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Another 217 Eastern Cape school principals to receive rapid skills training

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In KwaZulu-Natal, schools managed by principals who have undergone the Principals’ Management Development Programme (PMDP) have significantly outperformed “non-trained” schools. Since late 2012, the PMDP was rolled out by the Department of Education (DoE) in the Eastern Cape in partnership with ETDP SETA and has been delivered to 150 of the Eastern Cape’s over 5 000 schools. However, on Friday, 14 June 2013, the Eastern Cape’s Department of Education’s Chief Director: Education Professional Services (EPS), Mr Ncanywa announced Phase 2, where school management training will be provided to another group of 217 school principals and HODs.

Four years ago, a 50-school pilot project was launched in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), training and mentoring close to 1 300 school principals through the PMDP. The programme has since been rolled out to underperforming schools in the Eastern Cape. The pass rate of the 150 participating schools in Phase 1 was particularly low in 2011 and 2012. This included schools in the Butterworth, Fort Beaufort and Libode districts.

Present at the announcement ceremony, held in Mthatha last week, were principals, teachers, HODs, officials from DoE as well as other service providers in Language, Maths & Science fields. The principals and HODs of participating schools in Phase 1 provided live testimonies on their experience of the programme to date. These principals committed and promised to produce better results and because of the PMDP will never be referred to as ‘underperforming’ in future. These principals have reported the sound relationships that have been built at their schools since participating on the PMDP.

The PMDP schools’ average improvement continued to exceed both KZN and national improvement figures. Improvements in PMDP participating schools over the duration of the programme in KZN currently stands at 39.4%, exceeding the KZN improvement of 15% by a total of 23%, and exceeding national levels by 28.1% over the same period. In addition, where schools have consistently applied the management practices of the PMDP, there appears to be distinct improvement in the manner in which these schools are being run.

This rapid skills transfer programme has greatly benefited learners, with significant annual increases in Grade 12 results. The KZN school management teams that have enrolled for the PMDP in 2011 and completed the programme in 2012, have seen an average improvement in their schools in 2011 of 5.9% and a further 6.1% in 2012. In total, these schools have improved by 12.1% over the two years compared with an average improvement of only 2.4% in KZN and 6.1% nationally over the same period.

The 2010 cohort scored a further 6.8% improvement, making the total average improvement from 2010 to 2012 an impressive 19.2%. The 2009 cohort, on the other hand, recorded a further improvement of 7.6%, thereby attaining an average improvement of 25.5% to date.

According to Dayalan Govender, who forms part of the PMDP design and delivery team, the PMDP “is aimed at ensuring that the management practices of the programme become embedded in the very culture and operations of the schools”.

In 2013, 600 school principals and their management teams as well as 60 circuit managers will enrol for the PMDP in KZN and 217 in the Eastern Cape, with a proposed national roll-out in the near future. Delivered over six months, the PMDP consists of practical learning and mentorship as well as hands-on tasks to implement systems in the management of the school.

Based on corporate-sector development training in basic management competencies, the PMDP is designed and delivered by a public-private model consisting of a consortium of private-sector consultancy companies. The consortium (consisting of PwC, Performance Solutions Africa and the University of KZN) is also working closely with the new national initiative referred to as the Programme for Improved Learner Outcomes (PILO), which comprises over 60 educational organisations working in partnership with the Department of Education, to help improve performance at school level.

Says Barbara Njapha, Project Manager for PMDP: “We are very pleased to have been able to contribute to the development of the programme for the PILO and to be part of a wider initiative which brings together such a strong array of capability in the education space. The PILO has also helped to shape aspects of the development of the PMDP. Going forward, we envisage an ongoing relationship with this community.”

According to Njapha, the consortium is also focused on researching which school management practices have the biggest impact on school results. “Two years ago, we have identified seven key practices which have a statistical correlation to a 7.5% improvement in performance at Grade 12 level.”

The PMDP team has recently identified new practices, many of which relate to curriculum coverage. These practices are focused on assessing the impact of this training on school performance. Njapha and her team expect that “there will be an even more significant impact on school performance through the implementation of these practices, which now also involve the Heads of Departments’.’

PMDP’s success is measured in year-on-year above average increases in pass rates compared to national averages, as well as consistent curriculum tracking and overall school management and governance structures building the schools’ capacity. The motivated principals, HODs and management teams, with their new skills and structured approaches, have also had a far-reaching impact on individual learners and wider communities.

For further information on the PMDP as well as comments and insight from principals at participating schools, contact Barbara Njapha on 076 186 8819.

Author: Nadia Rossouw
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