This is to mention just a few points about what the literature says about the roles of middle managers in the implementation of the new curriculum, as will be mentioned later in the literature review section. As much as Marland summarizes the expected roles of middle management in a Eurocentric perspective, in South Africa the implementation of the new curriculum presents many challenges. Regarding the focus of this study, it is worth researching the roles of middle managers in the implementation of the new curriculum in grades 10-12.
RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY AND KEY RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The expertise they have in their specialized subjects is expected to expand to accommodate the developments in the new curriculum. This is the rationale behind this study to examine the roles of the HODs in the implementation of the new curriculum during this process of transformation. For transformation to take place in South Africa, the new curriculum must be implemented appropriately, hence the.
KEY RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- THE IMPACT OF CURRICULUM CHANGES IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS
- Contextualising the Curriculum Change
- MANAGING EDUCATIONAL CHANGE AND THE RE- ARTICULATION OF ROLES IN THE TEACHING PROFESSION
- The Context of Educational Change
- Perspectives on Educational Change
- THE REAL AND THE IDEAL IN IMPLEMENTING THE POLICY PROCESS
- THE PROCESSES OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT AS ESSENTIAL TO CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN SCHOOLS
The purpose of this section is to give the background to the emergence of the new curriculum, hereinafter referred to as the New Curriculum Statement (NCS) and Outcomes Based Education (OBE). She further points out that "the new curriculum reform was led by the national bureaucrats who were responsible for setting the curriculum of the old regime" (p. 140). In fact, their roles require more than just teaching and monitoring the implementation of the new curriculum.
This means that the roles of the HODs need to be carefully examined as they are at the critical stage of the policy process. The introduction of the new curriculum in South African schools ushered in a change in the education system.
METHODOLOGY
- AIM AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- RESEARCH PARADIGM
- RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY .1 Selection of schools
- Access and selection of participants
- Methods of data collection
- Transcribing
- DATA ANALYSIS
- RESEARCH CHALLENGES
Denzin and Lincoln (2003) mention the researcher becoming a bricoleur when conducting qualitative research. To reiterate, the aim of the study was to investigate the roles of middle managers in the implementation of the new curriculum in the FET phase. It was hoped that triangulating them would provide a thick description of the middle managers' roles in the study.
Similar documents have been considered in this study in an attempt to analyze the participants' documents. Policy documents helped to find out what the National Department of Education (NDOE) expected about the implementation of the new curriculum. Also in my study, the authenticity of the oral conversations with the middle managers may have also been lost.
What became apparent during the open coding of the data in my study was the emergence of new concepts and terminology. In the process of going beyond the obvious statement, I had to retain the essence of the conversation that took place between me and the respondent. This was mainly reflected in the elements of the role of middle management, but also in the policy and reality regarding the implementation of the new curriculum.
I prefer this theory of qualitative content analysis because it works with one level of meaning: the content of the data texts (Henning, 2004).
PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS 1 FINDINGS
- CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION AND ITS CHALLENGES
- THE DIVERSE UNDERSTANDINGS OF MIDDLE MANAGEMENTS’
- Roles in Implementing the New Curriculum
- Administrative Duties to Support the Implementation of the Curriculum
- DESIGNING THE LEARNING PROGRAMME (LP) AS THE TOOL FOR PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING THE CURRICULUM
- INTEGRATION AS ONE ROLE IN IMPLEMENTING THE CURRICULUM
- ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL CHANGE AS A ROLE IN ENSURING APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
- RESOURCES AS INDISPENSABLE TO CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION
- FURTHER CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES
- PROCEDURES AND DOCUMENTS FOR MANAGEMENT – POLICY AND PRACTICE
The literature lists a considerable number of administrative roles that middle managers are expected to perform in order to achieve curriculum goals. One of the roles that middle managers are expected to play according to these policy documents is to be translators and designers of curricula and teaching materials. It is noticeable that it is not the duty of the education department to design curricula, but it is the duty of middle managers and educators.
The following response came after I tried to research an answer about the design of the learning program. The findings in relation to the foregoing revealed that the first reaction of the middle managers resonates quite well with the contemporary literature. Promotion posts for middle managers are guided by the school curriculum needs rather than on the qualification or expertise of the post holder.
