus they typically administer tests that involve minimal personal
interaction between them and the research sample. If interaction is necessary, as when
conducting an interview, they try to standardise the interaction process so that it is
identical for every individual in the sample.
Conversely, the role of respondents in the research is relatively passive. Their function is
to react to the researcher's questions and interventions.
3.3 THE STRUCTURED QUESTIONNAIRE AS INTRUMENT OF
RESEARCH
The structured questionnaire consisted of 105 closed — ended items. The questions were
designed to obtain the perceptions of the members of the teaching profession in the
province of Mpumalanga as to what constitutes and effective school.
Questions were formulated around the aspects of:
school culture;
school climate;
-32- vision;
motivational strategies;
curriculum;
leadership and
resources
Twenty-one (21) students now formulated questions arround the above aspects of school
effectiveness and each question started with the header "an effective school should".
Although this particular research project deals with staffing as an, aspect of human
resources all the questions formulated by this group relative to resources are presented in
Table 3.1 and 3.2 respectively. The questions relevant to human resources are indicated
by means of an asterisk.
TABLE 3.1: ITEMS ASSOCIATED WITH RESOURCES AS AN SPECT OF SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS
Item Number
DESCRIPTION MEAN RANK FACTOR
B 90 Have sufficient toilet for learners and educators
5,82 2 1
B 99 Have the necessary textbooks and stationery
5,81 3 1
B 64* Provide opportunities for improving the teaching of skills of educators
5,76 7 1
B 67* Have educators who use a variety of teaching resources
5,75 9 1
B 29* have educators who show good skills of self-management
5,73 17 1
B 86 Have sufficient furniture in the school 5,72 20 1 B 87 Have an administration block 5,71 21 1 B 96 Hold an annual general meeting
to give feedback to its stakeholders 5,66 28 1 B 93 Have security fence - 5,63 35 1 B 95 Ensure regular communication
with it's stakeholders 5,62 36 1 B 2 Pass on information received from the
Department of Education to all relevant stakeholders
5,53 48 1
B105* Select well qualified educators 5,48 52 1 8101 Encourage educators to be
accountable for the achievement of their learners 5,43 59 2
B 12 Gather information to make informed decisions about resourcing the school 5,39 65 1
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B 9 Implement strategies for funding 5,28 68 2 B 11 Allocate most of the school funds to
activities of teaching and learning . 5,27 69 1
B 71* Have educators with a wide range of teaching• experience
5,18 . 74 3
B 10 Expect parents of learners who cannot pay school funds to render some form of services to the school
4,29 . 92 3
B 17 Allow learners to have a say in how money collected for the development of sport is spent
3,77 . 99 .
2
B 8 Allocate most of the school funds to extra-curricular activities •
3,40 103 2
Items associated with stalling racilities as an aspect or resources
Factor Accountable collaborative management
Factor 2 Open democratic management
Factor 3 = Normative management
TABLE 3.2 DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONSES FOR RESOURCES AS AN
ASPECT OF SCI-1001, EFFECTIVENESS
Item Frequency of respondents scoring from 1 to 6 Total % selecting 5 or 6 Number 1 2 3 4 5 6
B 90 15 8 20 32 79 1528 1682 95.50% B 99 17 19 31 83 1524 1683 95.50% B .64* 8 8 21 50 170 1426 1683 94.80% B 67* 10 6 17 68 159 1424 1684 94.00% B 29* 8 9 20 62 193 1369 1681 91.40% B 86 22 8 31 50 141 1430 1682 93.40% B 87 27 8 27 60 115 1447 1684 92.70% B 96 16 9 • 322 87 183 1354 1681 91.40% B 93 " 31 16 47 . 76 118 1392 1680 89.90% B 95 13 6 29 104 248 1283 1683 90.00% • B 2 39 23 52 98 46 1319 . 1677 87.40% B105 49 16. 57 111 181 1270 1684 86.20% 8101 54 21 54 123 198 1234 1684 85.00% B 12 16 17 74 156 338 1068 1669 84.20% B 9 54 45 74 162 214 1130 1679 80.00% B 11 ,37 35 84 182 284 1058 1680 79.90% B 71 84 45 75 1 165 226 1084 1634 80.20% B 10 323 78 117 193 214 756 1681 57.70% B 17 349 151 219 275 206 484 1684 40.90% B 8 463 175 227 253 158 400 1676 _ 33.30%
-34-
Items associated with staffing as an aspect of resources
1 = strongly disagree
6 = strongly agree
2 to 5 = Equal intervals between 1 and 6
Tables 3.1 and 3.2 will be used to facilitate a discussion of the question relevant
to this particular research project.
3.4 DISCUSSION OF QUESTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH STAFFING AS AN
ASPECT OF RESOURCES
Each question was formulated in such a way that the respondents could indicate the
extent to which they agree or disagree with statements in respect of school effectiveness.
For example
An effective school should:
Ensure that maths and science are part of the academic curriculum
Having displayed the various questions in resources only those questions relevant to this
research will now be motivated and discussed using the relevant data as given in Tables
3.1 and 3.2.
Question B 64: Provide opportunities for improving the teaching skills of educators
Table 3.1 and Table 3.2 reveal the following statistical data:
Mean score: 5,76
Rank order: 7
% respondents selecting 5 or 6: 94,8%
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The above results clearly indicate that the majority of the respondents agree to strongly
agree with the statement. The transformation in the Department of Education requires
that educators are provided with opportunities for improving their teaching skills. A
crucial contributor to learner learning is educator learning. Educators should be provided
with opportunities to improve their teaching skills because educators need to move from
a teaching — learning model which has served many educators and learners to a different
conception which is compatible with the emerging issues of the new millenium (Stoll and
Fink,.1996:118). The implementation of the outcome based education (Curriculum 2005)
demands that educators change their traditional methods of teaching and adapt to this
approach which is learner — centred. An effective school organises in-service training for
educators. Cloete (1985:163) agree with this perception — he states that in-service
training should consist of training aimed at giving educators the knowledge and skills
required to perform their duties. According to Bruce, Beverly and Bennett (1987:12) in-
service training enable educators to increase their repertoire of teaching skills
drammatically and to use those skills effectively.
Asmal (1993:3) supports this perception, he is of the opinion that many educators suffer a
more subtle form of demoralisation if they are not professionally equipped or skilled to
cope with new demands that are being made of them. Therefore, educators should be
given opportunities to improve their teaching skills in order to be effective in their task.
Question B 67: Have educators who use a variety of teaching resources.
Mean score: 5,75
Rank order: 9
% respondent selecting 5 or 6: 94,0%
The mean score above clearly indicates that the vast majority of the respondents are of
the opinion that educators who use a variety of teaching resources contribute to school
effectiveness. The rank order of nine further substantiates this perception. Uline, et.al .
-36-
(1998:466) support the statements. They typically consider resources and
teaching/learning to be the central instrumental activities of a school.
According to Stoll and Fink (1996:126) educators should "employ a variety of teaching
and learning strategies to engage multiple minds". Learners have different learning
styles, they learn differently from one another. The new curriculum suggests that since
everyone has a mind of his own and these minds work in different ways, a variety of
teaching resources and strategies are required to meet these differences. Stoll and Fink
(ibid) argue the focus of instruction should be to provide meaningful, contextual ized
learning so that learners understand and can transfer learning. It is therefore the duty of
educators to accommodate all learners with their different learning styles (Fullan and
Hargraves, 1992:246).
Question B 29: Have educators who show good skills of self-management
Mean score: 5,73
Rank order: 17
% respondents selecting 5 or 6: 94,1%
The above results clearly indicate that in Mpumalanga Province, educators who show
good skills of self-management play a major role in school effectiveness. Even the rank
order of 17 further confirms this perception. This perception is also supported by the
literature, for example, See 2.3.1 p 5. Educators who show good skills of self-
management manage time well, for instance, they arrive at school fifteen minutes before
starting time, they honour their periods and they are committed to teach the full day
(Colts, 1999:5).
Harris, Bennett and Preedy (1997:274) state that staff should model patterns of good
behaviour. They emphasize that educators should be seen as role models and that
educators should always try to demonstrate their philosophy of education through their
-37-
practice. This can be seen in numerous ways, for instance, by the style of an educator's
high personal standards of organisation and time management. According to Stoll and
Fink (1996:127) good skills of self-management of educators play a major role in schools
effectiveness. An educator's behaviour is very important to learners' learning, because
learners emulate educators' behaviour.
Question B 105: Select well qualified educators
Mean score: 5,48
Rank order: 52
% respondents selecting 5 or 6: 86,2%
The results above clearly indicate that the majority of respondents agree to strongly agree
that well qualified educators in an institution contribute to school effectiveness (see 2.4
p.6). According to Cloete (1985:121) the best well qualified candidates should be
selected to fill vacancies. Well qualified educators have self confidence, they have
knowledge of the subject matter. Due to this knowledge, they are more effective and
sufficient in handling subject matter. Fullan (1995:104) regards the selection of well
qualified educators as the most important aspect in school effectiveness. Fullan (ibid)
states that there are no substitutes to having better qualified educators.
When educators are well qualified and professionally fulfilled, they demonstrate job
satisfaction, skills and knowledge, and have a strong feeling of efficacy around their
practice, they are more likely to motivate learners (Stoll and Fink, 1996:05). Well
qualified educators convey to learners their believe in the learners' ability to learn and
challenge them with appropriate teaching strategies.
Question B 71: Have educators with a wide range of teaching experience.
Mean score: 5,18
Rank order: 74
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• % respondents selecting 5 or 6: 80,2%
From the above results it can be concluded that the majority of the respondents agree to
strongly agree with the statement. A school should have educators with a wide range of
teaching experienced, committed and dedicated educators can make a difference in the
lives of the learners, due to their experience in teaching and learning strategies. They
know and understand the learners as well as the subject matter. Educators. with a wide
range of teaching experience understand that learners have different learning styles and
they try to accommodate all learners in the classroom.
Experienced educators provide practical help to beginning educators because experience
educators have skills and time to help newly appointed educators (Husan and
Postlethwaite, 1994:6046). Stoll and Fink (1996:156) support this statement, according
to them new educators' needs are personal support and encouragement from experienced
colleagues. They argue that mentoring of newly qualified educators offers experienced
educators the opportunity to take on leadership roles as they help induct an inexperienced
colleague into the working and social life of the school.
The five questions pertaining to human resources have a mean score of 5,58 and the
respondents thus agree to strongly agree that an effective school should have adequate
human resources. It is the responsibility of the Government to provide all schools with
adequate, effective staff, as staff play a major role in promoting school effectiveness and
in making a difference in learners' lives.
3.5 THE RESEARCH GROUP
Questionnaires were distributed to members of the teaching profession in the Province of
Mpumalanga South Africa according to statistics obtained from the Mpumalanga
Department of Education, There are approximately 26 906 educators in Mpumalanga in
a ratio of four English medium on instruction educators to one Afrikaans medium of
-39-
instruction educator. Thus approximately 21 525 educators use English as language of
instruction and 5381 have Afrikaans as medium of instruction. The 2400 questionnaires
were thus divided into 1900 English questionnaires and 500 Afrikaans questionnaires.
The various students associated with the project distributed these questionnaires amongst
the 10 districts in Mpumalanga (see Appendix A). The sample was thus of a convenient
stratified nature and representative of the educators in the Province of Mpumalanga.
3.5.1 Biographical details
The following biographical details are represented in the form of Tables as it provides a
good example of how representative the sample was of the population of the Province of
Mpumalanga.
TABLE 3.3: ATTENDANCE OF WORKSHOP/SEMINAR/COURSE RELATED
TO SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS IN THE PAST THREE YEARS
Frequency Percent Yes 922 55,1 No 750 44,9 Total 1 672
TABLE 3.4: HAS THE COURSE BENEFITED YOUR MANAGEMENT
SKILLS?
Frequency Percent Definitely 532 31,6 Partially 351 20.8 Not at all 111 6,6 Did not attend 690 41,0 Total 1 684
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TABLE 3.5: GENDER
Frequency Percent Male Female Total
684 978
1 662
41,2 56,8
TABLE 3.5: AGE OF RESPONDENTS (Grouped for convenience)
Frequency Percent 20-30 years 282 17,1 31-33 years 270 16,3 34-36 years 290 17,5 37-40 years 332 20,1 41-46 years 270 16,3 47 + years 211 12,7 Total 1 655
TABLE 3.7: PRESENT POST LEVEL
Frequency Percent Principal 107 6,4 Deputy-Principal 90 5,4 Head of Department 264 15,7 Educator 1 215 72,5 Total 1 676
TABLE 3.8: TEACHING EXPERIENCE (grouped for convenience)
Frequency Percent
1 — 8 years 9 —13 years
510 503
30,7 30,3
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14 + years Total
Frequency Percent 647
1 660 40,0
TABLE 3.9: MEMBERSHIP OF EDUCATOR ORGANISATIONS
Frequency Percent SADTU 1 114 67,4 TUATA 101 6,1 NATU 15 0,9 NUE 77 4,6 SAOU 255 15,4 NAPTOSA 41 2,5 SAVBO 14 0,9 OTHER 37 2,2 TOTAL 1 654
TABLE 3.10: MOTHER TONGUE
_ Frequency Percent
Afrikaans 416 25,1 English 65 3,9 Nguni 838 50,5 Sotho 340 20,5 Total 1 659
TABLE 3.11: HIGHEST EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Frequency Percent Lower than grade 12 12 0.7 Grade 12 51 3,1 Post school diploma 351 21,0 Teachers Diploma + FDE 782 46,9 Bachelors degreee 47 2,8 Bachelors degree + Diploma/Certificate 286 17,1
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Post graduate Total
140 1 669
8,4
TABLE 3.12: RELIGION
Frequency Percent None 26 1,6 Christianity 1 543 91,8 Islam 12 0,7 Hinduism 16 1,0 African traditional 61 3,6 Other 22 1,3 Total 1 680
TABLE 3.13: LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION
' Frequency Percent English 1 115 68,4 Afrikaans 217 13,3 Dual medium 169 10,4 Parallel medium 128 7,9 Total 1 629
TABLE 3.14: ATTENDANCE OF EDUCATORS
Frequency Percent Excellent 1 016 60,4 Average 634 37,7 Poor 32 1,9 Total 1 682
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TABLE 3.15: ATTENDANCE OF LEARNERS
Frequency Percent Excellent 790 47,1 Average 821 49,0 Poor 66 3,9 Total 1 677
TABLE 3.16: PRINCIPAL'S GENDER
Frequency. Percent Male Female Total
1 382 297
1 679
82,3 17,7
TABLE 3.17: KIND OF SCHOOL
Frequency Percent Primary School 648 38,5 Secondary School 685 40,7 Combined School 326 19,4 Other 25 1,4 Total 1 684
TABLE 3.18: DISTRICT IN, WHICH SCHOOL IS SITUATED
Frequency Percent Eerstehoek 206 12,3 Ermelo ' 168 10,0 Groblersdal 165 9,8 Hazyview 50 3,0 KwaMhlanga 88 5,2 Malelane 216 12,9
-44--
Moretele 165 9,8 Nelspruit 181 10;8 Standerton 256 15,2 Witbank 185 11,0 Total 1 680
TABLE 3.19: DISCIPLINE LEVEL AT YOUR SCHOOL
Frequency Percent Excellent 255 15,2 Good 811 48,3 Average 491 29,2 Poor 123 7,3 Total 1 680
It was reasoned that the above aspects could be related to school effectiveness and that
the perception educators have of school effectiveness would differ in respect of these
groups.
3.5.2 Return of the questionnaire
Of the 2 400 questionnaires handed out 1 750 were returned of which 1 684 were useable.
This represents a return rate of 70,2% which is most admirable considering the present
low morale among teachers in Mpumalanga.
