This turnaround framework was conceptualised from interrogating the 'turnaround' research work (books and Journal articles) currently underway both inside and outside the country, as well as my PhD work done in 2005 and the experiences gained from interviewing and learning from four research schools in the country. These schools were two in Gauteng and two in the Western Cape. The criteria for identifying them as my research schools were (i) the majority of these learners in the schools had to be black and African in particular, coming for disadvantaged and poverty stricken communities, (ii) the school should have been producing matric results beyond 70% for the past 5 years and (iii) they should not have had a selection policy whereby they will choose the best learners in the community. So, these were schools who had 'all the excuses to be dysfunctional' but they were performing at a high level.
The first step of the framework is the notion of 'ownership' - someone or a group of people should take ownership and responsibility for the total state of affairs in the school. This work is normally done through a two days workshop which I facilitate on Managing Teaching and Learning, only to indicate to the school leaders what is important in this process. Linked to ownership is the concept of 'awareness', on which I have spent numerous blog-time in http://muavia-gallie.blogspot.com, and therefore will not repeat that work. The essence of it is developing the ability to 'see what is in front of you' and not 'see what you want to see in front of you' - dealing with the reality and not with what you think the reality should be. It includes the activity of undertaking a baseline evaluation, and the 'school functionality index' is a useful tool which I developed, and it is available to be downloaded from the internet (just google it), as well as included in the ACE School Leadership programme pack.
The second step is to get the School Readiness Components (SRC) in place. This is the basis planning which all school managers must do in order to ensure that the school is ready to start the new academic year, on the first day, in full swing. Most dysfunctional and underperforming schools take from a few days, to weeks and sometimes months to get ready for the academic year, during the same year. While others are busy 'running', these school are getting ready to 'start'. The SRC included eight components that need to be sorted out, which are (i) attendance (both adults and learners), (ii) teachers information, (iii) learner information, (iv) Annual planning, (v) Timetabling, (vi) Teaching, Learning and Assessment Schedules, (vii) Organogram and (viii) Teaching, Learning and Assessment Support Materials. Initial expose to this work can be traced on www.slideshare.net (just search my name).
The third step include putting a Curriculum Management Framework (CMF) in place in order to ensure that the core business of education, which include the engagement of (i) teaching, (ii) facilitation of learning and then (iii) learning. Often these three concepts are confused and misinterpreted by many in education. For example, it is un-educational to make a statement that "teachers must teach, and learners must learn". The CMF will include the discussion of the (i) district curriculum management model, (ii) the school instructional and design model, (iii) the faculty/subject teaching and learning model, (iv) the classroom learning and assessment model, and the (v) the learner learning and expectation plan. These should be organised in an education system so that they feed and support each other in order to achieve the ultimate outcome of learner success.
The fourth step will discuss the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and systems that need to be put in place in order for those who have the management responsibilities, to know what is going on. Most dysfunctional schools are managed based on 'hope'. The school leaders actually don't know, or assume that things should and hope they are taking place at their school, without them playing a proactive and active role in ensure that it is the case. This include collecting the necessary (i) data at the various points and events during the learning process, then utilise the data to (ii) inform them what is going on in the schools, then utilise the information to make (iii) knowledgeable decisions which will lead to proactive and informed (iv) intelligent outcomes. When we get to an intelligent system, the ability to exist that you will know things in advance, and be given the opportunity to do something about it before the 'disaster' happens.
The fifth step is the strengthening and development of human and infrastructure capacity to ensure that the school operates at the highest level of functionality and productivity. The process will included (i) teacher qualification and competency support, (ii) teacher ethical and professional support, (iii) teacher continuous professional development and (iv) teacher professional learning group support. It also include the aligning of existing infrastructure to ensure smooth, efficient and effective utilisation through asset management, succession planning, second tier leadership, etc.
The sixth step include the strategies that will ensure that the success is sustained through the involvement and partnership between the teachers, learners, principal, SMT, SGB, school community, business, district officials and broader community. This will include the strengthening of the School Governing Body functioning, the assurance of the 18 SGB policies that need to be in place at all schools, etc.
