The post-apartheid government has introduced a number of policies and strategies to ensure that quality education takes place in our schools. e)ne' of the most important has been the development assessment system. This case study is a qualitative investigation of the attitudes of management members at Clairwood Secondary School towards the developmental assessment system. The aim of the survey is to a certain extent to capture the school management's views, feelings, attitudes and perceptions of DAS.
To my wife, Priscilla Naidoo, and son Clinton Naidoo, all for the encouragement and moral support during the completion of the studies. WITS EPU: Education Policy Unit of the University of Witwatersrand SACE: South African Council of Educators. The Developmental Appraisal System (DAS) can be seen as part of a set of policies (e.g. the Teacher Education Norms and Standards, Skills Development Act, Whole School Evaluation and Development, Quality Assurance, etc.) implemented by the new government have been adopted to improve education.
With this in mind, the purpose of the study is to investigate the attitude of school leaders towards the developmental assessment policy at the selected school. The key question asked in this study is "what is the attitude of school leadership towards the developmental assessment system at Clairwood High School?".
1. 5 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
THE LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
CONCLUSION
The primary responsibility for development lies with the educator, and the primary place for development is the school. In this part of the study, the objective, critical questions and rationale of the study were addressed. In the next section, a review of the selected literature is carried out and the DAS policy document is examined.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
- INTRODUCTION
- THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW DEVELOPMENTAL APPRAISAL SYSTEM
- STAFF DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING
- INITIATING A NEW SYSTEM OF APPRAISAL
- THE ASSUMPTIONS THAT UNDERPIN THE NOTION OF "APPRAISAL"
- The Developmental Approach
- Policy Formulation and Implementation
- CONCLUSION
The next section explores the literature in the context of the developmental approach used in the developmental assessment system, namely staff development and training. A brief review of the literature would reveal that issues of staff development and training resonate with the policy of development assessment. The impetus for the historical development of the new development assessment system is related to the separation of the inspectorate and advisory services of the majority of subjects.
The University of the Witwatersrand Education Policy Unit (Wits EPU, 1993) was commissioned to assist in the development of an alternative form of teacher assessment. The Education Labor Relations Council (ELRC) Commission of Inquiry has, among other things, established a National Assessment Team (renamed the Training, Retraining and Development Team). Based on these decisions, the University of Witwatersrand's Education Policy Unit piloted the new assessment system.
The results of the pilot study showed that there was unanimous support for the nature and processes of the new teacher evaluation system. The pilot study showed that the nature of the new assessment system contributed significantly to facilitating relations between teachers and school management and between schools and departmental offices. The pilot study thus empirically validated the nature, philosophy, processes and instrument of the new assessment system (Wits EPU. 1994).
On 28 July 1998, a final agreement was reached in the ELRC on the implementation of the new development assessment system. This entails the "guiding principles", the nature of the assessment process and the use of "assessment panels". In this process, the "developmental approach" ensures that the person being "rated" is part of the appraisal process and that the person is able to contribute to decisions about the person's performance and ways in which it can be improved (Quinlan & Davidoff, 1997 ).
One of the biggest difficulties with state-led reform initiatives is that education systems operate at many levels. The historical development of the current DAS policy was profiled and the DAS policy was presented. In the next section, the results of the study are presented in response to the critical question posed in the study.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH FINDINGS
INTRODUCTION
FINDINGS OF THE INTERVIEW
- UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE DEVELOPMENTAL APPRAISAL POLICY AT SCHOOL
- CONCLUSION
- EVALUATION ISSUES
- CONCLUSION
- PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
- CONCLUSION
- MANAGEMENT INVOLVEMENT
- CONCLUSION
- IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES
- CONCLUSION
All seven management members agreed that there was a clear need for assessment in the schools for the following reasons:. for the overall development of the educator. The rest of the institute managers were familiar with the DAS instrument design and their opinion was that it was generally a good instrument. The most frequently mentioned answers to this question were. it must be applied consistently. shortcomings of educators will be seen as constructive criticism. The DAS instrument plays a major role in the assessment. it must be implemented across the board.
The technical head of the department believed that in the new evaluation system the individual was given the opportunity to justify the evaluations - it would have a great impact on the positive side of the educator in question. The last question in the category asked if managers had any training in implementing the DAS policy (Question 8). Regarding the evaluation issues raised in the interview schedule, respondents were asked to answer 3 questions.
To the first question, What is your view of the old judgmental approach to educator evaluation? (Question 1), the following answers were received. According to the head of department of Humanities and Social Sciences, the old approach was autocratic, fault-finding and demoralizing with no room for the development of the teacher. Their views can be summarized as follows: it was very judgmental and educators viewed it negatively. mainly negative points of the educators were highlighted. it was given from the top down and imposed on teachers. it affected teachers emotionally, physically and spiritually. it was feared by teachers. this put teachers under a lot of stress and pressure. the old judgmental approach was autocratic, fault-finding and demoralizing. it generated a lot of hostility.
Do you think that the creation of the staff development team will contribute to professional development?, the following responses were noted. All management members agreed that the reduction of the staff development team would contribute positively to professional development. In general, management members were in favor of employees creating panels for DAS for the following reasons:. since educators are involved in the system, they want to collaborate and make it a success. the policy gives the educator free choice as to who he/she wants on the panel - and thus gives the educator freedom of choice.
From the views expressed, it is clear that DAS has a positive effect on the professional development of educators. The Head of Technology's view was that school leaders have a key role to play as one of the stakeholders in the overall evaluation process. The essence of the head of department's view could be captured in the words of an English head of department:.
The advantages of DAS implementation are that the policy has a positive impact on all areas of school development. As can be seen, the advantages of implementing DAS in the school far outweighed the disadvantages.
CONCLUSION
For an educator in the classroom, if he/she is integrally involved in the effort to improve his/her own professional development, one must also be able to see other areas of improvement for the school as a whole, because an educator must see an improvement in school in general. Everyone needs to know that DAS is put in place to not see you in a bad light, to go on a fault finding mission - they just need to know that everyone is doing it because they have one. The head of department for Humanities and Social Sciences mentioned the changing attitude of teachers towards DAS as the most important.
If they can internalize this value, every educator will try to emulate DAS and this will improve the implementation of DAS. It was very difficult to organize the time when a colleague was free to visit the classroom. The benefits of implementing the DAS policy have been wide and far-reaching and have had a positive impact on all aspects of the school's development.
INTRODUCTION
SIGNIFICANCE OF FINDINGS
Regarding evaluation issues, the current DAS was a great improvement on the old judgmental approach and the feeling was that educators accepted DAS more readily because DAS focused on growth and development of the practitioner. Regarding the setting up of the staff development teams, the staff of Clairwood Secondary were in accordance with the procedures of the policy. The findings showed that the main purpose of DAS was the growth and development of educators ie.
All managers indicated that they would like to be involved in the assessment of their subordinates. Regarding the advantages and disadvantages of DAS, all managers agreed that the advantages far outweighed the disadvantages. The main disadvantage cited was that no time was allocated to implement DAS.
In light of implementation difficulties, Elmore and Sykes (1979/80) propose a backward mapping approach, which challenges policy makers to start at the point of implementation and work backwards rather than starting at policy formulation and working forward towards implementation.
CONCLUSION
RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion
APPENDIX
UNDERSTANDING OF DAS POLICY AT SCHOOL
EVALUATION ISSUES
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