Perception of Mpumalanga educators about the effectiveness of their schools
1...Amongst the most effective schools In the district
197 •r sffectIvirthati-m7stechrrutsinifurd
• irs-eflectivess-Mherschools in-the 'strict
I salve-then m st other-echools In hedialttcl ..ngetihaleasterfedbra_achnoisin_lhe rlisirler '
,..41.1„,„ 396te. _,A.....!......
r,r ∎ mi jeafttre.,
'40'.44 . , , ,Alxe!t.+1, •? V Z,
.1.w
2
3
800
700
600
500
Frequency 400
300
200
100
0
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3.5.3 Section C of the questionnaire
Respondents were asked to respond to the question of how effective their school would
be relative to other school in the district and Table 3.20 summarises the data that is also
displayed grahically in figure 3.1.
ER EQ11 E NC Y PERCENT Among the most effective schools in the District
797 47,4%
More effective than most schools in the District
413 24,6%
About as effective as other schools in District
396 23,6%
Less effective than most other schools in the district
42 2,5%
Amongst the least effective schools in th District
. 32 1,9%
TOTAL 1680
Figure 3.1: Perception of th6 educators in the schools sampled as to how effective their schools arc
3.6. SUMMARY
In this chapter a description of the empirical investigation was provided.
-46-
Relevant tables were provided and the questions pertinent to human resources as aspect
of school effectiveness were discussed. From the above discussions it was clear that the
respondents regarded the provision of adequate human resources in schools as important
to the functioning of an effective school and they regarded staffing schools with well
qualified, experienced educators who used a variety of teaching resources and show
good skills of self management as the important aspect in promoting school effectiveness.
A discussion of the respondents sampled, their biographical details and the response rate
of the questionnaire were also discussed.
In chapter four the following aspects will be examined.
the reliability and validity of the research instrument;
a discussion of the various factors obtained;
a comparison of one of the independent pairs involved by stating appropriate
hypotheses and interpreting the statistical tests involved;
a comparison of one of the independent groups containing three or more groups
by stating hypotheses and analysing the appropriate statistical data; and
a discussion of the difference between the factor mean scores of the various
groups for each of the factors involved.
CHAPTER FOUR
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF A SELECTED SAMPLE OF
EMPERICAL DATA
4.1 INTRODUCTION
Chapter three concentrated on an explanation of the questions relevant to human
resources as an aspect of school effectiveness. The sample as representative of the
Province of Mpumalanga was also discussed.
In this chapter the following aspects will receive attention:
the reliability and validity of the structured questionnaire;
a discussion of the various factors involved;
one example of a comparison of two independent groups by stating the
appropriate hypotheses and analysing the data by means of multivariate statistical
tests;
one example of a comparison of three or more independent groups by stating the
appropriate hypotheses and analysing the data using multivariate statistical tests;
a discussion of the significance of differences between the factor means of the
various groups for each of the facts that make up school effectiveness;
a discussion of the differences of one example of three or more independent
groups by stating the appropriate hypotheses and analysis of the data;
-48-
an analysis of Section C of the questionnaire using the Chi-squared technique;
an investigation to determine which independent variable has the largest influence
on school effectiveness as dependent variable; and
an analysis of the three second order factors in order to determine which first
order factors play the most significant role in their composition.
When one attempts to determine the perceptions of educators using a structured
questionnaire it is important that it is valid and reliable. Validity is concerned with
whether what one is measuring is what one really intends to measure. Reliability refers
to the consistency and dependability of measures (Rose and Sullivan, 1996:10).
When repeated measurements of the same thing give identical or very similar results the
measurements instrument is said to be reliable. For example, if you climbed on your
bathroom scale and it read 85 kilogram, you climbed off and on again and it read 82
kilograms, repeated the process and is read 87 kilogram, your scale would not be very
reliable. If, however, in a series of weightings, you obtained the same answer (say 85
kilograms), your scale would be reliable. (Vogt, 1993:195). Suppose you knew that you
actually weight 80 kilograms then your scale may be reliable but it is not accurate (valid).
An instrument is valid to the extent that it measures what it is sup
posed to measure for example, say you want to measure a person's height. If all you had
was a bathroom scale, you could ask the person to step onto the scale and record the
results. Even if the measurements were highly reliable, that is, consistent from one
weighting to the next, they would not be valid. There is no doubt that a metrestick or a
tape calibrated in millimetres would be more valid for measuring height than a bathroom
scale. (Vogt, 1993:240).
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4.2 RELIABILITY IF VALIDITY
Reliability and validity have been clarified in 4.1 above. There are, however, different
types of validity but for the purpose of this research only content and construct validity
will be clarified. A measuring instrument has content validity to the extent that its items
represent the content that it is designed to measure (Borg et.al ., (ibid). Content validity is
not a statistical property, it is rather a matter of expert judgement. Several principals
from secondary schools and researchers from the Department of Educational Sciences
reviewed the questionnaire to judge the relevancy of each item. The questionnaire was
also submitted to the Statistical Consulting Services of the Rand Afrikaans University for
further scrunity and refinements of the items. An instrument has construct validity to the
extent that it can be shown to measure a particular hypothetical construct. Psychological
concepts such as effectiveness, anxiety and creativity are considered hypothetical
constructs because they are not directly observable but rather are inferred on the basis of
their observable effects on behaviour. (Borg et.al ., (ibid). The construct validity of the
measuring instrument was investigated by means of factor analysis. According to Jaeger
(1990:345) factor analysis is used extensively in research. It is particularly useful as a
tool for examining the validity of tests or the measurements characteristics of attitute
scales.
Borg et.al ., (ibid) defines factor analysis as a correlation technique that examines a large
number of items and determines whether they cluster into a smaller number of underlying
factors. The principal objective of factor analysis is to construct a smaller number of
variables (called factors) that do a good job of conveying the information present in a
larger number of variables.
In this research 105 items were designed to secure information on the perceptions of
educators at various post levels in respect of which aspects are involved in school
effectiveness (see Appendix A). The construct validity of the structured questionnaire
-50-
was investigated by means of successive first and second order factor analytic procedure.
The first order procedure involves a principal component analysis (PCA1) followed by a
principal factor analysis (PFA1). These procedures were performed using the SPSS 8,3
programme (Norusis, 1998) to identify a number of factor that may facilitate the
processing of the statistics. The first order procedure resulted in 20 factors that were used
as a second procedure. This consisted of a principal component analysis (PCA2) with
varimax rotation and orthogonal axes followed by a principal factor analysis (PFA2) with
direct oblimin (oblique) rotation.
These procedures resulted in the 105 items being reduced to three factors namely:
Factor 1 consisting of 72 items that was named accountable collaborative
management with a Cronbach-alpha-reliability coefficient of 0,980. The 72
items can thus be regarded as forming one scale with a minimum value of 72 x 1
+ 72 and a maximum value of 72 x 6 = 432.
Factor 2 consisting of 20 items that was dubbed open democratic management
with a Cronbach-alpha-reliability coefficient of 0,975. The 20 items thus form
one scale with a minimum value of 20 x 1 = 20 and a maximum value of 20 x 6 =
120.
Factor 3 consisting of 13 items that was dubbed normative management with a
Cronbach-alpha-reliability coefficient of 0,785. The 13 items thus form one scale
with a minimum value of 13 x 1 = 13 and a maximum value of 13 x 6 = 78.
The items that constitute accountable collaborative management are shown in Table 4.1,
the items involved in open democratic management are given in Table 4.2 and the items
that make up normative management are indicated in Table 4.3.
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TABLE 4.1: Items associated with the factor accountable collaborative
management
Item "No.
Description An effective school should:
Mean score
Rank order
B104 Have a principal who is a good role model 5.88 1 .B90 Have sufficient filets for learners and educators 5,8? 7
B99 Have the necessary textbooks and stationery 5.81 3_____ 3 B74 Have educators who lead by example 5,81
B84 Have educators who are supportive of one another 5,80 5 B103 Encourage learners to accept responsibility for their own
development 5,77 6
B64 Provide opportunities for improving the teaching skills of educators
5,76 7
B38 Practice what is preaches 5,76 7 B100 Develop attitudes in their learners conducive to
understand otheryeople 5,75 9
B97 Ensure high levels of achievement among its learners 5,75 9 B66 Implement a curriculum that provides learners with the
necessary skills to improve employment opportunities 5,75 9
B67 Have educators who use a variety of teaching resources 5,75 9 B102 Strive to provide an environment that all stakeholders
can feel proud of 5,74 13
B73 Inculcate good morals and values in their learners 5,74 13 B39 Show a commitment towards exemplary teaching
practice 5,74 13
1340 Attempt to ensure that basic human rights are respected 5,74 13 B28 Ensure that its educators provide a supporting
environment for learners 5,73 17
B29 Have educators who show good skills of self-management Implement a curriculum that provides learners with the necessary skills to be useful citizens
5,73 5,73
17 17 B70
B86 Have sufficient furniture in the school 5,72 20 B49 Have corrective measures in place to deal with learners
who violate school rules 5,71 21
1387 Have an administration block • 5,71 21 B98 Develop attitudes in learners that fosters a good
jf- i um 5,70 23
B26 Have educators working as a team with the management of the school
5,70 23
B33 Have positive expectations for educators 5,69 25 B94 Inculcate leadership skills in learners 5,68 26
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B65 Implement a curriculum that is based on relevant and reliable educationaliesurch
, 5,68 26
B96 Hold an annual general meeting to give feedback to its stakcholdcrs
5,65 28
B69 Have educators who assist learners who have special educational needs
5,65 29
B62 Have the leadership skills to bring about the necessary transformation in the school
5,65 29
B61 Try to create a climate conducive to active parental involvement
5,65 29
B13 Be future orientated when designing its curriculum 5,65 29 B37 Not be afraid to learn from its failures 5,64 33 B56 Have community structures with an interest in education
supporting the school 5,64 33
B93 Have a security fence 5,63 35 B88 Have an educator who is specifically responsible for
counselling learners with emotional problems 5,62 36
B95 Ensure regular communication with its stakeholders 5,62 36 B54 Ensure that it receives active support from all levels
of the education system 5,62 36
B22 Have a school policy which is in line with its mission statement
5,61 39
B35 Involve the educators in solvin&school related problems 5,61 39 B43 Encourage learners to resiect their cultural traditions 5,60
5,59 41 42 B4 Implement a curriculum that provides learners with a
life-skills education B76 I-lave norms and values that arc supported by the
community 5,58 43
B I Ensbre that maths and science are part of the academic curriculum
5,57 44
B25 Collect relevant information to determine whether the objectives of the curriculum have been achieved
5,57
4
44
1375 Recognise educators who improve their educational qualifications .
5,57 44
B92 Encourage good interpersonal relationships among all stakcholdcrs
5,56 47
B2 Pass on information received from the Department of Education to all relevant stakeholders
5,53 48
B27 Have a clearly articulated educational philosophy 5,53 48 1382 Regard norms and values as an important aspect in the
development of learners 5,52 50
B41 Recognise its past students who achieved succes in their 5,52 50
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chosen careers . B55 Have educators who show sympathy towards learners 5,48 52 B105 Select well-qualified educators 5,48
5,48 52 52 B46 Respect the traditions of its community
B42 Involve learners in the cleaning of classrooms and school grounds
5,47 55
B68 Provide incentives for learners to achieve in Olympiads and extra curricular activities
5,46 56
B72 Reward the individual performance of learners 5,45 57 B23 Have everyone in the school committed to the
transformation of the education system 5,45 57
B3 Provide learners with opportunities to enable them to utilise information independently
5,43 59
B24 Ensure that the governing body and educators have joint planning sessions
5,43 59
B52 Have a governing body that makes special provision for the welfare of learners
5,43 59
B36 Institute a training and development programme for educators who fail to achieve their curriculum objectives
5,41 64
B12 Gather information to make informed decisions about resourcing the school
5,39 65
—B78 Strive towards equity in learner achievement among all socio-economic levels
5,37 66
B14 Let stakeholders participate in developing the mission of the school
5,27 69
B11 Allocate most of the school funds to activities of teaching and learning
5,27 69
B21 Consult with parents before taking an important decision in respect of school policy
5,23 71
B77 Recognise parents who contribute money for the upgrading of school facilities
5,14 76
1380 Strive towards equity in learner achievement among differing races
5,14 76
B5 Make use of computer technology to supplement teaching methods
5,09 79
B6 Not deviate from the National curriculum 4,64 87 B34 Offer financial incentives to educators based on their
teaching competence 4,58 88
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The above 72 items can thus be regarded as one scale and the six-point scale should be
understood in items of a new scale that can be represented as follows.
Minimum 1 2 3 4 5 6 Maximum
(x 72)
72 144 216 288 360 432
A score of between 360 and 432 would thus indicate that respondents agree to strongly
agree with the factor concerned. A score of 288 would represent partial agreement by the
respondents whereas a score between 288 and 360 would represent partial agreement to
agreement with the factor. A factor mean score of 216 would represent partial
disagreement by the respondents concerned.
Having presented the items associated with factor one and discussed the appropriate
scale, factor two will now be discussed.
TABLE 4.2: ITEMS ASSOCIATED WITI -I THE FACTOR OPEN DEMOCRATIC
MANAGEMENT
Item no.
Description Mean An effective school should score
Rank order
B101 'Encourage educators to be accountable for the 5,43 achievement of their learners
59
B51 Not tolerate the intimidation of educators 5,42 63
B9 Implement strategies for fundraising 5,28 68
B44 Allow stakeTio1Uers to collaborate in the formulation 5,22 of school rules and regulations
72
B30 Train and develop educators using programmes designed 5,22 by the educators of the school
72
1360 13e responsive to the concerns of its stakeholders 5,16 75
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B89 Have eddcators who use peer appraisal to develop themselves
5,13 78
B20 Have a curriculum that is supported by the majority of stakeholders of the school
5,08 80
B31 Invite outside consultants to train its educators 5,07 81 , B7 Allow educators to use the results of the assessment of
learners to plan curriculum priorities 5,05 82
B58 Create governance structures to give stakeholders the necessary power to enable them to govern the school completely
4,84 83
B59 Will only implement an additional field of study when the majority of the stakeholders have agreed to it
4,80 84
B48 Involve learners in disciplinary matters affecting the school
4,50 90
B16 Encourage teacher unions to participate in school mana ,ement
4,07 94
1319 Involve the local taxi association in the transport needs of the learners
3,98 96
1345 Allow parents to participate in the professional development of educators
3,84 98
B17 Allow learners to have a say in how money collected for the development of sport is spent
3,77 99
B47 Allow parents to play a role in the appointment of educators
3,72 100
B18 Let student organisations participate in the management of the school
3,72 100
B8 Allocate most of the schools funds to extra-curricular activities
3,40 103
The 20 items above can thus be regarded as one scale or factor and the six-point scale
should be understood in terms of a new scale that can be represented as follows:
Minimum 1 2 3 4 5 6 Maximum
( x 20)
20 40 60 80 100 120
-56-
A score of between 100 and 120 would thus indicate the respondents agree to strongly
agree with the factor concerned. A score of 80 would represent partial agreement by the
respondent whereas a score between 88 and 100 would represent partial agreement to
agreement with the factor. A factor mean score of 60 would represent partial
disagreement by the respondent concerned.
The items making up factor three will now be presented in the form of a table.
TABLE 4.3: ITEMS WITH THE FACTOR NORMATIVE MANAGEMENT
Item no.
