The findings of the study show that the process of teacher development through the cascade model has not only resulted in teachers engaging in 'strategic simulation' for change and. Against this background, this study aims to explore the experiences of teachers in their training and development through the cascade model used by the Department of Education to implement the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS).
CONTEXTUALISING THE STUDY
PURPOSE OF STUDY
RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY
This study will focus in particular on the experiences of teachers regarding their training and development in preparation for the implementation of Integrated Quality Management Systems (IQMS) in schools. Like other policy initiatives, teacher training and development in preparation for the implementation of IQMS has occurred through the cascade model.
TERMS AND CONCEPTS USED IN THIS STUDY
WORK
In the context of this study, the term 'work' is used as a 'verb' to indicate the extent to which the cascade model 'brings about' or 'effects' desired changes in teacher development, and can therefore be considered 'successful' considered in the context of this study. contribute to the development of teachers.
INTEGRATED QUALITY MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS (IQMS)
The proposed IQMS Management Plan consists of a series of steps/processes and teachers participate in the program in their capacity as School Development Teams (SDTs); Development Support Groups (DSGs) and School Management Teams (SMTs).
THE TEACHER TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT FOR IQMS IMPLEMENTATION
With this in mind, this study will investigate whether the cascade model worked for teachers and, if it did, how it did so. Is a cascading approach appropriate and appropriate to support and develop teachers for policy implementation?
CHAPTER DELINEATION
Was it just about the process or was it also about how the process unfolded.
INTRODUCTION
TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
When the right development occurs, teachers can achieve even greater self-expression and good results in school (Conco 2004). According to Day (1994), teacher development is the process by which teachers review, renew and expand their commitment to the moral purpose of teaching as agents of change and by which they acquire and critically develop knowledge, skills, planning and practice with children, young people and colleagues throughout each phase of their teaching.
TRAINING
This study seeks to investigate the extent to which this intention is achieved through the cascade model. In the cascade approach, a small number of teachers are usually taken away from their workplaces (schools) to receive instructions on new policies.
THE CASCADE MODEL FOR TEACHER DEVELOPMENT: THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT
At the head of the structure is the National Department itself, which trains personnel from the Province, who in turn train personnel from the districts. Below is a schematic diagram of the cascade model used by the National Department of Education during one of its in-service teacher training and development sessions (1998).
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
EFFECTIVE MODELS OF TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
Liberman (1995) alludes to the fact that teachers' professional development is considered successful if it is seen as an integral part of the school. Stoll and Fink (1996, cited in Malada 2004) reflect the emergence of a new paradigm of teacher professional development.
SUMMARY
Pressure is needed to focus on a specific innovation, but this must be offset by support in the form of expert help and financing. The view of teacher development as a transferable knowledge package to be disseminated in bite-sized chunks requires a radical rethink.
PARADIGMS OF TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
According to Zeichner (1983), the paradigms of teacher development that consider school contexts to be relatively 'certain', that is to say this paradigm especially presents the function and purpose of teacher development as a social endeavour.
SUMMARY
This study aims to answer these questions in Chapter 4, using these four paradigms of teacher development as a microscope to understand how training and development occurs through the cascade model. I also introduced Zeichner's Paradigms of Teacher Development to understand the paradigm(s) within which the Cascade Model can be located.
METHODOLOGY
- INTRODUCTION
- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- RESEARCH DESIGN
- School Training Teams: Interviews of each team of the three schools in the Port Shepstone Region that participated in this project. Each team consisted of three
- RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS
- MAKING MEANING OF METHODOLOGY: QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE
- ACCESS AND ISSUES OF ETHICS
- ANALYSIS OF THE PROVINCIAL IQMS MANAGEMENT PLAN
- INTERVIEWS
- QUESTIONNAIRES
- TRIANGULATION OF DATA
- LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
- SUMMARY
- INTRODUCTION
- BACKGROUND
This research focuses on teachers' experiences with their training and development through the cascade model, to understand whether this model works for teacher development. This section is intended to provide answers to the question: “What are the experiences of the school training teams with their training of IQMS via the cascade model?”. These in turn were responsible for training the district-level School Training Teams (STTs), which trained teachers in schools, on IQMS implementation.
The flow diagram below (Figure 2), adapted from the Training Manual for Provincial Teams (2003), indicates the implementation flow of the IQMS.
THE OFFICIAL STORY
OFFICIAL STORY 1: AN ANALYSIS OF THE IQMS PROVINCIAL TRAINING TEAMS MANUAL
- THE TOP-DOWN, DECONTEXTUALISED APPROACH
- TIME: THE “TIGHT” SCHEDULE FOR TRAINING
- INTENSIVE ONCE-OFF INTERVENTION
- SUMMARY
From the outset it is evident that the school principal has a major role to play in the implementation of the IQMS at the school level (see Figure 2, Part D). Based on the responsibility and actions that the director will undertake in the first two months of implementation, this figure suggests that the training of educators, including discussions and clarification of issues, will take place only in the month of January. The role of teachers in the processes described in official documents continues to be a passive, one-dimensional and imposed practice.
