Linking appraisal with professional development in the integrated quality management system in South African schools

Abstract

In recent years, the South African education system has experimented with different appraisal systems in an attempt to evaluate the performance of educators in public schools. Educator appraisal is receiving attention throughout the world as governments become aware of the need to examine educational provision critically to ensure that it is both relevant for and appropriate to, the needs of the youth. Before 1994, the appraisal of educators was mainly based on traditional approaches to evaluate their performance. For instance, it was the responsibility of the inspectors from the Department of Education (DoE) to evaluate the performance of educators in schools. Consequently, a great deal of criticism was levelled at this appraisal system such as the prevalence of political bias in the system, the unchecked power that the inspectors wielded, the incompetence of inspectors and irrelevance of some evaluation criteria and absence of contextual factors. After 1994, there was a paradigm shift from the traditional to the developmental approach to evaluate the performance of educators in public schools. That is, there was a need to develop educators through appropriate appraisal schemes with a view to enhancing their continued professional growth. Therefore, the present education system calls for a decentralised appraisal system, which places greater emphasis on the professional development of educators. Stakeholders such as educators and teacher unions have also made higher demands for improved educator evaluation and professional growth. In 1998, at the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC), the Department of Education (DoE) agreed to introduce the Developmental Appraisal System (DAS) followed by the Whole-School Evaluation (WSE) in 2001. Both these policies were rejected by educators and their teacher unions since they regarded these appraisal systems as summative, judgmental and that failed to offer opportunities for further development. In August 2003, the DoE and the unions signed two collective agreements, which led to the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) and it was intended to integrate and strengthen various components of DAS, WSE and performance measurement (PM). The IQMS was first implemented in South African schools in 2005 with the aim of enhancing the continuing professional growth of educators. Furthermore, the National Department of Education (NDoE) introduced the National Policy Framework on Teacher Education and Development (NPFTED) in 2006. This policy aimed to equip educators to undertake their essential and demanding tasks and to enable them to enhance their professional competence and performance on a continuing basis. Even though the IQMS was introduced as a new system to evaluate the performance of educators and to enhance their professional growth, it does not actually serve its purpose since it is not properly implemented and monitored in schools. Instead of using it as a tool to enhance the professional growth of educators, its emphasis is on getting assessment scores, which are directly related to remuneration. As a result, the ultimate aim of professional development for educators is neglected. This means that the IQMS is regarded as a separate entity that is not linked to the continuing professional growth of educators and its developmental programmes are criticised for being traditional since they are only confined to class visits, which are conducted once or twice a year for PM purposes. Therefore, since the introduction of the IQMS in 2003 and its implementation in 2005 in South African schools, no empirical research has been conducted on the need to link appraisal to professional development in the IQMS in South African schools. The study conducted by Bisschoff and Mathye (2009) focusses on the advocacy of an appraisal system for teachers. Another study conducted by Dhlamini (2009) concentrates on the role of the IQMS to measure and improve teaching and learning in the South African further education and training (FET) sector. Furthermore, the study by Rabichund (2011) focusses on the assessment of the IQMS and its implications for whole school development. Furthermore, the study by Mahlaela (2011) investigates the IQMS as a transformational strategy for teacher development in South Africa. Accordingly, this study builds on these studies and it seeks to investigate how appraisal and professional development can be linked in the IQMS in South African schools.