The Principals Management Development Programme (PMDP)

1
The Principals Management Development Programme
(PMDP) Does it really work?
2
The Matric Results and School Principals

• Matric results and the debate about quality and
  standards?
• High school Principals and accountability for
  their schools results
• Primary school Principals and ANA
• Principals are being placed on the carpet!

3
Principals, Accountability and Training

• Principals are held accountable worldwide, but
• They must be personally capable, qualified,
  experienced
• If we point fingers
• We must also question their preparation for the
  job
• At present training is largely left to
  Universities (with a focus on qualification and
  certification rather than skills development
  and application)

4
Leadership and management skills

• Leadership/management skills are required for
  effective schools
• Very little has been done to prepare SAs
  principals
• The Provincial DoE/NGO efforts are minimal
• The most visible and large scale training for
  principals is the ACE School Leadership
• But, the Jury is still out on whether it works

5
The ACE School Leadership

• Aimed at future principals (a long-term strategy)
• The Evaluation of the ACE (Bush et al, 2009)
• Two ambitious and different aims
• Mentoring
• Networking
• A surprisingly positive response from
  participants?
• Inconsistencies across Provinces
• Mentoring not understood
• Networking confused with collaborative study
• Effect on learner results largely negative

6
The ACE (SL) Some personal observations

• The ACE is conceptually different in design
• It correctly identifies mentoring and on-site
  support and networking
• ButUniversities are not geared for delivery
• Competent, trained Mentors are in short supply
• Has a paradigm shift happened?
• Who is providing the funding?
• when they dont pay?
• ACE is a long-term strategy we dont know yet
  if it works

7
Another Intervention? PMDP

• The Principals Management Development Programme
  (PMDP)
• An innovation in Education (modelled on corporate
  sector development training)
• Currently underway in KZN
• On-going tracking is very positive
• Great potential to make meaningful and sustained
  change in management
• Improving results quickly

8
Some comments on the PMDP

• the work of the PMDP is exceptional in its
  scope and impact on school performance in South
  Africa. Mary Metcalf (DBSA)
• fixing the education challenge starts with the
  most important person in the school the
  principal and this initiative is aimed at
  equipping schools with the skills that enable the
  whole school to benefitthe initiative proves
  that partnerships between private and public
  sector can make a tangible difference in society
  where it is most needed. Jay Naidoo (JJ
  Development Projects Trust

9
So, what are the PMDP objectives?

• Rapidly upgrading the management skills of
  principals in selected schools through a highly
  applied methodology
• Strengthening the work relationship between the
  four critical layers in the functioning of a
  school (Ward manager/ Principal/ SMT and SGB)
• Improving the coaching and support skills of Ward
  Managers and other DoE officials
• Developing sustainable professional learning
  communities and building a public/private funding
  and delivery model
• (PMDP Research Report, 2011)

10
PMDP and Partnerships

• A strong multiple partner initiative
• Professional Solutions Africa (PSA)
• PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC)
• University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)
• KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education (KZNDoE)
• PMDP is aimed at both Primary and Secondary
  schools as well as the Ward/Circuit managers, to
  assure sustainability

11
How PMDP is delivered

• Monthly weekend residential workshops, followed
  by
• Mentoring/ Coaching in the Principals school to
  support the application and assimilation of
  learning into practice
• The submission of 24 outputs directly related to
  the work a principal should be doing

12
Does it work and how do we know?

• The empirical facts
• The pilot group (50 schools) in grade 12,
• An average improvement on previous year 12
  (against a national decline)
• The same schools achieved a further 9 the next
  year
• Of the first full cohort 573 schools in 2010, 197
  offering matric averaged 15.8 improvement on
  matric results

13
How is it happening?

• This looks good on paper, but why, and how is it
  happening? Can it be sustained?
• Further Research
• A large scale survey of 2009 and 2010 schools
• Included principals and SMT members
• Responses from 550 schools

14
The Survey Data

• 70 - PMDP is not a duplication
• 91 - learner attendance and punctuality has
  improved since PMDP
• 95 - teachers more conscious of and managing
  punctuality and attendance (including their own)
• 76 - Weekend workshops were different from other
  workshops they attend (NB Methodology)
• 87 - Positive changes to management were
  strongly influenced by the PMDP

15
More Survey Data

• 95 - felt facilitators had sufficient skill and
  knowledge to meet principals needs
• 88 - felt Ward Managers were supportive of PMDP
  practices
• 78 - reported Ward Managers now working in
  similar ways to PMDP facilitators
• 95 - PMDP has provided skills to run good
  schools
• 95 - the requirement to complete outputs (with
  support from mentors) helped make actual changes
  in practice

16
Perhaps the most important?

• 96 - confirmation that the Curriculum Management
  Tracker has made significant changes to the way
  curriculum is implemented.

17
In Summary

• The PMDP seems to have brought about
• More learners and teachers in class and on time
• Innovative, personalised learning of skills by
  the Principals
• Support of the Ward Managers
• Better management of Curriculum implementation
  and control
• Hence, better results??

18
PMDP and current thinking in SA?

• SAFMs Forum at Eight (14 May 2012)
• Prof Mary Metcalf (DBSA)
• Prof Ihron Rensburg (NPC Commissioner)
• Yoliswa Dwane (Head of Policy, Equal Education)
• Pannelists reflected on Trevor Manuels paradigm
  shift that is called for in the NPCs Development
  Plan for Education (which focuses on Principals
  competencies) and noted.

19
NPCs Development Plan for Education noted
specifically the poor performance of schoolswith
regard to

• Curriculum coverage (as little as one third in
  many schools)
• PMDP Curriculum Management Tracker
• Time on Task ( as low as 3.5 hours in some
  schools as opposed to required 6 hours)
• Teacher and learner absenteeism reduced by PMDP
• The perceived lack of support for teachers and
  schools from District Offices.
• Direct involvement of Ward managers in PMDP