DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS
5.4 CONTRIBUTION OF THE STUDY
5.4.3 Management process
As presented in Figure 5.1, the proposed contextual framework has a management process component where ECCD directors are required to carry out Fayol’s managerial activities of planning, organising, coordination, and controlling that would lead to the expected management outputs. The aforementioned managerial activities and their enablers are briefly explained in the subsequent paragraphs.
5.4.3.1 ECCD management planning activities
To achieve effective ECCD programme management planning using the proposed contextual framework presented in Figure 5.1, ECCD directors are expected to undertake the following planning activities:
• Root cause analysis: To achieve effective planning using the proposed contextual framework, ECCD directors should conduct root cause analysis or environmental scanning to discover why performance gaps have occurred between the ECCD’s improvement vision and the current performance status of its programme.
• ECCD centre context: To ensure that the ECCD centre’s improvement plan is technically sound, the proposed framework requires ECCD directors to establish a deep comprehension of the centre’s environment, involving the internal community such as school personnel, the target learner population, and external community sub-groups such as parents, local community members and officers from the education district.
• Development of overall ECCD centre improvement vision: To achieve a quality ECCD programme improvement plan, ECCD directors should facilitate the development and communication of a bold vision that distinctively reveals how the ECCD centre will be substantially improved from previous poor performance.
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• Identification of improvement priorities: From the proposed contextual framework, ECCD directors are required to identify two to four specific and clear, highly influential improvement priorities as the plan’s focus for a specified implementation time. In addition, directors must provide a fair and convincing justification for selecting each improvement priority that communicates why the priority requires immediate consideration to achieve the ECCD centre’s improvement vision.
• Identification of process outcomes with priorities: The proposed contextual framework required ECCD directors to ensure that the plan contains specific, realistic, justified and elaborate process outcomes that align with each priority to aid in achieving the ECCD programme’s improvement vision. This will help increase stakeholders’ commitment and the possibility of successfully implementing the improvement plan.
• Progress indicators: The proposed framework presented in Figure 5.1 requires ECCD directors to ensure that for each process outcome in the performance improvement plan, there must be a range of progress indicators to gauge the ECCD centre’s improvement in meeting the stated process outcomes. Furthermore, it is required that all performance indicators implicitly and purposefully align with each process outcome.
• Action steps development: Another planning activity required of ECCD directors is the development of detailed, specific, and elaborate action steps based on the root cause analysis for each process outcome, which should not be routine but properly present elaborate tactics for realising process outcomes.
• Organisation of the plan: The proposed framework in Figure 5.1 stipulates three aspects that should be included in the organisation of an improvement plan. These are sequencing, schedule/timeline, and alignment. ECCD directors must ensure that a plan comprises a sequencing of targets, expected outcomes, and actionable steps that are reasonable and deliberate.
In addition, the plan contains a comprehensive, detailed schedule/timeline of actions and processes to be undertaken within the plan’s defined time frame. Furthermore, ECCD directors should ensure that the plan shows how all the important aspects of the improvement plan are
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linked and adequately justify how the centre’s improvement vision is connected with the district’s improvement vision.
• Resources: According to the proposed framework, the final planning activity is identifying resources for implementing the plan. These include responsible people for implementing action steps and general support for planning and management implementation. In this framework, ECCD directors are not supposed to be directly responsible for any priority but instead should play the role of facilitator to reinforce and ensure others are held responsible or accountable for progress on action steps.
This study established that certain factors enable an effective planning phase. The factors are listed below.
5.4.3.2 Planning activities enabling factors
In order to achieve effective and efficient planning, ECCD directors are expected to take into consideration the following enabling factors:
i. Active engagement of internal and external ECCD stakeholders.
ii. Adequate funding and support from stakeholders.
iii. Use of demographic data of children and parents.
iv. Availability of internal and external planning supports and their effective utilisation.
v. ECCD directors and planning team members’ knowledge and skills in planning principles.
The next sub-section briefly explains the organising activities and enabling factors of the proposed contextual framework.
