M. Ed. / The purpose of performance appraisal can be seen as a means to improve the organization's performance through the enhanced performance of individuals. When people think about performance appraisal, they often refer to a number of more specific positive objectives such as, (Fisher, 1996:11): to review past performance; to assess training needs; to help develop individuals; to audit the skills within the organization; to set targets for future performance; and to identify potential for promotion. The problem, however, often stems from the negative perception of individuals that may believe that performance appraisal is simply used by an organization to apportion blame and to provide a basis for disciplinary action, or to demote or find fault with employees. Some people see it as a stick (Fisher, 1996:11) that management has introduced with which to beat people. And if that is their attitude — with or without cause, performance appraisal is doomed to failure. Improvement in performance (Redfern, 1984:1) is widely acclaimed as a most desirable goal of personal evaluation or appraisal, yet the types and kinds of evaluation procedures developed often make the attainment of this goal very difficult. A performance appraisal provides a periodic opportunity for communication between the person who assigns the work, and the person who performs it, to discuss what they expect from the others and how well those expectations are being met (Maddux, 1986:9). Performance appraisals are not hostile proceedings, nor for that matter are they social chitchat. They are an essential communication link between two people with a common purpose. Leading these discussions is not always easy, but the principles and techniques for effective sessions can be learned and applied by everyone. Too often appraisals are left until the last minute and then done in a hasty and unprofessional manner. When this occurs, the results are poor. The superior feels guilty and the employee unimportant and let down. The Government's educational reforms have created an unprecedented rate of change in schools (Healy, 1994: 9). They have also raised basic questions about the purpose of education and the nature of school management and leadership. In this context, there is an urgent need for all of us with an interest in education to step back and reflect on recent educational reforms, to reaffirm old truths and successful practice where appropriate. We need to sift out and implement the best of new ideas, modifying or abandoning those, which are a distraction from the central purpose of schools. This will ensure that an education of high quality is a guaranteed opportunity for all children and young people. Few in education would seriously question the principle of appraising the performance of educators. It is clear that leadership of high quality is a crucial ingredient of successful schools. We should therefore be seeking new insights into ideas, which contribute to effective leadership and making sure that we learn the lessons when things go wrong.

The aim of this study was to Investigate the views. of educators on Performance Management Systems In the Department of Education, with special reference to Madlbogo Circuit schools. The views of 40 educators from School Management Teams were obtained regarding the system. The findings of the study revealed that there are Inadequate Performance Management Systems in place for educators In the North West Department of Education. This Is a challenge facing Human Resources Management Practitioners and relevant stakeholders in the Department, because the primary orientation of Performance Management is developmental through effective response to consistent inadequate performance as well as recognising outstanding performance. Failure to Implement and manage Performance Management Systems will result in low motivational levels, which In tum will lead to unsatisfactory performance and high turnover. Therefore the researcher suggests some recommendations based upon the results of the study to address the problems inherent in the current status-quo. / (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2005

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Assuring quality of the education is the overriding role of the Ministry of Education. The new adopted model for Whole School Evaluation is different from the previous school inspection system carried out in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Accountability is the cornerstone of all the programmes that are aimed at improving the quality of learning and teaching in our schools. It is therefore important to evaluate whether or not our efforts have an impact in the schools. It is against this background that the monitoring and evaluation became a reality and a necessity. Accountability is anchored by monitoring and evaluation. Formerly it was assumed that the systems would work without any monitoring and evaluation process. But the dawn of democracy dictated that monitoring and evaluation process is a clear reality and an integral part of any programme. This research project looks into the effectiveness of the performance management programmes with regard to Whole School Evaluation to the educators in the Mafikeng District of the North West Province. Some of the issues discussed in this research are t How effective is this programme in building up the school education system as a whole? • Are there any problems encountered in the proper implementation process? • Is this programme functional? The findings suggest that evaluation is an integral part of the education system that can build an educator if applied in the right way. / (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2003