Description Mean An effective school should: score
Rank order
73-83 - Regard excellent achievement as a core value 5,26 70 B71 Have educators with a wide range of teaching experience 5,18 74 B50 Involve re-Timers in decision-making only if they have the 4,76
necessary expertise 85
B57 Take stern action against pregnant learners 4,69 86 BUS Try to involve the business sector in the management 4,53
of the school 89
B85 Give grater power to the experienced teachers 4,38 91 B I 0 Expect parents onearners who cannot pay school funds 4,20
to render some form of service to the school 02
B53 Involve learners in decision-making only if they have an 4,11 interest in a particular decision
93
B81 Cater for a homogeneous cultural group 4,05 95 B63 Only implement a curriculum that has been successfully 3,93
implemented in another country 97
B79 Link its norms and valueS to a particular religion 3,48 102 B91 Not allow participative decision-making 2,54 104 B32 Discourage educators from improving their educational 1,73
qualifications 105
The above 13 items can thus be regarded as one scale or factor and the six-point scale
should be understood in terms of a new scale that can be represented as follows:
Minimum 1
13
2
26
3
39
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4
13)
52
5
65
6 Maximum
A score between 65 and 78 would thus indicate that respondents agree to strongly agree
with the factor concerned. A score of 52 could represent partial agreement by the
respondents whereas a score between 52 and 65 would represent partial agreement to
agreement with the factor. A factor mean score of 39 Nvoukl represent partial
disagreement by the respondents concerned and a score of 26 would indicate
disagreement by the respondents \vith the factor concerned.
Having completed a representation of the factor involved in school effectiveness it is
appropriate to state the hypotheses and discuss the statistical analysis.
4.3 HYPOTHESES
Due to the restrictions placed on the length of a mini -dissertation only one example of
two independent groups and one example of three or more independent groups will be
discussed in detail. '!'he comparison of two independent groups will be the first to be
discussed.
4.3.1 Comparison of two independent groups
At the multivariate level two independent groups can be compared for possible statistical
difference in their mean scores using HoleIling's test. This implies that the vector
means of the two independent groups are compared in respect of the three factors
considered together. Should a statistically significant difference be found at this
-58- '
multivariate level than the Student [-test is used in respect of each of the variables taken
separately. The particular independent group chosen by this researcher is gender and the
discussion will now turn to possible differences between male and female respondents
relative to the three factors.
4.3.1.1 Differences between male and female respondents as independent variable
TABLE 4.4: HYPOTHESES WITH MALE AND FEMALE EDUCATORS AS
THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
Dimension Variable Symbol Description Test Multivariate Gender I-loT There is no statistically Hotelling's level significant difference between
the vector mean score of male and female educators in respect of the three factors . considered together.
f 2
1-laT There is a statistically significant difference between the vector mean score of male and female educators in respect of the three factors considered together.
Univariate - Hot There is no statistically Student level
.
significant difference between the mean scores of male and female educators in respect of each factor taken separately namely:
[-test
Hot 1 Accountable collaborative management
Hot2 - Open democratic management
Hot3 Normative management
Hat There is a statistically significant difference between the
59-
mean scores or male and
female educators in respect of
each lador taken separately
namely:
fat I Accountable collaborative
manaL!,einent
I lat2 Open democratic management
liat3 Normative management
TABLE 4.5: SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MALE AND
FEMALE EDUCATORS REGARDING TIIE FOLLOWING
THREE FACTORS
Factor Group Factor mean Ilidelling T2 (p-value)
Student t-test (n-value)
Accountable collaborative management
Male Female
403.78 399,44
0,0I I**
0,000**
0,004**
Open democratic management Male 94,96 0,000 ** Female 9 I ,46
Normative management Male 52,06
Female 53.60
* * Statistically significant at the 1% level (p<0,01) N (Males) = 675
N (Female) 932
Table 4.5 indicates that there is a statistically significant difference between the vector
mean scores of male and female educators at the multivariate level in respect of all three
factors considered together (p = 0,000). FloT is thus rejected and the alternative
hypotheses Hal' is accepted. At the univariatc level male and female educators differ
statistically significantly from one another in respect of all three Factors considered
-60-
seperately, Hot I, Hot2, and Hot3 are thus rejected in favour of the alternative hypotheses
namely, Hotl , Hot2, and Hot3 are thus rejected in favour of the alternative hypotheses
namely Hat 1, Hatt and Hat3.
Male educators perceive themselves to be more accountable collaborative and openly
democratic in the management of school effectiveness when compared with female
educators. The simple explanation could be that most people in promotion posts are
males. Even in politics, males occupy high positions. It is very rare to have a female
educator holding a high position in any organisation. Females' reasoning is based on
caring and emotional commitment and are religiously inclined. Thus, female educators
have a significantly higher factor mean score that of the male educators in respect of
normative management.
Having set hypotheses and tested them in respect of one example of two independent
groups it is now necessary to compare one example of three or more independent groups.
4.3.2 Comparison of three or more independent groups
In respect of three or more independent groups, multivariate differences are investigated
by means of MANOVA (multivariate analysis of variance) in respect of the three factors
considered together. The vector mean scale scores are compared and should any
difference be revealed at this level then ANOVA (analysis of variance) is used to
investigate which of these three factors is responsible for the significant statistical
difference. Groups are analysed pair-wise by means of either the Scheffe or the Dunett
T3 tests. If the homogeneity of variance in the Levene test (an advanced from of the
Student t-test) is more than 0,05 (p>0.05) then the Scheffe test is used to investigate
possible differences between pairs. Should the homogeneity of variance be less than 0,05
(p<0,05) then the Dunett T3 test is used to investigate differences between the various
pairs. The difference between the mother tongue groups will now be discussed.
-61-
4.3.2.1 Differences between mother tongue groups in respect of the three factors
TABLE 4.6: HYPOTHESES WITH MOTHER TONGUE GROUPS AS THE
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
Dimension Variable Symbol Description • Test Multivariate Mother FroM Thereis no statistically significant Manova level tongue difference betweeft the vector
mean score of the four mother
tongue groups in.respect of the
three factors taken together.
HaM There is a statistically significant difference between the vector mean scores of the four mother tongue groups in respect of the three factors taken together.
Univariatc level
FloA The average scale scores of the four mother tongue groups do not
differ in a statistically significant way from one another in respect of the following factors. taken separately:
Anova
FloA I Accountable collaborative management
1 -loA2 Open democratic management
1-boA3 Normative management
, HaA The average scale scores of the
four mother tongue groups do differ in a statistically significant
way from one another in respect
of the following factors taken
separately:
HaA I Accountable collaborative management
HaA2 Open democratic management
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Pair-wise difference
1-1aA3
floS
1-loS2
Normative management
There is no statistically significant difference between the average scale scores of the four mother tongue groups compared pair-wise in respect of the three factors considered
separately namely:
- . Accountable collaborative
management
Scheffe.
lloS2 Open democratic management
flaS There is a statistically significant
difference between the average scale scores of the four mother
groups compared pair-wise in respect of the three factors considered separately namely:
I laS1 Accountable collaborative management
l-iaS2 Open democratic management
1-1aS3 Normative management
TABLE 4.7: SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE MOTHER
TONGUE GROUPS IN RESPECT OF THE THREE FACTORS:
Factor Group Factor mean ,
Manova (p-value)
0,000
. Anova _Sp-value
0,014 A
ScheITUDunett T3 A
-
B -
C -
I) -
Accountable collaborative management
A 402,08
B 396,59 I3 - - * -
C 403,08 ' C - - -
D 403,26
96,30
82,89
p - _ _
Democratic management A
0,000 **
A - 44* -
*,
13 13 ** - *
C 96,73 C - 4, * - *
88,86 D 4.* ** ** _
Normative management
•
A 51,72
56,86 0,000 **
A - ** - -
13 13 ** -
** *,
C 51,72 C - ** -
D 50.40 D - ** - -
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** Statistically significant at the 1% level (p<0,01)
* Statistically significant at the 5% level (p>0,01 but < than 0,05)
A = Nguni (N = 801)
B = Afrikaans (N = 380)
C = Sotho (N = 340)
D = English (N = 76)
Using the data in Table 4.7 it follows that there is a statistically significant difference at
the 1% level between the mother tongue groups at the multivariate level. HoM is thus
rejected in favour of the research hypotheses HaM (see 3.2). At the univariate level the
factor mean scores of the four mothePr tongue groups differ from one another in respect
of all three factors namely accountable collaborative management (p=0,014) open
democratic management (p=0,000) and normative management (p=0,000) HoA is thus
supported.
In respect of the pair-wise comparison the following conclusions can be made:
• Relative to accountable collaborative management educators with Sotho as
mother tongue differ statistically significantly from educators who have Afrikaans
as mother tongue. Sotho mother tongue speakers have a significantly higher score
than Afrikaans mother tongue speakers and hence HoS, BC1 is rejected in favour
of HaS, BC1. According to table 4.7, Sotho mother tongue speakers perceive
themselves to be more accountably collaborative when compared with Afrikaans
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mother tongue speakers. The factor mean score of Afrikaans mother tongue
groups is the lowest in respect of accountable collaborative management although
all the groups have relatively high factor mean scores.
Relative to open democratic management the Afrikaans mother tongue speakers
have the lowest factor mean score whilst the English mother tongue speakers have
the second lowest score. In comparing these two groups with all the mother
tongue groups, they differ significantly in respect of open democratic
management. HoS, AB 2, HoS, BC2, HoS, BC 2, HoS, BD 2, HoS, AD 2 and
HoS, BD 2 are rejected in favour of their alternative counterparts HaS, AB 2,
HaS, BC 2, HaS, BD 2, HaS, AD 2 and HaS, BD 2. Educators who have
Afrikaans as mother tongue only partially agree with the fact that open democratic
management promotes school effectiveness. Their argument may be that they do
not believe that open democratic management is conducive to school
effectiveness. It may be possible that the two groups — Afrikaans and English
speakers still believe in autocratic management. The whole idea of involving all
stakeholders (participative manageMent) is possibly not strongly supported.
Verhoeven (1996:131) concludes that research data presently does not
conclusively support the idea that participation of parents, community members
and learners contribute to school effectiveness.
In respect of normative management the Afrikaans mother tongue educators have
the highest factor mean score and differ statistically significantly from the other
three mother tongue groups at the 1% level of significance. HoS, AB 3, HoS, BC
3 and HoS, BD 3 are rejected in favour of HaS, AB 3, HaS, BC 3 and HaS, BD 3.
Afrikaans mother tongue educators support the perception that a directive form of
normative management is more conducive to effective schools more than the
other mother tongue groups do. It may be possible that Afrikaans mother tongue
Religion
Educator attendance
Principals gender
Other Christianity Excellent Average to poor Male
Factor mean scores
F3 53,64** 52,07** 51,88* *
53,38** 51,96** 1 54,90** 49 . 74** 53,26**
92,23* 5402**
93,91* 51,36** I
92 53* 1 53 05
994,50* I 52,59
403.34** 398,28** 400,89 403,67
F1
F2 404 11** -I 94,60** 397,82** --I 90,73** 403,62 400,62 403,66** 396,71** 403.33 401,13
92,92 92,87 96,49** 85,63** 95.40* 92,67*
-65-
educators believe that norms, values • and school culture promote school
effectiveness (Stoll & Fink, 1996:98).
Only one example of two independent groups and one example of three or more
independent groups have been discussed completely. Due to the limitation in
length placed on a mini-dcsscrtation it is not possible to discuss all the
independent groups in this fashion. The various factor mean scores will,
however, be summarised in Table 4.8 followed by a brief discussion for each of
the groups.
Table 4.8: MEAN SCORES OF THE INDEPENDENT GROUPS IN RESPECT
OF THE THREE FACTORS MAKING UP SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS
Category name
Yes No Promotion post Educator SADTU Other or none
Female Definitely Partially Not at all
20-30 years 31 -33 years 34-36 years 37-40 years 41-46 years 47+ years 1 to 8 years
• 9 to 13 years 14 + years I to 3 years 4 to 7 years 3 to 12 years 13 + years
Independent Group Attended workshop-school effectiveness Post level
Educator organisation
Benefited from workshop
Age of respondents
Teaching experience
Years as principal
53,69 53,35 54,43
51,65* 52,02
*51,80 *54,45*- 53,23 54,17
52 03** *52 . 39
*54 , 04** 50 56 51,15 50,29 49,76
407,47** 399,93** 397,36**
403 . 24 403,65 399,15 402.76 397,38 401,32 403,66 - 399,96 400,60 401 . 62 407 , 22 404,92 402,46
[
*96,89** 92,34 **
*92,82
95,36** *94,89**
93,45* *
-* 94,69** *90,66** 85,35**
.95,11**
E **93,55 **9062**
95.72 95,37 93,89 91,76
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llighest educational qualification
Grade 12 + diploma 397 , 94 94i21* - 93,16 91,38* -
95,16** 81,87** _
53,36 53,19 52 ,23 5/, 27** - - 57,58** _
Diploma + FDE 402,80 461,67 402,52
Degree + higher • anglish
Language of instruction
Afrikaans 396,40 Dual medium 401 ,75 r * 93,97** _ 51 75**_ Parallel medium 397,56 L * 89,03** 53,05** -
Attendance of learners
Excellent 402.87 91,83 53,63* -1_ 52,18* Average 400,05 93,69
Poor 397.19 96.03 54.59
Kind of school Primary 402,38 92,61 53,58 Secondary • 400,38 93,10 52,58 Combined 401 , 14 92 , 96 52 , 59
District in which school is situated
Ecrstehock 403 79 97,09** - -*93,07** -
92,61** -
53,29 52 73 52,40
Ermelo 403,67 400,76 Groblersdal
liazyview -*411,31** - 99,04** - 56,33** - 52 , 09 54,48** 49,66** - 52 , 96 54,15** - 52,31
KwaMhlanga 401,13 407,39
96,97** *98,27** -
*95,64** - Malelanc Moretcle 400,26 NcIspruit 394,97 4 * -
398,44** - t- •398,81
1-*89,09** - 86,96** - 88,12" -
Standerton • Witbank
Level of discipline
Excellent 401 91 92 71 55 73** Good 403,79* - 93 17 52,62** - Average 400,23
388 16* 92,99 90 , 92
52 48** - 51,37**_ - Poor
* * Statistically significant at the 1% level...(p<0,01)
* Statistically significant at the 5% level (p>0,01 but < 0,05)
Fl = Accountable collaborative management
F2 = Open democratic management
F3 = Normative management
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4.4 DISCUSSION OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE FACTOR MEAN
SCORES PRESENTED IN TABLE 4.8
In order to facilitate the discussion of the factor mean scores the factors will be discussed
separately with accountable collaborative management being the first to be examined.
4.4.1 Accountable collaborative management
Attendance of a course on school effectiveness — educators who indicated that
they had attended a course/workshop seminar on school effectiveness had a
significantly higher factor mean score than educators who had not attended in
respect of the factor accountable collaborative management. Although both
groups agree to strongly agree with the items involved in accountable
collaborative management it would appear that attendance at course has a positive
effect of the perceptions of educators in respect of greater accountable
collaboration.
Present post level — educators in promotion posts have a higher factor mean
score in respect of accountable collaborative management then post level one.
Educators in promotion posts regard collaborative as more important in order to
achieve goals.
Educator organisation membership — educators belonging to the South African
Teachers Union (SADTU) have a statistically significantly higher factor mean
score than educators belonging to unions such as TUATA, NATU, NUE, SAOU,
NAPTOSA, and SAVBO. Although both groups agree to strongly agree that
accountable collaborative management is an important aspect of school.
-68-
effectiveness, SADTU members perceive themselves to be more accountable
collaborative than other teacher organisation members.
Religion — educators who belong to Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Budhism or
African Traditional had a higher factor mean score than educators who are
Christians. Both groups do, however, agree to strongly agree that accountable
collaborative is an important aspect of school effectiveness.
Attendance of educators — educators who perceived the attendance of educators
at their school to be excellent had a statistically significantly higher factor mean
score than educators who perceived educator attendance to be average to poor.
