4.3 Study findings on leadership in the school 84
4.3.3 Creating conducive conditions 94
94
95 they used to attend classes with Kotloanong, others with Engen...there are so many projects which they are engaged in. (R12)
It was found that there is a high level of trust that exists among the principal, teachers and learners which made the nurturing of this supportive culture a possibility. This trust was evident in the manner in which the principal delegated power to his subordinates and he empowered them to be better leaders in their own right. His inclusive leadership style comprised teacher, learner and parent components which is ideal for a success of a modern school. Stressing the importance of the existence of trust among players in the school, the principal stated that:
...You create a culture of trust, if you cannot be trusted forget about forcing any issues, you must create a culture of trust. (R16)
Trust is very important in building relationships necessary for an organisation to succeed. When there is trust among players in an organisational setting, players are likely to interact healthily and productively. The work of Jones and George (2009:127) defines trust as “the willingness of one person or group to have faith or confidence in the goodwill of another person, even though this puts them at risk”.
Trust becomes relevant also in a school environment where teamwork among teachers is so important. There was a realisation that teamwork among the teachers enhanced teaching and learning in the school. There was a consensus among respondents that the success of the school is dependent on teachers working as teams. Their commitment towards improving school effectiveness was evident from the manner in which they applied a teamwork approach in supporting initiatives aimed at improving teaching and learning. Respondents related what they currently do in teams to ensure that learners are always occupied in classes through what they call
‘batting’. One respondent described this practice as follows:
...batting means when the teacher is absent another teacher goes in so that learners are not left unattended. (R5)
Batting is believed to be very helpful in the school since it keeps learners occupied thus ensuring teaching and learning, preventing unruliness and mischief likely to interrupt proceedings in neighbouring classes.
96 Apart from classroom teachers working as teams to ensure that teaching and learning was taking place at all times in classes, team spirit was found to be deeply entrenched in the school culture.
People were grouped in different teams, committees and sub-committees created to fulfil school performance improvement goals.
Of course there are groups of people that we work with which actually make my job a little bit easier for instance we have School Management Team made up of educators, we have a number of sub-committees within the school, we have the school governing body which also helps, we have the hostel management team, we have a sports committee. All this practices on a daily basis in terms of a specific objective that the school is following makes our jobs a little bit easier. (R16)
Team collaboration becomes relevant in the age where schools are faced with a myriad of challenges that can better be addressed through team efforts. Team collaboration allows for the development of innovative ideas by team members within groups which would not have been developed if people were working in silos (Daft, 2011). It also enhances knowledge creation sharing within teams and ultimately within the organisation (Wenger, 2006; Wenger and Snyder, 2000) thus improving opportunities of organisational effectiveness. Elaborating on this, one of the respondents stated as follows:
There are a number of committees. So those committees focus on one subject. So they focus on one subject, they come up with resolutions then they present their resolutions to the staff.
They allow the staff to make some inputs. Once they have made some inputs then they endorse those decisions and then they are implemented. So in that way it doesn’t become something that you know is for a particular group. It is something for us all. It becomes something for us all. (R6)
There was evidence that suggests that there were cohesive network relationships that existed among team members which contributed positively towards team effectiveness. The school’s success was found to be attributable to the team effectiveness witnessed in the school. Team effectiveness had made it possible for teams to innovate and adapt; deliver quality outputs efficiently and to have enhanced teacher/job satisfaction (Daft, 2011).
97 It was found further that apart from teamwork, the school’s success could be attributed to the school culture that existed in the school. There were deeply entrenched rules and values that were shared by everyone in the school from top to bottom. These school rules and values were found to be making up the school culture that everyone subscribed to and the principal was found to be leading by example in ensuring that everyone lives the school culture.
Being a member you are called upon to follow certain rules within the school all of us.
Perhaps the way I follow those rules emerges or put me in a better light because I am always at school at 5:30 am. I am always at school when I am needed even after hours. I do things that I believe will make my staff, my learners learn from me from my experience of the past years, being a teacher and a leader at school. (R16)
The success of any school performance improvement initiative is dependent on the creation of a culture by leaders and followers conducive to working together (Christie, 2005). The collective orientation to school culture helps foster a sense of collective ownership of school activities thus maximising chances of school effectiveness. Sound school culture provides learning opportunities for everyone in the school (Christie, 2005). Schools are institutions of learning and as such learning should result in student learning, teacher learning, organisational learning and the principal learning from schooling experiences (Christie, 2005).
It was found that immersion and experiences in this profession have seen teachers changing their perception about their profession. Teachers were found to be viewing their profession as a calling and not a job because it afforded them an opportunity to contribute towards building the nation.
Elaborating on this point, one of the respondents stated as follows:
We are here to build the whole child, not only academically. So if you just let a learner coming late to school and if (the principal) did not see that learner and you just close one eye as if you did not see him or her. What will happen to that child when she gets a job and she becomes a manager who doesn’t know how to keep time? (R3)
The culture that was observed in the school was based on a holistic approach which created a healthy supportive environment for teaching and learning in the school. The culture took into account among other things the external problems learners are exposed to, national demands around skills shortage and the urgency to create more skilled workers. The dedication of the school towards
98 the production of potential professionals in the technical and commercial fields was captured in its mission statement as discussed in the preceding paragraphs. There was evidence that a culture conducive to the attainment of the school goals existed in the school. These findings resonated with that of theorists in schools improvement literature who found that school culture enhances school performance (Niemann and Kotze, 2006; Maslowski, 2001).