In the educational world of the eighties, despite burgeoning technologies and the silicon chip, and despite a multiplicity of aims and philosophies of education, it is axion~tic that progress amongst learners depends on the effectiveness of teaching and so on the quality of teachers. The definition which "effective teaching" assumes in any particular society is determined, of course, by many inter-related factors, not least the prevailing political, religious and economic ideologies. The successful teacher is generally viewed, it would appear, as one who succeeds in the transmission or generation of "valid" knowledge, and judgment by others is impl icit in the concept of validity. Because participation in the process of learning at school is essentially a human experience, a matter of interpersonal relationships, any statement about it is open to question; but as the evaluation of teacher expertise plays an important role in systems of education, the methods and concerns of such evaluation merit close study. In the Republic of South Africa the evaluation of teacher competence has recently assumed considerable significance with the introduction of a "merit assessment" system, and one of the chief concerns of the present work is a critical study of such assessment. Related concerns include teacher attitude towards assessment (in which context the Natal Teachers' Society Conference motion 19 of 1981 is apposite: "That this Conference expresses its total opposition to the merit award system as presently implemented" Mentor September 1981 p.152) ; and the place of such assessment in the context of contemporary models of organization theory, of educational administration and of school management. Cognisance has been taken of the Report of the Human Sciences Research Council Investigation into Education (1981) which was initiated, in part, by "grave dissatisfaction in the teaching profession" 1, and which proposes real consultation for teachers in the administration of education, based on participation, involvement and negotiation. Though seen from a wide-ranging and international perspective, teacher competence will in this work ultimately be defined from a South African perspective; and as the data are Natal based, Natal will be taken as an example of the Republic of South Africa. However, sight will never be lost of broader perspectives. The concerns, aim and scope of this work do not end with teachers, but are also bound up with children for it is they whose benefit or advancement depends on competent teaching. In an attempt to determine what children thought about teacher effectiveness, Musgrove and Taylor (1969) analysed 1379 essays by school pupi 1s on the topi cs "A good teacher" and "A poor teacher". Sca 1es were drawn up with statements reflecting the ideas most frequently voiced by pupils on teaching method, discipline, teachers' personal qualities and organizing abilities, and these scales were subsequently tested on hundreds of other children and teachers. Musgrove and Taylor, in reviewing their research, concluded inter alia that "Pupils expect teachers to teach. They value lucid exposition, the clear statement of problems, and guidance in their solution. Personal qualities of kindness, sympathy and patience are secondary .... (teachers) are expected to assume an essentially intellectual and instrumental role." (as quoted by Morrison and McIntyre, p.17l) The findings tended to uphold the idea of a structured "formal" relationship reminiscent of Waller's 1932 dictum that the effective teacher should maintain a social distance from his pupils and be relatively meaningless as a person. Other writers such as Postman and Weingartner (1969) suggest very different advice to teachers! The meaning of "good teaching" will be investigated in chapter three of this work, in terms of a survey of the appropriate literature but the specific criteria of good teaching in a particular country, for example South Africa, depend on a range of overt and hidden factors, and are the material of much ongoing debate. " The variety of the comment calls to mind the important question of how a teacher's effectiveness mayor (perhaps more important) should be judged: whether in terms of instrumental goal-attainment by pupils, or in terms of personal growth through satisfying classroom relationships or somehow in between these ends. In a world where technology and its application in education through a skills-Qased or objectives-centred approach is tending to debase the essentially person-to-person element of teaching, the concept of competent teaching is in danger of being reduced to allegedly measurable entities. In true handbook tradition, some texts, for example Stones and Morris (1972), almost suggest checklists for success 1n teaching, thus reducing a complex act of communication to a set of clinical procedures. While inexperienced student teachers may need direction and guidance in the development of particular skills, there is a danger in viewing or assessing the qualified person merely in terms of such skills or categories. Esland (1977) distinguishes between two extremes in teacher presentation. One, the "psychometric", stresses measurable advancement and reflects a behaviourist outlook. The other, the "epistemological", finds expression in education which stresses personal development. Depending on how a society interprets the elements of curriculum, pedagogy and evaluation, identified by Bernstein and Young (1970) as basic to any process of education, or on what view of the teacher and his task