The education system in Namibia was shaped by the policies located within the framework of the apartheid ideology. Since it gained its independence in 1990, the government positioned education at the top of the national priorities. Thus, there has been a growing realisation of the importance of more democratic forms of leadership in the education system for the country to be able to cater for a democratic society. Amongst others, teachers became active creators and managers of the learning outcomes. In addition, teachers are regarded as agents of change and the driving force for productive teaching and learning. Literature describes how the management in schools has been redistributing authority and power so that a culture of teacher leadership in school communities can grow. More importantly, school improvement depends more on the active involvement of teacher leaders as it is realised that people in formal positions cannot do everything. In this line this study investigated the understanding of teachers and members of management of teacher leadership practice and it further identified the structural and cultural factors which enabled and inhibited this practice in a primary school. This study is a case study of a Primary school in a semi-urban area of Otjozondjupa Region, a central part of Namibia. This study was conducted in the interpretive paradigm and it is a qualitative case in nature, employing semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis. Triangulation over the data revealed that respondents have an understanding of the concept and that all teachers are involved in leadership roles at school which are more strongly found in the classroom and through involvement with other teachers. Teacher leadership roles at the case study school also occur within the whole school with some limitations and also extend beyond the school. Grant’s (2008) model of teacher leadership was used to analyse the data. The study suggested some hindrances and supporting factors of teacher leadership. The findings suggested that teacher leadership is understood at the case study school and that they experienced factors that enabled and hindered this practice at different stages. Enabling factors included the school structure, further studies and workshops attended, while teacher leadership is impeded by teachers’ unwillingness to collaborate with others and the platoon system. The study recommends future large scale studies, including at secondary schools, so that a broader sense of teacher leadership may emerge.

Fleisch (2002) and Jansen and Christie (1999) hold that implementation of the national school curriculum in post-apartheid South Africa was riddled with uncertainties, ineffective classroom management and a general lack of academic performance by learners, mainly as a result of inadequate training and support (SMTs) to support the implementation process through proper planning and subsequent management of the implementation (Rogan and Grayson, 2003:1172-1195). Middlewood (2003a: 66- 68) thus assigns the primary responsibility of planning, managing and overseeing the curriculum implementation process to the SMT. Research problem and question 1 In the context of this study, the School Management Team (SMT) includes the school principal, the deputy-principal and the head(s) of department(s) or senior teachers. 4 for teachers in the classroom. Having considered the above essential aspects related to curriculum implementation, there is thus reason to be concerned about the effectiveness of curriculum implementation in South African schools, specifically in rural schools. Due to their remoteness, limited resources, and fluctuating quality of teacher expertise, these schools are often more challenged in terms of curriculum implementation (Delport and Mangwaya, 2008:224). Although there are many factors affecting the (in)effectiveness of implementation, this study regards a school’s curriculum implementation plans and the subsequent management of these implementation plans as crucial to ensuring successful implementation of a new curriculum. The central research problem that guided this study thus relates to the planning and subsequent management of curriculum implementation at school level. The above problem has culminated in the formulation of the following research question: How do selected rural schools plan and manage curriculum implementation?.

Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Education Sport, Arts and Culture offers as one of the primary school curricula, an AIDS curriculum which all Grades 4 to 7 teachers in Zimbabwe’s primary schools mandatorily implement with a view to contributing towards the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS among the young primary school learners. The purpose of this research was to explore and describe teachers’ understanding and implementation of Zimbabwe’s primary school AIDS curriculum regarding the ways in which they articulated teaching practices and processes in their classrooms. The study also aimed to elicit the teachers’ views on how personal and contextual factors impact their adaptation and enactment of the curriculum. The study also sought to establish teachers’ perceptions of their practical experiences with the implementation of Zimbabwe’s primary school AIDS curriculum and their suggestions for improving practice. The study follows a qualitative case study design with minimal quantitative results. It involved three purposively selected primary school grade six teachers (n=3) each of whom was asked to teach five lessons while being observed over a period of three months. Each teacher availed his or her teaching scheme/plan to the researcher who conducted document analysis to glean their symbolic conceptualisation of actual classroom practice of the curriculum. This was followed by three semi-structured interviews with each participating teacher to elicit their perceptions. A content analysis using ideas borrowed from the grounded theory approach was employed resulting in thematic findings. The findings of the study confirm and enhance the theoretical significance of the phenomenological-adaptive perspective of educational change and Honig’s (people, policy, places) and cognition model for describing teacher implementation of the mandatory AIDS curriculum. The findings also confirm the complex ways in which human-generated personal and contextual factors played out in framing and shaping teachers’ personal adaptation of the mandatory AIDS curriculum. The study confirms the adaptation claim that as cognitive sense-makers, teachers mutate and enact a curriculum according to their personal subjective interpretations in the context of unique use-setting implementation realities. Although one of the participants’ understanding and practice displayed considerable comprehension of the requirements of the curriculum, the other teachers displayed an understanding of this curriculum in a superficial way, and experienced few positive experiences and several conceptual and operational constraints in its implementation. Drawing on their practical experiences with the implementation of the curriculum, teachers offered suggestions for transforming the implementation proficiency of this curriculum, which formed part of the conceptual strategy I developed for improving practice. Thus the resultant achievement of the study was a conceptual strategy that was constructed from the key findings of the study to provide educational change leaders with nuanced ideas and insights for improving practice.

