ESTABLISHING MENTORING
NETWORKS FOR PRINCIPALS
STUDY OF A MENTORING NETWORK
MODEL IN THE LAVENDER HILLSTEENBERG-RETREAT AREA, CAPE TOWN
Introduction
• To understand - from an **IMG
Manager’s perspective - how
MENTORING NETWORKS FOR
PRINCIPALS of poor community schools
can be established to help them:
develop their leadership capacity
Provide a context-based support
network
 (**IMG MANAGER = DISTRICT OFFICIAL / CIRCUIT MANAGER)
Introduction: Context
• Two key contexts that Principals
operate in:
1. Education Systems Reform Context
2. Socio-economic context
Education Reform Context in SA 1
School Principals subjected to High
Performance expectations and a High
Accountability Environment.
•
Reform Interventions promulgated in:
Western Cape Provincial School Education Amendment Act, 2010:
•
Section 3(e) (iv) : education shall enhance the quality of education
through monitoring and evaluating delivery and performance and
through training educators and education managers.
•
Section12B: Identification of underperforming public schools.
•
Section 13A: Functions and responsibilities of principal of public school.
Education Reform Context 2
• “monitoring and evaluating
delivery and performance”
• High stakes diagnostic testing:
Provincial systemic and Annual
national assessment(ANA)
• Curriculum Changes: CAPS
Current Principal Training programmes
in South Africa 1
• Professional development
programmes offered at universities, by
Education department via Districts,
NGO’s, Teacher Unions, SAPA.
• Course content: mainly theoretical
• Limited Networking opportunities;
they are ad hoc in nature.
Current Principal Training programmes in
South Africa with Mentoring Component
• Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE): Education
Management and Leadership Development: Entry level qualification for
aspiring principals but also offered to current principals.
• STRENGTHS: Networking and Mentoring are 2 development processes
of the course.
• LIMITATION: ‘Group’ mentoring and networking sessions used for
content and not as a reflective-based sessions on leadership practices
at the school (Bush, T. External Evaluation Research Report of the ACE: School
leadership and Management)
• The Coaching and Mentoring of Principals Pilot-Kwazulu
Natal ((Report by J&J Development Projects Trust, 2009)
• Practice-based model of mentoring and coaching:
Training for Principals: the role of the
District Official and District Office?
• No broad-based mentoring
networking programme offered
for principals by districts.
• School district officials as a
resource to provide mentoring
for principals, is not advocated
nor utilised fully.
KEY QUESTION:
Socioeconomic
Challenges
Systems
Pressures
School
Leader
mindset
How to help filter and mediate
the complexity??
• How can an IMG Manager as the Line Manager of the
principal -help to establish
structured, sustainable
mentoring networks for
principals who work in
extremely challenging socioeconomic contexts ?
BACKGROUND OF STUDY:
• Study conducted in the Lavender HillSteenberg-Retreat area on Cape Flats.
• Three primary schools with female principals.
School Location
Lavender Hill
Learner Enrolment Experience as
Principal
705
1 year
Steenberg
740
2 years
Retreat
1 035
10 years
Profile of School Performance of the
Study Area in WCED Systemic Testing
Cycles 2006-2009
Pressure
LITERACY
NUMERACY
100.0
areas
70.0
90.0
60.0
80.0
50.0
70.0
60.0
40.0
50.0
30.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
20.0
10.0
10.0
0.0
0.0
Lit 2006: Gr 3
Steenberg
Lit 2008: Grade 3 Lit 2007, Grade 6
Retreat
Lavender Hill
Num 2006:
Grade 3
Num 2008:
Grade 3
Steenberg
50%-National Benchmark for literacy and Numeracy
Retreat
Num 2007:
Grade 6
Lavender Hill
Num 2009:
Grade 6
PROFILE OF STUDY AREA:
Lavender Hill-Steenberg-Retreat Area
DESCRIPTOR
CONTEXT
Additional comments
POPULATION DENSITY
6900-43 000 per km²
Population Size: about 80,000
for Study area
Lavender Hill :
28,332
Steenberg :
32,289
Retreat
:
22,000
CRIME STATISTICS FOR
CAPE FLATS
NATIONALLY HIGHEST
DRUG-RELATED CRIME
AREA
•
STUDY AREA (ON CAPE
FLATS)
4TH Highest drug-related
crime area on Cape Flats
High “Tik” use
> 241/100 000 to 830/100
000 people in 6yr period
(2001/2-2007/8)
Sources: Census 2001 and Report: Crime in Cape Town 2001 -2008, Janet Gie
PROFILE OF STUDY AREA
DESCRIPTOR
CONTEXT
Additional comments
INCOME PER
ANNUM PER
HOUSEHOLD
37.27℅ of households
earn below R19 200
NORMS AND
STANDARDS
(Funding)
2X Schools = Quintile 5
No income: 7.49%
R1 – R4 800: 2.03%
R4 801-9600: 9,67%
R9 601-R19 200: 18,08
R 174,00 per learner p/a
R 480,00 per learner p/a
1x school = Quintile 4
SUMMARY OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXT
Extreme Poverty, gangsterism, high crime rate,
Unemployment, apathy towards schools=lethal
combination
Mentoring Network Intervention
Model 1
• Collection of data via minutes,
conversations, e-mails, feedback reports and
short survey
• Participants in Mentoring Network:
• 3 Female Primary School Principals
• IMG Manager/School District Official
Mentoring Network Model 2:
Function of IMG Manager/School District
Official:
• Link/facilitator which should devolve to
group when the IMG extracts herself from
the group.