An interesting part of the school-level assessment program in this study was its connection to the policy document itself. One of the respondents expressed concern that: The time allocated to the learning area is not sufficient according to the new curriculum policy. These policy documents ensure that all aspects relating to the curriculum are covered to benefit the diverse needs of learners in the South African classroom.
Furthermore, it points out that “the teacher should clearly demonstrate in the overview of assessment tasks how the learning outcomes and assessment standards have been integrated into the design and development of the tasks” (Department of Education, 2005a).
CONCLUSION
SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS
However, it spells out criticism directed against the linear sequential order of the different stages of the policy cycle. The last parts of the chapter discussed the three methods of data collection, namely; questionnaires, interviews and documentary analysis as well as data analysis processes. Another striking agreement was about the roles of the middle managers in school, when it came to the implementation and management of the curriculum according to departmental policy.
Middle managers in the study relied heavily on first-level teachers for curriculum development in areas where they, the middle managers, had no expertise. Therefore, there was agreement between the literature and the findings of the study on the potential of teacher leadership. However, it should be noted that the form of teacher leadership evident in this study arose out of a sense of desperation on the part of middle managers rather than something that was deliberately planned in a structured and conscious way.
A further common trend in the literature and in the findings of this study highlighted the administrative role of middle managers as they supported and deputized the principal and raised money for the school. However, the results of the study, when further juxtaposed with the literature reviewed, revealed some contradictions. While the literature takes into account the context and constraints under which middle managers work, this study highlighted the importance of the influence of context and school resources on curriculum issues.
The findings revealed that the national context of the study gave rise to curriculum constraints such as time, transport and poorly subsidized facilities such as libraries and laboratories.
CONCLUDING COMMENTS
Instead, the divided leadership emerged from a sense of crisis and need, which provided a buffer to address the shortage of curriculum expertise among schools' middle management. The middle management of these rural schools had to contend with these limitations on a daily basis. Furthermore, the management function of these middle managers dominated their curriculum work, to the detriment of leadership.
A lack of time, limited resources and a lack of training of these middle managers had an impact on the possibility of curriculum development, innovation and leadership in the two schools. The salient point, I believe, is that the processes of leadership and management are essential for effective curriculum development in schools and, in the schools in my study, the processes of management overshadowed most forms of leadership. However, teacher leadership in my study emerged when the middle managers realized that they were not curriculum specialists in all areas and so appealed to teachers to also utilize their talents and expertise.
This was a necessary and sensible step on the part of the middle managers in an effort to ensure effective curriculum leadership. Grant's (2006) sentiments resonate well with the findings of this study which showed how collaboration and synergizing of structures in an effort to share knowledge within a school can keep a school moving forward. The response of middle managers to the current reform process at Further Education and Training level leaned towards teacher leadership and revealed that middle managers were willing to give up their power to accommodate a more distributed form of leadership that could contribute to school improvement .
And, as Harris (2004) argues, distributed leadership “significantly expands the boundaries of leadership because it is based on a high level of teacher involvement and encompasses a wide range of expertise, skills, and inputs” (p. 14).
RECOMMENDATIONS
As a department head, how do you feel about working with teachers who teach outside the boundaries of your department? In terms of meetings, the way you run your department, how you keep your teachers motivated to teach the new curriculum. Which aspects of your role as HOD do you believe were not covered in the workshop or training?
What do you think is the most important role(s) of the HOD in implementing the new curriculum? How do you assess the cooperation of your staff in carrying out your duties as HOD? How do you ensure that teachers adhere to the policy documents (the assessment guidelines) for 25% and 75% respectively during assessment.
Do you think the way you manage your department will be different from what you do now. Do you think the introduction of the new curriculum NCS brought new challenges for the middle management roles in the management of the curriculum. Are there other trainings or workshops besides the departmental one that you organize for your department that are relevant to the curriculum.
How can you incorporate or ensure that everyday student knowledge is used in your teaching or in your department in general. Do you think that the role of DHPs in the implementation of the new curriculum, especially in rural schools, can be affected by the lack of resources (human resources, financial resources, physical resources, etc.). What do you do to ensure that all learning outcomes are covered by the end of the year?
PROGRAMME OF ASSESSMENT
Research Assessment task
