R: “Does your school have a vision and mission statement and how does it manifest in the day to day educational practice at your school?”
HOD1
“We do have a vision … … …. er … mission at our school and … … … (inaudible) … … it’s a technical oriented school. We are trying to rebuild it in such a way that it complies with that mission, that it begets children with a technical aspect also”.
(school B)
HOD2
“Ja, although that vision and mission does not necessarily … er … … … fit the school because it was done last year, it does not fit. We need to come up with a new vision and mission. When you come with a vision and a statement you need to come with opportunities, threats and the weaknesses and then from there the strength and the strategies”
(school)
R: “Briefly describe educational quality and say how you know when you have attained it”.
HOD (school D)
“I would say due to lack of resources, the quality is not what it should be and by that I mean below average”.
R: “Since the inception of the new government, a number of changes has been introduced in the education system, what in your opinion are the main challenges facing your school?”
HOD (school B)
“Firstly, the main one is gender equity”
HOD 1
“Er… on the gender issue, if you now look at our management system, we have the principal, the deputy principal … they are both male and then we have three departmental heads, heads of department, they are all males …male and currently we are not yet, we’ve not yet… have got a chance to either get a position of a female on our …on our staff er … who would also be on a management position although we have one lady who is acting on a technical section as a head of department, but in an acting capacity”.
(school B)
R: “Apart from the fact that it is a policy issue, are there particular problems that you can attribute to this gender issue?”
HOD 1
“There are no ladies on the school’s management team, except for one who is acting. It is, I … … in my opinion. I’m saying it is. It is affecting them in the sense that when you look at the numbers of ladies on the staff and you look at their participation in as far as different activities……among the school, you find that it is a small number and I think, through empowering them, they could become actively involved. So most of them just sit and fold arms even when they see a situation going worse, they don’t come in and help maybe because they feel they are not part of the school”.
(school B)
R: “If you were to advise your principal so as to increase his effort to support educators in instructional activities, what would you recommend?”
HOD1 (school B)
“Er …he should not sit in the office. Er …immediately once there is a problem, immediately er… he must not take sides. When … when the Head of Department brings a problem to him he must check that problem immediately, he must not postpone it by a month and then try to solve it”.
R: “When you attend workshops, on transitional issues like the implementation of the new curriculum, do you prefer that the principal accompany you or to go all by yourself and why?”
HOD2
“Ja, sometimes … sometimes it is necessary that the principal should attend these workshops because he must be capacitated. There is no sense if the teacher has more information than the principal. It must not be the responsibility of educators only”.
(school B)
R: “How often does your principal attend educators’ workshops?” HOD2
“Never!”
(school B)
HOD (school D)
“Er… like I said earlier on, the principal has to be head-on … er … hands-on. So for him to be hands-on is to know actually what is expected of the teachers, so it’s imperative that he actually attends … er … these workshops so that he can know what is expected of us educators. So he has got to know of all the latest developments in as far as teaching and learning are concerned”.
HOD1
“Very, good, I think the principal must be with, must be present at these workshops in the sense that eventually he is a person who is going to be responsible for the implementation of the OBE, when … and for control also, the principal has to know what is going on. If the principal is not updated on this, on these workshops and the teachers are working on their own and when the teachers experience problems, the next best person is the principal and where the principal can say I can’t help if a teacher comes with a problem and tell him, he will not be able to put the case back with the department”.
(school B)
R: “How often does your principal attend educators’ workshops?”
HOD1
“Er … I’ve never seen him attend one” (school B)
HOD1
“The … the system… the system itself is very good, but I think the Department has not won the confidence of the educators in the implementation of this IQMS in the sense that the Department has attached monetary value to it. And … they should not have done that and the teachers are slow to respond to that, they are not willing, in fact, to take it along. I think it could have separated from money and it could have been part and parcel of the policy of the Department to be implemented. So the educators are really dragging their feet to implement it”