HOW DOES ONE CHANGE A SCHOOL?

I HAVE always pondered the question of how one changes a school.

Is it done from the bottom up, where all teachers have a say and determine the direction of the school? Or is it determined mainly by the person in charge of the school?

Obviously, the school is controlled by a plethora of bureaucrats ranging from circuit managers to regional directors to provincial heads of education to the national minister of basic education, who is attached to the ruling party.

How do schools navigate successfully through all the bureaucracy?

In an ideal world where politicians and bureaucrats are out- of- the- box thinkers and fair, with an open progressive agenda, schools to my mind would flourish.

This not being so, how do schools navigate through all this bureaucracy and become schools of excellence?

I have watched and read with interests how school leaders and teachers have reacted to the Covid- 19 crisis.

Initially, when schools were opened from June 1, I saw many teachers ( very few principals) staging placard demonstrations in front of their schools and in highly visible main roads asking the Department of Education to close schools to protect the students.

The Western Cape Education Department ( WCED) charged a teacher at Fairmount Secondary School, Loren Arries, for allegedly inciting a school community in the southern suburbs to not send their children to school, to combat the virus. She was fired by the principal and, therefore, WCED could not take action against her.

Principals should consider themselves as ordinary teachers and fight alongside teachers.

Covid- 19 has exposed the stark inequalities in education.

I am not sorry that, as a teacher, I spoke out against injustice.

My advice to teachers is to try it. It is a liberating experience.

I dedicate this article to a principled principal, Dr Victor Ritchie ( former principal of Harold Cressy High), who turns 90 today. I thank you, Dr Ritchie, for your great service to education for your great service to education.