5.3. Election of the new executive committee
5.3.1. A brief description of the election meeting
This was the only meeting of 2014 for the Commerce Teachers’ Association which was held on the 16th of October 2014. The meeting was attended by about 200 teachers including some school management teams, Commerce teachers from the district, members of the executive committee, the EMS subject advisor, the Economics subject advisor, the Deputy Chief Education Specialist (DCES) and the History subject advisor who was the electoral officer.
The Economics subject advisor was coordinating the programme of the day. The meeting started with a moment of silence as the opening prayer. The Deputy Chief Education Specialist explained the purpose of the day which was the election of the new executive committee. The DCES gave apologies on behalf of the chairperson of the Commerce Teachers’ Association who was attending the DoE examination meeting. He then asked to be excused to attend the DoE examination meeting. The Economics subject advisor thanked the outgoing executive committee and the EMS subject advisor gave them a certificate of appreciation and a gift.
The History subject advisor electoral office conducted the election process and was assisted by the outgoing executive committee. He started by reading the election rules from the Constitution of the Commerce Teachers’ Association. The teachers were given the nomination forms to nominate where the proposer nominates and asks the nominee to sign.
There was no need for a ballot because the nominees were equal to the number of office bearers required in the executive committee. The office bearers are comprised of chairperson, deputy chairperson, secretary, treasurer, project coordinator and spokesperson. The DCES joined the meeting and came with the following circular which was issued to the teachers:
As Commerce teachers’ Association is a non-profit organization, the affiliation fee per school is R200 per year, payable on the day of the elective meeting (16/10/2014).
The former deputy chairperson gave the vote of thanks and presented the electoral officer with a token of appreciation.
I now use the seven elements of CHAT with which to analyse the election meeting as an activity system. Drawing on the first principle of CHAT, the activity system is taken as the unit of analysis, meaning that one must look at all the aspects of the system in order to understand what is happening in the activity system (Feldman and Weiss, 2010, p.38). In this case the activity system is the election meeting as shown in Figure 14 below. The election
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meeting was attended by approximately 200 Commerce teachers, and School Management Teams (SMTs), some members of the outgoing executive committee, two Commerce subject advisors and the History subject advisor who was an electoral officer.
Figure 14: Activity System of Commerce Teachers ‘Association for Election Meeting
Subjects: According to Engeström (2001), the subject of the activity is the person or the group whose action should be taken into consideration and understood. In the election meeting, as an activity system, I was seeking to understand the actions of about 200 Commerce teachers electing the new executive committee of the Commerce Teachers’
Association. Therefore, Commerce teachers were the subjects of the activity system because their viewpoint was adopted.
Object: The object of the activity system was the election of the new executive committee which was enacted by the electoral officer within the division of labour as a community member. The Commerce teachers (subjects) enacted on the object by nominating the candidates. There was no need for a ballot because there was one candidate in each portfolio.
Tools: Constitution, nomination forms, ballot papers, programme of the day, circular, knowledge
and language, certificates and gifts
Outcomes: New executive committee New executive committee Subject: Commerce teachers
and the executive committee Object: Election of Executive
Rules:
Constitution, attendance punctuality
Community: DCES, EMS subject advisor, Economics subject advisor
Electoral officer SMTs
DBE electoral officer
Division of labour:
Electoral officer conducted elections, teachers nominated, Economics subject advisor directed and DCES read the circular
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In the CHAT perspective the nomination undertaken by subjects (Commerce teachers) suggests multi-voicedness which means different points of view were considered. Multi- voicedness was affected when the Commerce teachers, as subjects, nominated people who should serve on the executive committee of the Commerce Teachers’ Association.
Tools or Mediating Artefacts: The material mediating artefacts consisted of nomination forms, the Constitution of Commerce Teachers’ Association and the DCES circular. The psychological mediating artefacts were language as a means of communication and the electoral officer’s knowledge and experience. The certificates and gifts that were given to the outgoing executive committee were also part of the material mediating artefacts. These artefacts mediated in the sense that they enabled the election process. The forms were necessary for nominating the candidates. The Deputy Chief Education Specialist distributed and read the circular (mediating artefacts) which was explaining how the Commerce Teachers’ Association was formed highlighting that the Commerce Teachers’ Association is a non-governmental organisation which is funded by educators. The last paragraph of the circular says: “This affiliation fee replaces a R50 membership fee which was paid by each member of Commerce Teachers’ Association.” (Circular). This circular that came with the DCES seems to suggest a vertical division of labour by the DoE official because it is not clear how he came up with the R200 subscription fee per school. The circular appeared as an instruction from the DoE official because there was no evidence of any executive meeting that discussed the R200 subscription fees. The certificates of appreciation that were signed by the district director were also mediating tools; they were given to the outgoing executive committee as a token of appreciation for serving on the executive committee.
Rules: The election process was shaped by section 10.1and 10.2 of the constitution which stipulates the procedures of election. The Constitution of the Commerce Teachers’
Association was issued to all the teachers.
Division of labour: According to Feldman and Weiss (2010) division of labour refers to both the horizontal division of tasks between members of the activity system and the vertical division of power and status. The programme was directed by Mrs Mathe, the Economics subject advisor, and while she may have been acting according to her duties as the Department of Education official, within the activity system, she was also acting within the horizontal division of labour as a member of the community. Working according to the vertical division of labour occurred when the Commerce teachers and school management
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teams were using democratic rights to nominate five members of the executive committee.
The absence of the chairperson from the meeting created subject (Celokuhle), the division of labour, the community and rules contradiction. In other words, a contradiction arose because the chairperson did not enact his division of labour as chairperson, and this was not according to the expectations of the community. The chairperson of Commerce Teachers’ Association was not at the meeting, hence did not act according to the expected role, thus overlooking the rules.
Community: The participants who had “a stake in the object of the activity system” (Feldman and Weiss, 2010, p. 37) was comprised of the following:
The Deputy Chief Education Specialist (DCES), who explained the purpose of the day as electing the new executive committee. At the end of the meeting the DCES read the circular.
Mrs Mathe was coordinating the programme of the day.
The EMS subject advisor who presented the outgoing executive committee members with certificates of appreciation and gifts.
The History subject advisor who was the electoral officer.
The outgoing executive committee who assisted the electoral officer during the election process.
Some school management teams whose presence was acknowledged by the Deputy Chief Education Specialists when he was issuing the circular.
The division of labour among the members of the community (Deputy Chief Education specialist and subject advisors) during the election meeting seem to point out that the DBE was taking charge of the Commerce Teachers’ Association and that it was not being steered by teachers.
The outcome: The outcome of the election meeting was the new executive committee elected, which consisted of the chairperson, deputy chairperson, secretary, treasurer, project coordinator and a public relations officer. Another outcome was the resolution that came with the member of the community (Deputy Chief Education Specialist) that each school should pay the subscription fee.
The seven elements of CHAT suggest that the election of the new executive committee (as the object of the activity system) was facilitated collectively by subjects (Commerce teachers)
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and community (the DCES, the Economics subject advisor, the EMS subject advisor, the electoral officer and the outgoing executive committee using the mediating artefacts to arrive at an outcome (new executive committee of Commerce Teachers’ Association). During the mediation process there were contradictions that occurred. The following section presents these contradictions.