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Bibliography: pages 91-96. / The current debates about curriculum policy decision making and the empirical investigation into the teaching of history in South Africa undertaken by the Human Sciences Research Council (1989-1991) have prompted this study. The research undertaken attempts to examine how history teachers' opinions can be collected, interpreted and utilised for curriculum policy formulation. The dissertation initially considers participation m curriculum decision-making and presents the case for the inclusion of teachers in decision making structures and processes. Recent initiatives in South Africa which have attempted to involve teachers in curriculum policy formulation are then examined. A research project was undertaken which surveyed the opinions of history teachers and the Cape Peninsula by means of questionnaires and interviews. Its results demonstrate that the research methodology employed impacts strongly on the information that is gathered and on the way that it can be utilised in curriculum policy formulation. The main conclusions reached were that teacher participation could contribute to a less technicist and more person-centered approach in curriculum development. This approach could improve the quality of the product (syllabus documents) and its subsequent adoption and implementation. The degree to which a school identifies with the syllabuses would be far greater, which would ensure flexibility and willingness to adapt to policies in which teachers have a sense of ownership.

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In 1987, public colleges and universities in Virginia began complying with state-mandated outcomes assessment requirements. Administrators and faculty were expected to assume the responsibility for conducting assessment planning/activities, and substantial administrator and faculty support for formal assessment was expected to develop gradually over a ten-year period. The purpose of this study was to investigate administrator and faculty support after three years of compliance. The objectives were (1) to investigate across-time involvements and understandings related to institutional/departmental assessment planning and activities; (2) to investigate across-time perceptions of the importance of formal assessment; and (3) to identify factors which had influenced these involvements, understandings, and perceptions of importance. A total of 1,101 administrators and faculty from 37 of the 39 public colleges and universities in Virginia participated in this study. Results indicate that, by 1990, administrator and faculty involvements, understandings, and perceptions of importance had increased significantly. Respondents expected future levels of perceived importance would decline significantly external reporting requirements were eliminated. The most prevalent external factors which had influenced administrators and faculty were the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The most prevalent internal factors were chief academic officers, assessment coordinators, and resource constraints. The findings of this study suggest that after three years of compliance, momentum for formal assessment among administrators and faculty had been generated. While this momentum did not represent administrator and faculty "ownership" of assessment, without doubt more administrators and faculty had become involved in assessment, more had begun to better understand assessment, and more had begun to perceive of formal assessment as important. If SCHEV were to remove its requirements, this momentum would be lost. If SCHEV requirements remain, wider administrator and faculty involvements and understandings should be accompanied by higher levels of perceived importance as more departments begin the process of assessing learning outcomes. By 1990, however, future widespread administrator and faculty "ownership" of formal assessment in Virginia remained uncertain. / Ph. D.

This study was undertaken to produce a "snapshot" description of shared decision making in elementary schools in a large suburban public school system in Virginia; to identify schools for participation in in-depth studies; and to provide examples and information to others who may wish to engage in shared decision making. The research questions guiding the study were: How do elementary school principals perceive shared decision making in their schools? How do principals, teachers on the decision-making team, and teachers not currently serving on the decision-making team in selected schools perceive participation in shared decision making relative to context (a. structure, b. purpose, c. function, d. training, and e. obstacles) and outcomes (a. teacher satisfaction, and b. organizational effectiveness)? What similarities and/or differences in participation in shared decision making relative to context (a. structure, b. purpose, c. function, d. training, and e. obstacles) and outcomes (a. teacher satisfaction, and b. organizational effectiveness) appear to exist among principals, teachers on the decision-making team, and teachers not serving currently on the decision-making team, within each selected school and across the selected schools? Major findings revealed that there was much less shared decision making going on in elementary schools in the school system than what was claimed by the principals. Although the context of the shared decision-making committees at each of the three schools studied in depth varied, some outcomes across the three schools were similar. The predominant indicator of teacher satisfaction reported by twenty of the twenty-one principals, team members, and teachers interviewed was increased/improved collegiality. The researcher concludes that the shared decision making committees provided opportunities for principals and teachers to come together to discuss issues, give input, and make decisions, and as a result, collegial relationships began to form. The predominant indicator of organizational effectiveness reported by nineteen of the twenty-one principals, team members, and teachers interviewed was satisfaction with the decisions that emerged from the committee. The researcher concludes that the shared decision-making committees provided opportunities for teachers to join principals in making decisions, so for the most part, teachers had positive perceptions about the decisions that were made. / Ed. D.

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