Exploring agency in marginalised occupations: School administrative clerks’ deployment of “participatory capital” in establishing practice-based agency

Bayat, Abdullah; Fataar, Aslam

doi:10.18820/2519593x/pie.v38i1.18

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Apparently, the principal's absence for a specified period away from the school, made it easy for HODs to unfairly order them around. These findings are not unique to this study, several South African studies (Bayat, 2012(Bayat, , 2014Bayat et al, 2015) have also documented unfair management practices towards administrative clerks at the hands of HODs in schools.…”

Section: Theme 2: Principal's Inaccessibility To Staffmentioning

confidence: 51%

Organisational Learning and Knowledge Sharing Culture in Township Schools: An Exploration of Effective and Ineffective Practices

Nkambule

2023

Jurnal. Penelitian. Pengkajian. Ilmu. Pendidikan. e-Saintika

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Literature underscores that the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) promises to bring with it a host of technical and socially oriented innovations and changes that will pressure educational institutions to incorporate the concept of knowledge management (KM) in their educational, human resource, curricular and co-curricular administrative functions. In light of the many challenges confronting township schools such as the lack of proper infrastructure, the lack of learning and technological equipment and insufficient budget, the primary objective of this qualitative study (involving a sample of 20 participants), was to draw parallels between the effective and ineffective knowledge sharing practices in three township schools in the city of Emalahleni in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The study found that of the three schools under study, only one school practiced effective knowledge sharing, while the other two schools were found to be ineffective in their practise of knowledge sharing. Thematic analysis indicated that, in both schools, ineffective knowledge sharing was precipitated by a counter collaborative culture, top down communication and decision making, absence of Ubuntu (i.e., humanity, tolerance and mutual respect) among staff, the principals’ inaccessibility to non-managerial staff, and chronic teacher absenteeism. Based on these findings, the study proposes that best practices from the school that was found to have practiced effective knowledge sharing be emulated throughout the landscape of township schools in South Africa.

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Section: Theme 2: Principal's Inaccessibility To Staffmentioning

confidence: 51%

Organisational Learning and Knowledge Sharing Culture in Township Schools: An Exploration of Effective and Ineffective Practices

Nkambule

2023

Jurnal. Penelitian. Pengkajian. Ilmu. Pendidikan. e-Saintika

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“…Despite evidence proving that administrative clerks' knowledge management "skills" especially the recording, sharing and utilisation of "knowledge" (Memisoglu, 2016, p.133) are at best when they have cordial relationships with teachers and HODs (Bayat, 2012), the study found that they continue to be unfairly treated by teachers and HODs. To explain this ordeal, AC1 commented:…”

Section: Theme 3: Unfair Treatment Of Administrative Clerks By Teache...mentioning

confidence: 78%

Discourse on Unequal Power Relations in Knowledge Sharing Transactions at Selected Township Schools in Nkangala Education District

Nkambule

2023

Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education

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Sustainable Development Goal No 4 (SDG4) resonates with all education systems of the world. It has resulted in education policies being created and promulgated with sustainability and development in mind. In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), sustainability speaks to the need for schooling systems to operate as a knowledge society and to maximally exploit the abundance of knowledge assets that exist in their ecologies. This implies that they must adopt knowledge management (KM) to take advantage of the 4IR era aligned technological innovations, instructional practices and administrative standards. In light of the view that, of all KM processes, knowledge sharing reigns supreme and gives rise to the generation of new organisational knowledge as well as the innovation of existing organisational knowledge; the study adopted a qualitative approach embedded in an interpretivist paradigm to explore the perceptions of teaching and support staff- specifically six teachers and four administrative clerks (altogether ten participants) - of factors contributing to unequal power relations in knowledge sharing practices at two selected schools in Nkangala Education District, Mpumalanga Province (South Africa). The study found that poor leadership practices contributed to unhealthy professional interactions, knowledge hoarding, contravention of contextual ethics (of Ubuntu), trust deficit, top-down communication and workplace bullying.