Educators whose attendance is good probably show good skills of self-
management (see 3:9). They honour their periods and they reach for the whole
day and in so doing they attempt to restore the culture of teaching and learning.
Accountable collaboration would presuppose excellent educator attendance and it
is highly probable that excellent educator attendance enhances school
effectiveness.
Principals' gender — educators who have female principals have a higher factor
mean score than those who have males as principals in respect of accountable
collaborative management. Although the difference is not significant this finding
is in accordance with the greater collaborative nature of female principals
(Bisschoff and Grobler, 1997:205).
Improvement of management skills from course attendance — respondents
who feel that the course, seminar or workshop had definitely benefited their
management skills obtained a significantly higher factor mean score than the
groups who felt they benefited partially or not at all. It thus appears as if
-69-
attendance of such courses in respect of school effectiveness over the past three
years has influenced the perception of a group of respondent positively in respect
of accountable collaborative management as a component of school effectiveness.
Age of respondents — the two youngest age groups between 20 — 30 years have
the highest factor mean score whilst the group falling between 41 — 46 years of
age have the lowest mean score. Although the groups do not differ statistically
significantly from one another all the age groups do agree to strongly agree that
the factor accountable collaborative management is an aspect of school
effectiveness.
Teaching experience — educators with 1 to 8 years teaching experience have the
highest factor mean score whilst those with 9 — 11 years experience have the
lowest factor mean score. "The beginning years of teaching do not fare any
better" states (Fullan, 1996:106). Beginning educators need induction and
support from the more experienced educators. They do, however, all agree to
strongly agree that accountable collaborative management is an important aspect
of an effective school.
Experience as principal — principals who have the least experience namely 1 to 3
years have the lowest factor mean score whilst principals between 4 and 7 years
with experience have the highest factor mean score. All the most experienced
principals groups strongly agree with accountable collaborative management, all
principals groups do, however, have a factor mean score in excess of 400 (5,55 on
a 6 point scale) which indicates that they agree to strongly agree that accountable
collaborative management is an important aspect of school effectiveness.
-70-
Highest educational qualification — the three educational qualification groups do
not differ statistically significantly in their factor mean scores. Educators with the
lowest educational qualification have the lowest factor mean score in respect of
accountable collaborative management whilst those with a teacher's diploma plus
a further educational diploma have the highest factor mean score. All three
groupings agree to strongly agree that accountable collaborative management is
part of school effectiveness.
Languages of instruction — educators who have English as medium of
instruction in their schools have the highest factor mean score whilst educators
with Afrikaans as medium of instruction have the lowest factor mean score. The
three language of instruction groups do, however, not differ statistically
significantly from one another in respect of accountable collaborative
management and all agree to strongly agree that it is an important component of
school effectiveness.
Attendance of learners — although educators who believe that the attendance of
learners at their schools is excellent obtain the highest factor mean score they do
not differ statistically significantly from the groups who believe that the
attendance is average to poor. All three groups agree to strongly agree that
accountable collaborative management is a vital aspect of effective schools.
Kind of school — educators belonging to primary schools have the highest factor
mean score whilst educators in secondary schools have the lowest score. Primary
school educators believe that collaboration is the most important aspect to school
effectiveness because they possible favour team work (collegiality) as compared
to individualism. All the groups agree to strongly agree that accountable
collaborative management is part and parcel of an effective school.
-71-
District in which educator is employed — educators who work in Nclspruit have
the lowest factor mean score whilst educators who work in 1-lazyview have the
highest factor mean score. Nelspruit, Ermelo and Witbank differ statistically
significantly in their scores from the other seven districts. These three districts
are situated in largely urban areas and they obtain a large percentage of Afrikaans
speaking educators. This could be the reason they differ in perception from the
other districts. 1-lazyview on the other hand is distinctly rural and it contains the
former independent state. That may be the reason for the lowest mean score in
1-lazyview. The return of questionnaire from Flazyview was also very poor in
comparison with the other districts and this may be the result of low educator
morale in this district that has a history of educator and learner unrest. The
educators in the 10 districts agree to strongly agree that accountable collaborative
management is important for effective schools.
Discipline levels — educators with the perception that discipline in their schools is
good to excellent have higher factor mean scores than educators who believe that
it is poor. All four groups agree to strongly agree that accountable collaborative
management is a must for effective schooling.
This completes the discussion of accountable collaborative management as aspect of
effective schools. The second factor namely democratic management will now be
discussed.
4.4.2 Open democratic management
Attendance of workshop related to school effectiveness — educators who
attended a workshop, seminar or course on school effectiveness in the past three
years have a statistically higher factor mean score than those who had not
attended such a course. Both groups partially agree to agree that open democratic
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management is an important factor of effective schools. The attendance of
courses, seminars or workshops have had a positive contribution on the
respondents with regard to democratic management as an aspect of effective
schools.
Post level — both educators and those in promotional posts have virtually the same
factor mean score in respect of open democratic management and they thus do not
differ significantly from one another. Both groups partially agree to agree that
open democratic management is a vital aspect of school effectiveness.
Educators organisation membership — educators belonging to SADTU agree
that open democratic management is an aspect of school effectiveness. The other
educator organisations only partially agree that open democratic management is
an aspect of school effectiveness. It is not surprising that the two educator
organisation groupings differ significantly from another with regard to open
democratic management, SADTU believes in democracy, strike and transparency
to get their way whilst the other educator organisations grouping possibly still
believe in autocratic management to achieve their means. According to
Verhoeven (1996:130-131) there is no definite evidence that suggests that
democratisation promotes school effectiveness. This may emanate from the many
different meanings given to school effectiveness.
Religion — educators who belong to the Christian faith have a statistically
significantly lower score than educators who believe that educator attendance is
average to poor at their schools. Educators who perceive the attendance of
educators at their schools to be excellent do not agree as strongly with open
•
-73-
democratic management as an aspect of school effectiveness as those educators
with the perception that educator attendance at their school is average to poor.
Principals' gender — according to the factor mean scores, educators who have
female principals have a statistically significantly higher factor mean score than
educators who have male principals. They arc of the opinion that open
democratic management is an important aspect of school effectiveness and
educators who have male principals only partially agree to open democratic
management as an aspect of school effectiveness.
Improvement of management skills from course attendance on school
effectiveness — the educators who feel that attendance at a course, workshop or
seminar on school effectiveness benefited their management skills have a higher
factor average regarding open democratic management than the other groups.
Educators who perceived that they only benefited to a partial extent or not at all
have a lower factor mean score. All three groups do, however, agree to partially
agree that open democratic management is a vital aspect of school effectiveness.
Age of respondents — educators who belong to the oldest age group namely the
47 + years have the lowest factor mean score and partially agree that open
democratic management is an aspect of school effectiveness. The youngest age
group who fall in the category 20 to 30 years of age have the highest factor mean
score and they agree that open democratic management is an aspect of school
effectiveness.
Teaching experience — the educators with the lowest teaching experience
namely 1 to 8 years have a lower score than the group with 9 to 13 years
experience. Educators with 9 to 13 years of teaching experience have a lower
score than the group with 14 -I- years of teaching experience. Thus the group with
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the greatest leaching experience differs statistically significantly from the other
two groups and has the lowest factor mean score. Age has a tempering effect on
the perception that open democratic management is an aspect of school
effectiveness.
Years as principal — principals with the least experience arc of the opinion that
open democratic management is an important aspect of school effectiveness.
However, all, groups partially agree to agree with the factor that open democratic
management is part of school effectiveness and they do not differ statistically
significantly in their perceptions.
Highest educational qualifications — educators with a lowest qualification have
the highest factor mean score and differ statistically significantly from well
qualified educators. Well qualified educators with degrees or higher
qualifications are normally more critical in their thinking. Thus it is not
surprising that they would have a lower factor mean score than the less well
qualified educators. Well-qualified educators are more reserved in their
perception of open democratic management as a component of school
effectiveness.
Language of instruction — educators with English as medium of instruction have
the highest factor mean score and agree with the factor open democratic
management as an aspect of school effectiveness. Educators with Afrikaans as
medium of instruction have the lowest factor mean score and partially agree that
open democratic management is an important aspect of school effectiveness.
Afrikaans medium schools differ statistically significantly from the other three
-75-
groups at the 1% level whilst parallel medium schools also differ statistically
significantly from the other groups. Parallel medium schools in Mpumalanga
probably contain a greater percentage of Afrikaans speaking educators and it is
expected that they should have the second lowest factor mean score.
Attendance of learners — educators who perceive the attendance of learners at
their schools to be excellent have the lowest factor mean score whilst educators
who perceive the attendance of learners to be poor have the highest factor mean
score. The groups agree that open democratic management is a component of
school effectiveness.
Kind of school — secondary schools have a slightly higher factor mean score than
primary schools. Secondary schools learners arc represented in the school
governing body and this gives secondary educators the perception that open
democratic management is more prevalent in secondary schools. However, all
groups do agree that open democratic governance is an aspect of effective
schools.
District in which educator is employed — educators employed at schools in the
Standcrton district have the lowest factor mean score and only partially agree that
open democratic management is a component of school effectiveness. Educators
from the Hazyview district have the highest factor mean score and they agree that
open democratic management is an aspect of school effectiveness. However,
when one considers examination results as part of an effective school, Hazyview
is probably the worst of the 10 districts and Standerton schools arc among the best
in the Province. It is thus clear that Hazyview educators are of the opinion that
academic achievement in the Senior Certificate examination is not an important
aspect of school effectiveness. Hazyview as a rural district probably has schools
-76-
which arc poorly resourced when compared with schools in Standerton, Witbank
and Nelspruit Educators in 1-lazyview probably place a greater emphasis on
resources as an important aspect of school effectiveness.
Discipline levels — educators who have the perception that discipline at their
schools is poor had the lower factor mean score. The various groups do not,
however, differ statistically significantly from one another and all agree that open
democratic management is an aspect of effective schools.
The two factors namely collaborative management and open democratic
management have been discussed. Normative management, as the third factor
will now be discussed.
4.4.3 Normative management
Attendance of courses related to school effectiveness — educators who had
attended workshops, seminars or courses on school effectiveness had a
significantly higher mean score than educators who had not attended such
courses. Attendance of courses related to school effectiveness may thus influence
the perceptions of educators in respect of normative management as an aspect of
effective schools. Both groups partially agree that normative management forms
part of school effectiveness.
Post level — educators in promotion posts have a statistically lower factor mean
score than educators in post level one. Educators regard normative management
as an important aspect of school effectiveness thus they want direction and norms
to be involved in school management to a greater extent than educators in
promotion posts.
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Membership of educators organisation — SADTU members have a statistically
lower factor mean score than members of the other educator organisations,
SADTU with their affiliations to the worker unions such as COSATU do no
regard teaching as a profession, thus they have their own norms which they regard
as important in teaching. The other educator organisations, however, see teaching
as a profession and they, therefore perceive normative management as an aspect
of school effectiveness.
Religion - educators belonging to the Christian faith have a statistically
significantly higher mean score then educators belonging to other religion
groupings. Educators who belong to the Christian faith arc of the opinion that
normative management is a vital aspect of school effectiveness to a greater extent
than the other religious groupings.
Attendance of educators — educators who perceive attendance of educators at
their schools to be excellent have a significantly higher factor mean score than
educators who perceive educator attendance to be average to poor. The
perception of excellent educator attendance thus seems to foster normative
management as an aspect of school effectiveness. If the norm of the school is that
educators should set the example that excellent attendance is important then it is
highly likely that learners will follow the example and this should promote school
effectiveness.
Principals' gender — educators with male principals have a slightly higher mean
score than educators who have female as principals. There is no statistically
significant difference between the factor mean scores of the groups. Both groups
partially agree that normative management is a vital aspect of school
effectiveness.
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Improvement of management skills from course attendance on school
effectiveness — there are no statistically significant difference between then factor
mean score of the various groups. All three groups partially agree that normative
management plays an important role in school efectiveness, but the culture of the
school is not likely to be influenced by attending two or three courses, as aspects
such as norms and values as part of school culture are formed over a long time.
Age of respondents — the youngest age . group between 20 to 30 years had the
lowest factor mean score and differed statistically significantly from 34 to 36 year
and the 37 to 40 year groups. The younger age group does not regard normative
management as such an important aspect of school effectiveness whereas the
older groups agree to an extent that normative management is an important aspect
of school effectiveness.
Teaching experience — educators with 14 + years of teaching experience have the
highest factor mean score and differ from the other two groups at the 1% level of
statistical significance. All groups partially agree that normative management is
an aspect of effective schools and it is expected that the more experienced
educators would be more in favor of a directive form of management as they
probably still believe in a top down management style.
Years as principal — principals with 13 + years of experience have the lowest
factor mean score with regard to normative management as a component of
effective schools. The group with 4 to 7 years experience has the highest score.
It is probably because this group is still achievement orientated and as such places
a greater reliance on normative management than the other groups. There is
however, no statistically significant between the groups and all groups partially
agree that normative management is a component of effective schools.
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Highest educational qualifications — educators with degrees and higher
educational qualifications have the lowest mean score, however, there is no
significant statistical difference between the three educational qualification
groups. Educators with the lowest educational qualification agree that normative
management is an important aspect of school effectiveness. Educators who arc
underqualified usually display feelings of anxiety and uncertainty; .therefore they
prefer a directive management style as this lead to certainty
Language of instruction — educators with Afrikaans as medium of instruction
have the highest factor mean score and differ from the other language of
instruction groups at the 1% level of statistical significance. They thus agree that
normative management is a component of school effectiveness. This finding thus
complements the one on mother tongue groups where Afrikaans medium schools
also had the highest factor mean score in respect of normative management as an
aspect of effective schools.
Attendance of learners — educators who perceive the attendance of learners to be
poor have the highest factor mean score. All three groups do however partially
agree that normative management is an aspect of school effectiveness.
Kind of school — primary schools have the highest factor mean score, however,
there are no statistically significances between the groups and all partially agree
that normative management is an important component of effective schools.
District in which educator is employed — educators from Flazyview have the
highest factor mean score whereas educators from Moretele have the lowest factor
mean score in respect of normative management as an aspect of effective schools.
Educators from Moretele differ in their factor mean scores at the 1% level of
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statistical significance from educators in Standerton, Malelane and Hazyview. It
is perhaps because of all the unrest and disruption in education that the educators
in Hazyview regard normative management as important as this will give
direction to learners and educators.
• Discipline level — educators who believe that discipline in their schools is
excellent have the highest factor mean score, Whereas those who believe it to be
poor have the lowest factor mean score. Educators who believe that discipline in
their schools is excellent differ statistically significantly from all the other groups
at 1% level. Excellent discipline is usually built on a foundation of norms and
values and all the groups partially agree to agree that normative management
should be a component of school effectiveness.
4.5 SECTION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE
Section C of the questionnaire asked only one question where respondents had to indicate
their response to the statement.
My school would be:
Amongst the most effective schools in the district More effective than most schools in the district 2 About as effective as other schools in the district 3 Less effective than most other schools in the district 4 Amongst the least effective schools in the district 5
A summary of the responses is provided in Table 4.9
Table 4.9: Frequency table of the various categories of school effectiveness
Category Frequency Percent 1 797 47,4 2 413 24,6 3 396 23,6 4 . 42 2,5 5 32 1,9
Total 1680
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As this data is an ordinal measure it can at most be used to rank individuals or categories.
Thus one can rank them as most effective (1), more effective (2), as effective (3), less
effective (4) and least effective (5). It is often convenient to combined the various
categories together, called collapsing categories (Babble and Halley, 1994:34). For
example one could collapse categories 1 and 2 together and refer to it as the more
effective group and then collapse categories 3,4 and 5 together and name it the as or
less effective group. Using the information in Table 4.9 the grouped data would then
appear as follows:
Table 4.10: Combination of categories of school effectiveness
Category Frequency 1210 470 1680
Percent 72% 28%
1 -1- 2 3 + 4 Total
1 2 + 5 ' >
where refers to collapsed into
As one is involved here with frequencies that Chi-squared test can be applied. It makes
no assumption about population of parameters or population characteristics for its use.