The cascade structure signals that the teacher as an apprentice in the process – simply the recipients of information and 'knowledge' that is pre-defined and packaged.
OFFICIAL STORY 2: AN ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEWS OF THE PROVINCIAL TRAINING TEAM MEMBERS
- ORGANISATION OF IQMS TRAINING
- REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE CASCADE MODEL FOR TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
- TRAINING VERSUS POLICY IMPLEMENTATION
- SUMMARY
The cascade model through workshops is one form of training that the Department of Education uses to continuously develop teachers, for effective implementation of policies. The above data implies that the cascade model's contribution to teacher development is narrowly limited to empowering teachers to implement policies of the Department of. This supports the idea that the cascade model is at its core a policy transfer tool, as.
The principles that the cascade model leaves out are, unfortunately, key to raising the expertise and professionalism of teachers.
THE TEACHER-EXPERIENCE STORY
EXPERIENCE STORY 1: AN ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEWS OF SCHOOL TRAINING TEAMS
- ONE-DIMENSIONALITY WITHIN THE CASCADE STRUCTURE “It is all about telling teachers what to do.”
- TRAINERS AS “EXPERT- TECHNICIANS”
- TIME ALLOCATED FOR TRAINING: “No time to think”
- DECONTEXTUALIZING IQMS: School realities and the cascade
- SUMMARY
This study found that the duration of the workshop was not sufficient for IQMS training. One of the limitations of the cascade model is its inability to take into account teachers' backgrounds and their school contexts. The obtained data show that the fundamental principles written in the cascade model had a negative impact on the teachers' experiences.
These findings suggest that the cascade model did not work for STTs development for GGBS implementation.
THE EXPERIENCE STORY 2: ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRES FROM TEACHERS
- SUMMARY
More than 50% of teachers felt that they did not need more time to engage with the content of the IQMS prior to its implementation. More than half of the participating teachers believed that two workshops were sufficient to prepare them for the implementation of IQMS. The table above again shows that teachers at the lowest level of the cascade model were reasonably satisfied with the training they received from School Training Teams.
Based on Zeichner's theory of teacher development, I conclude that teachers at the lowest stage of the cascade operate within the 'behaviourist' paradigm.
INTRODUCTION
It shows that the cascade model has worked to deprofessionalize and reinforce and maintain the status quo for teachers. Cascade model training perpetuates a one-dimensional, decontextualized and technical, top-down approach to teacher development. The model does not work towards enhancing the expertise and professionalism required for teacher development at the school site.
The school's training team felt that the cascading model did not work for them, and yet other teachers who are part of the staff felt that it did.
DISRUPTION IN THE PROGRESS OF ‘DEVELOPMENT’
Drawing on Zeichner's theory of teacher development, teachers, especially those located at the policy implementation level, continue to be constructed as. The break in the progress of teacher development occurred at the level of STTs, when they began to question their role in the development process through the cascade; the linear dimensional model of development and how the model takes into account time, experiences, and unique teaching contexts is evident. STTs felt that their cascade training was a one-size-fits-all approach; from which they experienced no development.
STTs begin to push 'development' beyond the boundaries of behaviourist, traditional and personalist paradigms towards 'research' to build teacher development in extended professionalism: thinking beyond the transfer of skills, knowledge and attitudes to adopting a generally intellectual and rational approach to their work.
DOES THE CASCADE MODEL WORK FOR TEACHERS?
- IMAGING TEACHERS AS FACTORY WORKERS: INTENSIFICATION CRISIS
- DE-PROFESSIONALISATION OF TEACHERS
In a similar vein, teachers strategically simulate change when, like 'compliant factory workers' (Smyth and Shacklock, 1998), they signal unquestioningly through the cascade model their acceptance of their training and development and when they do not think about how policies might be applied in their educational contexts. The cascade model has handicapped teachers by not equipping them to deal with the diversity and differences that face every educational context. The cascade model, through its approach and process, maintains the image of the teacher as a factory worker, responsible for delivering a product that the DoE has defined and mandated.
The cascade model does not encourage teachers to 'think' about how they develop and can be developed, nor to engage in 'research', factors that are important for effective professional development.
SUMMARY
RECOMMENDATIONS
For the cascade model to be useful as a model for teacher development, it must include some elements of the 'inquiry-oriented' paradigm. The training should be open to new interpretation, and there should not be an expectation of firm adherence to prescribed working methods. Expertise should be spread throughout the system as widely as possible and not concentrated at the top.
CONCLUSION
Project Title: Determining the Effectiveness of the Cascade Education Model on Teacher Professional Development. There will be an interview session for the school development team who were involved in rolling out the IQMS to teachers in your school. At the end of the training session, I felt that I was adequately prepared for the implementation of IQMS.
We had sufficient time for the training of the school teaching staff for the implementation.