prevails, the criteria of good teaching will vary. Apart from the mere criteria, there is the important matter of interpretation and subjectivity on the part of anyone attempting to evaluate performance in a complex web of interaction. When, in turn, evaluation (implying overall judgment) is linked with assessment (which by definition involves some kind of measurement and therefore presupposes valid units and instruments), as in the case in South Africa, the situation becomes more problematic. Any assessment system is obviously grounded on a philosophical view of man within the organization. In this regard Ramos (1975) has warned social scientists and organization theorists about holding outdated versions of the model of organizational man. He claims that many contemporary organizations have a mechanistic view or a humanistic view of employees, which ignore the fact that man has a rationality beyond administrative behaviour and that man "in striving to be autonomous, cannot be explained by the psychology of conformi ty" (Ramos, 1975, p. 50) • This model of man, Ramos asserts, has emerged from a wealthy technological society, and (he) "would have a strong sense of self and an urge to find meaning in life. He would not uncritically accept standards of achievement, though he might be a great achiever when assigned creative tasks" (ibid. p.51). It would be tragic if education authorities were to ignore the creative thinker with the capability to change the prevailing environment, or as Ramos terms him, the parenthetical man, through the development of assessment systems which promoted and rewarded conformity. It must be recognised that the teacher has virtually unparalleled responsibility in society, for his actions contribute to the fate of society; it is the teacher who, ideally, "critically appraises, edits, sifts and clarifies society's trends, extracts its highest values and makes them implicit in himself as a man .... and explicit in his teachings" (Prosser, 1976, p.6). Such actions imply leadership and initiative of the highest order, and remind one of the importance of the teacher as a humanizing influence and as an element of stability in a world of increasing change. A brief overview of the scope and coverage of this work now follows. Chapter one reviews the concepts of assessment, evaluation and quality in teaching. It sketches problem areas such as the difficulties of assessment within differing political and social systems, the demands for the accountability of teachers because of massive financial investment in education, and the position of a professional in a bureaucratic structure. Semantic differences emerging from the terms assessment, .evaluati_o~ and ~FlJr~lis~ hdve largely been ignored in this work because of differing usages in which the words tend to blend into synonyms. In the writer's own use of the words, influenced by the Concise Oxford Dictionary, evaluation is seen as the act of observing a teacher's performance and indicating general aspects of strength or weakness (from OF aprisier, ! - to and prlsler - praise). Appraisal (from F evaluer, e - ex and valuer - value) suggests a slightly more judgmental response based on specific aims or values. Assessment (from L assessare - a combination of frequent and sit, originally to fix taxes) is seen more as an act of judgment based on numerical or other fixed expressions. As previously indicated, current practice in South Africa attempts to combine these processes. In chapter two the focus shifts to the behaviour of people within organizations and the need to take into account organization theory, as well as administrative and managerial concepts, in order to establish implications for the assessment of teachers. Views of man, as an organizational being, are reviewed and current practices in hierarchical systems with regard to delegation of responsibility and development of staff are indicated. A specific consideration of the act of teaching occurs in chapter three, where a review of the literature on teacher competence is undertaken. No such review could be exhaustive, and is meant in the present context to serve as background rather than as a definitive pronouncement. Chapter four includes a consideration of procedures for the assessment of teacher competence within centralized and decentralized education authorities, and a comparative study of methods used in England, the United States and Australasia. A full account is given of the policy and practices of all aspects of teacher assessment, including assess-. ment for promotion, operating in the Natal Education Department, and comparisions are drawn with procedures in other provincial education authorities. The question of "merit assessment" of teachers in the Republic of South Africa is broached and teacher reaction to it is indicated. In chapter five, an historical and criticdl account is given of the assessment of teachers in South Africa, with specific reference to Natal, and with emphasis on the "merit assessment" system as established in 1978. A detailed study is made of answers to a questionnaire drawn up by the writer and distributed to assessors of teachers in two education authorities in Natal. Chapter six contains a summary of major conclusions ar1s1ng from the study. Innovations are suggested, on established principles, with a view to recommending change 1n the assessment of teachers. The situation in Natal is borne 1n mind throughout, but the conclusions and suggestions are of a general nature. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, 1982.

