Abstract
M.Ed.
After the introduction of the new approach of teaching and other new policies, all educators needed training on the new system of education. Even though training has been provided for educators, this training was not sufficient to equip educators with new knowledge and skills required by educators. The school management teams lack the skills and knowledge of the implementation of the revised national curriculum statement (RNCS) and as a result they do not create opportunities for staff development at school level. There is lack of staff development programmes in Delmas Secondary Schools.
The key research question for this study is: “How can staff development programmes (SDPs) contribute towards improving the performance of educators in Delmas Secondary School?”
The aims of the current study are therefore to develop an in-depth understanding of SDPs, provide participants with the reasons for conducting SDPs, equip participants with the procedures that need to be followed when designing and implementing SDPs and to provide guidelines in policy formulation of the SDPs. The objectives are to determine whether participants are knowledgeable about staff development and to what degree there is a need for SDPs in Delmas secondary schools.
This study is based on qualitative research. All the data will be collected in the form of words, unlike quantitative research in which the data is largely statistical. Participants in this study were selected through random sampling since purposeful sampling lacks generalization and there is no assumption that all members of the population are equivalent data sources, but those selected are believed to be information-rich cases. Therefore the number of participants is very small in purposeful sampling. Random sampling was therefore viewed as an unbiased since all members of the population have the same chance of being included in participating in the study and this would allow generalization of the research findings.
From the literature review it is evident that SDPs could equip educators with new knowledge and skills. However, findings from the empirical study indicate that SDPs are not conducted in Delmas secondary schools. These developmental programmes are needed since educators in Delmas secondary schools significantly need to expand their skills and knowledge in order to keep abreast with the new demands in the education system. Continued training should be provided for educators in Delmas Secondary Schools.
Mr. T.S. Hlongwane