7.1 Introduction
In this section the researcher will provide a summary of the main findings of this research study. In doing so, the researcher will indicate how the questions of this research study have been answered. Lastly, the researcher will provide recommendations for school improvement.
7.2 Summary of the main findings
This research study investigated school improvement which was initiated in the Rorke‟s Drift / Isandlwana area, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa by the David Rattray Foundation. The focus of this research study was the David Rattray Foundation (DRF) together with the school improvement interventions that it has carried out. This research study aimed to formulate a case study of the DRF as an organisation in an attempt to identify the nature and the function of the DRF.
The researcher chose to work from an interpretivist paradigm as the researcher wanted to gain a deep, descriptive understanding of the work that the DRF has conducted as a means towards achieving school improvement within its partner schools.
There were three main questions that the researcher set out to answer:
What is the nature and function of the DRF?
What interventions has the DRF implemented to bring about school improvement in the Isandlwana / Rorke‟s Drift area?
How were these interventions implemented and what were the processes of change that occurred?
To determine the nature and function of the DRF, the researcher conducted interviews with the school principals, the CEO of the DRF and a consultant who works with the foundation.
Additionally, the researcher engaged in a document analysis to gain a greater understanding of the DRF and its functioning.
The findings from this study indicate that the DRF is an organisation which aims to provide assistance to the schools in the area so that the selected schools are better equipped to provide an education that is of a good quality to its learners. The DRF is by no means a charity
organisation; rather it is an organisation that requires its partner schools to get involved in the process of change.
The findings of this research study also indicate that the manner in which the DRF operates is unique as compared to the approaches of other school improvement projects. The DRF uses a business approach to bring about school improvement with business principles in mind. The use of a business approach is a means to ensure that the schools cooperate and play a role in the process of change.
With regards to the second question of this research study, the researcher engaged in a form of non-participant observation with use of a checklist to determine which interventions were implemented in each school. Additionally, the school principals and the CEO gave the researcher an indication of which interventions were implemented in the schools during their interviews.
The findings of this study indicate that the DRF has provided various interventions to its partner schools to bring about school improvement. These include resources and infrastructure development, development of teachers, development of school management teams and principals and community engagement programmes. The DRF has provided a range of interventions to these schools so that they are equipped with the skills and resources that they require in order to progress.
With regards to the interventions that were provided to these schools, the researcher notes that the DRF has attempted to provide a form of whole school improvement to these schools as areas such as resources, development of teachers and principals and community involvement was addressed. However, with regards to the resources that were implemented in these schools, the findings of this research study indicate that each school received varied interventions; no two schools received the same resources. Thus every school had a different need that was addressed.
Additionally, for a whole school improvement to be achieved, all the levels that are involved in the school system have to be included in the plan for development and capacitation (Fullan, 2001); this includes the district, school and teachers. Although the DRF made an attempt to try to get the district involved with the school development plans and projects, it had little success. The DRF did not intervene with developmental workshops at the district level; as a result, whole school improvement was not entirely achieved.
However, going into the future the DRF intends to bring about a form of whole school improvement, as discusses in chapter five, with the development of “blue schools”. In these schools every aspect that is believed to have an influence on the improvement and effectiveness of a school will be addressed. Thus these schools will be equipped with every possible resource that they may require so as to ensure that an increase in learner performance is ultimately achieved. However, again, for this to constitute whole school reform the district would need to be included in the school improvement plans with capacitation at this level of the school system.
With regards to the last question that this research study set out to answer, the researcher made use of both the interviews and the participant observation that occurred in stage three of the research study to answer this question. The researcher has identified that the manner in which interventions have been implemented within these schools has changed over the years.
During this research study the researcher identified a shift from the charismatic approach towards school improvement that was initially taken by David prior to the development of the foundation, to the current approach, which is more systematic and business-like, with the establishment of the foundation.
Initially, the DRF intended to carry on the work that David had initiated prior to his death.
However, with time, the DRF realised that a better understanding was needed of what exactly the schools required in order for school improvement to take place. The findings of the evaluation that was conducted by the Delta Environmental Centre have since influenced the interventions implemented by the DRF.