Teacher evaluation is a management tool for all educational organisations as it is used to research information on teacher performance. Information on teacher performance is important in the decision making process regarding employment of teachers, confirmation of appointment, identifying potential for promotion and staff development. Over the years teachers have raised serious reservations about teacher evaluation procedures in the United States of America, England and Wales and the Republic of South Africa . As a result, the United States and England and Wales have moved towards teacher evaluation intended for staff development. In this study the researcher investigated the perception of KwaZulu secondary school teachers towards teacher evaluation along the lines of the US and English system of evaluation, i.e. staff development. This study consists of three objectives. The first objective was to ascertain the perception of KwaZulu secondary school teachers with regard to teacher evaluation. The second objective was to find out whether these perceptions are influenced by personal variables of the respondents. The third objective was to determine whether teachers exhibit significant differences with regard to: purpose of evaluation, degree of independence, willingness to be evaluated, attitude toward evaluators, their involvement, and conditions under which evaluation was conducted. The researcher administered a questionnaire to KwaZulu secondary school teachers from Mehlwesizwe Inspection Circuit in urban and rural schools. Unfortunately the research sample was small but it yielded significant results. Over 71% of the respondents were positively disposed toward the evaluation of teachers for professional development, 27% were uncertain about teacher evaluation and 2% were negative. The results also indicated that perception of teacher evaluation was less likely to be influenced by personal variables such as gender, qualification, experience, area of specialization and area of operation. The majority of the respondents in the research sample have shown that the following purposes of teacher evaluation were very important: improvement of staff performance, identification of in-service training needs and the encouragement of self evaluation among teachers. Secondly, the respondents indicated that they were willing to be evaluated if they have control over decisions related to their teaching activities . Thirdly, the respondents revealed that they were willing to be involved in developing an evaluation system but lacked the necessary skills and knowledge about evaluation procedures . Fourthly, they indicated that they trust and they have confidence in their evaluators. Finally, they indicated that the decisions related to the type and use of evaluation data should be shared among all those involved in the evaluation process. The researcher made the following recommendations : ? the KwaZulu Department of Education and Culture should adopt a goal or target setting approach towards the development of the evaluation system. ? classroom observation and the evaluation interview should form part of the overall process of teacher evaluation. pre-service and in-service training of teachers and training of prospective evaluators should be undertaken in a form of seminars, workshops , conferences and a negotiated curricula be included at Universities and Colleges of Education. most importantly, evaluation should concentrate on the improvement of teaching practice. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, 1993.

