Education, Development, Leadership and Management

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An exploration of effective classroom management in three different phases of a primary school in a small town in southern KwaZulu-Natal.
(2009) Coetzee, Morné Johan James.; Avery, Neil Eric.
Most teachers want to create classrooms that promote the achievement of learners’ full potential. Learners’ behaviour, however, often disrupts the teaching and learning. Instead, the fact that those teachers have to spend so much time sorting out disruptive behaviour makes the classroom a place filled with tension and unpleasantness. Various studies have shown that children’s troublesome behaviour shows no sign of decreasing and teaching has become more complex and more demanding than ever. Although the teacher brings an enormous amount of expertise to the classroom, this is not enough to ensure that effective teaching and learning will take place. Various, ongoing changes in society and education require teachers to add new understandings about learners’ behaviour and the complexities thereof in the classroom. Teachers are thus required to devise practices and techniques to manage their classrooms to promote teaching and learning. Teachers have to employ methods and techniques to ensure that they create a classroom that is conducive to teaching and learning. Some researchers have suggested that teachers become ‘classroom researchers’ to look at their own practice and then evaluate means and ways to improve on it. Teachers are required to become ‘reflective practitioners’ to improve their classroom management skills through reflection and self evaluation. Teachers are also required to teach with influence and care. The classroom context and the relationship between teachers and learners are cited as particularly important in shaping the way that the teacher manages the classroom to achieve teaching and learning. I have adapted a particular approach to my classroom management that is very specific. This approach focuses on group work, social learning and guided interaction between learners. My method however is not perfect and thus I have set out to review other classroom management approaches with the aim of improving my own practice. To achieve this I have looked at the way in which three of my colleagues manage their classrooms and I have aimed to employ some of their tactics in my personal classroom management. The research was approached using three research questions as a basis. These were as follows: 1. What methods do teachers use to manage their classrooms? 2. What do teachers perceive as effective classroom management? 3. How can the environment be adapted to achieve effective classroom management? To explore these critical questions, the case study approach was adopted. The participants were observed in their classrooms and interviews were conducted to get a holistic picture of the classroom management approaches used by the selected participants. The participants in this study displayed diverse backgrounds, classroom management approaches and personalities. The study revealed that these teachers employed various methods in their classroom management. Group work, reciting of rhymes, arranging the classroom in certain ways, maintaining good human relations and keeping learners gainfully occupied were some of the methods that the participants in the study have employed to achieve effective classroom management. These teachers perceived effective classroom management very differently. Some saw it as a way of getting learners involved in the lesson to minimise distraction, while others had a somewhat idealistic view on this issue. The study also revealed that the teachers involved had reorganised their classrooms, divided their classes into manageable smaller groups and even flooded their learners with work to change the environment to achieve effective classroom management. The findings of this study can be of value in discussion to seek solutions or alternatives to address effective classroom management in schools that experience concerns on this vital issue.
'Leaders as professionals : what does this mean for teachers?' : a case study of five teacher leaders in an urban - primary school in KwaZulu-Natal.
(2011) Govender, Sylvia.; Avery, Neil Eric.
The aim of this research is to understand the views of teachers regarding professionalism and leadership. As a researcher, I also wanted to investigate whether teachers were given opportunities to lead within a professional capacity in their schools and to examine the factors that promote the development of these teacher leaders as professionals as well as those factors that hinder such development. In view of the recent public servants strike in 2007 and 2010, teachers have been brought under the spotlight in a very negative manner. The teaching profession has been viewed with scrutiny ever since and most if not all teachers were being painted with the same brush of, lack of integrity and respect. The purpose of the study was to examine how teacher leaders performed leadership roles and also to establish whether such roles were within professional parameters or not. There was a need to understand how teacher leaders understood the term professionalism as well as to ascertain what factors promoted and hindered the development of teacher leaders as professionals. The study was conducted within a qualitative, interpretive paradigm and took the form of a case study of five educators, who were two Heads of Department and three post level one teachers’ in an urban primary school in KwaZulu-Natal. Data collection techniques included semi – structured individual interviews, a focus group interview, questionnaires and observation. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings of the study revealed that although teachers were actively engaging in leadership roles, very little was done to develop these teachers as professionals. This study acknowledges that management members of schools play a crucial role in the development of teacher leaders as professionals by creating opportunities for this professional development.
Leadership and professionalism - an act of faith : a case study of leaders as professionals in South Africa.
(2012) Manuel, Basil L.; Grant, Carolyn.; Avery, Neil Eric.
Our South African schools are seventeen years after the advent of democracy still under the grip of predominantly hierarchical management with limited devolution of leadership functions to teachers. Principals and SMT’s are caught between the demands of a policy driven Department of Education, the unions who ‘control’ the teachers and a desire to transform their schools into 21st century centres of learning and teaching excellence. Somewhere into this maelstrom ones needs to factor in the expectation of teachers, parents and even the pupils who are living in a 21st century environment with all the technological trappings and a democratic dispensation which has promised to deliver a better life for all. Given the current negative view of schooling with the poor matric and grade three and six performance levels and the negative view of teachers especially after the teacher strikes of 2007 and 2010 there is an urgent need for intervention to save our education system and children. I am however not advocating a narrow view of policy intervention, which has already proven to be a failure. Such interventions fail to penetrate to the depth of the problem. I am advocating for a much more sustainable longer term intervention that must change our teachers’ views to their job, their commitment to the task and the child. I am advocating for a return to professional values and commitment coupled with a new age distribution of leadership that recognises the contribution and worth of all teachers. This recognises that all teachers have skills and insights to contribute that can change the face of schools. Given this background I attempted using a case study of five teacher leaders in an urban primary school to understand their views on professionalism, their involvement in leadership and whether the link between the two does impact positively on the culture of teaching and learning. I employed a multiple data collection method and used a questionnaire, semistructured individual interviews, a focus group interview and observations. The findings of the study indicated that there was genuine commitment to professionalism. The teacher leaders viewed themselves as professionals. They were further deeply committed to teacher leadership which they demonstrated in various ways. Their professionalism combined with their involvement in leadership spilled over into a culture of learning and teaching. Teacher leadership was present in various spheres but was limited by hierarchical school structures, time constraints and scepticism from other teachers. This relationship between teaching, professionalism and learning and teaching needs to be further researched especially in the context of South African schools in their current change environment, overshadowed by the legacies of the past. Our schools need to succeed now. Our children need it now. If the route to sustainable teacher and learner performance lies in professional leadership development, then we must explore it further without delay.

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Browsing Education, Development, Leadership and Management by Author "Avery, Neil Eric."