Additionally, over time, with the development of the partnerships, as discussed in chapter five, the manner in which the DRF operates has changed. After the inception of the partnerships, the DRF began to categorise the schools according to their commitment and willingness to participate. The reason for the categorization of schools was to monitor the schools‟ commitment, whilst at the same to ensure that the schools were both motivated (Fullan, 2006) and determined to change.
Going forward into the future, the DRF has decided to focus its attention on two of its partner schools which will be designated as “blue schools.” These schools will be equipped with every possible resource that they may require to ensure that optimal learner performance is achieved. With this in mind, the researcher notes the manner in which the DRF has changed
over time. The DRF initially provided individual school improvement interventions to the schools and going into the future it will provide a form of whole school reform with the creation of “blue schools”. Over the years, the DRF has tried different approaches to ensure that ultimately school improvement will be achieved within these schools. As Fullan (1993) notes change is a process; things do not always go according to plan and not everything that is attempted will work due to the complexity of school systems. He goes on to state that one is bound to encounter difficulties whilst implementing school improvement plans as this is part of the change process; change is a journey and what is required to bring about improvement within schools will constantly change due to the complexity of the school system.
With regards to the DRF we note that the manner in which the foundation has progressed portrays the use of a business logic and business model of school improvement. As the CEO of the DRF went along with the implementation of the school improvement projects over the years, one notes that the CEO experienced problems along the way which could be expected due to the complexity of the school system. To address these issues, the CEO uses a business logic to ensure that an optimal rate of return is achieved. Additionally, over the years the CEO has become aware of the school as a system and has begun to understand that every aspect within the system has an influence on achieving school improvement. The CEO has also realised that in order to achieve a greater rate of change the whole school system needs to be improved. This has led to the CEOs decision to move away from providing individual school improvement projects to focusing on the whole school with the development of “blue schools” in the near future so that whole school improvement can take place.
Aside from the themes of school improvement and partnerships which emerged from the findings of this research study, a third theme of wider system issues also arose from the data, which indicates the complexity of bringing to the fore school improvement. This theme is in line with much of the literature on South African schools and the issue of school improvement. Firstly, the district department is not providing sufficient support to schools (Creemers et al., 2007) and without the needed support and pressure from the district schools fail to perform. Secondly, with regards to teachers, the researcher found that there is a large number of teachers that are not motivated to teach and there is also a great amount of teachers that lack adequate content knowledge to teach effectively (Khosa, n.d.). There are other issues within the school system that have emerged from this research study that are discussed in chapter five.
Aside from the issues within the system, there are also contextual issues which have an impact on the performance of learners (Hattie, 2009), as discussed in chapter four. These include the existence of child headed households, children living with their grandmothers, poverty, and so on. These contextual issues further add to the complexity involved in ensuring that increases in learner performances are achieved.
7.3 Recommendations
There are two recommendations that the researcher would like to make when considering further school improvement interventions. The first stems from Fullan (2001, 2006, 2011) who advocates for a need to change the culture from which individuals within the school system work. Individuals within the school system need to be motivated and determined to change (Fullan, 2006), which results in a shared vision of school improvement. When this happens, even if problems arise along the way as can be expected due to the complexity of school systems (Fullan, 1993), individuals will have the capacity to be flexible and persist (Fullan, 2006) with their school development plans.
Secondly, with regards to the various school improvement interventions, as indicated by Fullan (2011), there needs to be a focus on the capacitation of the school system which includes the development of professionals so that they are better equipped to carry out their roles and responsibilities. Once this is achieved then any school improvement intervention that is implemented within a school is bound to be successful due to the competence within the system and the motivation and determination that exists among the individuals who work together to tackle the issue of school improvement.
7.4 Conclusion
In this chapter the researcher has summarized the major findings of this research study and in doing so, the researcher has explained how the key research questions of this research study have been answered. Lastly the researcher has provided recommendations to take into consideration for further school improvement projects.