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION (D. Ed) in the Department of History of Education and Comparative Education at the UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND, 1997. / This study was designed to investigate different perceptions held by respondents about the quality and impact of evaluation on teachers' work, behaviour and attitude to their work. The second aim was to examine different perceptions of respondents to factors of teacher evaluation that promote positive, meaningful and successful teacher evaluation. Lastly, the study aimed to determine whether personal variables such as gender, race, age, teaching experience and qualification have influence on perceptions of teacher evaluation. These perception are important in designing an evaluation system because they indicate teachers' willingness to participate and be evaluated. The data was gathered by means of a questionnaire from teachers, principals and inspectors of education in KwaZulu-Natal north coast. The researcher divided the sample into three groups, that is, teachers, principals and inspectors of education. The researcher used a cluster or multistage sampling design to select the sample of teachers, principals and inspectors of education. Three questionnaires were administered to the respondents. To achieve the above, the researcher used a causal-comparative research design. The One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the Scheffe Test of Multiple Comparison were utilised to determine statistical significant differences among the three groups The major findings of the study are the following: - teachers, principals and inspectors of education differ in their perception of the overall quality of teacher evaluation. - teachers viewed the evaluation process as having a positive impact towards teachers' attitude about their work, behaviour, teaching strategies, and their understanding of teaching and learning, while principals and inspectors of education saw the evaluation process as having little impact. - gender and age have no influence on perceptions of evaluation, while racial group, teaching experience and qualification have a significant influence in the way teachers, principals and inspectors of education perceive teacher evaluation factors. - the respondents not involved in the evaluation process differed significantly in their perception than those involved. However, there were no differences with regard to evaluator perception; information gathered; feedback from evaluation and context of evaluation in relation to the respondents' involvement. The recommendations of this study are: - it is necessary to consider the performance management system in order to achieve maximum results to improve teachers' performance: appropriate selection of teachers for specific tasks, their induction and probation, on the-job-training, supervision and management, performance evaluation, incentives and rewards, and management of under-performance. - that the role of teachers, principals and inspectors of education in the evaluation process needs to be restructured and clarified in such a way that teachers understand the purpose of evaluation and the criteria for evaluation. Teachers' views and concerns should be sought during the development of evaluation instruments. Finally, a training programme for evaluators should be developed so as to equip them with evaluation skills necessary to conduct effective evaluations. The programme has to involve teachers, heads of departments, deputy or vice principals, subject advisors and inspectors of education so that all concerned are aware of what is expected of them. / University of Zululand

Thesis (MBA)--University of Limpopo, 2011 / The Department of Education has invested huge sums of money in trying to improve the quality of education. In order to improve the quality of education, the department realised the need to develop educators. This was done through the introduction of the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS). The Integrated Quality Manegement System came as results of the combination of the Whole School Evaluation (WSE) and Developmental Appraisal System (DAS). The Department of Education realised the importance of managing the performance of educators. This study was influenced by the need to investigate how the performance of educators is being managed at schools in Bahlaloga Circuit. This study focussed on the following research questions: How is the integrated quality management system being implemented at schools? What have been the major challenges and or successes with regard to the implementation of the integrated quality management system? Is it relevant or appropriate to link the performance of the school with the performance of educators? Is it necessary to link promotion of educators with performance? Is it necessary to link financial reward with the performance of educators? Study managed to find out that the implementation of the Integrated Quality Management System is not taking place as outlined in the policy. The support from the Developmental Support Group is very minimal and in some cases not taking place. Schools have all the necessary documents and stuctures in place to be able to implement the policy but they are unable to do so. At the same time there are number of reasons that were found to be the main reasons why schools are unable to implement the system as prescribed by the policy. Some of the challenges include the following: Shortage of Heads of Departments for some of the subjects who can help during and after the actual evaluation has taken place, movement of both principals and head of department from one school to the other is another challenge that affects the continuous implementation of IQMS; there is no prescribed good teaching practice for all the subjects and therefore what is good teaching practice to one educator may not be the case to the DSG, this situation normally causes confusion among xiv educators.Some educators are being evaluated by Head of Department who does not have the knowledge of the subject and as a results he does not get the necessary support from the DSG, the support from the Department of Education has been lacking, poor working conditions, line of reporting is too complex, that is the Head of Department has his own expectations from educators, principals expect something different, circuit managers have their own plan around the performance of educators while curriculum advisors advises educators to approach the subject differently. All these have an impact on the performance of educators. Lack of team work in schools is one other challenge in the sense that when teachers are not working together as a team, they are less likely to support one another. Some educators are offering more subjects and some of which they are not even qualified to teach. Other Heads of Departments do not have the necessary knowledge of other subjects and therefore they find it difficult to support educators. Some teachers find themselves teaching subject that they are not qualified to teach. The other findings from both the principals and educators are that the promotion and financial rewards must be linked with the performance of the educators. Educators must work for them. On the other hand, the performance of the schools must be linked with the performance of the individual educators. These findings also provide another challenge to the researcher to find out better ways the performance of educators could best be managed taking into account the complexity of the schools’ fuctioning and staffing. / N/A

