LITERATURE REVIEW
3.3 METHODOLOGY
3.3.3 The Context of the Study
As mentioned earlier, I conducted my study in the school where I am based as a Deputy Principal and therefore the school was the case. The school was established in 1902 and is situated in an industrial area, parallel to a very busy main road in Pietermaritzburg. The old buildings are mainly brick structures while the recently built classrooms have been built with block.
Prefabricated classrooms have also been tucked into a corner of the school next to the railway line. These were donated to the school by a secondary school which is linked to us historically, since the venues were swopped during implementation of the Group Areas Act (no.77 of 1957).
These pre-fabricated units were stripped from the original site and re-erected at the school by a small group of male staff which included the principal and me. The school has a fully functioning library where formal lessons are taught as well as a computer room where computer literacy is taught. The school has a duplicating room as well as a physical education storage room. The school runs a nutrition (PSNP) programme which is subsidized by the Department of Education (DOE) and most of the learners take meals at the school. The exception is where parents have requested that learners be excluded. The perimeter of the school is fenced and controlled by a remote controlled gate and additional security gates are located within the administration block. Security cameras are mounted in strategic positions and are the most recent addition to ensuring security. The school has an enrollment of 978 learners who are mainly from an isiZulu background. Most of the learners commute long distances to and from school. A small group of the learners travel from Hammarsdale, 40km from the school. Another group travels from Mpophomeni, which is situated beyond Howick, which is about 30 km from the school.
The school consists mainly of black children who are isiZulu speaking and a few Coloured and Indian children. The staff comprises 30 teachers, male and female with the oldest being 60 and the youngest 24years old. Of the staff, 80% are Coloured including the support staff, 10% are Indian and 10% are African, which includes the general assistants. The state-paid staff comprise the principal, myself as deputy, five heads of department and 19 level-one teachers. The five Governing Body-paid teachers were needed to boost the staff complement that had to manage 976 children in the grades one to grades seven classes.
The support staff, secretary, and bursar share cramped offices while the management team and principal‟s offices are next to each other in the administration block. In an exciting development,
the school had recently opened two grade R classes which totaled 52 learners and these newcomers did not seem to be fazed by the very large throng of `senior‟ learners. The sampling was opportunistic as I was based at the school and I also had a very good insight into the strengths of members of staff. There are six males on the teaching staff. The non-teacher staff consists of two state-paid and four Governing Body paid members.
Discipline and control is evident in the case study school in simple things such as learners being neatly dressed in uniform and in the manner in which they greet the educators, non-educators and visitors. The medium of instruction is English. There is an ethos of pride and diligence and it is evident in the activities that take place at the school. These almost tangible values are evident in the displays of artwork in the foyer. There is an amazing diversity of cultures within the school.
Each classroom is filled with pupils, with barely enough space for the teacher‟s table to fit and, as a result, many teachers are frustrated with the large numbers of learners in a class. There is relief in sight, however, because the school has a long-term plan to bring class numbers down to 38, initially, and eventually to 36 learners per teacher. This is being done by increasing class units to four per grade and not by increasing the number of learners in the school. Teachers are selected very carefully, when attrition occurs, to maintain and ensure school effectiveness.
Further signs of school effectiveness are the very old but meticulously maintained school building. In addition the school grounds receive continuous attention. There is evidence of order and professionalism in each classroom where a timetable, the vision and mission statement of the school, a nutrition scheme roster, and classroom rules as well as the extra-mural roster is displayed. There is strict control and learners who need to leave a class during lessons must be in possession of a permission card. There is evidence of pride and authority which is displayed by most educators while they teach. This is demonstrated by their interaction with the learners and their facilitation of group work. The school is fully functional and everyday is utilized to its maximum potential. Children are engaged in school work every day and they progress every day.
According to Stoll and Fink (1995, p.86) schools are effective when “people within them are also working together to respond to their changing context and to keep developing”. It is the unspoken aim of the school to get the children to be better-disciplined and better equipped academically. The school focuses on the holistic development of the learners. There is also a sense of urgency to succeed despite financial constraints. The educators show determination to improve all the time. It is a sustainable improvement that is evident because the principal and
SMT members speak proudly about the physical changes to the school. The staff and the learners raise funds which have been used to upgrade the library, paint the entire school, rebuild the learners‟ toilets, and build a hall and additional classrooms. The school has also acquired the land across the road from the school and this land is being developed into a sports field. All meetings and planning for fundraisers are conducted before or after school hours. Many personal sacrifices are made by a committed staff which is also motivated and determined.
The principal and the staff have broadened the scope of the curriculum, beyond the educational policies determined by the Department of Education, by promoting aesthetic subjects like the arts. The school has formed partnerships with other sectors in the community such as the South African Police, Department of Health, the Welfare Department as well as local businesses who contribute to the functioning of the school. These are indicators of self-reliance that Coleman (2003) speaks about when she states that resilient schools have the ability to take responsibility for themselves. The school can operate with “some degree of autonomy” as found by Christie and Potterton (1997). Furthermore Christie (1998) says that resilient schools take partial ownership of problems and resolve them instead of waiting on education departments to do so.