CHAPTER 4: DATA PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
4.4 Strategies to develop lecturer leadership
systems and procedures because these systems and procedure were open to change and had no known boundaries.
To overcome this barrier, the participants assert that a supportive culture must be developed at the college so that lecturers would be more likely to stay and dedicate themselves to teaching and learning and take on leadership roles (Harris and Muijs, 2005). This would be possible because they would have respect for each other and develop trust towards the college and its management. “If you are trusting, respecting others and are willing to be taught and if secondly, there is no fear, lecturer leadership can be promoted” (LLA, J, p.6). Harris agrees that a culture of trust is “both a facilitator of and a result of teacher leadership” (2004, p.104). Furthermore, the same author suggests that giving teachers autonomy can help create this culture of trust. I argue that trust is linked with openness; if you are open as a lecturer, management will trust you and they will have no reason to put a stop to your leadership initiative thus lecturer leadership would be explored. Lecturer Leader B responded similarly during the focus group interview:
„I‟m saying it is very important to have an open culture and that will bring about more efficiency” (FGI, p.8).
such a way that you avoid “them and us” us the subordinates and them the seniors (LLA, 11, p.8). This „us and them‟ created division among staff and management. The divided staff cannot work collaboratively and this could affect the development of lecturer leadership negatively. The same lecturer further commented: “The united staff is likely to produce good results but if you do away with the factors that are barriers to lecturer leadership like suppression, fear and autocracy and we say we are one staff everyone is at liberty to voice his or her beliefs. Then lecturer leadership will be a success. (LLA, II, p.8). To me, this indicated that if there was a culture of collaboration, all staff would work freely, without fear of others and suppression by another. As a result, they would be able to take-up further leadership roles. This idea was in line with Grant‟s (2006) who states that teacher leaders must work with other practitioners in team teaching and participate in decision-making without fear.
4.4.2 Professional development opportunities
Unlike the traditional views of leadership, I work from the premise that the art of leadership can be taught because leaders are not born (Davidoff and Lazarus, 2002). Those in leadership positions can assist in the training of lecturer leaders by providing leadership opportunities. In line with this thinking, lecturers in my study suggested that they needed to be developed professionally to take on leadership roles. Lecturers responded as follows about lecturer development: “I would like to see workshops taking place in all the schools you convert teachers from not being teachers but to put something extra. It‟s not about just being a lecturer but being a lecturer leader!” (LLA, II, p.8). Lecturer Leader B likewise commented in support of lecturer development and the use of expert knowledge: “If you want to be a teacher leader you need to be an expert in your field. People will admire you and want to learn from you if you are knowledgeable” (LLB, J, p.14). Lecturer Leader C‟s comment is more management related as she believed that for lecturer leadership to develop at the college “Management needs training;
they don‟t know what lecturer leadership is all about.” (LLC, II, p.4). These views are echoed by Harris and Lambert (2003) who suggests that to generate and sustain lecturer leadership:
opportunities for continuous professional development that focus not just on the development of teachers skills and knowledge but aspects specific to their leadership role, such as leading groups and workshops, collaborative work, mentoring, teaching adults and action research are crucial (2003, p.45).
Lecturers suggested that professional development was required for both themselves and campus management so that they would understand their job more and continuously improve learner performance. They also wanted to improve their teaching and learning skills to become experts as Harris and Lambert (2003) state. Lecturer Leader C continued to share her belief that leadership must not be associated with position but opportunities must be created for everyone to lead. This, she argued, can be possible if lecturer leaders were trained. One of the lecturer leaders suggested that “workshops where both management and lecturers do things together must be organized. We need to have some kind of training that will include us all as lecturers and managers” (LLC, II, p.3). This lecturer argued that lecturers and management attend the same workshop, where they work together, so that they will know and understand each other much better.
4.4.3 The importance of dialogue and regular effective meetings
Having regular effective meetings could be another strategy that can be used by an FET College to develop lecturer leadership. Having regular meetings could create a clear flow of communication where people understand what is required of them. Such a practice also facilitates the identification of gaps or problems, where change could be introduced. Having regular meetings could assist the lecturers in my study to identify opportunities where they can take on leadership roles and rescue management from their leadership paralysis because campus managers would understand lecturers even better as they regularly work with them. Lecturer Leader B responded in her interview: “In any job even being a teacher, you need to communicate with those above you because if you don‟t have two- way communication that immediately is an obstacle” (II, p.2). This response was in alignment with Grant and Jugmohan (2008) who argue for the importance of dialogic spaces in schools. They stress that people should talk openly and honestly about their experiences and feelings. In my case, I argue that campus management should discourage “monologic spaces” (Grant and Jugmohan, 2008) where there are silences among lecturers and management, and instead create an authentic dialogic space which could be in the form of regular meetings so that lecturers can talk, raise their concerns honestly and share their expertise. Harris and Muijs (2005) support this idea of regular meetings but add that
schools (FET colleges in my case) must plan meetings that engage teachers in collaborative discussions of teaching and learning, rather than having SMT-dominated meetings.
In line with the thinking above, Lecturer Leader B claimed that having regular meetings during the examination period would make the invigilators understand what was expected of them. She wrote in her journal: “I always ensure that all invigilators have a briefing before we start, ensure that all invigilators know their duties, double check number and mark sheets” (LLB, J, p.11).
Having regular meetings did not only improve the way exams were handled, but it improved team work where lecturers shared best practices and ideas. For example, Lecturer Leader C was of the opinion that “as lecturers we need to have an exam meeting where we disclose all our concerns and uncertainties cause really we cannot always keep things from them, but this need courage so that we can work together” (II, p.4). This confirms the findings of Lieberman et al (1988) that courage and risk taking are essential to authentic teacher leadership. However, Katzenmeyer and Moller (2001) caution that we need to decide whether meetings are necessary because we find that people get into the habit of attending meetings where they rarely accomplish outcomes. I agree with Katzenmeyer and Moller (2001) but qualify my position by stating that meetings may create dialogic space for authentic lecturer collaboration and „voice‟
within a culture of trust.