This study is an interpretive one which investigates the value attached to teaching qualifications by educators and other stakeholders, viz. learners, management and council at a FET College. The research focuses on the value of teaching qualifications for Further Education and Training (FET) educators. It suggests the need for professional development of FET educators in light of the new FET Act 16 of 2006 and the implementation of the National Curriculum Vocational (NCV) introduced in 2007. The study is informed by Shulman’s (1986) principles of teacher knowledge and the hypotheses of Kennedy Ahn & Choi (2008) on the value added by teacher education. The data was gathered using a questionnaire comprising three parts; close-ended questions to capture background information, a rating scale to capture the values attached to teaching qualifications and open-ended questions to capture additional data. The study concludes that values are attached to teaching qualifications mainly for the teaching of NC(V) programs and that practical expertise is necessary for skills training programs. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

.. , The assessment of an individual is an attempt to estimate the value of, or the quality of, that specific individual. (Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1983 : 52) In recent years, the focus of teacher assessment has broadened to incorporate consideration both of the assessment of potential and the assessment for professional development. The underlying focus of this project is to explore the possibilities and potentiality of Systematic Staff Appraisal, to meet the need for a process of teacher assessment, which will be formative in its intention, empowering and developmental, and which might be implementable in the South African and KwaZulu-Natal context. It is believed that this new system will help to develop the skills of the educator and identify more accurately the individual development needs of the teacher. The system is intended to increase the overall effectiveness of the individual and to move away from the subjective judgements and threats to teacher autonomy. It is a system designed to guide, support, encourage and extend good teacher practice and professional competency. The project is a consideration of some of the purposes, processes and principles involved in Systematic Staff Appraisal, and to focus on the potentiality for the implementation of this system in contributing to the enhancement of teacher quality and school effectiveness. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, 1995.

This small-scale study sought to investigate “Teacher experiences and practices of Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) at a primary school in KwaZulu-Natal”. This qualitative study gathered data through the case study approach guided by the following key questions: 1. What are the teachers’ understanding of how IQMS evaluation process works? 2. What are the teachers’ perceptions of the shortcomings of the IQMS? 3. How do teachers perceive the support that they may have received or not received as a result of IQMS interventions? The study entailed interviewing the principal of a school, deputy principal, three heads of department and four level one educators; providing and administering questionnaires to ten level one educators; and doing documents analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the teachers understand the purpose of the IQMS policy but this policy is challenged when coming to its implementation. It emerged from the findings that one factor contributing to the unfairness of the system, was the tendency to give high scores on educator’s performance when the performance is not up to the standard. Level one educators argue that the system allows educators to appoint their friends to act as DSG members, and that in their minds, this presents some flaws which undermine good intentions of the policy. It was also fond that the National Department of Education made assumption that the educators have skills to evaluate themselves and that all educators are honest and trustworthy people and this in their view, contributes to ineffective implementation of the IQMS policy. The teachers feel that they needed training on self- iv evaluation prior to the implementation of this policy. The issue of the lack of physical resources in schools was also raised. These physical resources need to be used in the classroom during the teacher evaluation in class and during the professional development of educators in order to assist them to grasp the new concepts easily. It also emerged from the findings that the Teacher Unions who represented the educators during the initial stages of the introduction of the IQMS policy, did not express all the teachers’ concerns regarding the policy and as a result the educators still do not have the ownership of the policy. In the light of what has been said above, I recommended that the National Department of Education must review this policy and change some of its aspects where the teachers have concerns, for example, an expert in the subject/learning area in which the teacher is evaluated, must be appointed and serve in the DSG instead of a friend appointed by the teacher. This will eliminate the awarding of undeservedly high marks and dishonesty. The expert may be appointed within the school or from a neighbouring school or district office. I further recommended that the educators need to be trained in a workshop on how to do self-evaluation or self-reflection in preparation for their appraisal. These are the important skills that the teachers need to acquire so that they will be honest to themselves and effectively determine their real strengths and areas of development. Another recommendation is that the Department of Education must equip all the schools with support materials to facilitate learning at all levels. The professional growth of educators must be supported by the physical resources or learning materials. On the whole the IQMS policy needs to be reviewed and revised by the National Department of Education. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2010.