For this reason the Chi-squared test is one example of a non-parametric test (Grimm,
1993:431).
For the purposes of the research we shall make use of a matrix where the observed count
represents the frequency observed and the expected count represents the frequency
expected. The standardised residual is useful when the null hypotheses is rejected as it
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indicates which of the cells in the matrix makes a significant contribution towards the
significance of the Chi-squared test.
R = (J„ -J,;) 2
Where R — the standardised residual and if
R > 2 and positive then the number of observations in that cell is more than would
be expected by chance.
R > 2 and negative then the number of observations in that cell is lower than
would be expected by chance.
As an example the post level groups in respect of school effectiveness will be
investigated. The observed and expected frequencies, the percentages within the post
levels are indicated in the columns of the matrix. The information is indicated in Table
4.11.
TABLE 4.11: FREQUENCY COUNTS OF THE POST LEVEL GROUPS IN
RESPECT OF THE SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS CATEGORIES
School Effectivenes s
Frequencies of school effectiveness
Post level Total 1203
1203,0 72,0%
X 2 (p-value)
0,097
Promotion posts 343
3.31,9 74,4%
1,4
Educators 860
871,1 71,1%
-1,4
More effective
Observed count Expected count %within post level Adjusted residual
As or less „ effective
Observed count Expected count %within post level Adjusted residual Observed count Expected count %within post level
118 129,1
25,6% -1,4 461
461,0 100,0%
350 338,9 28,9 1,4
1210 1210,0 100,0%
468 468,0 28,0
1671 1671,0 100,0%
Total
4.5.1 Hypotheses
Ho — there is no statistically significant difference between the observed and expected
frequencies of the two educator groups in respect of two categories of school
effectiveness . 0)
Ha — there is statistically significant difference between the observed and expected
frequencies of the two educator groups in respect of the two categories of school
effectiveness (f„ — f = 0)
Table 4.11 indicates that the null hypotheses must be accepted (p=0,097).
There is thus no significant difference between the educator post level groups in respect
of the two categories of school effectiveness. One could, however, conclude from the
observed and expected frequencies that the educators in promotion posts have a more so
because the observed frequency is higher than the expected one with respect to the more
to most effective category.
Only those independent groups where statistically differences were found will feature
in the discussion that follows.
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-84-
4.5.2 Frequency counts of the independent groups where statistically significant
difference were found to be present
4.5.2.1 School attendance groups
TABLE 4.12: FREQUENCY COUNTS OF THE EDUCATOR ATTENDANCE
GROUPS IN RESEPCT OF THE SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS CATEGORIES
Frequencies of school Effectiveness
Attendance of educators Total
X 2 (p-value; Excellent Average to
poor More Observed count 815 199 1014
School effective Expected count 730,6 283,4 1014,0 effectiveness ' %within row 67,4% 42,4% 60,4%
Adjusted residual 9,4 * -9,4* As or Observed count 394 270 664 0,000
less Expected count 478,4 185,6 664,0 **
effective %within row 32,6% 57,6% 39,6% Adjusted residual -9,4* 9,4* Observed count 1209 469 1678
Total Expected count 1209,0 469,0 1678,0 %within post level 100,0% 100,0% 100,0%
these cells make a major contribution towards the significance of x 1
Ho - there is no statistically significant difference between the observed and expected
frequencies of the two educator attendance groups in respect of the two categories of
school effectiveness.
Ha - there is a statistically significant difference between the observed and expected
frequencies of the two educator attendance groups in respect of the two categories of
school effectiveness.
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From the data in Table 4.12 Ho is rejected in favour of Ha. Educators who perceive
educator attendance in their schools to be excellent have statistically significantly higher
observed frequencies than expected due to chance only. Educators who perceive
educator attendance to be average to poor have observed frequencies lower than
expected. Schools where educator attendance is excellent are viewed as more
effective schools than the other schools in the district. Educators at such schools are
good role models, they teach for the whole day and they honour all their periods. On the
other hand, schools where educators' attendance is perceived to be average to poor are
regarded as less effective.
4.5.2.2 Mother tongue groups
TABLE 4.13: FREQUENCY COUNTS OF THE MOTHER TONGUE GROUPS
IN RESPECT OF THE SCHOOL EFFECTIVE CATEGORIES
Frequencies of school effectiveness
Mother tongue groups Total X' (p-va Nguni Afrikaans Sotho English
More Observed count 245 346 551 58 1200
Effective Expected count 243,2 297,8 602,9 56,1 1200,0 School %within row 72,5% 83,8% 65,8% 74,4% 71,9%
effectiveness Adjusted residual 0,2 6,1* -5,7* 0,5
As or Observed count 93 68 287 20 468
Less Expected count 94,8 116,2 235,1 21,9 468,0 0,01
effective %within row 27,5% 16,4% 34,2% 25,6 28,1% *4
Adjusted residual -0,2 -6,1* 5,7* -0,5 Observed count 338 414 838 78 1668
Total Expected count . 338,0 414,0 838,0 78,0 1668,0 %within post level 100,0% 100,0% 100,0% 100,0% 100,0
%
* = these cells make a major contribution towards the significance of X2
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Ho - there is no . statistically significant difference between the observed and expected
frequencies of the four mother tongue groups in respect of the two categories of school
effectiveness.
Zia - there is a statistically significant difference between the observed and expected
frequencies of the four other tongue groups in respect of the categories of school
effectiveness.
From Table 4.13 Ho is rejected and Ha is accepted. The Afrikaans mother tongue
speakers have observed frequencies higher than would be expected due to chance
whilst the Sotho mother tongue speakers have observed frequencies lower than
expected in respect of having schools that arc more or among the most effective schools
in the district. Considering the category that contains the as or less effective schools this
tendency is reversed and the Afrikaans mother tongue speakers have observed
frequencies in this category that are lower than expected. When discussing Table 4.7 the
Sotho mother tongue speakers had significantly higher factor mean scores than Afrikaans
mother tongue speakers in respect of normative management. The groups link school
effectiveness with a more normative or directive form of management. Afrikaans mother
tongue speakers place more emphasis on order and discipline and norms and values play
a major role in the learning culture in their schools. Educators in Afrikaans mother
tongue schools are well qualified, and are committed in promoting a culture of teaching
and learning. Such schools also have adequate human resources — both teaching
personnel and non-teaching personnel.
-87-
4.6 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS AND
THE VARIOUS INDEPENDENT VARIABLES
The relationship between the respondents perceptions of schools effectiveness and each
independent variable was investigated statistically using the CHAID-technique (Stoker,
Engelbrecht, Crowther, Du Toit and Herbst, 1985: 102-104). This technique is utilised to
identify particular patterns in the data that may be used to formulate structural
relationships between the variables. In this particular research it is possible to identify
the independent variables that contributed most to the respondents perceptions of
school effectiveness. The CHAID-computer programme is an example of the so-called
AID-procedures ("Automatic Interaction Detech") that can be utilised to predict which of
the independent variables play the most significant role in the variation of the dependent
varaible. The results of this technique can be presented schematically in what is called a
dendogram (Stoker et.el., 1985: 104).
The CHAID-technique was developed to analyse data where both the dependent and
independent variables are categorical or qualitative in nature (gender, religion, and
marital status). In this research project the CHAID-technique was used in order to
identify which independent variables best predicts the educators perception of
school effectiveness.
4.6.1 The CHAID-technique
For a given set of data the CHAID-analysis involves a number of steps the most
important of which are:
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Stratification of each of the predictor variables (independent variables) first occur
in respect of the dependent variable (school effectiveness). This implies that the
categories of a particular predictor are examined for possible regrouping into a
number of classes, say k, that are each more or less homogeneous in respect of
the percentage distributions of the dependent variable. Suppose the predictor
consists of four categories represented by the symbols A,13,C, and D. These
categories are then reduced to the symbols (A),(13) and (CD) in such a way that
there are significant differences in respect of their influence on the dependent
variable between the three classes but not between the categories in the class
themselves (Stoker et .al ., 1985:103).
After each of the above predictors have been analysed as above, the best predictor
that explains the most variance . in the dependent variable (the independent
variable with the highest Chi-squared value) is used to divide the set of data into a
number of subsets. Subsequently each set of data is now analysed according to
the above mentioned steps: The process is continued until no further statistically
significant division of the data is possible (Stoker et.al ., 1985:103).
Having briefly described the CHAID-technique it is now necessary to explain how the
Cl-lAID-analysis in respect of school effectiveness was utilised.
4.6.2 Hypotheses in respect of the various independent variables
The following hypotheses were formulated:
Ho-there is -no statistically significant relationship between the independent
variable Xi and the two categories of school effectiveness (1=1,2,3 18).
Ha-there is a statistically significant relationship between the independent
variable Xi and the two categories of school effectiveness (1=1,2,3 .18).
-89-
The independent variables utilised were all • the biographic variables that featured in
section A of the questionnaires namely:
XI = Attendance on workshops on school effectiveness
X2 = Did the.workshops benefit your management skills?
X3 — Gender
X4 = Age
X5 = Post level
X6 = Teaching experience
X7 = Years as principal
X8 = Membership to an educator organisation
X9 = Mother tongue
X10 = Educational qualification
XI I = Religion
X12 = Language of instruction at school
X13 = Attendance of educators
X14 = Attendance of learners
X15 = Gender of principal
X16 = Type of school
X17 = District in which school is situated
X18 = Present level of discipline in your school
The CHAID-analysis was implemented using the dependent variable of school
effectiveness in categorical form. For this particular research project the following two
categories of school effectiveness were decided on:
The most and more effective groups 1 and 2 were collapsed into one category = 1
The as, less and least effective groups 3,4 and 5 were collapsed into one category
-90-
The Cl-A1D-programme analysis of school effectiveness was used to compile a
dendogram (see figure 4.1). According to the CFIAID-programmejhe best predictors of
school effectiveness in order of their ability to explain variance arc:
present level of discipline in your school;
attendance of learners;
language of instruction at your school;
attendance of educators;
educational qualifications of educators; and
attendance of courses related to school effectiveness
Thus the alternative hypotheses (Ha) are accepted at the 5% level of statistical
significance for the independent variables mentioned above. Alternatively the null
hypotheses (Ho) are accepted at the 5% level for the following independent variables.
Betterment of management skills, gender, age, post level, teaching experience,
years as principal, membership to educator organisation, mother tongue, religion,
gender of principal, type of school and district in which school is situated.
From figure 4.1 it can he deduced that present level of discipline is the best predictor
of educator perception of school effectiveness, followed by attendance of learners,
language of instruction at school, attendance of educators, qualifications of educators and
attendance of course on school effectiveness.
It must be remembered that 1 = most and more effective schools in the district whilst 2 =
as, less or the least effective schools in the district. Considering figure 4.1 it means that
92,16% of respondents that fell in the excellent category of discipline perceived their
schools as most or more effective whilst only 7,84% that fell in the excellent category of
discipline perceived their schools as less or least effective of the schools in the district.
In respect of the good category of discipline 79,46% of educators perceived their schools
as most or more effective than most schools in the district whilst 20,54% perceived
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-92-
themselves as belonging to school as, less and least effective in their districts. When it
comes to the average to poor category of discipline 53,76% of this group perceive them
as belonging to the most and more category of effective schools whereas 46,24% believe
they belong to the as, less or least effective category of schools. Also notice that the
CHAID-programme has reduced the four categories of discipline in Section A to just
three namely excellent, good and has combined the average and Poor into a single
category. The Chi-squared value for levels of discipline was the largest followed by
attendance of learners, language of instruction and so on.
One could now take the next level of attendance of learners and interpret it in a similar
way.
4.7 A COMPARISON OF THE THREE FACTORS FOUND IN SECTION B
OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE WITH THE RATING OF SCHOOL
EFFECTIVENESS IN SECTION C
In response to the questions on what an effective school should contain, three underlying
factors were found to be present namely:
accountable collaborative management.
open democratic management; and
normative management.
In section C of the questionnaire the respondents had to indicate as to how effective they
perceived their school to be relative to other schools in the district. In Table 4.10 the live
categories of school effectiveness were collapsed into two namely:
1 = the more effective group; and
2 = the as or less effective group
It should thus be possible to compare the mean scores that the respondents obtained in
the three factors with respect to the two categories of perceived school effectiveness. The
-93-
relevant data is indicated in Table 4.14.
TABLE 4.14: FACTOR MEAN SCORES IN RESPECT OF THE TWO
CATEGORIES OF SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS
'Factor School effectiveness
Number of respondents
Mean Student t -test (p-value)
Accountable collaborative management
F and 2 1078 402,62 0,028 *
0,200
0,000 **
3 to 5 418 1153
398.29 92,60 Open democratic
management 1 and 2 3 to 5 446 9170
53,66 Normative management 1 and 2 1169 . 3 to 5 455 51,13
1 and 2 = Most and more effective than schools in the district
3 to 5 = As less and least effective than schools in the district ** = Statistically significant at the 1% level (p<0,01)
= Statistically significant at the 5% level (p>0,01) but < 0,05)
From the Table 4.14 it can be seen that the mean scores of accountable collaborative
management and normative do differ statistically significantly from one another. It is
also interesting to note that it is only in open democratic management that the mean score
of the less effective group is higher than the more effective group. These respondents
thus do not perceive their schools to be as effective as the other schools in their district
suggesting that open democratic can adversely affect their perception of school
effectiveness.
A study of the frequencies of the three factors also suggests that their distribution were
negatively skewed and hence the parameter that the frequencies should be normally
distributed is violated. One would thus have to make use of a non-parametric statistical
-94-
procedure in order to compare the mean score of the three factors relative to the
categories of school effectiveness.
It is possible to test the distribution of the factors for normally using the Kolmogorov-
Smirnov one sample test where one compares the observed distribution of the factors
with a theoretical distribution (Siegel, 1956:47-58).
4.7.1 Hypotheses for the one sample Kolmogorov —Smirnov test
Ho — there is no statistically significant difference between the observed and theoretical
distribution in respect of accountable collaborative management.
Ha — there is a statistically significant difference between the observed and the theoretical
distribution in respect of accountable collaborative management.
One should also specify the hypotheses for the other two factors in a similar way.
TABLE 4.15: ONE SAMPLE KOLMOGOROV-SMIRNOV TEST
Factor .Number of observations
Z p-value
Accountable collaborative management 1499 6,668 0,000 ** Open democratic management 1602 2,197 0,000** Normative management 1628 1,568 0,015*
Statistically significant at the 1% level (p<0,01)
* Statistically significant at the 5% level (p>0,01 but < 0,05)
From Table 4.15 it can be seen that all three factor have a p-value < 0,05 and hence the
null hypotheses is rejected in all three cases. Hence the three distributions depart
significantly from the predicted distribution and non-parametric statistical methods need
to be employed to see whether the mean score of the three factors differ statistically
significantly from one another.
-95-
4.7.2 The Mann-Whitney U test
When either of the sample sizes of the independent groups exceeds 20 the sampling
distribution of the Mann-Whitney U approximates a normal distribution and the standard
normal curve is used to identify the critical values instead of reading it from a Mann-
Whitney U table. The Z,1 value fora = 0,05 for the two tailed test is 1,96. This means
that if the 1,96 then the null hypotheses Flo can be rejected or if Vul?.../crit then the
null hypotheses is rejected (Grimm, 1993:475).
4.7.2:1 Hypotheses for the Mann-Whitney U test
Ho — there is no statistically significant difference between the two categories of school
effectiveness in respect of accountable collaborative management and open democratic
management.
