Quality teaching and learning in rural primary school : how teachers and school managers manage with quality teaching and learning in three rural primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal.

Abstract

This research presents an understanding of the experiences of school managers and teachers who manage evaluate teaching and learning in rural primary schools. In documenting their experiences I composed an analytical description which explores managers' leadership choices and teachers instructional decisions (the support and accountability) measures, which characterize the responsibilities managers and school teachers engage with in their positions within the context of rural schools. In collecting data from the rural primary schools in KZN within the case study approach I employed a diverse range of research instruments and data production process. Through an analysis of selected documents, questionnaires administered to teachers and interviews conducted with a small sample of school managers and teachers I was able to make school meaning of how teachers and school managers manage teaching and learning in three rural primary schools. Emerging along two levels, leadership support and teacher accountability this research identifies particular interests and practices both teachers and managers enact out in their daily responsibility as educators. In particular I show what happens beyond accountability and support, within spaces where power relations between managers and teachers are exercised in different ways to create an educational climate appropriate for better ways of teaching and learning. Managing teaching and learning by school managers and teachers lies in their ability to engage collectively in particular practices within the rural schooling context. While teachers and managers occupied specific responsibility in their respective positions within the hierachical structures prevelant in schools, teachers and managers in these rural schools are able to move beyond' the levels creating spaces where different possibilities for change can happen personal, professional and communal. In this study creating more spaces for professional, personal and communal relations is what enables a better cultural climate conducive to school through which better ways for teaching and learning in rural schools can happen.