This study examines the experiences of the school management teams and educators of Mayville ward schools regarding the implementation of Integrated Quality Management Systems (lQMS) policy at school level. The research was conducted as a case study in the Mayville Ward Schools in Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. This study was looking at the recently introduced educator evaluation system that is being in schools called Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS). This study also elaborates on the changes in the education history from the apartheid system to the democratic system of education. Three schools participated in the study (two secondary schools and one primary school). These schools were purposively selected using convenience and easy access, as well as, the fact that they had started implementing the IQMS policy, as the main criteria for selection. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from principals, heads of departments as well as post-level one educators about their experiences of IQMS implementation. The findings indicated that while the IQMS policy was good on paper but it was extremely difficult to implement. Issues of honesty and trust were at the root of the difficulties that make IQMS implementation difficult. The participants' understanding of IQMS was that it was meant for the provision of quality education and development. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

This mini-dissertation reports on a case study of teachers' perceptions of the performance appraisal system used at an independent school in the greater Durban area in Kwa-Zulu Natal. As the system was implemented at a time when appraisal was only mandatory in government schools and not in / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

The appointment and selection of the Head of Department (HOD) is the most important task that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and Culture (KZNEDC) and the School Governing Body (SGB) must undertake. It is the task of the KZNEDC to encourage the best people to apply for the HOD post from whom the SGB can select the best candidate for the job. Yet, from time to time, the newspapers report on the selection of HODs that has been disputed. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the selection and appointment of educators to the position of Head of Department in three primary schools in the KwaNdengezi Circuit of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and Culture. The main focus was to explore the views of the principals and educators in these primary schools. The study probes the opinions of the primary school principals and educators regarding the selection procedures used in primary schools. It also seeks their opinions why the process was disputed in some instances. The study starts by analysing the selection procedures for the appointment of educators to the post, Head of Department, in the primary schools in the KwaNdengezi Circuit in KwaZulu- Natal. In finding out the views of the principals and of the educators, a survey was conducted in three primary schools in the KwaNdengezi Circuit. A questionnaire was administered. The study has found that there are selection procedures provided by the National Department of Education. These selection procedures are not properly followed, thus disputes were declared in some instances. On the basis of this exploration, suggestions were rendered on how the selection and appointment process could be improved in the future. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, 2003.

Generally the evaluation of employees in organisations is one of the most demanding and controversial of all management functions. Therefore, it is incumbent on management to develop a system of evaluation that will at least be acceptable to most of its employees. This study has shown that it is extremely important to include the employees themselves in drawing up the evaluation instrument. Since there is not any one evaluation procedure that has universal application, it is necessary for organisations in general, and more specifically education departments, to review and improve existing procedures to meet prevailing conditions. If management does not follow these basic considerations, then the organisation could face strong negative reaction from employees. The primary objectives of this study therefore were: (1) to make a detailed study of the evaluation procedure used in Indian Schools; (2) to analyse the House of Delegates' evaluation procedure critically and in so doing make a study of evaluation procedures of other education departments; and (3) to consider the views expressed by teachers, principals and superintendents of education on the House of Delegates' evaluation procedure. The major findings that emerged from the study were that: (1) the present evaluation procedure of the House of Delegates was not well received by teachers and principals; (2) any evaluation procedure adopted should be based on an 'open' system, where there is no need for secrecy; and (3) there should be separate evaluation procedures for the purposes of professional development, merit awards and promotion. The main recommendation made in concluding this study was that the House of Delegates, in either developing a new evaluation procedure or amending its present one should, in the future, give consideration to the opinions of all participants in the evaluation process. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, 1991.

In this research study I shall examine the recently introduced Developmental Appraisal System. I shall carry out an investigation into the implementation of the Developmental System of Appraisal in a primary school in Kwa-Zulu Natal. The intention of the research is to provide a case study, which will focus on the implementation of the Developmental Appraisal System. In order to achieve this, three main issues of the system will be addressed. These are the conceptualisation of the system; the implementation process and the impact of the process. Although, the results of my research is focussed on one school the results could be illuminative. The final chapter of this study will concentrate on the findings and recommendations for the enhancement of the Developmental Appraisal System. The paper concludes that despite the many positive aspects of the process it is recommended that the whole appraisal system should be revised, revised and re-conceptualised to make it accessible to most South African schools, paying particular attention to simplifying it. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, 2002.