IIa — there is statistically significant difference between the two categories of school
effectiveness in respect of accountable collaborative management.
Similar hypotheses can be stated in respect of open democratic and normative
management.
TABLE 4.16: RESULTS OF THE MANN-WHITNEY TEST FOR THE TWO
CATEGORIES OF SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS IN RESPECT OF THE THREE
Factor School effectiveness
NumbCr of observations
Mean Rank
Sum of ranks
Z 1 , p-vale
AcpunTable collaborative managcmcnt
1 and 2 1078 759,75 819007 -1.617 0,106 3 to 5 418 719,50 300749
Open democratic management 1 and 2 1153 791,57 912686 -1,173 366515
0,241 3 to 5 446 821,78
Normative management 1 and 2 1169 841,51 983723 -3,997 0,000 ** 3 to 5 455 737,97 335777
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1 and 2 = Most and more effective than schools in the district
3 to 5 = As, less and least effective than schools in the district
* * = Statistically significant at the 1% level (p<0,01)
• = Statistically significant at the 5% level (p>0,01 but < 0,05)
From the results in Table 4.16 it can be seen that for accountable collaborative
management and for open democratic management the null hypotheses are accepted
(1Z u l<1,96 (1,62 and 1,17). In the case of normative management, however, the null
hypotheses is rejected at the 1% level (1Z u 1>1,96) and the alternative hypotheses Ha is
accepted. With respect to normative management there is a statistically significant
difference between those respondents who perceive their schools as.more effective and
those who perceive them as less effective. The mean score of respondents who perceive
their schools as more effective is significantly higher than those who perceive their
schools as less effective in respect of normative management. Respondents belonging to
such schools involve learners in decision-making only if they have the necessary
expertise and interest and regard excellent academic achievement as a core value. Norms
and values play an important part in the management of the school and it is likely that
respondents belonging to this group perceive these aspects as of predominant importance
in the effectiveness of a school.
4.8 A MORE DETAILED DISCUSSION OF THE THREE SECOND ORDER
FACTORS THAT WERE FOUND UNDERLYING SCHOOL
EFFECTIVENESS
The first order factor analysis revealed that the 105 items could be reduce to 20 factors.
These 20 first order factors were used as an input into a second order factor analysis that
further reduced the factors to three second order factors. In order to investigate the
composition of the second order factors in greater depth it is necessary to discuss them in
greater detail, starting with accountable collaborative management.
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4.8.1 Accountable collaborative management
The first order factor analysis that accountable collaborative management consisted of 11
first order factors that were named as follows;
TABLE 4.17: TIIE FIRST ORDER FACTORS INVOLVED IN ACCOUNTABLE
COLLABORATIVE MANAGEMENT
Factor Name No. of items
Mean score
Mean rank
1.1 Caring climate 35 5,68 3 1.2 Effective team man dement 10 5,46 7 1.3 Resource management -. 7 5,69 2 1.4 Curriculum driven management 6 5,31 9 1.5 Value-based management 3 - 5,52 5 1.6 Ethical management 2 5,76 1 1.7 Stakeholder involvement 2 5,60 4 1.8 Educator incentives 2 5,02 11 1.9 Recognition 2 5,35 8 1.10 Learner achievement equity 2 5,28 10 1.11 Individual achievement I 5,46 6
Using the mean scores of the various factors in table 4.17 it seems that ethical
management plays the most important role in accountable collaborative management
followed by resource management, caring climate and so on. However, the various
factors consist of different number of items and a comparison of a factor containing one
item with one containing 35 is best done.. using stepwise multiple regression so that the
various factors can be appropriately weighted (Norusis, 1998).
Multiple regression is the multivariate technique used to interpret the effect of two or
more independent variables on the dependent variable when the variables arc equal
interval in nature. The simple linear regression equation is expanded from the form
Y = a + bx
Y = a + bi Xi +b2 X 2 ..... bi iXil
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Where XI and X2 are each independent variables of equal interval measure and bi and b2
are partial regression coefficients (Rose and Sullivan, 1996:202). In our particular case:
Y = accountable collaborative management
bi = effect of caring climate
b2 = effect of effective team management
b3 = effect of resource management
and so on up bi
The information obtained from this multivariate statistical procedure is summarised in
table 4.18
TABLE 4.18: STEPWISE REGRESSION: DEPENDENT VARIABLE
ACCOUNTABLE COLLABORATIVE MANAGEMENT
Independent Variable
Name Unstandardised coefficients
Standardised coefficients
Weighted order
Beta A Constant -8.E —15 . P1.1 Caring climate 0,486 0,497 1 F1.2 Effective team management
Resource management 0,139 0,097
0,195 . 0,127
2 4 F1.3
P1.4 Curriculuin driven management 0,083 0,134 3 F1.5 Value based management 0,042 0,068 6 F1.6 Ethical management 0,028 0,037 10 F1.7 Stakeholder involvement 0,028 0,048
0,070 9 5 F1.8 Educator incentives 0,028
F1.9 Recognition 0,028 0,062 8 F1.10 Learner achievement equity 0,028 0,066 7 F1.11 Individual achievement 0,014 0,033 11
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An analysis of table 4.18 indicates that the rank order of the various first order factors is
considerably different from the order in table 4.17. From the standardised regression
coefficient (beta coefficients) it is clear that the effect of a caring climate and effective
team management carries a greater weight than the other variables. The contributions of
the various first order factors to accountable collaborative management should thus be
seen in terms of the weighted order in table 4.18.
4.8.2 Open democratic management
Contained in this factor are six first order factors consisting of 20 items. The names of
the factors and their mean scores are displayed in table 4.19.
TABLE 4.19: THE FIRST ORDER FACTORS INVOLVED IN OPEN
DEMOCRATIC MANAGEMENT
Factor Name •
No. of items
Mean score
Mean rank
2.1 Transparent management 5 3,90 5 2.2 Stakeholder accessibility 4 5,01 3 2.3 Developmental management 4 5,22 1 2.4 Tolerant co-operation 4 4,86 4 2.5 Parental involvement in educator development 2 3,8 I 6 2.6 Consensus curriculum 1 5,08 2
According to the mean score in table 4.19 development management, consensus
curriculum and stakeholders plays the most significant role in the factor open democratic
management. The technique of multivariate regression provided the following
information:
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TABLE 4.20: STEPWISE REGRESSION: DEPENDENT VARIABLE OPEN
DEMOCRATIC MANAGEMENT
Independent Variable
Name Unstandardised coefficients
Standardised coefficients
Weighted order
B Beta a Constant -4,8E-15 2.1 Transparent management 0,250
0,200 0,407 0,270
1 2 2.2 Stakeholder accessibility
2.3 Developmental management 0,200 0,221 4 2.4 Tolerant co-operation 0,100 0,243 3 2.5 Parental involvement in
professional educator developpent Consensus curriculum
0,100
0,05
0,220
0,090
5
6 2.6
Analysis of table 4.20 reveals that transparent management, stakeholders accessibility
and tolerant co-operation play the most significant part in open democratic management.
This reveals that according to the perception of the stakeholders openness may be the
most significant aspect of open democratic management. Openness here refers to
Senge's concept (1990:277) where openness is a combination of participative openness
that refers•to the freedom of speak one's mind and reflective openness is the willingness
to challenge our own thinking.
4.8.3 Normative management
The first order factor analysis revealed that normative management had three underlying
factors composed of 13 items. Names and mean scores of these factors were as follows:
TABLE 4.21: THE FIRST ORDER FACTORS INVOLVED IN NORMATIVE
MANAGEMENT
Factor Name No. of items
Mean score
Mean rank
3.1 Common values management 9 3,92 3 3.2 Financial involvement 2 4,41 2 3.3 Competent decision-making 2 4,43 1
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Analysis of table 4.21 suggests that competent decision-making should be followed by
financial involvement and common values management. Multivariate regression analysis
provides the following data:
TABLE 4.22: STEPWISE REGRESSION: DEPENDENT VARIABLE
MANAGEMENT
Independent Variable
Name , Unstandardised coefficients
Standardised coefficients
Weighted order
B Beta a Constant -2,7E-15 3.1 Common values management
Financial involvement 0,692 0,154
0,768 0,260
1 3 3.2 .
3.3 Competent decision- making 0,154 0,280 2
Thus according to the standardised beta coefficients common values management plays
the most significant role in normative management followed by competent
decisionmaking and financial involvement.
Having discussed the various statistical results of this research it is now necessary to
summarize this chapter.
4.9 SUMMARY
In This chapter an analysis and interpretation of the empirical data was undertaken. The
construct validity of Section B of the structured questionnaire as research instrument
was investigated using two successive factor analytic procedures that reduced the 105
items to three factors namely:
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Accountable collaborative management consisting of 72 items with a
Cronbach-alpha-reliability coefficient of 0,980;
Open democratic management consisting of 20 items with a Cronbach-alpha-
reliability coefficient of 0,875; and
Normative management consisting of 13 items with a Cronbach-alpha-reliability
coefficient of 0,785.
Effective schools in Mpumalanga can thus be seen as considering of aspects of school
culture, school climate, vision, motivational strategies, curriculum, leadership and
resources. These aspects can be reduced to three factors namely accountable
collaborative management open democratic management and normative
management.
An instrument that has construct validity should be able to distinguish between groups
that are known to differ from one another in certain respects. It can be seen from the data
in Table 4.8 that some of the groups that one expects to differ from one an other such as
the mother tongue groups differ significantly from one another in their perceptions. They
differ in respect of aspects of school effectiveness such as accountable collaborative
management, open democratic management and normative management.
The research compared seven examples of two independent groups and eleven examples
of three or more independent groups. Hypotheses were set and multivariate as well as
univariate statistical tests were used to analyse and interpret the data.
In respect of accountable collaborative management significant statistical difference
were found to be present between:
Attendance at workshop, seminar or course on school effectiveness;
Membership of educator organisation;
Attendance of educators;
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Gender;
Benefit from workshop, seminar or course on school effectiveness; and
District in which educator is employed, and level of discipline in the school;
In respect of open democratic management the following groups produced statistical
significant differences:
Attendance at workshops, seminar or course on school effectiveness;
Membership of educator organisation;
Religion;
Educator attendance;
Benefit from workshop, course or seminar;
Age of respondent;
Teaching experience;
Highest educational qualification; and
Language of instruction, and district in which educator is employed.
With respect to the third factor namely normative management the following groups
differed statistically significantly from one another:
Attendance at workshops, seminar or course on school effectiveness;
Post level;
Membership of educator organisations;
Religion;
Educator attendance;
Age of respondents;
Language of instruction;
Attendance of learners;
District in which educator is employed; and
Level of discipline in the school
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From an analysis of the above data it can be seen that all respondents partially agree,
agree to strongly agree that effective schools in Mpumalanga are composed of
accountable collaborative management, open democratic management and
normative management. Section B of the measuring instrument was shown to have
content and construct validity and to be reliable and that it could thus be used to
determine aspects of school effectiveness in Mpumalanga.
An equal interval scale was not used for the question in Section C of the questionnaire.
Hence use had to be made of non-parametric statistical tests in order to see whether the
various independent groups differ statistically from one another in respect of their
perceptions of school effectiveness. There was a similarity in findings in that all the
groups that differed in Section C also differed from one another in Section B of the
questionnaire. The Chi-squared statistic was used and together with the standardised
residual revealed the following statistically significant difference to be present.
In the attendance of educator groups that group the believed that the attendance in
their schools was excellent perceived themselves as belonging to the more
effective schools to a greater extent that one would if the results were due top
chance effects only, Excellent educator attendance thus seems to effect
perception of school effectiveness in a positive way.
Afrikaans mother tongue groups perceived themselves as belonging to the more
effective schools to a greater extent than one would expect due to chance effects
only. Sotho mother tongue groups had a more negative perception in that more of
them perceived themselves as belonging to less effective schools than one would
expect if only chance factors were involved. It thus seems that perceptions of
school effectiveness cannot be separated from cultural effects (see article by
Fuller and Clarke, 1994:135-142).
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The Afrikaans language of instruction group has the more favourable perception
in respect of effective schools. These educators believed that they belonged to
schools that were more effective than most other schools in their districts than one
could predict using the effects of chance alone. Educators in multicultural
schools seemed to have a problem in this regard as they perceived themselves as
belonging to the less effective schools to a greater extent than one would expect
on the basis of chance alone.
Educators who had attended workshops, seminars or courses on school
effectiveness perceived themselves as belonging to the category representing the
more effective schools to a greater extent than one would expect. It appears as if
training courses on school effectiveness influences perceptions of school
effectiveness in a positive sense.
Educators who belong to the so-called professional educator organisations
perceive themselves as belonging to the more effective schools to a greater extent
than one would expect. On the other hand SADTU members who are affiliated to
the worker organisations such as COSATU perceive themselves as belonging to
the less effective grouping of schools to a greater extent than one would expect
due to chance considerations only. Educator organisations thus appear to play
a role in how educators see school effectiveness.
Educators who teach in the Standerton district perceived themselves as belonging
to the more effective schools in their district to a greater extent that one would
expect due to the effect of chance only. Educators from the district of
KwaMhlanga have observed frequencies lower than one would expect due to
chance only. The educators from the districts of Standerton, Malelane, Ermelo
and Nelspruit thus seem to have positive perceptions of their schools effectiveness
relative to other schools in their districts.
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The CHAID-technique was also utilised in order to verify which of the
independent variables are the best predictors of school effectiveness. The
resulting dendogram indicated that the best predictors of the educator's
perceptions of school effectiveness in Mpumalanga are:
the level of discipline present in the school;
the attendance levels of learners;
the language of instruction at the school;
the attendance levels of educators;
the educational qualifications of educators; and
attendance of courses, workshops or seminars on school effectiveness.
In an effort to see if there was a relationship between the three factors underlying what
respondents perceived as an effective school in Section B of the questionnaire and how
effective they rated their school in Section C non-parametric statistical procedures were
used. The Mann-Whitney U test was able to indicate that respondents differed
statistically significantly only in respect of normative management. There was also
indications that respondents perceived that being too democratic could adversely affect
perceptions of how effective a school really is. Normative management with its emphasis
on norms of excellent achievement appears to play an important role in respondent's
perception of an effective school.
The composition of the underlying facets of the three second order factors was analysed
by means of multivariate stepwise regression. This analysis revealed the following
information:
The relative importance of the first order factors in accountable collaborative
management according to stakeholder perception are;
Caring climate
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Effective team management
Curriculum driven management
Resource management
Educator achievement equity
Value based management
Recognition
Ethical management
Individual achievement
The relative importance of the first order factors in open democratic management are:
Transparent management
Stakeholder accessibility
Tolerant co-operation
Developmental management
Parental involvement in professional educator development
Consensus curriculum
The relative importance of the first order as predictors of normative management are:
Common values management
Competent decision-making
Financial involvement
In chapter five a summary of the research will be given. Important findings will be
discussed and appropriate recommendations will be made. Suggestions for further
research will also be provided.
CHAPTER FIVE
FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
5.1 INTRODUCTION
This research project sought to investigate staffing as an aspect of human resources:
implication for school effectiveness. In this chapter the researcher will be discussing the
following aspects:
summary of chapters one to four;
literature and empirical findings;
recommendations based on findings;
implications for effective schools in Mpumalanga; and
recommendations for future research.
5.2 SUMMARY
Public concern over the quality of education and growing pressure on schools to become
centres for learning has necessitated a study of effectiveness in our schools.
A common mission and a shared vision, good leadership, a climate conducive to learning
are some of the most important aspects of school effectiveness.
For our schools to be effective it is necessary to renew and restructure education,
especially the staffing of schools with a capable teaching force that will facilitate the
development of the youth of our country to their full potential.
This research project has taken school effectiveness to consist of the following facts:
school culture;
school climate;
vision;
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motivational strategies;
curriculum;
leadership; and
resources.
