Die vestiging en bevordering van 'n volhoubare onderrigleerklimaat deur skoolbestuurspanne

Abstract

School climate is often ignored as a factor in explaining the interpretation of under-performance of learners as it appears in the reports on the National Annual Assessment. The focus of the study is on the roles and responsibilities which are visible in the practice of the School Management Team within a school-based management model. The research leads to a deeper understanding of the challenges that the School Management Team experiences during interactions between the School Management Team and the staff on micro-level, the School Management Team and the School Governing Body at meso-level and the School Management Team and the Education Department on macro-level which contributes to the establishment and development of a sustainable teaching learning climate as a dimension of life within the school and school leadership. According to Bronfenbrenner's ecological model (Bronfenbrenner, 1994) development of the teaching learning climate takes place by a process of interaction between the components and the immediate environment. The level of effectiveness of the School Management Team to establish and promote a teaching learning climate depends on the interaction with the environment at different levels on a regular basis over a period of time. The School Management Team creates a professional learning community as part of a team approach to expand the capacity of role-players during interaction to ensure positive learning outcomes. The aim of a professional learning community is to develop teachers as effective professional persons for the optimal advantage of learners. The research has been undertaken from a qualitative perspective, the research approach and methodology of conceptual analyses and interviews within an epistemological paradigm of interpretivism answers and in so doing to understand the School Management Team's experiences and contexts. For the qualitative perspective use was made of individual interviews with members of the School Management Team and a focus group of six post level 1 teachers. The research findings indicate that during interaction on micro-level between the School Management Team and teachers the School Management Team had potential to greater effectiveness in expanding the capacity of teachers during interaction with the environment at different levels. The relationships that developed as a result of the interaction on micro-level, however, experienced the most challenges and therefore does not deliver the expected positive contribution to the establishment and development of a sustainable teaching learning climate. In an effort to encourage the participation of post level 1 educators to be part of an expanded School Management Team and decision-making, within a school-based management model will require a development and expansion of the roles and responsibilities of these teachers. The appropriateness of teamwork was investigated to determine, by focussing on the essentialness of addressing effective change, with a heightened focus on skills and abilities to make effective decisions as a team and not as indivduals, who do not possess all the skills and knowledge.