The Advanced Certificate in Education: Educational Management and Leadership Development as a qualification that supports sustainable development in the school context.

Janis Wylie EMASAUniversity of Cape Town July 2012

The ACE EMLD Qualification

AimTo develop leadership & management competence for those in

leadership positions & those aspiring to leadership positions

QualificationAn accredited career-related professional qualification consistent

with the actual job profile

Timeframe• Part-time study period of two years• Comprises of 10 Courses

Assumption

‘Transformational agenda’ of DoE implies that an individual in a leadership capacity in a school context can ‘change schools for the better’ (DoE, 2007)

School Improvement

School improvement and change theory literature in the main stresses that it is the development of effective school leaders that brings about ‘the transformation of schools into continuous improvement’ (Fullan,2006: 7).

This is based on producing more and better individuals as the route to changing the system.

Fullan contends that 70% of success depends on simultaneously having a focus on changing individuals and the culture or system within the organisation.

Reports, such as The Rural Education Project(2010) and The Primary School Professional Learning Communities Project (2010) support this view

Elmore(2004), Shulman & Shulman (2004) ,Supovitz,

Sirinides and May (2010) Set up the choice of realist evaluation theory

(Pawson and Tilley,1997)as the methodology for UCT research on ACE EMLD school change.

What influenced the UCT ACE EMLD Programme Design?

• Mentor and peer group support are factors in the ACE EMLD design which claims a contribution to the change in the school.

Chapman and Allen (2006), Pecheone, Tyler and Ross (2006) ,Chapman & Fullan (2007), Katz & Earl (2010), Firestone & Pennell (1997)

• ‘Project work is a way of preparing students to take on their professional role in the world of work’ (Cooper and Von Kotze, 2009: 12).

What do we mean by competencies?

PERSON

KNOWLEDGE

APPLICATION

The UCT ACE EMLD Programme Design1. Contact Sessions: Lecturer/Peer learning2. Mentor & Peer support3. Assessment– Context related assignments– Work-based Projects– Portfolio of evidence– Site-Visits

QUALIFICATION OF APPLIED COMPETENCY

Challenges

• Selection process• Quality of leadership in place• Equity• Budget• Academic qualification/practical

implementation• Choice of WBP’s• Time with respect to individual development

What have we learned?

• Values of team and students• Development of reflective practise at all levels• Power of a positive role model• Importance of context• Students must focus on sphere of influence• Differentiation with respect to assessment

tasks

Research Question

Are work-based projects initiated as part of an academic programme sustainable over time in a school context?

Origin of the question

IF the ACE EMLD programme has specifically been tasked by the state (DoE, 2007) to improve the management and leadership potential of students from both a personal and professional perspective, with the aim of benefitting all school stakeholders

THEN this anticipated enhanced management ability has an expectation to ultimately translate to an improvement in the performance of the learners

However.....

there is no substantial evidence in support of such outcomes which is a serious situation in the light of the heavy weighting of the expectations and indicates a weakness that must be addressed

work-based project reports and anecdotal evidence emanating from the schools following completion of the programme has not been tested in an empirical manner which a study will seek to rectify

The Realist Experimental Design (Pawson & Tilley, 1994: 300)

Research August 2012 The research will examine the sustainability of 2009 graduates’ work-based

projects that emanated from course content in an academic programme in order to understand if the learning translates to a practise that contributes to change and sustainable development in a school context

The study will have a benefit in contributing to the future delivery of the Advanced Certificate in Education: Education Management and Leadership Development academic programme within a higher education institution as well as providing information to assist students in achieving applied competency in the workplace.

Furthermore it will seek to provide information on the university’s ability and role in transforming practices in the workplace through a project-based learning approach.

‘It should always be borne in mind that a school cannot be changed simply by training the principal. Unless there is a willingness among the staff and other stakeholders to engage in change and to improve the school, the position of the principal with creative new ideas could very much become that of a lone voice crying in the wilderness” (McFarlane, 2003:2).’