Browsing by Author "Mavuso, Mzuyanda Percival"

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    Education district office support for teaching and learning in schools: the case of two districts in the Eastern Cape
    (University of Fort Hare, 2013) Mavuso, Mzuyanda Percival
    The idea of district support for schools is based on the view that local education offices are best placed to play a critical role in the promotion of quality teaching and learning. In performing this mandate whose characterisation has, over time, moved away from ‘inspection’ and ‘supervision’ both of which are seen as old fashioned and undemocratic, to support, which is seen as developmental. The aim of this study was to understand how three categories of district based officers, Subject Advisors, Integrated Quality Management System Coordinators and Education Development Officers support teaching and learning in schools. This was a case study of two districts in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. A total of six district officials and four school based officials participated in this study. In-depth interviews and document analysis were carried out. There were four main findings. First, support for schools by three district based officials was understood and practiced as administrative tasks, mainly consisting of monitoring policy implementation and monitoring resource provision to schools. School Management Teams saw district officers’ visits as focussing on compliance rather than support. Second, some pedagogical support was given by Subject Advisors through training teachers in subject content and methods of teaching that subject. This was done through workshops and demonstration lessons. However Subject Advisors did not at any time observe actual classroom teaching to see if teachers were implementing what they had learnt at workshops. Third, none of the officers mentioned direct support for teaching and learning at classroom level. Visits by officials were not directly linked to influencing teaching and learning classroom level. Fourth, schools saw district officials as working in separate pockets and sometimes sending different signals to them, despite claims by district officials that inter-disciplinary meetings were held among district officials, however, the nature of the coordination and the use to which it is put remains unclear. There were three main conclusions, first that although the district officials’ visits to schools were described as support, they exhibited the trappings of technicism of inspection; supervision and control; and appeared to neglect the developmental aspects implied in the notion of support. Second, the conception and practice of support visits by district officials were characterised by tension between support and control. Third, at district level support to schools lacked coordination among the three categories of officers who visit schools. This has implications for quality management in schools. Given the findings and conclusions of this study; it is recommended that the issue of support for schools be the focus of a survey research for which a probability sample must be drawn in order to generate findings that are generalisable across the participating target population. Other research could focus on investigating mechanisms by which the tension between support and control can be resolved. To improve practice of a framework for the development of a coordinated district support focusing on the core business of teaching and learning is suggested.
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    Utilisation of ICT Tools for School Governance amid COVID-19 Crisis in South Africa
    (Society for Research and Knowledge Management, 2023-05) Duku, Ntombozuko; Badaru, Kazeem Ajasa ; Adu, Kemi O.; Mkhomi, Moses Sipho; Adu, Emmanuel O.; Mavuso, Mzuyanda Percival
    Teaching and learning activities in South African schools are a focus of several research on the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) resources during the COVID-19 crisis. However, more studies are required to examine how the school principals and the parent members of the School Governing Bodies (SGBs) used the ICT tools to undertake communication on school governance activities during the COVID-19 lockdown. In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis in South African schools, this study examined the use of ICT technologies for decision making communications relating to issues of school governance between the principals and the SGBs. Utilizing a quantitative research methodology, information was gathered from 126 school principals who were chosen at random from the Buffalo City Municipality (BCM) in East London, South Africa. The data analysis method employed was descriptive statistics. The findings showed that the majority of SGB parent members had basic ICT skills, could read and write, used ICT tools like smartphones, voice calls, and SMS messaging, which enabled them to interact with school principals and take part in decision-making related to school governance activities during the COVID-19 crisis. The participants described some of the difficulties associated with their choice of ICT tools, including broken smart phones, a lack of expertise with WhatsApp and Telegram, and slow message answers. The study concludes that the SGBs need to align their school policies with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and adopt more ICT platforms for effective communications, governance, teaching, and learning activities in the new normal. It also recommends that, school principals and other SGB members still need to be trained and retrained for the use of ICT tools for efficient virtual or online participation in meetings; and there is also a need to equip SGB members with digital devices such as tablets, laptops, smartphones, and internet data subscriptions to encourage their participation in meetings from homes, offices or any other locations outside of school premises.