What are the prevailing gaps and ambiguity within EMDCs?

“If our service provision statement is completely filled, then we should have enough resources to provide the necessary service. Money is a relative commodity and one can always do with more. However, to answer your question of whether it is harming our service provision, the answer is no. I don‟t think so.”

Question 5: What relevant evidence is there to suggest that EMDCs are providing

better and sufficient service delivery?

“The idea behind the establishment of EMDCs was to provide more effective service delivery and to bring Head Office closer to schools. We are now closer to schools. I think that we have achieved that in the sense that we now have a full sector serving the schools housed in one complex. Previously offices of circuit managers, curriculum advisers were located at regional offices and they had to report on a monthly or weekly basis to the WCED head office. Other departments like social service and psychology operated from different locations.”

Question 6: Do you think that enough time is allocated for teacher’s in-service

training?

“Yes more than enough. Teachers are always complaining, but if you ask them what they do on their own, you will realise that they do nothing. You have to understand that educators are already professionally qualified. So, why should there be a continual training for those who are already qualified. Now they may argue that the curriculum has changed. The curriculum has changed years ago. All educators should make it their responsibility to be informed of changes and not wait on the department to over-train him for a further three years to continue doing his work. What is happening in the interim? What are they doing now in their classes? Does it mean that because they are not adequately trained they cannot teach? Teachers are using in- service training as a “smoke screen”. They expect the department to give them training, but what are they doing?”

4.6.2.2 EMDC Director 2

Question 1: Do you think that circuit teams are adequately equipped and trained

to deal with the challenges and needs of schools?

“We now have new circuit teams. The structure of circuit teams has changed somewhat. After 1 July 2008 we appointed a circuit team manager who is responsible for a Multifunctional Team. In other word within that team there are different departments, namely that of administration, learning support service, curriculum services and management services. This is a new post that was created from 1 July 2008. Before appointing them in their positions, we gave them a whole week of training and will continue to do so as time progress. I think circuit teams are adequately trained, although there is a nuance difference, because they now have a more managerial role. They manage a variety of functions, whereas previously they managed a specialised function.”

“It depends on whether your emphasis on training is in an excess way or training in an additional way. They are people who were experienced in their field and senior individual in the education system. They are now more senior in the KS system. They will get the necessary training, but I am sure they know what they are doing.

With regards to the workload, the number of schools per circuit should be around thirty. In some circuits it may be more, while in others it may be less. The difference is that there are two IMG advisers within a circuit. So, the moment you talk about management and governance, you would divide the 30 to 39 schools between the two IMGs. That would mean that there are 19 to 20 schools per MFT with the IMG as its head.”

Question 2: Do you think that EMDCs have the capacity to develop schools into

learning organisations?

“Yes, but the question is how long will it take us to do so. The idea of the establishment of EMDCs was to bring service closer to the service point. It was the intention to bring the service of the WCED Head Office closer to the client, which is

the school and all those associated with schools, so that schools could identify with the department. In that regard we have made a huge success from 2001 to 2008. The WCED is no longer a distant entity that is available on the other side of a telephone line or that you see on the cover of an envelope.

EMDCs are committed to assist schools to improve their output. With output I mean better school organisation in terms of what happens within schools, in other words the learning process within schools, the delivery of curriculum, better learning results and ultimately the production of a better equipped learner at the end of the learning process. For this to happen, schools have to undertake regular introspection to see what they still have to do to improve their output. This is and will continue to be our objective to assist schools to achieve better output. For this reason the department [here this refers to WCED Head Office] established teacher support and development centres.

Also, the whole school development department aims to assist schools to improve their output by offering schools nine different fields on which they can base their development. We evaluate schools annually and try to show them what the objective was that they set up for themselves and to what extent they achieved their objectives to develop professionally.”

Question 3: Do you think that the service delivery charter contains realistic

objectives, considering the budgetary constraints the WCED is experiencing?

“Yes it is realistic. You should not link monetary constraints to the charter. The charter is a document to define your aim and objectives. The way you achieve objectives is not always linked to finances. It is also connected with what goes on in your heart and mind. The problem with the education system is that we always link service delivery and development with finances. Development is largely linked with what goes on in the hearts and minds of those who manage schools. If you visit schools, you notice that development collapses because educators in the class are causing development to collapse. It is because of those teachers who get into their cars

at 2 pm, not caring whether learners are on street from 2 pm to 6 pm or at what shebeen these learners end up in. This is where education collapses.”

Question 4: Is the service delivery charter realistic in its objectives, taking into

consideration the budgetary constraints experienced by the WCED?