In chapter two a literature study was undertaken and the following aspects were
discussed.
three phases involved in the process of filling a post, namely, personnel
recruitment, selection and appointment;
staff development;
staff recognition; and
redeployment and rationalisation of educators.
Chapter three discussed the methodology of the research design used to collect data. The
research design focused on these aspects: the purpose of quantitative research, the design
of the questionnaire as a research instrument, a discussion of the questions used by this
researcher, and a discussion of the respondents used, biographical details requested and
the return of the questionnaire.
In chapter four the reliability and validity of the structured questionnaire and the various
factors involved were discussed. A comparison of two independent groups was made by
stating the appropriate hypotheses and by analysing the data by means of multivariate
statistical tests. For example: male and female educators differ statistically significantly
from one another in respect of all three factors considered separately, namely,
accountable collaborative management, open democratic management and normative
management.
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Another comparison of three or more independent groups was also made. Appropriate
hypotheses were stated and multivariate statistical tests used. For example: The factor
mean scores of the four mother tongue groups differ from one another in respect of all
three factors namely accountable collaborative management, open democratic
management and normative management.
Seven examples of two independent groups and eleven example of three of more
independent groups were compared. Hypotheses were set and multivariate as well as
univariate statistical tests were used to analyse and interpret the data.
The Chi-squared statistic was used and together with the standardised residual revealed
for example, that in the attendance of educator groups the group that believed that the
attendance in their schools was excellent perceived themselves as belonging to the more
effective schools to a greater extent than one would if the results were due to chance
effects only.
The CHAID-technique was also utilised in order to verify which of the independent
variables are the best predictors of school effectiveness. The resulting dendogram
indicated that the best predictors of the educator's perceptions of school effectiveness
in Mpumalanga are:
the level of discipline present in the school;
the attendance levels of learners;
the language of instruction at the school;
the attendance levels of educators;
the educational qualifications of educators; and
attendance of courses, workshops or seminars on school effectiveness.
Findings is the next aspect to be discussed.
5.3 RESEARCH FINDINGS
This aspect has been classified into two subsections, namely; literature findings and
empirical findings. Literature findings will be discussed first.
5.3.1 Literature findings
Personnel provision
Filling a post involves personnel recruitment, selection and appointment (see 2.4 p.17).
Personnel recruitment is a necessary task which should be carried out in order to
influence the best potential candidates to apply for the post.
Personnel selection
The purpose of the selection is to make the best choice from the possible alternatives and
to enhance the likelihood of making a successful appointment. During the selection
process the following selection means should be employed:
The application form
An application form contains identifying details about the applicant, the applicant's level
of training and experience, identification of the previous employer as well as some
background information of the candidate.
Interviewing
Interviewing is one of the most generally used forms of personnel selection. Although,
interviewing is the most popular means of personnel selection it has flaws. It lacks
objectivity, and most appointments are made in the "passages". The presence of educator
organisations as observers during the processes of shortlisting and interviewing is the
result of an attempt to ensure transparency (See 2.4 p.15).
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The interviewing committee members in most cases are not experienced and experts in
selection by means of interviewing, therefore they need to be trained before they conduct
interviews.
3. Staff induction
Newly appointed educators should be helped to become orientated into a new
environment, which includes the school system, the teaching position, and the people
with whom they will be working.
The induction programmes should include the following objectives namely to:
make the employee feel welcome and secure;
help the employee become a member of the "team";
inspire the employee towards excellence in performance;
help the employee adjust to the work environment;
provide information about the community, school system, school building,
faculty, and status;
acquaint the individual with other employees he or she will be associated with;
and
facilitate the opening of school each year (see 2.5 p.19).
4. Staff appraisal
Appraisal does not exist in isolation, and its long term impact seems likely to depend on
how far it is integrated with other strategies for review and development. Appraisal can
act as a link between whole school development and the realities of classroom life.
The main objective of educator appraisal is to promote educator's personal and
professional development and school effectiveness (see 2.6 p.21). An appraisal system
should enable educators to become more effective and to improve the quality of their
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teaching in general. Work performance is the main objective of appraisal (see 2.6.1
p.21).
Staff development
Staff development is seen as a deliberate and continuing process which supports the
growth of the individuals and the institutions in which they work (see . 2.7 p.23)
Professional development is one of the most important aspects in an institution. In-
service training opportunities enable educators to keep abreast of developments both in
teaching methods and in their subjects.
Recognition of staff
A positive, highly motivated and committed staff to educational excellence creates an
environment which motivates learners to perform better. This plays a major role in
school effectiveness. Demotivated educators are not committed and dedicated to
teaching and they do not honour their periods, and often leave learners unattended.
Rationalisation and redeployment of educators
The equal redistribution of educators is very important. For schools to be effective they
need to have adequate staff. Reployment has caused uncertainties and anxiety amongst
educators. They feel insecure and uncertain about their jobs. It is therefore important
that the Department of Education speed up the process of rationalisation and
redeployment (see 2.9 p.27).
5.3.2 Empirical findings
These findings are based on the responses of the respondents to the questions on staffing
as an aspect of human resources they are discussed below.
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5.3.2.1 High quality educators
Respondents place a high price on the quality of educators. They want educators with
teaching skills.
94,8% of the respondents agree to strongly agree that educators should be
provided with opportunities for improving their teaching skills. In-service
trainings enables educators to increase their repertoire of teaching skills
drammatically and use these skills effectively (see 3.4 p.34).
86,2% of the respondents agree to strongly agree that schools should select well
qualified educators. The selection of well qualified educators is one of the most
important aspects of school effectiveness (see 3.4 p.37)
5.3.2.2 A variety of teaching resources
A majority of respondents believe that educators who use a variety of teaching resources
enhance learning, 94,0% of the respondents agree to strongly agree that educators should
use a variety of teaching resources because this contributes to school effectiveness.
Educators should "employ a variety of teaching and learning strategies to engage multiple
minds" (see 3.4 p.35). •
5.3.2.3 Good skills for self-management
Skills for self-management are seen as a very important aspect by the majority of the
respondents, 94,1% of the respondents agree to strongly agree with this statement. Good
skills for self-management play a major role in school effectiveness because educators
with good self-management skills are good role models' (see 3.4 p.36)
5.3.2.4 Teaching experience
The percentage of respondents agree to strongly agree that schools should be staffed with
educators with a wide range of teaching experience is 80,2%. This will benefit the
schools because experienced educators can make a difference in the lives of learners.
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Schools should recruit and select educators who are well qualified, experienced and who
understand what the school aims to do (see 3.4 p.37)
Recommendations based on the findings will be discussed in the paragraphs that follows.
5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS
The following recommendations are based on the literature findings and the empirical
findings discussed in 5.3.1 and 5.3.2 above.
The Department of Education should upgrade teacher training. At district level
teacher centres must be strengthened and at least each circuit should have a
teacher centre or a satellite centre. These centres should be fully resourced with
all the materials educators may need.
Programmes of workshops throughout the year should be organised at these
centres.
Management training should be started and intensified for managers at all levels
from school to head office.
The Department of Education should improve the self-management skills of
educators.
All schools should be provided with adequate teaching and non-teaching staff.
The process of redeployment and rationalisation should be finalised.
School principals and educators should be trained in the appraisal of educators.
This will enable educators to realise that the appraisal system intends to help them
with their professional and career planning.
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The Department of Education should appoint an independent body that will deal
with selection processes of educators at all levels.
Educators' achievements should be made known to the school governance and to
education officials and other relevant stakeholders so that their efforts can be
acknowledged and recognised by all.
The possible implications of this research project for the Department of Education in
Mpumalanga will now be discussed.
5.5 IMPLICATION OF THE OUTCOMES OF THE EMPIRICAL RESEARCH
FOR SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS
5.5.1 Implications for the managerial approach
The results of two successive factor analytic procedures using the SPSS 8.3 programme
indicated that effective schools in Mpumalanga are grounded in three fundamental
factors, namely: accountable collaborative management, open democratic
management and normative management.
Multiple regression analysis revealed that the predictors, as factors underlying
accountable collaborative management, in order of relative importance, are:
Caring climate
Effective team management
Curriculum-driven management
Resource management
Educator incentives
Learner achievement equity
Value based management
Recognition
Stakeholder involvement
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Ethical management
Individual management
Multiple regression analysis further revealed that the relative importance of the factors
underlying open democratic management are as follows:
Transparent management
Stakeholder accessibility
Tolerant co-operation
Developmental management
Parental involvement in professional educator development
Consensus curriculum
Multiple regression also revealed that the factors underlying normative management, in
order of relative importance are:
Common values management
Competent decision-making
Financial involvement
Educators in Mpumalanga want school principals who will pay attention to the above
factors
It is also necessary to compare more and less effective schools in the same districts in a
cross — functional way, in order to determine what it is, according to the perceptions of
the respondents, that effects the effectiveness of a school.
5.5.2 Comparative perceptions in respect of effective and ineffective schools'
The way that respondents perceived the effectiveness of their schools relative to other
schools in the same district is significant for the purposes of this research. Perceptions
are sometimes at the heart of the vision one has of what constitutes an effective school.
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If the vision were to create an effective school, it would be necessary to take cognisance
of the following outcomes of the Chi-square test.
excellent educator attendance affects the perception of school effectiveness in
a positive way;
perceptions of school effectiveness cannot be separated from cultural effects;
educators in multi-cultural schools perceive themselves as belonging to the
less effective schools to a greater extent than one would aspect due to chance
only;
training courses in school effectiveness influence the perceptions of educators
in respect of school effectiveness in a constructive manner; and
educator organisations play a role in how effective educators perceive their
schools to be.
It should be clear that these aspects should lie at the heart of the vision, if all the schools
in Mpumalanga are to be transformed to effective schools. Apart from this, the research
project also exposed certain significant variables that must be present in any effective
school.
5.5.3 Significant variables
With the help of the CHAID-Programme various significant variables were found to be
invaluable to effective schooling. These are:
the level of discipline present in a school;
the attendance levels of learners;
the language of instruction of the school;
the attendance of learners;
the educational qualifications of educators; and
the attendance of courses on school effectiveness.
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5.5.4 IMPLICATIONS OF RELEVANT LITERATURE RESEARCH FOR
SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS
The findings of the relevant literature research indicated the degree to which parents and
learners are dependent on decision makers in the producer, micro-environmental, and
macro-environmental domains, as it influences the resources available to parents
(financial help, transport, guidance). It is evident too that the impact of national policies
such as the South African Schools Act aimed at enhancing choice and competition among
schools varies markedly as a result of the local context.
The market-oriented reforms, implemented in the Mpumalanga Province in South Africa,
have not, to date, brought about revolutionary changes in school effectiveness. The
impact of the reforms is, nonetheless, significant in respect of the following aspects,
namely:
more openness to parents, stakeholders and interest groups;
developing strategies to enhance academic achievement;
giving priority to academic performance over wider educational concerns; and
the impact on inequalities between schools and the educational opportunities they
can offer appears to have increased.
It also became clear that the public founded educational system is likely to continue to
encompass significant elements of parental choice, devolved budgets and management,
degrees of diversity, and other aspects associated with a more market-like environment.
Upgraded educators training will produce intellectually challenging educators
who will promote school effectiveness and restore the culture of learning,
teaching and services in our schools. The establishment of well resourced teacher
centre at all circuit offices will give educators opportunities to develop their
teaching skills. This will also enable educators to make use of a variety of
teaching resources.
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Workshops on management skills for the officials of the Department at all levels
should be conducted. This will enable them to manage schools efficiently and
effectively.
Inequalities in the provisioning of personnel for schools should be attended to.
The Department of Education should speed up the process of rationalization and
redeployment of educators.
Intensive workshops on educator appraisal should be conducted for all relevant
stakeholders. Educators need to understand that appraisal is a continuous and
systematic process intended to help individual educators with the professional and
career planning. The Department of Education should ensure that the in-service
training and redeployment of educators matches the complementary need of
individuals and their schools.
The appointment of an independent body to conduct selection processes whenever
there are vacant posts to be filled will ensure that well qualified and suitable
candidate are appointed for the vacant posts.
Recognition of educators' achievement will motivate them to always try to do
their best and this will in a way promotes COLTS.
The implications for school effectiveness lies in the way that school managers and policy
makers are going to manage school improvement programmes in relation to two broad
issues, namely:
Responsiveness
If a school is to be responsive to those it serves, there is a need for "consumer"
responsiveness both by schools and the educational authorities. What is required among
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other things, is that a considerably greater priority should be given to participation
research and the effective monitoring of national and provincial policies from those who
are affected by them (including educators and stakeholder parties). This boils down to
reviving democratic involvement and collective responses to problems arising in schools.
It also means that high profile attention needs to be given to the exploration and
evaluation of the role of the school, in terms of personal development, creating a secure
and supportive environment and leadership.
Inequalities
Specific strategies to inhibit from escalating further need to be developed,
together with a willingness to develop and pilot new policy initiatives. This
includes aspects such as enrolment, school budgeting, resource allocation and
investments, as well as school leadership than is positive and innovative.
Furthermore, schools that are vulnerable and face particular difficulties in a more
competitive environment require certain conditions and modes of support from
the micro- as well as the macro-environments within that specific area.
5.6 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
It will be interesting to investigate why the majority of the respondents regarded
discipline in the school as the most important aspect of school effectiveness.
Multicultural education also needs to be researched.
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5.6 CONCLUSION
In conclusion one can postulate that for schools to be effective; it would need to
redress the imbalances of the past with regard to staffing. It is hoped that the
situation in schools pertaining to staffing will soon be resolved by active
intervention by the Provincial Department of Education when conducting
personnel planning.
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Elliot, J. 1996. School effectiveness research and its critics. Alternative visions
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Erasmus, M. and van der Westhuizen, P.C. 1996. Schools as organisation (In van
der Westhuizen P.C. (ed). Organisation development and the quality of working
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one step forward and ' :‘ck in many provinces". Daily Mail and Guardian,
1 —6.
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Grimm, L.G. 1993. Statistical application for the behavioural science. New
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11.
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ormaawsrarloorimapcimmamaxampaineoussomareamormaanams
RAND AFRIKAANS UNIVERSITY
P.O. Box 524
Auckland Park
Johannesburg
Republic of South Africa
2006
*NO
RAND AFRIKAANS UNIVERSITY Telegraphic address Rauniv Telex 424526 SA
Telephone (011) 489-2911 + 27-1 1-489-291 1
Fax (011)489-2191 + 27-11-489-2191
7••••.WelOVIDWIP te•C. .•
YOUR OPINION IS VITAL IN DETERMINING SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS
Dear Madam/Sir
The effectiveness of a school is of importance to our educational system. It is thus vital that we obtain your opinion regarding this aspect.
A questionnaire is one of the most effective ways of ELICITING EDUCATOR OPINION and we are committed to the fact that without your opinion the information is not credible. Please bear the following in mind when you complete the questionnaire:
Do not write your name on the questionnaire - it remains anonymous.
There are no correct or incorrect answers in Sections B and C. We merely require YOUR OPINION in order to obtain reliable and trustworthy data.
Your first spontaneous reaction is probably the most valid. So work quickly and accurately. Do not ponder to long over any particular question/item.
Please answer all the questions that arc printed on BOTH SIDES of the page.
If you would like to change your response to a question do so by clearly crossing out the incorrect response and circling your intended response.
This questionnaire should take about 30 minutes of your time to complete.
Please return this questionnaire to the PERSON FROM WHOM IT WAS RECEIVED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AFTER COMPLETION.
Thank you again for your valuable opinion.