This turnaround framework is based on an implementation process/duration of at least three years. It is not a 'quick fix' (magician) process, but rather one that will take time but ensure that the organisation is stabalised in a way that will prevent its dependence of individuals to make things work successfully.
There is nothing so powerful than the first smell/experience of success! Once you achieve it, your school community will not give you the opportunity to go back to past excuses and practices.
Subsequent blogs will now discuss each of these steps in detail.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Be part of a movement that will turnaround our education system, one school at a time
My name is Muavia Gallie, a turnaround specialist of dysfunctional and underperforming schools and systems, in particular education systems. I created this blog separate from my personal blog, which is catering for those things I want to share with educators in general on a regular basis (muavia-gallie.blogspot.com). This one will specifically be devoted to the technical turnaround work that I do. I will hopefully share with you everything I know about turning around dysfunctional and underperforming schools in South Africa and Namibia, and I hope that I will be enriched by your comments and suggestions.
This will be a site where we will talk about the challenges your are facing, as a principal/school leader and/or SMT members of a school or learning institution. I will limit my conversation to the above-mentioned people because I believe that it is their duty to ensure that their institutions are functional. Yes, it is important that others in the organisation also contribute, but there has to be LEADERSHIP, someone and/or a group of people have to claim OWNERSHIP of the responsibilities. I don't like the argument of "everyone is a leaders, and not just those in positions". This might be true in a general sense, but organisations often employ, and pay certain people to make it their duty and to ensure the functionality of the organisation, and often they are given the space and time to do this job. Others can be leaders in their space, but the space of 'organisation functionality' is the responsibility of school leaders.
I therefore invite you to become a follower on this blog - where you claim OWNERSHIP, where you promise and commit yourself to do things differently, even during tough time, to improve the success of the learners at your school. This will be your first step of taking ownership for the current status of your school, no matter what it is currently. The journey that you are undertaking will not be easy, but it will be fulfilling once we start seeing the different we can make in the lives of ALL of our learners.
In particular, I identified four types of schools in South Africa, namely (i) High functioning schools (20%), (ii) Under-performing schools (50%), (iii) Dysfunctional schools (20%) and (iv) Chaotic schools (10%). The specific definition around these types of schools will be clarified in subsequent blogs. For now, it is more important how you define these types of schools, in your own head, and which one you claim for your own school and how you will give me the space to influence and stimulate your thinking around these concepts.
I have been doing this work on a full-time basis for more than three years - I mean turnaround work. Before this, I have been researching this phenomena for more than six years, and before that I was based at SACE, and before that I was a principal, HoD and teacher in a township school in Cape Town. During my turnaround work, I have interacted with thousands of principals and SMT members of different types of schools. I have opened myself up to challenges in relations to concepts and frameworks which will be shared with you in subsequent blogs. I will share with you testimonies (video clips) from group representatives and individuals who expressed their opinions on the work I do. Most of these video clips were recorded after a two days session with participants. I call the session the 'ownership workshop' since it focuses on getting participants to take ownership of their situation. Most participants who are part of the last three types of schools mentioned above, will come to the workshop with lost of excuses of why things are the way they are that their schools, and it will go hand-in-hand with blaming others and behaving like 'victims'. My job during this 'ownership workshop' is to making them aware of the powerful SELF within them, their ABILITY to change the situation they are in, their STRENGTH to turnaround their conditions, behaviour, cultures and climates, their PURPOSE why they joined the teaching profession in the first place, their deep-seated COMMITMENT to serve others and to give them opportunities and hope, and most importantly, to start SERVING this country as intended when they became teachers and principals.
I will try and keep the sequence of blogging as close to my natural process flow of how to turnaround your school. You will realise that sometimes the order might be appropriate for one schools, but should be slightly re-ordered for another, given the contextual circumstances of different schools and schools communities. The important things is that you will GET TO KNOW YOUR SCHOOL in a way that you never would have imagined before - this is part of the process of BECOMING AWARE. The journey that we are undertaking is not about GIVING YOU A FISH, but rather ASSISTING YOU HOW TO FISH. The benefits of this blog to you will be totally dependent on what you want out of it. You will get from this blog what you came to find - if you come to this blog to be enriched, I can assure you that we will go out of our way to serve you. As indicated in the name of the blog - I want to turnaround my school - we want you to be the change agent, the transformer, the catalyst of the turnaround, because our education system needs BRAVE individuals like you to STAND UP AND BE COUNTED.