“People so often equate finance with success. There can be a link and it can contribute to success and better service delivery. However, money is not the alpha and the omega of better service delivery. I visited India where I was shown some of their best schools. Those schools looked far worse off than our schools in the townships. Our schools in the townships have state of the art computer centres, whereas those Indian schools are equipped with 1940, 1960 technology with electric wires hanging down from the roof. However, their output is so much better than ours without the resources and technology that some people claim is necessary for good education. You can teach and successfully complete the curriculum without the resources people claim are essential for quality education. We accommodate all children that enrol at our schools from the age 7 to 15. Unfortunately we do not have mechanisms in place to go to the streets to look for children of school-going age and enrol them in the system, but we accommodate all who register with us. We can only accommodate those who register themselves for accommodation.”

4.6.2.3 Interpretation of data

District Office Directors generally perceive a good collaborative relationship between District Offices and Head Office. The only frustration EMDC directors are experiencing is the delays they sometimes experience in the acquisition of urgent and important services. With regards to the quantity of resources, the feeling is that they can make do with the resources available without compromising the standard of quality education. They believe that the WCED has made significant progress with regards to effective and efficient service delivery by coming closer to schools.

During the interview one director was extremely negative and almost hostile towards teachers‟ general attitude towards their work and teachers collaboration with the department. The director felt that teachers are sufficiently qualified to deal with the

new changes that came into the education system and it is up to teachers to remain informed of any new development. This individual felt that the in-service training the WCED provides for teachers is enough to enable them to produce quality education. They also feel that MFTs, and circuit team leaders are highly qualified individuals who have been in the system for a long time. As such they should be capable of providing effective and efficient services to schools. They will receive additional training as their job description changes.

Furthermore, they feel that EMDCs have the capacity to develop schools into learning organisations, but this may take some time. They feel that educators and schools should take the initiative in this regard and should not wait on District Offices or Head Office to take the lead. They also feel that the lack of resources is not a major problem and that development and quality education can be achieved through motivated and dedicated educators. They believe that schools and educators are the greatest hindrance in the process of development.

4.6.2.4 Conclusion

Conducting interviews with the directors of district offices gave me a sense of the amount of tension that may exist between schools and District Offices. This hostility could stem from the fact that EMDCs are daily in contact with schools and is the first point of contact if issues should arise. Even though it is beyond the scope of this dissertation, it would be interesting to understand how schools view and respond to the new District Office structures and their leadership. The data suggest that significant power is exercised daily through the interaction between school and District Office.

The report given by one director that the curriculum changed many years ago is in conflict with research done by Lewin (2002:343) that indicates that “South Africa may now have too much rather than too little policy, opening up the possibilities of information overload, lack of confidence in consistency of purpose and modes of provision, and fragile follow-through in implementation.” Reflecting on these interviews, I deduce that the Habermasion notion of communicative processes is far

from ideal because consensus, reflexive discussion is often not present. This could stifle the WCEDs objective to assist schools becoming learning organisations.

4.6.3 CIRCUIT TEAMS

For the following interview, I remained on the same tier, which is the District office level or EMDC. Circuit team members were interviewed at two different EMDCs. The following were the respondents that I interviewed at two different EMDCs: one circuit team manager (Circuit Team Member 1), one IMG Adviser (Circuit Team Member 2), one GET curriculum adviser (Circuit Team Member 3) and a FET curriculum adviser (Circuit Team Member 4). Four respondents were selected randomly. The following questions are different, depending on the position they hold in their respective multifunctional teams and the curriculum department they represent.

4.6.3.1 Circuit Team Member 1

Question 1: How many members comprise a circuit team comprise and what are

their portfolios?

“Our membership varies depending on the intervention we provide to schools. Generally all circuit teams comprise a circuit team manager, two or more curriculum advisers, psychologist, learner support educator, nutrition specialist, social workers and an Institutional Management and Governance (IMG) member. All these members make up a multifunctional team. Multifunctional teams are very liquid and change all the time. The need of the school determines the size and type of intervention. Based on the needs of schools, multifunctional teams are grouped together out of circuit teams to attend to a specific need of a school. So there is no set number of multifunctional teams at EMDCs. However, the circuit team is a fixed legal entity that was commissioned by national government.”

“We as FET and GET curriculum advisers fulfil a different role in a circuit team. We fulfil the role of curriculum support people within circuit teams. Outside of the circuit team we are the specialists and inside the circuit team we are the generalists.”

Question 2: Do you think enough time is being spent on teacher development to