• Filled role as ‘Head’ Mentor
• Logistical role: Arranged off-site meeting
venues, minute-taking, chairperson of
sessions.
Mentoring Network Model 3:
Structural elements
• Contract and Goals
• Communication Protocols
• Professional Reading component
Contract and Goal-setting
• Verbal contractual agreement for the year
• Corporate Goals sourced from the
participants’ Professional Growth Plans
(PGPs). Improvement in:
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
CURRICULUM MANAGEMENT:
IMPROVING LEARNING AND TEACHING
DISCIPLINE; LEARNER CONDUCT
Communication
1.
Quarterly 2- hour Reflection
Meetings with IMG Manager
at off-site venues. Standard
Agenda items: Sharing
highlights and lowlights of
term related to goals + target
setting for next phase.
2. Monthly E-mail or telephone
contact between schools
3. 1x Inter-school visitations by
participants
Meeting at the Spur Restaurant
Clockwise: Lameez, Cassy and
Lavinia
Professional Reading menu
The three principals: Lameez, Cassy
and Lavinia ready to discuss Peter
Senge’s Learning organisation
WCED Website +
various articles
Toxic Mix
(Graeme Bloch)
The Serving Leader (Ken
Jennings and John StahlWert )
Peter Senge: The
Learning
organisation
Findings
Findings
11
• Good match of
participants
1. uniformity of
gender: “ sharing common
concerns and HOW issues can
be solved”
2. All primary school
principals
3. Similar leadership
perspectives
“I like the idea of us all being women ‘cause we
can identify with each other and be open”. Cassy
Findings 1
Findings
Increased Collegiality with time
.”Building trust was very important. Being open, willing to share
personal gaps /weaknesses and strengths without feeling
threatened”
“breaking down the fences and making the paradigm shift
re unspoken competition that exist between schools”
Role of IMG Manager
• “I would have loved this kind of support from the
District when I started out as a principal” (Retreat
principal, 10yrs experience)
• Comfortable with IMG and able to speak our minds at
all times; having the freedom to agree to disagree”.
Findings 2
On Target with 2 Goals:
Sharing + Reflecting on…
1. Curriculum Management
Teaching and learning
strategies quality
assurance processes,
professional development
of educators, ICT lessons,
class visits, co-curricular
activities
2. Financial Management:
policy issues; fundraising
ideas, school fees
recovery, fiscal disciplinary
measures , sharing
sponsor contacts.
Lavender Hill school Grade 3 learners
using the interactive whiteboard
Findings 3
Lameez reflecting on “mental models”
and writing down another good strategy
• Goals not discussed:
• Learner discipline
• Reading: not achieved. Only
article read and discussed by
group: The Learning
Organisation: Peter Senge
• New Discussion Component:
• Personnel issues / Human
Resource Management
became a dominant discussion
point in all meetings
Challenges 1
•
Sustaining Structured mentoring
networking is Time-consuming : after
school hours meetings of 2 hours
•
IMG Manager’s role as mentor :
demanding
Requires skill, knowledge and
attributes of mentor.
Core work cannot be compromised.
Leadership perspectives: patriarchal vs
transformational?
•
•
•
•
IMG Manager: To be a mentor or
not to be – There is only 1
answer!
Understanding role of IMG Manager:
policy implementer and Developer:
keeping the balance
Challenges 2
• Role of District: Support Agenda to be driven
by developmental role ; balance the scales
• Lack of Training of Officials as Mentors
• Replication of Mentoring network on a
large scale: small scale clustering requires
heavy investment of time and energy to
ensure sustainability.
• However, as the interactive capacity of principals
grows, networking could grow exponentially as
well.
Recommendations
1.
2.
Mentoring and Networking are key
development processes that should
be advocated by Education Districts.
Mentoring should be institutionalised
as a layer to strengthen collaborative
learning/networking. Key to to create
critical mass and impact.
(Recommendations in Reports on ACE and the
Kwazulu-Natal Mentoring and Coaching Pilot report)
3.
4.
Mentorship training for district
officials is critical.
Factor in time for mentoring and
networking for Principals during
school hours.
• “The Department of
education has the policy
of responsibility for all
matters relating to
Education, including
teacher education. In the
context of a
developmental state, the
Department of Education
is required to promote
transformation through
education”
• ( Section 63: 21 from National Policy Framework for
Teacher Education and Development in South Africa)
Conclusion
•
“Peer culture must become the
drive”( Michael Fullan)
“Government needs a strategy in
order to enable knowledge transfer
laterally within the education
system. Instead of continuing to act
as a hub through which all new
policies are routed, the education
department must enable innovative
networks to develop” (Hargreaves,
2001. Personalised learning: The
next steps in working laterally)
Clockwise: Lameez, Cassy, Lavinia,
Sharon at one of the meetings at the
Spur restaurant, Tokai, Cape Town
Vote of Thanks
Collaborative learning
THANK YOU
FOR
LISTENING
Sharon Lewin
IMG Manager
Metro South Education District
Western Cape Education Department
Acknowledgements
• Director of Metro South Education District: Eugene Daniels
• Two of my mentors:
• Professor Jonathan Jansen
• Annette Fella
• MSED, Circuit 1
•
1.
2.
3.
The following schools and principals:
Steenberg Primary School:
Cassy Dick
Square Hill Primary School:
Lavinia Davis
Prince George Primary School:
Lameez Rabbaney
QUESTIONS