Factors influencing educator morale in the former KwaMashu circuit high schools : research report.

Abstract

This study sought to investigate factors influencing educator morale in the former KwaMashu Circuit in the Pinetown District. After realising that the educator morale is a national crisis, the study aimed to examine factors that influence low educator morale of high school educators. The study used interviews, questionnaires, document analysis and participant observation to collect data for the research. Having subjected sourced data to rigorous processing and analysis, the researcher concluded that the problems pertaining to low educator morale, include lack of resources, insecurity of educators because of many transformational processes, lack of discipline and cooperation from learners, lack of safety and security due to high crime rate such as theft, vandalism, violence, and killing of educators in school premises. The other salient factors contributing to low educator morale are low salaries, which are not commensurate with educator's educational qualifications and experience, lack of parental involvement in school matters, involvement of educatorunion politics in school management and promotional posts, overcrowded classrooms and heavy work loads, lack of support from District Officials and lack of transparency in decision-making and management of school finances. The study recommends that the Education Department must redress these issues by revisiting the existing policies, fast tracking infrastructure programme especially to previously disadvantaged schools, provide retraining programme, workshops to empower managers with democratic leadership styles, providing schools with security guards as well as fencing the school premises and expedite the process of appointing more subject advisors to support educators in the implementation of new curriculum. v