A lifebuoy environment for successful learning in conditions of multiple deprivation: What are the basics?

Abstract

My field of interest is instructional leadership that relates to all the actions taken at school to ensure that learning takes place. The eventual success of this learning is defined by academic outcomes in standardised tests. School leaders account for these outcomes by implementing a triadic school management construct related to mission formulation, instructional programme management, and school-learning culture promotion. Teachers serve as co-managers to obtain these outcomes with their pursuit of successful learning, through effective teaching. An important factor for successful learning is knowledge of the specific context that determines the construction and implementation of specific teaching and learning actions, with cognisance of learners’ own input for success. Multiple deprivation as a specific context is characterised by factors that inhibit successful learning. I share with you the intervention programme applied by a township school to arrange for positive academic outcomes in the matric examination. Against the background of a sea of dysfunctional schools in our society, this township school’s actions represent a pocket of excellence and an example of what is possible. Phillip Hallinger, a renowned American academic who specialises in instructional leadership, emphasises that “we need to obtain better information not just about ‘what works’ but ‘what works’ in different settings”. The intervention programme which the school principal and staff of the specific township school implement to ensure that their pupils pass the matric examination, represents ‘what works’ in a South African setting of multiple deprivation to ensure success in the final school examination.