Continuing Professional Teacher Development: The Case of Junior Teachers in one Rural Education District in South Africa

South Africa (SA) has a decentralised education system. It is generally assumed that decentralisation improves the effectiveness and efficiency of education by responding to the needs, values, and expectations of both local and rural communities. A large part of SA could be described as rural and a large number of learners attend rural schools. This makes rural education a significant part of the South African education context. With education being decentralised, and with decentralisation being heralded as the panacea to the problems faced by rural communities as well as rural education, the assumption is that rural education should be of a high quality. This desk-top paper assesses the potential of decentralisation to improve the quality and effectiveness of South African rural education. This it does by locating decentralisation within neoliberalism which this paper argues is the impetus behind the decentralisation of South African education, and the reason for the decline in the quality and effectiveness of rural education. The paper also highlights certain tensions between the various decentralised spheres of governance, namely the central and provincial Departments of Education and school-level governance structures. The paper further indicates how these tensions potentially hamper the effectiveness and efficiency of rural education. The paper concludes with some recommendations aimed at improving rural education.

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The role of principals in school health promotion in South Africa: a qualitative study

Health Education ◽

10.1108/he-08-2020-0078 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Siphokazi Kwatubana ◽

Velaphi Aaron Nhlapo ◽

Nomsa Moteetee

Keyword(s):

Health Promotion ◽

Teacher Development ◽

School Health ◽

School Principals ◽

Development Programme ◽

Health Improvement ◽

School Health Promotion ◽

Content Type ◽

Professional Teacher

PurposeSchool principals are presumed to be pillars of school health promotion implementation. Their understanding of their role could enhance school health promotion. This study aims to investigate how principals understood their role in school health promotion.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six school principals who participated and completed the first cycle of the Continuous Professional Teacher Development programme that was offered by the South African Council of Educators. Snowball sampling was used to sample participants.FindingsThe findings of this study showed that principals did not differentiate between concepts of health-promoting schools and school health promotion, the meaning was the same for them. They focused on any health improvement within the schools, regardless of its conceptual nature. The second finding pertains to the role of the principal as a manager, while the third was on expedition of collaborations and partnerships.Research limitations/implicationsThis research was limited to school principals who completed the Continuous Professional Teacher Development programme. It, therefore, does not include perceptions of other principals.Originality/valueThe study findings suggest that despite inability of schools in poor communities to implement effective school health programmes, the principals of the sampled schools were aware of their roles. This is positive, as the efforts to enhance health promotion initiatives would focus on developing and empowering principals to improve their performance.

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