Yours faithfully
T Prof. s (I C schoff f. Prof. BR Grobler 6.0 6151
Dr. CF Loock . kf. kiVa2011C-20 Mrs. KC Moloi VteC 2714:76C;
DYNAMIC FOCUS ON THE FUTURE
2 3
•
2
2
SECTION A: PERSONAL AND GENERAL INFORMATION
Circle the applicable code or fill in the number where necessary.
EXAMPLE FOR COMPLETING SECTION A
QUESTION 1: Your gender?
If you are a male then circle 1 as follows:
Female
Have you attended any course/workshop/seminar related to school effectiveness in the past three years?
Yes No
If you answered yes to question 1, has it benefited your management skills?
Definitely Partially Not at all
3. Your gender?
Male Female
How old are you ( in complete years)
e.g. if you are thirty five years then PT-51
Which of the following best describes your present post?
Principal Deputy-principal Head of department Educator
1 2 3 4
3
6. Teaching experience (in complete years)
e.g. five years 1 5 1
7. Number of completed years as a principal (if applicable)
e.g. five years LI 1
8. To which of the following educator organisations do you belong? Please circle yes or no for each one (as you may belong to more than one)
Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes -
SADTU TUATA NATU
SAOU - NAPTOSA SAVBO Other (please specify)
9. What is your mother tongue? (Give one only)
Zulu 01
Xhosa 02 Afrikaans 03 Tswana 04 North-Sotho 05 English 06 South-Sotho 07 Tsonga 08 Ndebele 09 Venda 10 Swati 11 Gujerati 12 Hindi 13 Tamil 14 Telegu 15 Other (specify)
•■■■•■■■.,
16
4 _ 5 6 7
4
Your highest educational qualification?
Lower than grade 12 — Grade 12 Post school diploma/certificate- Teacher's diploma/certificate plus further educational diploma/certificate--Bachelor's degree Bachelor's degree plus a teacher's diploma/certificate Post graduate qualification
Your religion?
None Christianity- Islam---------------------------------
Judaism------------
Hinduism Buddhism African Traditional----- Other (specify)
Language of instruction at your school
English Afrikaans Dual medium (two languages simultaneously in every class)— -- Parallel medium (two languages for some subjects, in different classes)– Other (specify)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5
13. How will you describe the attendance of educators in your school?
Excellent (18 or more present per week out of every 20 - 90% or more)- Average (16-17 present per week out of every 20 - 80 to 89%) Poor (15 or less present per week out of every 20 - 79% or less)—
2
3
14. How will you describe the attendance of learners In your school?
Excellent (36 or more present per week out of every 40 - 90% or more)- Average (32-35 present per week out of every 40 - 80 to 89%) Poor (28 or less present per week out of every 40 - 79% or less)—
2 3
5
15. What is the gender of your principal?
Male Female
16. Your school is a:
Primary school Secondary school Combined school (Primary and secondary)- Special school - Other (specify)
1 2 3 4 5
17. In which district is your school situated?
Eerstehoek----------------------- 0 0 ---2—
1 Ermelo Groblersdal 0 3
0 4 Hazyview 0 5 KwaMhlanga
Malelane _0 6 Moretele 0 7
0 8 Nelspruit _ Standerton . 0 9 . Witbank 1 0
18. How would you classify the present level of discipline in your school?
Excellent-- ---------------------- - Good Average Poor 4
SECTION B:
Indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements:
= strongly disagree 2— 5 = forms equal intervals between I and 6
6 = strongly agree
6
An effective school should:
ensure that maths and science are part of the academic curriculum
Strongly disagree 1(213141516 Strongly agree
pass on information received from the Department of Education to all relevant stakeholders
Strongly disagree 11E1E11 4 5 6 I Strongly agree
provide learners with opportunities to enable them to utilise information independently
Strongly disagree 1T213-1 4 F5 1 67 S
•
trongly agree
implement a curriculum that provides learners with a life-skills education
Strongly disagree PT27 3 r4T5 -1-6 1 Strongly agree
make use of computer technology to supplement teaching methods
not deviate from the National curriculum
Strongly disagree 1 2 1 3 1 41516 S
•
trongly agree
allow educators to use the results of the assessment of learners to plan curriculum priorities
Strongly disagree 1 2 3 4 51 6-1 Strongly agree
allocate most of the school funds to extra-curricular activities
Strongly disagree [ 1 1 2 3 1_ 4 1 5 1 6 1 Strongly agree
implement strategies for fundraising
Strongly disagree 1 [ 2 (3 41 5 6 -I S
•
trongly agree
Strongly disagree 1 1 Strongly agree _ 2 3 4 5 1 6
7
An effective school should:
expect parents of learners who cannot pay school funds to render some form of service to the school
Strongly disagree 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 61 Strongly agree
allocate most of the school funds to activities of teaching and learning
Strongly disagree 1 I 2 1 3 141516 1 Strongly agree
gather information to make informed decisions about resourcing the school
Strongly disagree 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 Strongly agree
be future orientated when designing its curriculum
Strongly disagree 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 Strongly agree
let stakeholders participate in developing the mission of the school
Strongly disagree 1 2 3 4 1 5 1 6 I Strongly agree
try to involve the business sector in the management of the school
Strongly disagree 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 5 1 6 1 Strongly agree
encourage Teacher Unions to participate in school management
Strongly disagree (1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 Strongly agree
allow learners to have a say in how money collected for the development of sport is spent
Strongly disagree 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 61 Strongly agree
let student organisations participate in the management of the school
Strongly disagree
1 1_2 3 1 4 1 5 1 6
Strongly agree
8
An effective school should:
Involve the local taxi association in the transport needs of the learners
Strongly disagree 11T2-1 31-41-5 1 6 1 Strongly agree
have a curriculum that is supported by the majority of stakeholders of the school
Strongly disagree 1 121 31 41 5 1 6 I Strongly agree
consult with parents before taking an important decision in respect of school policy
Strongly disagree (1 I 2` 3 (4 1 5 6 Strongly agree
have a school policy which is in line with its mission statement
Strongly disagree (1 (2 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 Strongly agree
have everyone in the school committed to the transformation of the education system
Strongly disagree ( 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 6] Strongly agree
ensure that the governing body and educators have joint planning sessions
Strongly disagree 5 61 Strongly agree
collect relevant information to determine whether the objectives of the curriculum have been achieved
Strongly disagree (1 (2 (3 1 4 I 5 6 Strongly agree
have educators working as a team with the management of the school
Strongly disagree 11 2 I 3 1 4 1 5 6 I Strongly agree
have a clearly articulated educational philosophy
Strongly disagree 1 1 (2 1 3 14 1 5 (6 ( Strongly agree
9
An effective school should:
28. ensure that its educators provide a supporting environment for learners
Strongly disagree 1 2 3 4 1 5 6 1 Strongly agree
have educators who show good skills of self-management
Strongly disagree 1 1 1 2 3 1 4 (5 161 Strongly agree
train and develop educators using programs designed by the educators in the school
Strongly disagree 1 1 2 3 4 5 161 Strongly agree
invite outside consultants to train its educators
Strongly disagree
1 1 2 3(4 5 1 61 Strongly agree
discourage educators from improving their educational qualifications
Strongly disagree [11? 0 1 4 I I , 5 , 6 , Strongly agree
33. have positive expectations for educators
Strongly disagree 1 1
3 1741 5 1 6 1 Strongly agree
offer financial incentives to educators based on their teaching competence
Strongly disagree Fri2T3T4T5 6 1 Strongly agree
involve the educators in solving school related problems
Strongly disagree [ 1 12 1 3 4 1 5 1 6 Strongly agree
institute a training and development programme for educators who fail to achieve their curriculum objectives
Strongly disagree [ 1 21 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 -1 Strongly agree
not be afraid to learn fro•its failures
Strongly disagree (1 1 2.1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6] Strongly agree
I0
An effective school should:
practice what it preaches
Strongly disagree pi-F-1 3 {-4 15 re--1 Strongly agree
show a commitment towards exemplary teaching practice
Strongly disagree 1 (2 I d1-4-1-5 (6 Strongly agree
attempt to ensure that basic human rights are respected
Strongly disagree F1l2F3 1 4 5 6 Strongly agree
41. recognise its past students who achieved success in their chosen careers
Strongly disagree 2 3 Strongly agree
involve learners in the cleaning of classrooms and school grounds
Strongly disagree Di 2 1 3-F41 57-6 I Strongly agree
encourage learners to respect their cultural traditions
Strongly disagree [ 1 (2 (3 (4 (5 1 6 1 Strongly agree
allow stakeholders to collaborate in the formulation of school rules and regulations
Strongly disagree [ 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 Strongly agree
allow parents to participate in the professional development of educators
Strongly disagree AEI 3 4 5 di Strongly agree
respect the traditions of its community
Strongly disagree 121 3 1 4 (5 1 6 1 Strongly agree
allow parents to play a role in the appointment of educators
Strongly disagree m 2 3 4 51-61 Strongly agree
6
tt
An effective school should:
48. involve learners in disciplinary matters affecting the school
Strongly disagree
2 1 3_1 4 131 6.1 Strongly ayroe
have corrective measures in place to deal with learners who violate school rules
Strongly disagree ri T2 -Ts') I 4 5_16 1 Strongly ogre
involve learners in decision-making only if they have the necessary expertise
Strongly disagree Lij 2 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 Strongly agree
not tolerate the intimidation of educators
Strongly disagree 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 6 Strongly agree
have a governing body that makes special provision for the welfare of learners
Strongly disagree 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 41 5 1 6 Strongly agree
involve learners in decision-making only if they have an interest in a particular decision
Strongly disagree 112131415161 Strongly agree
ensure that it receives active support from all levels of the education system
Strongly disagree 1111111 3 4 Strongly agree
have educators who show sympathy towards learners
Strongly disagree 1 2 1 3 1 4 1_ 5 1 6 Strongly agree
have community structures with an interest in education supporting the school
Strongly disagree 1 1 1 2 3 pi-T51 6] Strongly agree
take stern action against pregnant learners
Strongly disagree 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 5 6
Strongly agree
12
An effective school should:
create governance structures to give stakeholders the necessary power to enable them to govern the school competently
Strongly disagree 1 1 2 3 I 4 1 5T67 Strongly agree
will only implement an additional field of study when the majority of the stakeholders have agreed to it
Strongly disagree 1 1 2 1 37 4 [5 .1 6] Strongly agree
be responsive to the concerns of its stakeholders
Strongly disagree 1 17 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 I Strongly agree
try to create a climate conductive to active parent involvement
Strongly disagree ED 2 3T4T51161 Strongly agree
have the leadership skills to bring about the necessary transformation in the school
Strongly disagree [ 1 2 131415 [61 Strongly agree
only implement a curriculum that has been successfully implemented in another country
Strongly disagree [-I-I-Z[31 4 1 5 F-61 Strongly agree
provide opportunities for improving the teaching skills of educators
Strongly disagree 1 2M 4 r5 1-61 Strongly agree
implement a curriculum that is based on relevant and reliable educational research
Strongly disagree 111213 L4 [516 Strongly agree
implement a curriculum that provides learners with the necessary skills to improve employment opportunities
Strongly disagree
11213 4 1 5 1 6
Strongly agree
13
An effective school should:
have educators who use a variety of teaching resources
Strongly disagree 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 Strongly agree
provide incentives for learners to achieve in Olympiads and extra curricular activities
Strongly disagree 1 1 2 1 3 4 1 5 6
Strongly agree
have educators who assist learners who have special educational needs
Strongly disagree 11 1 2 1 3 1 4 1,5 161 Strongly agree
implement a curriculum that provides learners with the necessary skills to be useful citizens
Strongly disagree 1 1 1 2 1 3 14 [5 1 6 Strongly agree
have educators with a wide range of teaching experience
Strongly disagree 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 Strongly agree
reward the individual performance of learners
Strongly disagree 1 1 1 2 3 1 4 5 1 6 Strongly agree
73. inculcate good morals and values in their learners
Strongly disagree 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 rd 1 Strongly agree
74." have educators who lead by example
Strongly disagree 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 Strongly agree
recognise educators who improve their educational qualifications
Strongly disagree 1 12 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 Strongly agree
have norms and values that are supported by the community
Strongly disagree [ 1 12 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 Strongly agree
14
An effective school should:
recognise parents who contribute money for the upgrading of school facilities
Strongly disagree (1 1 2 1 3 4 1 5761 Strongly agree
strive towards equity in learner achievement among all socio-economic levels
Strongly disagree (1 1 2 1 3 1 4 5 1 61 Strongly agree
link its norms and values to a particular religion
Strongly disagree 1 2 3 14 5T61 Strongly agree
strive towards equity in learner achievement among differing races
Strongly disagree (1 1 2 3 4 1 51 61 Strongly agree
cater for a homogeneous cultural group
Strongly disagree 11-2{-3 1 4 5 1 6 1 Strongly agree
regard norms and values as an important aspect in the development of learners
Strongly disagree [1r2T3 1 4 5 1 6
Strongly agree
regard excellent academic achievement as a core value
Strongly disagree 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 5 1 6 -1 Strongly agree
have educators who are supportive of one another
Strongly disagree ( 1 I 2 I 3 I- 4 5 I 6 Strongly agree
give greater power to the experienced teachers
Strongly disagree (1 1 2 (3 1 4
5 1 6 Strongly agree
have sufficient furniture in the school
Strongly disagree (1 j 2 (3 (4 I- 5 I 6 I Strongly agree
87. have an administration block
Strongly disagree (1 1 2 1 3 1 4"1 5 (6 1 Strongly agree
have an educator who is specifically responsible for counseling learners with emotional problems
Strongly disagree I 1 2 1 3 4 1 5T61 S
•
trongly agree
have educators who use peer appraisal to develop themselves
Strongly disagree (1 1 2 1 _314 5 T61 Strongly agree
have sufficient toilets for learners and educators
Strongly disagree (1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 Strongly agree
not allow participative decision making
Strongly disagree 1 1 2 3 415 1 6 1 Strongly agree
encourage good interpersonal relationships among all stakeholders
Strongly disagree 1 2 1 3 1 4 5 1 61 S
•
trongly agree
have a security fence
Strongly disagree Fl 12r31 4 5 1-6-1 S
•
trongly agree
inculcate leadership skills in learners
Strongly disagree (1 (2 1 3 1 4 Strongly agree
ensure regular communication with its stakeholders
Strongly disagree 111-21---3 (4 5 1 6 1 Strongly agree
hold an annual general meeting to give feedback to its stakeholders
Strongly disagree (1 1 2 1 3 (4 5 [6 1 Strongly agree
15
5 1 6
16
97. ensure high levels of achievement among its learners
Strongly disagree 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 15 161 Strongly agree
develop attitudes in their learners that fosters a good self-image
Strongly disagree 1T2T3T4 F5 1 6 1 Strongly agree
have the necessary textbooks and stationery
Strongly disagree T{-2-T3 14 r5 I 6 I Strongly agree
develop attitudes in their learners conducive to understanding other people
Strongly disagree [ -=?J-a I 4 5 r--61 Strongly agree
encourage educators to be accountable for the achievement of their learners
Strongly disagree 1 2 1 3 r4 5T61 Strongly agree
strive to provide an environment that all stakeholders can feel proud of
Strongly disagree Fl r2 T3 1-4-1516-1 Strongly agree
encourage learners to accept responsibility for their own development
Strongly disagree 1 2 3 4 15J61 Strongly agree
have a principal who is a good role model
Strongly disagree 1 2 1 3 t4 1 5 6 Strongly agree
105. select well-qualified educators
Strongly disagree
1 2 1 3 4 1 5 1 6
Strongly agree
Section C:
Please indicate your rating for your school by circling the appropriate number: •
17
My school would be:
Amongst the most effective schools in the district More effective than most schools in the district About as effective as other schools in the district Less effective than most other schools in the district Among the least effective schools in the district
_,3 4 5
Thank you for your patience and co-operation in completing this questionnaire
