Improving Leadership and

Management in Schools
Presentation to the
Portfolio Committee on Basic Education

May 2015
 Outline
• Purpose
• Background
• Introduction
• Management programmes
• South African Standard for Principalship
• Advanced Diploma in Leadership and
Management
• Competency Assessment for principals
• Induction for newly appointed principals
• Training of principals on curriculum management
• Training of principals on financial management

2.
 Purpose

To provide the Portfolio Committee on Basic

Education with the Department’s strategy to
improve Leadership and Management in schools

3.
 Background
• The Teacher and Professional Development
Branch is mandated to improve teacher capacity
and practices through provision of effective,
coordinated and high quality professional teacher
development programmes.
• It aims at improving teacher supply through
effective recruitment and support strategies.
• It also aims to strengthen school management
and governance by ensuring that all schools are
functional through proper and appropriate
management and governance processes.

4.
 Introduction
• Effective school management is universally
accepted as being the critical element in the
success of a school.
• Challenges of leadership in schools is
considered to be the main contributor to
underperformance and dysfunctionality.
• This is usually related to the capacity,
competence and nature of the school
management teams, particularly the principal.

5.
 Management Programmes
The Department is implementing programmes
that are aimed at improving leadership and
management in schools. This involves
programmes that will enhance and protect the
image of principalship, together with capacity
building programmes to improve the quality and
competence of school principals.

6.
 List of programmes
The planned programmes on improving leadership and
management of principals are as follows:
a) Developing standards for South African principls;
b) The development of an Advanced Diploma in Leadership
and Management;
c) Review of appointment procedure of School
Management Teams (SMTs) to ensure that appropriately
qualified and competent teachers are appointed as
school managers;
d) Competency assessments for principals;
e) Training of principals on curriculum management;
f) Training of principals on financial management; and
g) Induction programme for principals.

7.
 South African Standard for Principalship
• PROBLEM STATEMENT
Currently, very little has been documented in South Africa on
what the country’s education system expects of those
responsible for leadership and management of its schools. Both
the Personnel Administrative Measure (PAM) and Integrated
Quality Management System (IQMS) provide limited information
on the roles and responsibilities of school principals

NOTING
• Noting that standard setting for principals is an international
phenomenon which has been implemented successfully
throughout first world countries, South African education
system will benefit from developing its own standard to
enhance the professional image and competencies of schools.

8.
 Aim of the SASP
The standard for principalship will serve many purposes which include:
• Providing clearly defined roles of principals and the key aspects of
professionalism and expertise required in such positions;
• Serving as a template against which professional leadership and
management development needs may be addressed;
• Providing information to all stakeholders in education about what is
expected of a principal;
• Informing better recruitment and selection procedures and
providing the basis for improved performance management
processes applicable to principals;
• Being used by principals to identify their personal professional
development needs throughout their careers;
• Guiding those aspiring to be principals on what is expected of a
school principal; and
• Providing explanations to QMS Evaluation Tool.

9.
 Progress
• On 7 August 2014, the Minister of Basic Education published, in the
Government Gazette (National Gazette no: 37897 of 2014, Volume
590) a call for public comments on the SASP. Comments were
received from teacher organizations, PEDs, SAPA, SGB Associations,
non-governmental organisations, the Commission for Gender
Equality, teachers, university lecturers, members of the public and
from the DBE directorates such as Whole School Evaluation and
Legal Services.
• The DBE established a Task Team to analyse the public comments
and incorporate them into a draft document for the Minister’s
approval.
• Teacher unions were consulted individual before the completion of
the final draft.
• The SASP has served at both HEDCOM and CEM for approval.

10.
 MANAGEMENT PLAN
ACTIVITY TIME LINE
Discussions at HEDCOM 19/20 April 2015
Discussion at CEM June 2015
Professional editing 27 May 2015
Gazetting by Government Printers 8 June 2015
Printing of the gazette for every school and 15 June 2015
stakeholders
Distribution of gazette to provinces 22 – 27 June 2015
Mediation of the policy to PEDs and July– September 2015
districts

11.
 Advanced Diploma in Leadership and Management
Problem statement
• The training that teachers go through prepares them
for the classroom alone and not to be school
managers. Successful education systems across the
globe take aspirant principals through a specially
designed training programme for preparing them for
leadership and management position.
Noting
• that there is no qualification specifically designed for
principals. All principals in the country are teachers
who have been promoted to management positions
and learnt on the job.
12.
 Motivation for the qualification
• The NDP call for the implementation of entry qualification for
principals and for the appointment of appropriately qualified and
competent principals
• School management is a fundamentally different role to that of a
classroom teacher and as such requires specialised skills and
preparation.
• The demands on school management have changed, with
emphasis growing on managing learning, safe, diverse, integrated,
and challenging, school environments appropriate to a 21st
Century progressive African country.
• We need principals with the ability to interpret the demands of
their jobs and determine how they will perform this within the
context of national development.
• The principals need to tap into the full potential of themselves and
the rest of the school community, while seeing their job within the
context of improving teaching and learning in the school.
13.
 Progress
• The DBE is working with the Department of Higher
Education and Training together with universities in
partnership with Zenex Foundation to develop and
Advanced Diploma in Leadership and Management.
• This is the qualification that will eventually become an
entry level qualification for principals. The following
has been developed:
– Literature review;
– Programme outline;
– Module design template; and
– Bid specification requirements for the advertisement of the
tender for the development of the qualification and
modules.

