Management development of principals of Black schools with special reference to top–downs

Abstract

The Department of Education and Training (DET) discovered that its principals were not performing to expectations. This was caused mainly by the fact that principals were selected from among ordinary class and subject teachers and compounded by the absence of a departmental Induction course. In 1982 the DET compiled a series of lectures on "School Management" which was directed at principals, deputy principals and heads of department. The programme was intended to inform managers about rules and regulations as well as procedures and facilities within the department. The programme met with limited success. In the meantime the DET was negotiating with Performance and Educational Services (PES), a subsidiary of African Oxygen (ltd), to run a programme which would develop the principals' managerial competencies. The programme designed by PES had a special feature called the "top-down". This feature involved managers in developing the managers immediately below them. Eight top-downs discussed in this study address areas like self-management, managing subordinates' outputs, managing conflict In schools, and nurturing student development. The top-downs address management areas in which principals were found to experience most difficulties. The study identified seven management development programmes to which principals in the DET were exposed. Through the use of a questionnaire principals In the Vanderbijlpark area of the DET (N=38) were asked to list the programmes according to the degree to which each improved their skills in the performance of management tasks and the handling of management areas. They were also asked to evaluate the extent of improvement in their management skills attributable to exposure to top-downs. According to findings gleaned from the questionnaire data the top-downs were judged by the respondents to be the programme that had the greatest influence In Improving their management skills. Secondly, the respondents also evaluated the top-downs as having Improved their management skills "much" and "very much", The conclusion reached after analysing the data of the empirical study. Is that top-downs are regarded highly by the principals In the Vanderbijlpark area.