The dual economy of schooling and teacher morale in South Africa

Shalem, Yael; Hoadley, Ursula

doi:10.1080/09620210903257224

Cited by 45 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Job dissatisfaction, high stress and reduced morale have been linked to withdrawal behaviours such as absenteeism and turnover intention (McCormick & Barnett, 2011;Shalem & Hoadley, 2009). These are costly to schools and school systems not just in terms of money, but to the quality of education for students.…”

Section: Directive Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The directive communication of Australian primary school principals

Nobile

2014

International Journal of Leadership in Education

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Directive communication is a key leadership practise in schools. However, very little direct attention has been given to this important feature of the school communication system. The purpose of the research reported here was to produce a richer description of directive communication in the context of Australian primary schools, and in so doing, explain why it should be considered important leadership practise in schools. Participants were 52 staff members from cross-sectorial schools (government, catholic systemic and independent) across five states and territories of Australia. Data were obtained from interviews conducted face to face and via email. The study found that directive communication by principals: (1) concerned a limited range of topics including policy and procedures, teaching and learning and information about school organization and events, (2) ranged in intensity from guidance to command/control, (3) occurred mainly through face to face and staff meetings and (4) provided staff with information to do their jobs, reduced ambiguity and encouraged a team culture. While these provisions are useful and help schools to run well, excessive directive communication poses potential problems for school climate and staff morale.

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Section: Directive Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The directive communication of Australian primary school principals

Nobile

2014

International Journal of Leadership in Education

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“…Schools in disadvantaged areas usually have little access to resources; have inadequate facilities [ 8 ] and poor parent involvement [ 9 ]. Even worse, educators and learners frequently have poor motivation levels with regard to trying new interventions to influence behaviour change [ 10 , 11 ], and educators may feel inadequately prepared regarding curriculum changes which incorporate physical activity and nutrition [ 11 ]. There are, however, examples of school interventions which have been effective in disadvantaged settings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“HealthKick”: Formative assessment of the health environment in low-resource primary schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa

et al. 2012

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BackgroundThis study evaluated the primary school environment in terms of being conducive to good nutrition practices, sufficient physical activity and prevention of nicotine use, with the view of planning a school-based health intervention.MethodsA sample of 100 urban and rural disadvantaged schools was randomly selected from two education districts of the Western Cape Education Department, South Africa. A situation analysis, which comprised an interview with the school principal and completion of an observation schedule of the school environment, was done at all schools.ResultsSchools, on average, had 560 learners and 16 educators. Principals perceived the top health priorities for learners to be an unhealthy diet (50%) and to far lesser degree, lack of physical activity (24%) and underweight (16%). They cited lack of physical activity (33%) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs; 24%) as the main health priorities for educators, while substance abuse (66%) and tobacco use (31%) were prioritised for parents. Main barriers to health promotion programmes included lack of financial resources and too little time in the time table. The most common items sold at the school tuck shops were crisps (100%), and then sweets (96%), while vendors mainly sold sweets (92%), crisps (89%), and ice lollies (38%). Very few schools (8%) had policies governing the type of food items sold at school. Twenty-six of the 100 schools that were visited had vegetable gardens. All schools reported having physical activity and physical education in their time tables, however, not all of them offered this activity outside the class room. Extramural sport offered at schools mainly included athletics, netball, and rugby, with cricket and soccer being offered less frequently.ConclusionThe formative findings of this study contribute to the knowledge of key environmental and policy determinants that may play a role in the health behaviour of learners, their parents and their educators. Evidently, these show that school environments are not always conducive to healthy lifestyles. To address the identified determinants relating to learners it is necessary to intervene on the various levels of influence, i.e. parents, educators, and the support systems for the school environment including the curriculum, food available at school, resources for physical activity as well as appropriate policies in this regard.

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“…Secondly, also a social justice issue, we hoped to take up the challenge of investigating the research-development nexus in mathematics education in under-researched poorly resourced conditions-or what Shalem and Hoadley (2009) refer to as "schools for the poor".…”

Section: The Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mathematics Discourse in Instruction (MDI): A Discursive Resource as Boundary Object Across Practices

Adler

2017

Proceedings of the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education

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Linked research and development forms the central pillar of the Wits Maths Connect Secondary (WMCS), a project working with secondary mathematics teachers in one province in South Africa. A key outcome is a sociocultural analytic framework-a discursive resource that has been developed and refined through our work in and across three inter-linked practices. Named Mathematics Discourse in Instruction (MDI), we have used the framework as a planning and reflection tool in professional development and we have operationalised it as an analytic framework for research. MDI enables a description of mathematics made available to learn in a lesson, and an interpretation of shifts in practice across lessons and over time. MDI is both process and product of the WMCS. I describe and reflect on our use of MDI to build a case for embracing a discursive resource as a boundary object that moves productively across multiple practices.

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The dual economy of schooling and teacher morale in South Africa

Cited by 45 publications

References 18 publications

The directive communication of Australian primary school principals

The directive communication of Australian primary school principals

“HealthKick”: Formative assessment of the health environment in low-resource primary schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa

Mathematics Discourse in Instruction (MDI): A Discursive Resource as Boundary Object Across Practices

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