Structural Change, Leadership and School Effectiveness/Improvement: Perspectives from South Africa

Abstract

This article comments on leadership within mainstream literature on school effectiveness/improvement, where it is almost always considered to be a factor of change. The article argues that systemic school improvement, particularly for disadvantaged children, is inextricably linked to wider social, economic and political conditions—in South Africa’s case, the political transition from apartheid to democratic government. These structural conditions and specific historical contexts are often glossed over in models of school effectiveness/improvement. Through an analysis of dysfunctional and resilient schools as a legacy of apartheid, and of the slow reconstruction of education in the post‐apartheid period, the article argues for the importance of political legitimacy and authority in school improvement. The article concludes by suggesting that states in transition require a different theoretical lens in order to understand the impact of wider social changes on schools. In such societies, the establishment of legitimacy and authority is a precondition for sustainable effectiveness and improvement, and this has implications for theorising the role of leadership in school change more generally.

Notes

† Pam Christie is also a visiting professor at the University of the Witwatersrand.

* Corresponding author: School of Education, University of the ­Witwatersrand, PO Wits, 2050, South Africa. Email: [email protected]

* Corresponding author: School of Education, University of the ­Witwatersrand, PO Wits, 2050, South Africa. Email: [email protected]

Three recent books, while different in orientation, identify the complex and multifaceted nature of South Africa’s transition: Lodge (2002), von Holdt (2003) and Sparks (2003).

The issue of racial classification in South Africa continues to be important. In the period before 1994, the previous government used racial classification as the basis of its apartheid policies. Currently, racial classification is based on self‐perception and self‐classification rather than on a legal basis. Given the continued under‐achievement of historically disadvantaged groups, the new government has found it necessary to use racial classifications to monitor progress towards addressing equality in all spheres of life.

We have not included the first year’s results, since those examinations were plagued by large‐scale irregularities.

For a more detailed argument, including the effects of student selection and market competition, see Fleisch (2003a).

Given the trajectory of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the pattern of improved utilisation of instructional time is unlikely to continue. Although the number of students with HIV/AIDS will probably never reach the prevalence in the population at large (15%), schools have begun to be directly affected by the onset of the pandemic (Hall, 2002; Simkins, 2002). The emergence of child‐headed households has now become a major feature of the landscape in disadvantaged communities. Young boys and girls are often forced to take responsibility for nursing sick and dying parents and parenting younger siblings. These young people are often the first to attend school erratically and ultimately to discontinue their school experience altogether.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Brahm Fleisch *

† Pam Christie is also a visiting professor at the University of the Witwatersrand. * Corresponding author: School of Education, University of the ­Witwatersrand, PO Wits, 2050, South Africa. Email: [email protected]