Despite the researcher’s choices and the definite advantages, case study was not the only available option. A number of researchers have identified various ways of conducting qualitative research.
Cresswell (1994, 1998) has identified four strategies which this research is aware of while pursuing the Case Study approaches, namely: Biography, Phenomenology, Grounded Theory and Ethnography.
The case study approach allowed for an in-depth analysis of 95 facilitators, as well as an in-depth study of two schools; three facilitators, and myself as a researcher. This approach accommodated rapid reporting and a rich description of information from a small sample from the two schools. In this way, patterns were identified which led to in-depth analysis. As Nisbeth (1980:6) claims, case study enables the researcher to get “beneath the skin” of a situation instead of studying it in a detached way.
This research needed to be in line with identified patterns or trends across teachers and contexts or a cross-case analysis of information (Yin, 1994). Researchers in a study conducted in 23 OECD countries have revealed that reports on innovation and changes in maths, science and technology in education. Black and Artkin (1999) The whole research focused on a relatively small number of teachers - small enough to help one examine in depth each teacher, but also large enough to enable one to realize some patterns and trends across teachers.
This research will also involve a small number of teachers used as facilitators, out of a huge number of +- 90 000 teachers in the province. As a researcher I hope to realize results that could influence curriculum practitioners as well as policy-makers. The chapter is divided into three parts and outlines the methods used to gather and interpret the data. In each of these parts I will present the methodological approach for each of the critical questions:
Part One: Document analysis with critical research questions.
Question One: How do we deal with the challenges of a peer-driven model?
Part Two: Questionnaire analysis and interviews dealing with critical research.
Part Three:
Critical Question two: How do we take advantage of the opportunities offered by a peer- driven model?
The peer-driven model used at ICCE meant training teachers as facilitators in groups, so that they, in turn, facilitate the training of others towards meeting the requirements of the new national curriculum policies like OBE. One of the requirements of the OBE philosophy is that of being able to facilitate learning outcomes. Emphasis was on teachers training as teams, so that they could give and receive support both as individuals as well as teams. As peers, teachers would develop other teachers’ emphasis was also given to their particular school experiences. It should be noted that facilitation as a skill was never part of teachers’ initial training. Teachers’ mindsets as per the type of training received within the apartheid government were those of placing the teacher on a pedestal as the owner of knowledge which had to be delivered behind closed classroom doors.
The major challenge was based on the fact that the discrepancies in the levels and methods of training South African teachers under the apartheid government were really highlighted or brought to the fore during the training sessions. The variance among methods and levels of training, and skills acquired through training, became problematic during the training sessions, and were found to challenge aspirations of diversity. It was noted from training that white teachers did not always submit to participation, as they had the perception that due to the better quality of education they had received, they could not be developed by supposedly “inferior” races.
The training and experiences of the ICCE trained facilitators must also be considered as taking place during a very crucial period when there were numerous national policy initiatives aimed at redressing the unjust system of education resulting from the apartheid government. Facilitators were trained when the country was undergoing social and educational transformation. The National Curriculum Policy on Outcomes- Based Education plays a crucial part in this research, as the training of the facilitators was implemented to assist them to become better facilitators
within the dictates of this national curriculum initiative which was intended to replace apartheid education. The purpose of the analysis will be located in the facilitator training within the context of broader policy developments in education.
In the analysis of the ICCE trainers, the researcher examined the contents, claims, objectives, assumptions and silences of the key propositions of the teacher training models within a curriculum changing environment. The effectiveness of ICCE training will also be analysed with the aim of capturing the experiences of the facilitators as they engaged with the continual professional development of themselves and later of other teachers.
Critical Question Two:
• How does a peer-driven model provide opportunities for teacher professional development?
• How do school-based teachers experience the ICCE model?
The aim of this critical question is to understand the opportunities that could be realized through a peer-driven model. In this model, teachers and school managers were trained without being permanently removed from their jobs. This would hopefully create opportunities for on-going Teacher Professional Development. These teachers were then frequently requested to participate in capacitating other teachers and managers. It is hoped that this kind of exposure will enhance both their personal and professional development. In understanding the peer-driven model, one would be compelled to look closely at the experiences of the trained facilitators.
The researcher is also mindful of the fact that this training took place within the context of numerous tensions among the staff complements in schools, as they were subjected to a number of policies which had a radical impact on teachers’ lives. Policies such as those of redeployment, retrenchment, and the severance package options created tensions in the school ‘working’
environment. Teachers were working under very stressful circumstances, having to make difficult choices within the uncertain context of adjusting to the newly introduced OBE. curriculum with its demands.
Teachers’ new roles according to the Norms and Standards for Teachers Department of Education, (2000) meant that in order for them to efficiently implement OBE. They had to be:
- Facilitators - Pastoral caregivers - Material developers - Managers
- Counsellors - Mediators of learning - Assessors
This was indeed a tall order for the teaching corps who were known to have had huge discrepancies in their training with a high percentage of un- and under-qualified teachers in their midst. To generate qualitative and quantitative data pertaining to the ICCE-trained facilitators, I used a survey method. This can be viewed in the light of a practice-based approach (Lampert and Ball, 1998) as a case study within a case study. It is a case study with the aim of improving practice, as well as contributing to policy and practice in the professional development field.
A pilot study was conducted with 60 school-based facilitators before the actual survey was carried out. The researcher used facilitators trained between 1997 and 2003. This study used teachers who had already been trained, or had hopefully been influenced by the model offered at ICCE. These could be referred to as “contextualised teachers” or “the teacher-in-school” Adler and Reed, (2002).
Two schools were used after permission was sought from the regional senior officials for access.
All participants were informed about the purpose of the study, and the confidentiality of the information that was requested of them. Throughout the pilot study I was allowed the opportunity to reflect on the questionnaire, and certainly found some questions to be either too vague, or too ambiguous, with a few statements which proved to be confusing. On the basis of the pilot study, I then had to adapt the lay-out and structure of the questionnaire and the interview schedule, sharpening its focus by omitting repetition, and thus also clarifying ambiguous statements. For the purposes of this study, data was collected via questionnaires, journals and interviews.