Effective schools operating with amazing (dis)grace of human resources strategy, policy and practice: A South African case

Abstract

The public profiling of schools as ‘effective schools’,1 based on Grade 12 results, has resulted in a jingoistic race by many public schools to get their names on the ‘public notice board’ of effectiveness recognition. Besides creating a skewed perception of school effectiveness, this public profiling of schools as effective organizations, conceptualised within an inadequate criterion (Grade 12 results), has not only stirred public controversy (when the national Minister of Education threatened to close down the least effective school), but has also been widely identified as a problem by researchers. The research conducted by Jansen (1998) discovered that besides contravening social justice legislation by beating facts into learners’ minds (corporal punishment), most of these schools publicly branded as the most effective also subscribe to rigid authoritarian management and leadership practices, sometimes ignorant of legislation and policy imperatives. This paper presents a critical analysis of unplanned human resources (HR) practices and management styles observed in two of these ‘effective schools’ where school principals and five educators per school were interviewed. The two schools studied are public high schools based in Durban at the Umlazi District. These schools offer education from grade 8 to grade 12 to the predominantly disadvantaged working class communities. The research findings reveal that the management of these schools is based largely on rigid practices that are devoid of strategic planning and consented investment, with respect to human capital development as aligned with human resources strategy and the broader Skills Development Act 97 of 1998 and other related labour legislation. The Skills Development Act of 1998–is the South African labour relations legislation that specifically claims space for skills‐based training programmes in the education, training and development landscape. Under this Act, organisations are compelled to provide continuous training and Re‐skilling of employees. These findings also reveal that critical policy and legislation on labour relations (Skills Development Act no. 97 of 1998 and Employment Equity Act) are not only contravened, but there are no state‐led systems and processes in place to rectify the situation, cascade policy to staffroom level and reinforce school compliance with government policy and legislation. Educators are not treated as knowledge workers, but as mere civil servants, with limited professional development rights. This paper also draws parallels between these schools and best practices in human resources strategy in the corporate domain. The conclusions of the study clearly reveal that:

1. Educators in public schools work and live under total ignorance of human resources legislation

2. There is discontinuity in state policy reinforcement between public and private employers

Notes

Nhlanhla Cele. is currently employed by University of South Africa as a Quality Assurance manager at Nhlanhla holds the following qualifications SSTD (Zululand University); B.Paed (Zululand University); B.Ed (Hons) (Natal University); M.Sc. (Management) (Eastern Illinois University); M.Ed. (Resources Dev) (Natal University); Post Grad Dipl (HRM) (Natal University); M.Admin (IR) (Durban‐Westville University); Currently concluding a Diploma in Company Directorship (Graduate Institute of Management and Technology) and a DA (University of KwaZulu‐Natal). As a quality specialist Nhlanhla Cele has evaluated approximately 35 private higher education institutions for accreditation by the Higher Education Quality Committee and has also served as a quality auditor for this committee. He has a track record of publishing in acceredited journals across different strands on quality assurance in teaching and learning, management science and higher education. He has played critical academic leadership roles at University of Durban‐Westville, Technikon SA. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 1629, Glenvista 2058, South Africa.

1. The state Department of Education uses the term ‘effective schools’ to refer to schools that produce high pass rates for grade 12 students (university entry certificate). This study identifies problems with this stance and redefines school effectiveness suggesting that schools which draw well aligned strategic plans to enhance the quality of teaching and learning leads to the production of good quality learners. Effective schools are those that set up measurable and attainable goals that are aligned to organizational effectiveness and performance measurement of all aspects that have an impact on teaching and learning.

2. Performance measurement has to include output analysis, evaluation of learning assessment strategies and activities, learner support systems, evaluation, general student performance throughout the year, 360 degree staff appraisal, graduate tracking, evaluation of learning resources and space, evaluation of the curriculum and learning materials, and evaluation of organizational and management processes throughout the organization.

3. As prescribed by the National Education Policy Act No. 27 of 1996, educators have to play the following critical roles in teaching and learning: learning mediator; interpreter and designer of learning programmes and materials; leader, administrator and manager; scholar, researcher and lifelong learner; community, citizenship and pastoral role; assessor; and learner area/subject/discipline/phase/specialist.

4. The Skills Development Act aims to recognise employees expertise aquired through experience and outside the formal education route by channelling the re‐skilling and continuous development of workers through formal training that leads to aquiring of formal qualification at certificates.

5. Education policy since 1994 has inherited, sustained, and exacerbated the legacy of racial inequality, and created new forms of inequalities in the education system. The rationalisation and redeployment policy has failed to ensure the quality of Black schooling by redistributing resources within the schooling sector (Jansen, 1998).

6. The White Paper on Education and Training of 1995 clearly relinquishes government’s responsibility in teacher education, training, and development to universities and technikons – the institutions that have to provide initial, continuing, and postgraduate teacher education and development in a structured framework, accredited by the South African Qualifications Authority.

7. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act is a South African legislation that protects employees against possible abusive work conditions that may be institutionalised by employers.

8. The Labour Relations Act no. 66 of 1995 provides a detailed framework governing labour relations and related processes in the South African context.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nhlanhla Cele

Nhlanhla Cele. is currently employed by University of South Africa as a Quality Assurance manager at Nhlanhla holds the following qualifications SSTD (Zululand University); B.Paed (Zululand University); B.Ed (Hons) (Natal University); M.Sc. (Management) (Eastern Illinois University); M.Ed. (Resources Dev) (Natal University); Post Grad Dipl (HRM) (Natal University); M.Admin (IR) (Durban‐Westville University); Currently concluding a Diploma in Company Directorship (Graduate Institute of Management and Technology) and a DA (University of KwaZulu‐Natal). As a quality specialist Nhlanhla Cele has evaluated approximately 35 private higher education institutions for accreditation by the Higher Education Quality Committee and has also served as a quality auditor for this committee. He has a track record of publishing in acceredited journals across different strands on quality assurance in teaching and learning, management science and higher education. He has played critical academic leadership roles at University of Durban‐Westville, Technikon SA. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 1629, Glenvista 2058, South Africa.