Browsing by Author "Ashley, Michael"

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    Emil Weder High School in Genadendal : a case study in the concept of effective schooling
    (1995) De Waal, Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr; Ashley, Michael
    The Emil Weder High School is in the small rural town of Genadendal, which is situated about 150 kilometres south-east of Cape Town, near Caledon. While doing field work for the Education Foundation early in 1994, one of the schools I Weder High School. It was the last of visited was Emil six House of Representatives schools that I visited, and I immediately noticed a difference at Emil Weder, compared to the other schools. The school buildings and surrounding fields and gardens were very neat and well maintained, the students were neatly dressed and very polite· and the staff were far friendlier than we had previously encountered. My initial impressions of a well-run school were confirmed, when I found out that the school is achieving outstanding academic and extra-mural results. I naturally assumed that this was the norm at the school and was very surprised to find out that it was, in fact, a fairly new phenomenon and that as recently as 1990 the school had experienced student unrest, boycotts, vandalism, gang activities and very poor academic results (in 1990 only 48% of their matriculants passed). Yet, in 1991 the pass rate was 88%, in 1992 it was 100% and last year they had a 98,8% pass rate (one failure). The topic to be researched Based on the above information I developed the hypothesis that certain school-level policy changes had occurred at Emil Weder from 1990 onwards which had led to the establishment of a culture of learning at Emil Weder High School. The purpose of my study was to find out whether policies had in fact changed at the school, and to what extent these new policies could explain the dramatic improvement in Matriculation results at the school. The study was conducted in two distinct phases, one in March 1994 and the other in September 1994. The initial study formed part of the Education Foundation and served to give an overview of how the school operated at the time. The follow-up study took much longer as it involved conducting in-depth interviews with teachers, ex-students and parents. The study revealed that by adopting a multi-level approach to improving the school, with the achievement of better Matriculation results being the major area of focus, the school not only improved these results, but that the school also started achieving better outputs in other areas as well.
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    The evaluation of an in-service project for black primary school teachers in South Africa in the early 1980s
    (1985) Murphy, John Gerard; Ashley, Michael; Lewy, Arieh
    The study deals with the selected aspects of the evaluation of an in-service education project (INSET), which was launched by the private sector in South Africa in 1983, with the purpose of upgrading underqualified teachers in black primary schools. INSET in South Africa lags far behind the rest of the world, particularly so in the black education systems and much of the current INSET activity is unlikely to achieve lasting and meaningful improvements in black schools. Teacher Opportunity Programmes was launched in response to this critical situation. The target group at which the programme is directed is those 'black' teachers who have had only three years of secondary schooling and two years professional training and who according to state legislation, are underqualified. The primary goal of Teacher Opportunity Programmes is to help put these teachers in a position to obtain matriculation (Standard 10) and thus to qualify them in accordance with state policy. Not only does this raise their status, but it sets them on a career path in education that enables them to enjoy the same salary benefits as the white teachers. A secondary goal is to assist them in their professional development as teachers. The study therefore evaluates how successfully Teacher Opportunity Programmes helps these teachers to upgrade themselves academically and professionally.
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    Management training for school principals : a survey of the content of a selection of available training courses and of the opinions of a group of school principals in the Cape Town Metropolitan Area
    (1995) Girvin, Craig Milton; Ashley, Michael
    The election of a new South African government in April 1994 has marked the onset of major changes in the education system. These changes will be most universally felt in their effects on schools. Thus school principals will become the fulcrum around which change takes place, receiving policy directives from the authorities and being responsible for their propagation and implementation in the schools. In such a situation, the whole question of the training, both pre-service and in-service, that is provided for school principals to equip them for their job becomes crucial. This study identifies a selection of in-service courses available to school principals in the Cape Town metropolitan area and compares the content of these courses with a list of the tasks and skills required of principals in the 1990's identified from a survey of the international literature. The aim is to determine the extent to which these courses are dealing with the tasks and skills. The literature survey also identifies a list of characteristics appropriate to effective in-service courses against which the Cape Town courses are compared. As an adjunct to the study, the opinions of a group of school principals were canvassed via a questionnaire. This questionnaire attempted to establish what management training these principals had received and also in which areas they desired training or further training. In the final section of the study, policy recommendations relating to management training for school principals are made. The study concludes that, whilst there are a number of courses on offer for school principals in the study area, management training for school principals does not appear to have been a priority in the past, there is very little co-ordination between the courses, and there are a number of important areas that are addressed by few, if any, of them. Amongst its recommendations, therefore, is the establishment of a research institute to co-ordinate in-service training for school principals and thus provide a more effective basis from which they can carry out their important role in the future.