Session Information
26 SES 08 A, Educational Leadership in an Age of Accountability
Paper Session
Contribution
According to the Council of Europe (2014) there are numerous issues which need to be addressed as part of the change in education of which diversity, technology, values, teacher competence, teacher professionalism as well as the school and society are some of the important issues. There are similar issues in South Africa but the developing countries context gave these issues totally different foci and emphasis (De Clercq 2013). Europe does not have the same socio economic challenges but may face more challenging financial challenges with the influx of more immigrants which may pose a challenge for school leaders to maintain the high quality education for a more diverse school population (Leea and Hallinger 2012; Møller 2009). These challenging conditions makes it difficult for these principals to be accountable for the quality education since the external factors have an influence on the learner’s performance.
The academic attainment in South Africa schools is not yet at an acceptable level. In 2015, 6 772 schools wrote the senior certificate examination. A total number of 4 141 schools or more than half of South African state schools are classified as underperforming schools. Secondary schools are rated as underperforming when their pass rate is below 80% and less than 50% of learners in that particular school qualify for admission to the university (Department of Basic Education, 2015). More than 60% of schools are identified as schools socio-economic contexts of poverty, high unemployment, lack of parental support and involvement and not sufficient facilities and infrastructure and combined with lack of teacher professionalism forms the background for the leadership challenge to ensure sustainable improvement and being accountable to achieve the expected pass rate in the school leaving examination.
The objective for this paper is to understand the role of school leadership to lead the sustainable academic improvement in underperforming schools within a diverse cultural and socio economic background.
The conceptual framework for this paper is the power of the school leaders to change the performance in a performance driven culture which is characterised by accountability and monitoring process (Owens and Valesky 2011). The principals are not aware of the power they have to change the system but in many cases there personality as well as experience as leaders of change makes it difficult for them to change schools from an underperforming to a performing status (Heystek 2014). The accountability processes are supposed to serves as an external motivational factor to drive the teacher’s to improve their performance. The accountability is strongly associated with the performativity approach to management which potentially may have an influence on the attitude and motivation of teachers which may influence their performance level (Ball 2003, Knapp and Feldman 2012). Performance cannot be only academic performance and as indicated by Perold, Oswald and Swart (2012). The performativity culture may have an influence on the teacher’s focus; with the emphasis on the academic results and therefore teachers may lose the broader picture namely that education is working with humans in a specific context and not only a production process of examination results. This external driven performance criteria is an example of what Reeve (2009) refers to ‘locus of control’ or the perceived control which individuals or an organisation like a school may have about their ability (or lack of it) to control the change process. The accountability may therefore serve as an unintentional external motivation but it also has the potential to become a demotivational factor once the leaders and teachers experience that they are not able to achieve the set standards (Westa, Peckb, Reitzugb and Cranea 2014).
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Ball S.J. (2003). The teacher’s soul and the terrors of performativity. Journal of education policy, 18(2), 215-228. Council of Europe (2014). Education for change. Change for education. Teacher manifesto for the 21st century of the Council of Europe conference The Professional Image and Ethos of Teachers. Strasbourg. http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/pestalozzi/Source/Documentation/T21/FinalManifesto_En.pdf Accessed 6 December 2016. De Clercq, F. (2013). Professionalism in South African education: the challenges of developing teacher professional knowledge, practice, identity and voice. Journal of Education, 57, 31–54. De Vos A.S., Strydom H., Fouche C.B. & Delport C.S.L. 2011. Research at grass roots. For the social sciences and human service professions. Pretoria: Van Schaik. Department of Basic Education. (South Africa) (2015b). National senior certificate examination: Examination report. Retrieved from: 30 March 2016. http://www.education.gov.za/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=JgmMMi8JtFI%3d&tabid=358&mid=1325. Heystek, J. (2014). Principals’ perceptions about performance agreements as motivational action. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 42(6) 889–902 Knapp M S and Feldman S B. 2012. Managing the intersection of internal and external accountability: Challenge for urban school leadership in the United States. Journal of Educational Administration, 50(5), 666-694 Leea M and Hallinger P. 2012. National contexts influencing principals’ time use and allocation:economic development, societal culture, and educational system. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 23(4), 461–482 Møller J. 2009. School leadership in an age of accountability: Tensions between managerial and professional accountability. Journal of Education Change, 10:37–46 Owens, R. J. & Valesky, T. C. (2011). Organisational behaviour in education. Leadership and school reform. Boston, MA: Pearson. Perold M., Oswald M. & Swart E. (2012). Care, performance and performativity: Portraits of teachers’ lived experiences. Education as change, 16(1), 113–127. Reeve, J. (2009). Understanding motivation and emotion. Hoboken: John Wiley & sons Inc. Savin-Baden, M., and Major, C. (2013). Qualitative Research: The Essential Guide to Theory and Practice. London: Routledge. Westa D L, Peckb C M, Reitzugb U C and Cranea E A. 2014. Accountability, autonomy and stress: principal responses to superintendent change in a large US urban school district. School Leadership & Management, 34(4), 372–391
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