Chapter Two: A review of literature
2.11 School improvement projects that have been initiated within South Africa
Harris (2010) states that schools in the most disadvantaged contexts can improve. She goes on further to state that in order for such schools to improve they need to acknowledge their context: specifically, the needs of their school and the needs of the community (Harris, 2010).
Harris (2010) notes that there needs to be an integrated approach to school improvement, one that (a) takes note of the uniqueness and the context in which the school is placed, (b) encourages networking between schools, whereby schools can learn from each other and support each other, and (c) follows a strategic school improvement approach to ensure that the resources that are required for a school are obtained.
The researcher will outline the main findings of each project below individually. The researcher will also provide an indication of what these projects focused on within these schools.
2.11.1 The Quality Learning Project
The underlying idea behind the Quality Learning Project was that schools perform their best when they receive pressure from the government and when they are given the required support (Creemers et al., 2007) and training that they need to enhance their performance (Taylor & Prinsloo, 2005). Thus, at the district level, there was a focus on building capacity so that the district could better monitor and support their schools; at the school level, there was a focus on leadership so that school leaders could be able to better monitor and support their teachers; and, lastly, at the classroom level there was a focus on teachers so that more effective teaching could take place (Taylor & Prinsloo, 2005). The aim of the project was to improve student learning by focusing on these three levels in order to enhance teaching within the classroom (Taylor & Prinsloo, 2005).
Training programmes were thus provided to teachers with a focus on mathematics and English as these two areas were regarded as the basis of all further learning (Taylor &
Prinsloo, 2005). The training programmes that were provided to mathematics and English teachers focused on improving the content knowledge of these teachers, as most teachers within the South African context lack adequate content knowledge (Khosa, n.d.).
Additionally, teachers from other learning areas were encouraged to increase the amount of reading and writing that learners engaged in (Taylor & Prinsloo, 2005).
With regards to school leadership, there was a focus on developing the school‟s planning for development in order to allow school leaders to manage both their resources and finances efficiently (Taylor & Prinsloo, 2005). Additionally, there was a focus on the school leaders‟
ability to provide support in terms of curriculum leadership. In terms of the district offices, there was a focus on getting these offices to better monitor and support schools (Creemers et al., 2007) by ensuring that they emphasized both financial and human resource management and by providing information on educational management, together with the provision of text books and stationary to schools (Taylor & Prinsloo, 2005).
The results of the study indicate that the three areas that were targeted are key to bringing about school improvement within South African schools. This is demonstrated by the fact
that there was a dramatic increase in the overall matric pass rates within the Quality Learning Project (QLP) Schools, with an 8 per cent increase in the overall matric pass rates when compared to non-QLP schools. Additionally, there was a 61.79 per cent increase in the amount of exemptions, a total of 36.03 per cent increase in the amount of English Higher Grade (HG) passes that was achieved and a total of 924.19 per cent increase in the number of mathematics HG passes achieved within QLP schools (Taylor & Prinsloo, 2005).
2.11.2 The Khanyisa Education Support Programme
The factors that were reviewed for the Khanyisa Education Support Programme include (a) the medium of instruction, (b) factors that contribute to the making of a good teacher, (c) the influence of the learners‟ homes and context on their learning and (d) the principles and orientation of the schools (Simkins & Pereira, 2005).
In terms of the medium of instruction, there was no one language that was used throughout the schools in the province; rather there were variations (Simkins & Pereira, 2005). In some schools, English was used as the medium of instruction and if the learners did not understand then teachers elaborated in their home language. In other schools the learners‟ home language was the medium of instruction and in some schools there was a combinations of English and the learners‟ home language used (Simkins & Pereira, 2005). Taylor and Prinsloo (2005) acknowledge that the medium of instruction is a fundamental aspect that has an influence on learner performance. Within South African schools, the majority of learners are exposed to a medium of instruction that is their second language (Christie, 2008). In most cases, the medium of instruction is English and it is therefore essential that learners become fluent in English as it is a tool that they can use in their continued learning, as all other subjects entail the use of English (Taylor & Prinsloo, 2005). Christie (2008), on the other hand, states that when learners are taught in their home language in their early years of schooling a greater amount of learning takes place.
In terms of the factors that contribute to the making of a good teacher, aspects that were identified included planning, assessment, the interaction between teachers and learners, the conceptual knowledge, the skills of the teacher and the complexity of tasks. The promotion of reading and writing tasks by teachers and whether or not they completed the prescribed curriculum were taken into consideration (Simkins & Pereira, 2005).
In terms of the influence of the learners‟ homes, the focus was on the conditions that the learners are exposed to and their practices in terms of educational as well as recreational activities (Simkins & Pereira, 2005). The learners were asked what language they spoke at home, if they read by themselves at home, how often they did homework and if they watched television and listened to the radio in English. The results indicate that learners who come from homes that have a higher socio-economic status are more likely to communicate in English at home as compared to those learners who come from a home with a lower socio- economic status (Simkins & Pereira, 2005). Harris (2010) acknowledges that there is a huge gap between learners who have a higher socio-economic status and learners with lower socio- economic statuses in terms of educational attainment. Learners with a high socio-economic status are more likely to perform better than those learners with a lower socio-economic status (Harris, 2010). Simkins and Pereira (2005) indicate that with regards to the Khanyisa Education Support Programme there was a strong correlation between the diligence of the learners -- that is, whether they did their homework and read on their own -- and the use of English in the home.
In terms of the orientation and the running of the school, factors such as the school‟s mission, their time on task, whether there was a register for teachers and learners, the planning in terms of curriculum, the monitoring of the school‟s progress by School Management Teams (SMT), the school‟s organisation (including class size) and its policy on assessment (Simkins
& Pereira, 2005) were considered. With regards to South African schools, there are a lot of teaching hours that are lost due to the high rate of absenteeism on the part of teachers and their focus on other extra curricula activities. An increase in the amount of time that teachers spend teaching would bring about significant improvements in learner performance (Christie, 2008).
The overall results indicate that there is a correlation between the quality of teachers and the quality of the school (Simkins & Pereira, 2005). Additionally, diligence is a factor that seems to have a significant correlation with learners‟ performance while all the other factors do not have a significant correlation with learner performance in literacy (Simkins & Pereira, 2005).
However, it appears that the quality of the teacher and whether the learners perform better or not in literacy seems to have an impact on their performance in mathematics (Simkins &
Pereira, 2005). This could be due to the fact that mathematics, in most cases, is taught in English and those learners who are exposed to teachers that are of a good quality are in better
schools due to their high socio-economic status (Christie, 2008) and thus they are more likely to speak English at home and are thus more diligent (Simkins & Pereira, 2005).