The democratic South Africa’s dual challenge in overcoming its own divisive history as well as addressing global economic imperatives, has led to transformations in education. Policy production thus takes place in an atmosphere infused by economic, political, social and cultural effects of globalization. Embedded within the wave of curriculum reform, are new forms of learner assessment which have shifted from being largely norm-based and summative to one which is formative, standards- based and continuous. The new discourse on assessment requires a ‘paradigm shift’ for most teachers implementing the new assessment policy. Although education policy reforms in schools challenge teachers’ existing practices and increases teachers’ work load, they seldom give due attention to teachers’ identities. My research raises questions about the political rationalities that have informed policies on a new conception of the ideal teacher as assessor and how these political rationalities have intersected with the individual lives and identities of teachers. This study investigates at a micro-level, the workings of how teachers govern themselves in their work and in general as human beings. The constitution of teacher identity through discourses and discursive practices of the assessment reform is central to the argument of this thesis which is guided by the following critical question: Within the historical context of the current wave of curriculum reform in South Africa, how is teacher identity constituted in the discourses and practices of assessment reform? Data was obtained from ten teacher participants through interviews, classroom observations and document evidence. Using the biographical / life history approach and teachers’ narratives of self, I explore patterns by which experiential and emotional contexts, feelings, images and memories are organized to form the teachers’ identity. My analytical strategy draws from the work of Foucault (1954-1984), Giddens (1991), Wenger (1998), Bourdieu (1977), Frankl (1984), Laclau and Mouffe (1985), Maslow (1943) as well as other scholars. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology: Education at the Durban Institute of Technology, 2003. / This research investigates the South African Developmental Appraisal System (DAS). It is concerned with exposing implementation problems arising from its perception by educators in four secondary schools in the Central Circuit of the Inanda District ofKwaZulu-Natal. / M

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Planning and Administration, University of Zululand, 2002. / This research examined the role of performance based teacher appraisal and development in the educator's professional growth and improvement of education. The study made use of questionnaires to establish the perceptions of educators towards performance based teacher appraisal and development. The findings established that post level one educators and school management teams which were sampled have different views and perceptions on performance based teacher appraisal. Most post level one educators perceive the developmental appraisal system (DAS) as evaluative. They believe it exposes their weaknesses and does not lead to their development and promotion. They believe that developmental appraisal does not have a positive impact on their teaching. They also feel that developmental appraisal system (DAS) is not a factor in the improvement of education because it is only targeting them as educators. As yet, they do not see DAS as contributing to their growth. School management teams on the other hand perceive that performance based teacher appraisal plays a vital role in the educator's professional growth, the improvement of education and the development of schools as efficient and effective learning organisations. The school management teams believe that developmental appraisal is desirable if schools are to provide learners with quality education which will ensure that schools achieve excellence. On the basis of views and opinions of respondents, the study concluded that performance based teacher appraisal and development is desirable for education and growth of schools as effective and efficient teaching and learning institutions. However, there is need to assist educators to realise that DAS is important for their growth. More important, the process of the implementation of DAS, it is concluded, needs to promote educator development.