4.8 Data collection methods 64
4.8.6 Designing the interview schedule 72
I used two types of interviews as a tool which I thought would help me read more closely the perceptions of the facilitators.
4.8.6.1 Focus group: Interview Schedule 1 – newly-trained facilitators
I initially interviewed a group of six newly-trained facilitators from the deep rural schools on the outskirts of Ladysmith region. These trainers had undergone the initial three-day training, followed by the 20 hour follow-up sessions where they had to prepare, in teams, for their own workshops, where they were to facilitate as teams. These follow-ups were done jointly, with their initial trainers giving them support through coaching and mentoring. This stage was then followed up by a Test Course where the initial trainers were to evaluate the performance of the trainees as they conducted the same kind of workshop as the one run initially for them by their trainers.
I requested that the trainers be videotaped as they were facilitating. This was later followed up by an interview after we had all sat and watched the videos. These facilitators were given the first opportunity to comment about their own performances as depicted in the videos. I then interviewed them, around the following issues:
- How did facilitators facilitate after the introduction of O.B.E
- How did they experience the training (methodology) approach used at Ikhwezi?
- What challenges were experienced in the usage of policies like OBE, Developmental Appraisal System (DAS)?
- How did they experience the preparation stage for the delivery of workshop? (the usage of teams, research, co-facilitation, participatory approach)
4.8.6.2 Focus Group: Interview Schedule 2 – old facilitators
I decided to interview three facilitators who I thought had grown differently within Continuing Professional Development experiences. They came from different training groups, trained by different Danish facilitators. Issues of gender, post -levels, race, and teaching experience were considered. (see appendix.11 and 12 for more information about facilitators selected) The responses from the semi-structured interviews were responses obtained mainly from the facilitators who were trained initially. I hoped to get ‘close’ to these facilitators and the peer-
driven model used in order to understand and carefully record the depth and detail of how facilitators perceived the model within the challenges of curriculum delivery of OBE. The first was a newly appointed school manager of Ziko High School from Tamatisi Township at the time of his training, Mr. Zwide followed by Miss Khanda, a post level one teacher from Induna Township. The third candidate, Mr Morten Andersen, was a dedicated teacher who was later promoted to the position of Head of Department in East Coast Secondary School.
4.8.6.3 Questionnaires: School principals, deputy-principals and heads of department (HODs)
The responses from the managers’ questionnaires were responses mainly from the school principals, trained facilitators, as well as those who were not facilitators, but had ICCE trained facilitators in their schools. Looking at the results of the questionnaires, I was particularly interested in three categories of the policy viz.
• What teachers, principals, and the school management teams perceive as the intention of facilitation training within the OBE Policy.
• How this policy was disseminated to school principals by the Education Department.
• How teachers were trained and prepared for this policy to be implemented in schools, and whether ICCE training was of assistance in enhancing understanding of policy initiatives.
• What affect the ICCE training had on the trained facilitators, as well as on their colleagues?
I hoped to get ‘close’ to my respondents and the situations under investigation so as to understand and carefully record the depth and detail of how principals perceived the intentions of the facilitator training, and how the acquired skills were perceived in relation to OBE implementation.
Like Addler and Vinjvin (1998) I strongly believe that teacher development will in most cases be successful if the given context is seriously taken into consideration.
• My main aim in the qualitative data collection was to capture the ‘reality’ of what goes on within the school context, and to record what principals and teachers say about the peer- driven model of teacher development.
• A further aim was to highlight the richness of the qualitative data. I hoped to probe more deeply, unlocking the voices of principals and facilitators and how they engaged with the implementation of OBE.
I had taken cognizance of the following issues to ensure the quality of data collected:
• The different types of questions to be formulated
• The sequence of questions to follow
• The depth of the information I required
• The length of the interview
• The type of questioning technique to be used
4.8.6.4 The planning of the actual questions within the three categories
The main reason for collecting information within the following categories is to triangulate and further explain the results obtained from the survey questionnaire. Therefore, the choice of questions for all categories is extremely important to probe ‘more thickly’ the responses gleaned from the survey questionnaire. Through carefully reading of literature on the issues of design and questioning techniques, I planned and prepared the interview schedule which led to the different types of questions being formulated. The discussions in each category that shaped the questions are outlined below:
Category One: School-Based INSET
This section aimed at investigating the nature of Professional Development Activities, trained facilitators had to engage with given the opportunities afforded from being trained at Ikhwezi.
School, though not having a clear CPD Policy mandate guiding school-based Inset, did each have their freedom to take the lead in the development of their staff.
Category Two: Policy Documents
At the time of training, the Department of Education had certain intentions in introducing the Outcomes Based Education Policy into schools. However, the manner in which this policy was introduced left some teachers, especially those in management, in the dark, as implementation was staggered. At first, the lower phases, Foundation Phase teachers and practitioners were given initial training of three to five days. The general feeling was that this was inadequate, leaving most participants in ignorance.
Category Three: Teams and co-facilitation
Dissemination of the OBE policy by the Department of Education to the teachers is critical for successful policy implementation. The researcher’s aim here was to allow the interviewee to comment on the brief from the perspective of teachers being prepared to implement the policy.
Category Four: Methodology
In this section I needed to find out how the teachers as trainees experienced the peer-driven method. Knowing that most teachers were normally trained either using the face-to-face, or distance-learning methods, and that a peer-driven approach was found to be extremely challenging; the main purpose here was to find out how this aspect was perceived to benefit teachers in the implementation of OBE.
Category Five: Leadership Skills
Principals trained at ICCE had to receive training for the implementation of the OBE Policy. In this category, the intention was to determine how the ICCE training of the principals, as well as of those in management positions was perceived. Did the training enhance their leadership qualities aiding their ability to work as teams?
The sequence of questions (questionnaires)
I started with very simple biographical questions about the schools, followed by personal information so respondents would feel less intimidated. These were followed by questions on the actual training which facilitators received. I then moved on to statements that were straightforward and required minimum recall and interpretation. The questions on how the facilitation skills were used at school level required the respondents to describe in more detail how they experienced the training. Once the respondents had provided some responses impacting on school-based capacity- building within the implementation of OBE, questions on the training methodology were integrated.
The questions on opinions and feelings followed the statements that were designed in accordance with the Likert type. I thought that it was more accurate and important at this stage to move on to the open-ended questions, to allow the respondents to provide personal point of views on their own performances in an endeavour to capacitate others.