5.4.3.3 Organising activities
The following paragraphs briefly explain the various organising activities ECCD directors must perform according to the contextual framework presented in Figure 5.1.
• Provision of instructional and administrative leadership: According to the proposed contextual framework, ECCD directors can provide instructional and administrative
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leadership through ECCD curriculum planning, organising in-service training for caregivers and teachers, procuring instructional resources, and allocating ECCD personnel to their various classes. In addition, directors can provide leadership by vetting teachers’ learner plans, delegating responsibilities by appointing ECCD programme-level coordinators, monitoring teaching and learning, motivating staff, mentoring inexperienced teachers, and sharing the centre’s vision with staff and parents through engagements with community members.
• Establishing ECCD centre governance and management structures: According to the proposed framework in Figure 5.1, ECCD centres can be effectively organised by ECCD directors by establishing authority structures, such as governance, management, and administrative structures. These structures can include a functional ECCD centre management committee, parents’ association, and an organisational structure to aid in job descriptions and reporting lines.
• Organising resources: According to the framework in Figure 5.1, ECCD directors’ organising activities should include organising human, material, and financial resources in the required quantity and at the correct time to enable the implementation of the ECCD programme.
• Developing ECCD centre policies: According to the proposed framework in Figure 5.1, ECCD directors can achieve the organising function by developing ECCD policies and procedures such as codes of ethics, guidelines, and internal policies, including teachers’
handbooks, health and safety protocols, and parents’ handbooks, which serve as a blueprint for managing ECCD activities. ECCD policies can help provide direction when implementing ECCD goals and priorities.
• Assigning duties and responsibilities: According to the proposed framework, ECCD directors can also achieve programme organisation by assigning roles and delegating responsibilities.
Assigning roles and responsibilities and delegating authority duties to ECCD personnel can, for example, be based on specialisation. Furthermore, establishing parents’ associations and committees can facilitate management efficiency and effectiveness.
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• Ensuring strong parent-community-ECCD centre ties: Based on the proposed framework, ECCD directors can benefit from the social capital of a neighbourhood when there is synergy between ECCD centre personnel, parents, and community members. ECCD directors must maintain cordial ECCD-community relations as the proposed framework recognises support from the community and their presence as a multifaceted resource for ECCD programme improvement.
• Organising professional development for staff: According to the proposed framework presented in Figure 5.1, ECCD directors can use effective human resource management practices such as ECCD staff recruitment, retention, and professional development as effective organising strategies to advance instructional improvement and enhance a sense of community and shared commitments among caregivers and teachers. The proposed framework recognised that high-quality ECCD continuing professional development (CPD) helps to improve professional practices, keep up-to-date with new research on effective practices, build networks, share good practices, and support staff retention.
• Providing appropriate ECCD learning environment: According to the proposed framework, ECCD directors can achieve effective organisation through the provision of an appropriate ECCD environment, which helps in promoting language and literacy development in children by encouraging children to use language, books, and becoming familiar with print.
Furthermore, ECCD directors can organise their centres by providing an appropriate physical environment that enables children to think for themselves as learners. A safe and orderly environment is the most fundamental prerequisite for holistic child development. Providing an appropriate temporal environment to facilitate personal care routines, such as meals/snacks, toileting/diapering, and safety, promotes children’s personal care practices.
Enablers that condition the effective and efficient organising functions of ECCD directors are presented below.
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According to the proposed contextual framework, the following organising enablers must be taken into consideration for ECCD directors to achieve effective and efficient ECCD programme management organisation:
i. Positive attitude and commitment of staff members.
ii. Delegation of power and authority to other stakeholders.
iii. Involvement of all stakeholders.
iv. Seeking funding to support infrastructure.
v. Participative management practices.
vi. Ensuring unity of objectives.
vii. Applying the principle of unity of command.
viii. Applying the principle of span of control.
ix. Distributed leadership 5.4.3.5 Coordination activities
This sub-section explains the management coordination activities ECCD directors must perform according to the proposed contextual framework presented in Figure 5.1.
