Abstract
Democracy in South Africa, among others, has brought a significant number of changes in the education system, including the concept of school management team (SMT) in schools. This article focuses and sought to unpack the experience of SMT members regarding teamwork. It has the potential of helping SMT members by empowering them with knowledge and skills which will assist them to share their leadership widely and equally to education; and enable the SMT to realise that teamwork is central in the efficient and effective school management. Interviews were conducted with twelve SMT members from six secondary schools in Tshwane North district, sampled using purposive sampling. Among others, this study has found that, although the concept of teamwork is well-received, there are significant obstacles to the implementation of teamwork as an alternative form of management. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p1432
Highlights
The past two decades have witnessed an unprecedented global attempt to adjust/regulate education to the demands of the ‘new’ economy
We argue that the absence of teamwork attributes deemed essential in today’s changed work has a potential of affecting the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS)
For the purposes of refining the interview questionnaire, a pilot interview was conducted with school management team (SMT) members similar to the participants of the research study from two secondary schools not included in the sample before the interviews commenced
Summary
The past two decades have witnessed an unprecedented global attempt to adjust/regulate education to the demands of the ‘new’ economy. As Tabulawa (2009) puts it, modern forms of production require workers who are versatile, flexible, technologically competent, predisposed to teamwork and who have problem-solving ability skills. Teamwork plays a critical role in the effective and efficient management of teaching and learning. For Rassool (1993:229), teamwork decentralises power controls within the production process and is seen as having contributed to an increasing pluralisation of control within the work context. Teamwork characterises flexible specialisation and contributes to implementing education policies successfully at micro level, at school setting. Teamwork setting democratises work relations, flattens subject hierarchies and encourages greater flexibility
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