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EDU-LEAD international seminar on teacher leadership

EDULEAD organised and hosted an international online seminar on Wednesday, 19 May. The theme of the seminar was: Conceptualization of teacher leadership in the international arena: Perspectives from different cultural contexts. Professor Charlie Webber form Canada, extra-ordinary professor in EDULEAD acted as host for the seminar. The speakers who did presentations included Prof Cecilia Fierro Evans from Mexico, Dr Nicholas Wachira from Tanzania, Prof Clelia Pineda Báez from Colombia and Prof CP van der Vyver form NWU. All the presenters are members of the larger International study of teacher leadership, with Professor Webber as project leader. The seminar was attended by more than 70 participants from various countries across the world, including participants from Australia, Hong Kong, Kenia, Namibia, Spain, UK, USA, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

A common feature in all the different presentations was that teacher leadership is shaped and influenced by the specific cultural context of the country. Teacher leaders are further seen as important agents of change in schools that do play an important role in school effectiveness as well as the restoration of social justice. During the discussion time many of the attendees joined in. The challenge with organising such an international online event is accommodating attendees across different time zones. The feedback from the attendees after the seminar was very positive.

The Advanced Diploma (School Leadership and Management)

North West University was selected by SIOC Community Development Trust as the preferred provider for presenting the Advanced Diploma in Education (School Leadership and Management) to school leaders in the Northern Cape. The AdvDip (SLM) is a national school leadership development programme and is planned as a professional and entry-level qualification for principals as envisaged in the South African Standard for Principalship (SASP).

The program is new approach that has not yet been presented by the NWU, Faculty of Education. This blended-learning approach programme will last for two years (2021 and 2022).
The professional qualification is aimed at empowering school leaders to effectively transform their schools effectively and strategically through incorporating technology and research.

The programme started in the beginning of 2021 and all 80 students where registered at the NWU and started with the Advanced Diploma: School leadership and management program where the NWU decided to take education to the students. The first induction session took place on 28 April until 30 April 2021 in Kathu, where students was provided with laptops, monthly data and an introduction session with the lecturers to get them started. A research project will be conducted simultaneously to determine the role of the program and delivery mode on the staff development and improvement on schools.

AOSIS Book

The research unit Edu-Lead is proud to announce the publication of the book: Leadership Approaches to Negotiate Challenges in a Changing Education Landscape

The book consists of ten chapters edited by Prof Leentjie van Jaarsveld, Prof Kobus Mentz and Prof Charl Wolhuter.  

The book demonstrates that a particular problem of both the scholarly and the public discourse on education in South Africa is an overtone of defeatism or resignation, blaming all ills in the education system and educational institutions on historical legacies and/or contextual factors (such as socio-economic deprivation in the catchment areas of schools) or poor resources and infrastructure. This collected work was inspired by a recently published spate of articles on top-performing schools (including top-performing schools in rural areas/townships), in which it was demonstrated that good leadership can overcome such contextual and other challenges. The book discusses the issue of leadership in South African schools from a number of perspectives, thus contributing to the development of the scholarly discourse on Educational Leadership in South Africa (Prof Charl Wolhuter, 2020).

Authors:
Dr Arrie van Wyk, Dr Branwen Challens, Prof Charl Wolhuter, Prof CP van der Vyver, Dr Deon Vos, Dr Jan Khumalo, Prof Kobus Mentz and Dr TT Tapala

Me Annadene Malan was co-author with Prof CP Van der Vyver. She is currently a teacher.

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