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“…Research explicates that the significance of the role of administrative clerks on the productivity of a school is rarely documented scientifically (Bayat, 2012(Bayat, , 2014Bayat et al, 2015;Conley et al, 2010;Nkambule, 2020;Thomson et al, 2007). As such, it cannot be disputed that even in cases where schools achieve administrative excellence, the contributions of administrative clerks do not receive due recognition (Bayat & Fataar, 2018).…”

Section: Administrative Clerks' Association With Sa-samsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As such, it cannot be disputed that even in cases where schools achieve administrative excellence, the contributions of administrative clerks do not receive due recognition (Bayat & Fataar, 2018). In addition to that, evidence indicates that administrative clerks are likely to be mistreated by teachers and HoDs (Bayat, 2012;Bayat et al, 2015;Bayat & Fataar, 2018;Nkambule, 2020Nkambule, , 2022Nkambule, , 2023aNkambule, , 2023bNkambule, , 2023c. School leaders are somewhat oblivious to the fact that when administrative clerks are unfairly treated by teachers and HoDs (Bayat, 2012) their proficiency to share, apply and manage knowledge diminishes (Memisoglu, 2016).…”

Section: Administrative Clerks' Association With Sa-samsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to that, evidence indicates that administrative clerks are likely to be mistreated by teachers and HoDs (Bayat, 2012;Bayat et al, 2015;Bayat & Fataar, 2018;Nkambule, 2020Nkambule, , 2022Nkambule, , 2023aNkambule, , 2023bNkambule, , 2023c. School leaders are somewhat oblivious to the fact that when administrative clerks are unfairly treated by teachers and HoDs (Bayat, 2012) their proficiency to share, apply and manage knowledge diminishes (Memisoglu, 2016). Despite working under tough conditions, they are still determined to influence the well-being of learners, proficiency of school administration and teaching and learning processes (Bayat & Fataar, 2018).…”

Section: Administrative Clerks' Association With Sa-samsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Perceived barriers to optimal effectiveness of the South African School Administration and Management System (SA-SAMS)

Nkambule,

Ngubane

2024

IJRBS

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The undeniable impact of implementing school management systems on the efficiency of school administration in the Global South is evident. Nevertheless, the implementation of school management systems can provide significant challenges, particularly in educational settings with little resources, such as township schools. This qualitative study examined the impediments to the optimal efficiency of SA-SAMS in three township schools located in the Nkangala Education District, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The study was based on the people, processes, and technology framework (PPTF). A deliberate sampling technique was employed to choose a sample of five administrative clerks and three principals. The results indicated that administrative clerks identified several obstacles: 1) unreliable internet connectivity; 2) issues related to the delayed release of the assessment patch and changes to its structure during the school term; 3) glitches in learner admissions, leading to the deletion of profiles of learners admitted to schools in the middle of the year, exacerbated by the system's inability to smoothly process admissions of foreign learners; 4) lack of onsite technicians to provide technical support, necessitating schools to allocate funds designated for academic and operational programmes to hire private technicians. Meanwhile, principals identified two main issues: 5) limited acceptance among teachers and 6) the inadequacy of provincial SA-SAMS helpdesk workers, whose skills frequently failed to offer necessary technical assistance when system issues developed. The study suggested ensuring dependable internet access for schools with limited resources, promptly releasing the patch, maintaining clear and timely communication regarding patch format changes, providing training to teachers on SA-SAMS, offering on-site technical support to schools, and employing competent SA-SAMS provincial helpdesk personnel.

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Exploring agency in marginalised occupations: School administrative clerks’ deployment of “participatory capital” in establishing practice-based agency

Cited by 3 publications

References 15 publications

Organisational Learning and Knowledge Sharing Culture in Township Schools: An Exploration of Effective and Ineffective Practices

Organisational Learning and Knowledge Sharing Culture in Township Schools: An Exploration of Effective and Ineffective Practices

Discourse on Unequal Power Relations in Knowledge Sharing Transactions at Selected Township Schools in Nkangala Education District

Perceived barriers to optimal effectiveness of the South African School Administration and Management System (SA-SAMS)

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