So, press that 'follower' button to become part of a movement that will change the face of South African schools. Together we can turn this situation around - whatever it takes, no excuses.
This will be a site where we will talk about the challenges your are facing, as a principal/school leader and/or SMT members of a school or learning institution. I will limit my conversation to the above-mentioned people because I believe that it is their duty to ensure that their institutions are functional. Yes, it is important that others in the organisation also contribute, but there has to be LEADERSHIP, someone and/or a group of people have to claim OWNERSHIP of the responsibilities. I don't like the argument of "everyone is a leaders, and not just those in positions". This might be true in a general sense, but organisations often employ, and pay certain people to make it their duty and to ensure the functionality of the organisation, and often they are given the space and time to do this job. Others can be leaders in their space, but the space of 'organisation functionality' is the responsibility of school leaders.
I therefore invite you to become a follower on this blog - where you claim OWNERSHIP, where you promise and commit yourself to do things differently, even during tough time, to improve the success of the learners at your school. This will be your first step of taking ownership for the current status of your school, no matter what it is currently. The journey that you are undertaking will not be easy, but it will be fulfilling once we start seeing the different we can make in the lives of ALL of our learners.
In particular, I identified four types of schools in South Africa, namely (i) High functioning schools (20%), (ii) Under-performing schools (50%), (iii) Dysfunctional schools (20%) and (iv) Chaotic schools (10%). The specific definition around these types of schools will be clarified in subsequent blogs. For now, it is more important how you define these types of schools, in your own head, and which one you claim for your own school and how you will give me the space to influence and stimulate your thinking around these concepts.
I have been doing this work on a full-time basis for more than three years - I mean turnaround work. Before this, I have been researching this phenomena for more than six years, and before that I was based at SACE, and before that I was a principal, HoD and teacher in a township school in Cape Town. During my turnaround work, I have interacted with thousands of principals and SMT members of different types of schools. I have opened myself up to challenges in relations to concepts and frameworks which will be shared with you in subsequent blogs. I will share with you testimonies (video clips) from group representatives and individuals who expressed their opinions on the work I do. Most of these video clips were recorded after a two days session with participants. I call the session the 'ownership workshop' since it focuses on getting participants to take ownership of their situation. Most participants who are part of the last three types of schools mentioned above, will come to the workshop with lost of excuses of why things are the way they are that their schools, and it will go hand-in-hand with blaming others and behaving like 'victims'. My job during this 'ownership workshop' is to making them aware of the powerful SELF within them, their ABILITY to change the situation they are in, their STRENGTH to turnaround their conditions, behaviour, cultures and climates, their PURPOSE why they joined the teaching profession in the first place, their deep-seated COMMITMENT to serve others and to give them opportunities and hope, and most importantly, to start SERVING this country as intended when they became teachers and principals.
I will try and keep the sequence of blogging as close to my natural process flow of how to turnaround your school. You will realise that sometimes the order might be appropriate for one schools, but should be slightly re-ordered for another, given the contextual circumstances of different schools and schools communities. The important things is that you will GET TO KNOW YOUR SCHOOL in a way that you never would have imagined before - this is part of the process of BECOMING AWARE. The journey that we are undertaking is not about GIVING YOU A FISH, but rather ASSISTING YOU HOW TO FISH. The benefits of this blog to you will be totally dependent on what you want out of it. You will get from this blog what you came to find - if you come to this blog to be enriched, I can assure you that we will go out of our way to serve you. As indicated in the name of the blog - I want to turnaround my school - we want you to be the change agent, the transformer, the catalyst of the turnaround, because our education system needs BRAVE individuals like you to STAND UP AND BE COUNTED.
So, press that 'follower' button to become part of a movement that will change the face of South African schools. Together we can turn this situation around - whatever it takes, no excuses.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)