14.
 Reviewal of appointment measures
• The Department is reviewing and developing new measures
for the appointment of principals and other SMTs members
such as HODs and Deputy Principals as per the prescript of
the NDP.
• The measures will include clear selection criteria for each
level on management in terms of teaching experience,
minimum years at managerial level, competency, learner
results in the position, cases of misconduct, criminal cases.
• The PAM has to be also amended to include the reviewed
minimum qualification years to include serving at a
managerial position compulsory for the appointment of
principals and deputy principals.
• The measures will strengthen the role of education
departments by requiring candidates to undergo
competency tests.
15.
 Competency Assessments for principals
• PROBLEM STATEMENT
Despite concerns around the involvement of governing bodies
and the alleged influence of unions in the appointment of
SMTs, shortlisting and interview processes alone remain
inadequate as means for appointing quality school managers.
Additional mechanism need to be included in the selection
and appointment of school managers.
• NOTING
It has been noted that some candidates go through interview
processes and impress panellist because of their good
command of the language while lacking in managerial skills. 20
to 30 minutes interviews are used to determine the future of
schools during interviews without considering other aspects of
selection process.

16.
 Proposed solution
• A variety of batteries should be used to select
experienced, appropriate and competent school
managers.
• Competency assessments for SMTs should be rolled
out across the whole public schooling system, partly
to ensure that everyone who is appointed into a
managerial post fulfils at least the minimum
requirements for the advertised job, and partly to
provide a profile of the existing group of school
principals, including capacity gaps that need to be
addressed through training.
• This is also a requirement of the NDP.
17.
 Progress
• The Western Cape has a working system for
competency assessments managed by the
Premier’s office while Gauteng has taken 80%
of their principals and deputy principals
through competency assessment. The two
provinces are not using the results of the
assessments as a prerequisite for appointment
yet.
• Elements of the assessment have been
identified and summarised.

18.
 Induction for newly appointed principals
PROBLEM STATEMENT
• Newly appointed school managers find themselves
in promotional posts unprepared because of lack of
programmes to prepare them for their new role and
responsibility. Their learning on the job takes more
time than required in the absence of a focus
programme to make them ready for the new task
• It has been noted that there is a need for a national
driven induction programme for school managers.
• Some provinces conduct inductions for new
appointees
19.
 Planned induction programme
• Induction programmes are part of the capacity building
programmes for school managers which set the scene for the
proper introduction of a teacher into a management position.
• Newly appointed SMTs must be taken through a year-long
induction programme which will be broken into sessions.
• The first session must take place before the new appointees take
up a post at the school.
• The first week of the induction programme will exposed
principals and SMTs to the basic expectations by the department
in carrying out their responsibilities.
• It will include a package of important legislations, good practices
and non-negotiables and how the circuit and district offices
function.
• The subsequent sessions will cover all aspects of leadership and
management over a period of time as indicated in the induction
framework.

20.
 Training of Principals on Curriculum Management
• Over the years when the department introduced a
new curriculum, no dedicated training was provided
for principals leading to teachers being more
knowledgeable on curriculum matters than their
supervisors.
• It is noted that school principals, by legislation, are
expected to be instructional leaders who lead the
management of curriculum implementation in schools.
• Performance in the Annual National Assessment (ANA)
and the National Senior Certificate (NSC) requires good
curriculum management which include curriculum
planning, curriculum coverage and improved school
based assessment.

21.
 Progress
• The Department of Basic Education has
completed the training of provincial officials in
Management & Governance section and
Circuit Managers through the Teacher Union
Collaboration Fund in March 2015.
• The training was provided by the department
in collaboration with Suid-Afrikaanse
Onderwysers Unie (SAOU).

22.
 Progress continue
Province Expected Actual Number
Number
Eastern Cape 238 0
Free State 72 93
Gauteng 206 230
KwaZulu Natal 295 206
Limpopo 141 154
Mpumalanga 128 125
Northern Cape 77 61
North West 118 54
Western Cape 107 0
Total 1,382 923

23.
 Plan
• The DBE has planned to have all principals
trained on curriculum management during the
June/July school holidays.
• Trained provincial officials and Circuit
Managers will lead the training under the
supervision of the DBE.
• PEDs are required to submit training and
management plans to the DBE in May 2015.

24.
Training of Principals on Financial Management
Problem statement
The Department allocates millions of rands to schools
each year. Not all the schools are able to manage the
allocated funds appropriately. The Department and
public offices that deals with corruption reports are
inundated with complains from members of the
public about the misuse of funds in schools.
Lack of proper financial management is one of the
causes of poor working relations in schools, leading
to schools becoming ungovernable and dysfunctional.

25.
 Benefits of the training
• The training of school principals will go a long way towards
reducing the number of poor performing schools and improving
the management of curriculum delivery in schools.
• The training will enable Principals to provide professional
leadership and management of the curriculum and therefore
ensure that the schools provide quality teaching, learning and
resources for improved standards of achievement for all learners.
• It will also strengthen the professional role of Principalship,
through strengthening the Principals competency level by:
o Encouraging self-reflective practitioners;
o Enabling the school leaders to manage the curriculum and
schools as learning organisations; and
o Instilling values supporting transformation in the South African
context.

26.
 Progress
• Pilot trainings have been conducted in the
Gauteng West district with the intention to
improve the training manual.
• A draft memorandum of Agreement between the
DBE and ABSA has been developed.
• After the signing of the Agreement, the DBE,
working with provinces and districts will identify
principals who deserve to be trained on financial
management.
• Departmental officials together with financial
specialists from ABSA will provide the training to
the principals.
•
27.
Thank You

28.