Problematising the standardisation of leadership and management development in South African schools
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Date
2015
Authors
Williams, Clarence
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Education, University of the Free State
Abstract
In 2007 the Department of Education introduced the standards-based Advanced
Certificate in Education: School Management and Leadership. The standardisation
of leadership and management development in South African schools has been
uncritically accepted by most academics and professionals. The purpose of this article
is to problematise the standardisation of leadership and management development,
using the critiques of the Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortium standards
of the United States as the basis of analysis. This article indicates the following areas
of concern: the lack of clarity regarding the empirical basis of the unit standards;
the incorporation of certain non-empirical ideals into the programme; the generic
instead of contextualised approaches to leadership and management development;
the use of a generic programme for school principals, deputy principals, and heads
of department in spite of their differentiated roles; and the lack of a single, generally
accepted policy document containing an exposition of the role of school principals that
could form the basis of leadership and management development. This emphasises
the need for the unit standards to be subjected to regular scrutiny and revision to
address areas of concern and to ensure relevance thereof in the face of current
developments and empirical research findings.
Description
Keywords
Development, Leadership, Management, Unit standards, Standardisation
Citation
Williams, C. (2015). Problematising the standardisation of leadership and management development in South African schools. Perspectives in Education, 33(3), 176-187.