This initiative was launched in March 2013 by GMSA Foundation in partnership with Old Mutual, through the Foundation’s replication agency Siyawela, as a pilot project in 12 historically disadvantaged high schools in the townships and Northern Areas of the Port Elizabeth District of the Eastern Cape Education Department.
The aim of the project is to develop and strengthen the leadership of Principals and Senior Management Teams (SMTs), with the long-term view to sustained improvement in the quality of learner achievement. This initiative took place against the background of poor morale among school leadership and teachers, low learner achievement and the perceived failure of conventional school leadership development interventions.
From the outset, the project attempted to achieve something completely new. It adopted an innovative ‘inside-out’ and holistic approach that started with the current realities experienced in the selected schools. Each school’s leadership identified their school’s most critical issues preventing them from achieving quality education. A problem solving action-orientated and collaborative methodology was used to encourage leaders to draw on the strength of team work and devise strategies to function effectively within the systemic environment of public schooling in South Africa.
The first phase, completed in 2013, aimed primarily at engagement. In 2014 the project moved into its second phase of consolidation at building institutional strength. The theme for 2015, intended as the final year of the project, was sustainability. Using a combination of regular afternoon contact sessions, tasks and activities and the support of mentors, the project reached over 80 principals and SMT members directly. Nearly 400 educators were reached indirectly and ultimately more than 13 000 learners fell under the influence of this intervention. The programme continued to evolve into a 4th year in 2016 under the banner of accountability. In 2017 the programme is operating under the banner of a Community of Practise (COP) and the collaboration between Siyawela and the Old Mutual Education Flagship has been extremely beneficial to both organisations as well as benefitting the participating schools.
Throughout, the project achieved extremely high levels of attendance and enthusiastic participation. The innovative methodology, flexible and interactive programme and use of mentoring resulted in a significant impact on the leadership and team work in the twelve target schools. Evidence of this was in changes of attitude, morale and behaviour as well as in the successful introduction of systems, processes and procedures that will be the foundation for long-term learner success.