• Use of ECCD centre routines: According to the proposed framework, ECCD directors can achieve effective coordination through ECCD centre routines, and this can help decrease the need for interaction between staff, thereby transforming caregivers' and teachers’
competencies into ECCD programme capabilities.
• Use of plan and schedules: Another effective coordination mechanism ECCD directors can use according to the proposed framework is the use of schedules to guide the work of teachers, caregivers, parents’ associations, and school management committee members. In addition, directors can use the ECCD centre improvement plan as an integrative device because this can help ECCD centres reduce the need for excessive inter-stakeholder communication if the stakeholders can operate within the planned targets. Furthermore, plans establish timelines as milestones to guide each role player's work, making coordination easier for directors.
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• Behavioural control and performance appraisal: Based on the proposed framework in Figure 5.1, ECCD directors can effectively achieve coordination by controlling the activities of their staff. For example, ECCD directors can use vetting of teachers’ work schemes, weekly forecasts, daily learner plans, and visits to classrooms to observe how lessons are being delivered as effective coordination mechanisms. In addition, ECCD programme implementation can be coordinated through conducting weekly self-appraisal with the teachers to identify the level of achievement of agreed targets. The framework established that the coordination mechanism of behavioural control involves direct personal surveillance of ECCD centre directors. The output control mechanism involves the director’s measurement of ECCD outputs and is closely related to and partly overlaps with coordination through standardisation, formalisation, and planning.
• Use of reward systems: Another effective way ECCD directors can achieve coordination according to the proposed framework is through reward systems, which ensures the achievement of common ECCD goals. Some reward strategies include sharing gifts, giving praise, and financial incentives. Using reward systems through performance evaluations can help ECCD directors increase the collaboration between ECCD centre staff, which will likely decrease the barriers in ECCD services provisions.
• Communication networks: Another effective coordination mechanism ECCD directors can use according to the proposed framework presented in Figure 5.1 is establishing an effective communication network in their centres. Through an effective communication system, ECCD centre role players can easily understand their scope of activity and the limits of their responsibilities.
• Committee system of management: According to the proposed contextual framework in Figure 5.1, the committee system of management can be an effective coordination mechanism.
Accordingly, ECCD directors should ensure effective committees, such as ECCD centre management committees and parents’ associations, to help solve common problems facing the centre. The committee management system is a valuable mechanism for coordinating activities within the ECCD centre, as meetings and teams allow for participative management that promotes team spirit among staff.
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• Coordination through distributed leadership: ECCD directors can practice effective leadership at the ECCD programme planning, implementation, and evaluation stages to achieve effective ECCD programme coordination. Through supervision, directors can achieve the overall objectives of the ECCD centre. Also, effective distributed leadership can facilitate supervision. This means that effective and efficient ECCD centre directors can use their leadership skills to inspire their subordinates to coordinate at will, and this can promote participative management, professional staff development, and a strategy for succession planning.
• Clearly defined aims and objectives: Based on the proposed framework in Figure 5.1, ECCD directors can utilise defined ECCD aims and objectives in clear terms and communicate them to the stakeholders as an effective coordination mechanism. Directors can ensure that ECCD personnel adhere to ECCD curriculum aims and objectives by supervising and monitoring teachers’ lesson delivery and assessment results. Therefore, every ECCD stakeholder should understand the centre’s aims and objectives to ensure unity of purpose.
• Simplified organisation and effective chain of command: According to the proposed framework in Figure 5.1, ECCD directors can use an organisational chart and the simplification of the ECCD centre organisation to achieve coordination. By arranging ECCD programme levels into departments, better coordination could be achieved among departmental heads. This organisation can, for example, entail appointing coordinators in charge of crèche, nursery, kindergarten, and lower primary to help directors have proper control over their subordinates.
• Meetings and in-service training workshops: In addition to the coordination mechanisms mentioned above, ECCD directors can also use meetings and in-service training workshops as effective coordination mechanisms. Furthermore, in-service training workshops provide a meaningful platform for ECCD centre directors and curriculum leaders to exchange knowledge and experiences with their colleagues. Accordingly, ECCD directors are encouraged to hold periodic staff meetings and in-service training sessions.