Efficacy in the Provisioning of Educational Needs for Learners in Schools in the Amathole East Education District

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this article was to investigate the extent of efficacy on the part of departmental officials in the provisioning of resources for teaching and learning to schools in the Amathole East Education District (AEED). The idea was to establish the extent to which the Department of Education, in the context of this Education District, lives up to the expectations of schools in so far as the provisioning of educational needs of the learners in schools is concerned. The focus on AEED, however, does not preclude the context in which the District operates, which is the Provincial Department of Education and National. 

Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative Research Method was used in this study. The approach to data collection was exploratory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the aim of drawing experiences from the members of the National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGBs), Teacher Unions, School Principals and Teachers, as well as Literature Review. The researcher in this study adopted the approach of focus group discussions. A group of school principals, for instance, was invited to converge under one roof. Executive Members of Teacher Unions at Regional Level were also asked to converge under one roof for the purpose of group discussions. Then the researcher initiated a discussion with the focus group by throwing questions that were responded to spontaneously within the group. From time to time, in the course of the discussions, the researcher would ask follow-up questions. The questions were aimed at ensuring that the discussions are focussed on the issue at hand. They were also asked to ensure that the researcher obtained more clarity on issues ventilated on.  From the focus group discussions that ensued, the researcher was able to transcribe, code the ideas that came up, develop themes out of the ideas, make meaning of the themes and subsequently develop a principle. This is the procedure that the researcher applied across the focus groups that were interviewed, the members of the NASGB and the teachers in the case of this study. The Interpretive Phenomenological Theory (IPA) has been used as the basis for data analysis in this study.

Findings – the view that resonated across participants in this study is that the provisioning of educational needs for learners in schools by the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape is in a terrible state. The recommendation is that the Minister should subject departmental officials to extensive capacitation programs on resource management. In addition to that the Minister should revise the policy on National Norms and Standards for School Funding (NNSSF) to cause it to speak to the educational needs of the learners on the ground.

 Research limitations/implications – Participants in the study might be unwilling to say things that would make the Department of Basic Education to appear in a bad light in the eyes of the public. Participants would do this for fear of making the Department of Education for which most of them work, as being brought into disrepute. This is a factor that has a potential to place restrictions on the methodologies and conclusions of the researcher in this study. It’s a factor that is not within the control of the researcher, despite him having made a concerted effort to allay fears on the part of participants.

Practical implications - The findings and recommendations from this study will speak to the conscience of those in charge of creating an enabling environment for schools to allocate resources to schools as expected of them. The service delivery protests by school communities and labour unions against the officials of the department will either be greatly minimised or put to an end completely. The findings can also have an effect of influencing the budget allocation for the Department of Basic Education by the Minister of Finance. Many of the adverse findings in the study are attributable to the underfunding of schools by the State.

Originality/value – The study zooms into issues besetting the functionality of schools in the Amathole East Education District as a result of lack of support from the District, as well as National and Provincial Head Offices.  The study provides a theoretical and empirical contribution to the existing literature on the critical issue of the quality of education in schools as provided for by education departments. There are practical recommendations that are made in the article to assist National and Provincial Departments to understand the impact and gravity of inadequate funding of schools by the State, as well as the need for accredited capacity building programmes for departmental officials.