ESTABLISHING MENTORING NETWORKS FOR PRINCIPALS

STUDY OF A MENTORING NETWORK MODEL IN THE LAVENDER HILL-

STEENBERG-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 capacityProvide a context-based support

network (**IMG MANAGER = DISTRICT OFFICIAL / CIRCUIT MANAGER)

Introduction: Context

• Two key contexts that Principals operate in:

1.Education Systems Reform Context2.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:

• 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 socio-economic contexts ?

BACKGROUND OF STUDY:

• Study conducted in the Lavender Hill-Steenberg-Retreat area on Cape Flats.

• Three primary schools with female principals.School Location Learner Enrolment Experience as

PrincipalLavender Hill 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 LITERACY NUMERACY

50%-National Benchmark for literacy and Numeracy

Pressure areas

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 areaLavender Hill : 28,332Steenberg : 32,289Retreat : 22,000

CRIME STATISTICS FOR CAPE FLATS

NATIONALLY HIGHEST DRUG-RELATED CRIME AREA

• > 241/100 000 to 830/100 000 people in 6yr period (2001/2-2007/8)

STUDY AREA (ON CAPE FLATS)

4TH Highest drug-related crime area on Cape Flats

High “Tik” use

Sources: Census 2001 and Report: Crime in Cape Town 2001 -2008, Janet Gie

PROFILE OF STUDY AREADESCRIPTOR CONTEXT Additional comments

INCOME PER ANNUM PER HOUSEHOLD

37.27℅ of households earn below R19 200

No income: 7.49%R1 – R4 800: 2.03%R4 801-9600: 9,67%R9 601-R19 200: 18,08

NORMS AND STANDARDS (Funding)

2X Schools = Quintile 5

1x school = Quintile 4

R 174,00 per learner p/a

R 480,00 per learner p/a

SUMMARY OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXTExtreme 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 TEACHINGDISCIPLINE; LEARNER CONDUCT

Communication1. 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 menuThe three principals: Lameez, Cassy and Lavinia ready to discuss Peter Senge’s Learning organisation

Findings 1

• 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

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”.

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”

Findings 1

Findings 2On 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?

• Understanding role of IMG Manager: policy implementer and Developer: keeping the balance

IMG Manager: To be a mentor or not to be – There is only 1 answer!

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.

Recommendations1. Mentoring and Networking are key

development processes that should be advocated by Education Districts.

2. 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. Mentorship training for district officials is critical.

4. 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 ThanksCollaborative learning THANK YOU

FOR LISTENING

Sharon LewinIMG Manager Metro South Education DistrictWestern Cape Education Department

Acknowledgements• Director of Metro South Education District: Eugene Daniels

• Two of my mentors:• Professor Jonathan Jansen• Annette Fella

• MSED, Circuit 1

• The following schools and principals: 1. Steenberg Primary School: Cassy Dick2. Square Hill Primary School: Lavinia Davis3. Prince George Primary School: Lameez Rabbaney

QUESTIONS