SEED’s Theory of Change states that developing leadership in education will lead to improved empowerment, resilience and health in schools which will improve teaching in the classroom and ultimately ensure enhanced learner achievement. 

SEED worked with the Metropolitan East Education District in the Western Cape and with more than 40 schools in the district between 2006 and 2011. Since 2012 SEED has been working with Districts and Schools in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Free State as part of the Old Mutual Education Flagship Project. Our involvement included School Leadership Programmes for the leaders of 44 schools in Jane Furse, King Williams Town and Duncan Village and District Leadership Programmes for the management of 4 Districts served by the Flagship Project. In 2019 we began the roll out of the School Coaching and Mentoring Programme for 103 Circuit Managers from all 12 Districts in the Eastern Cape.

The Need

Despite significant investment, the education system in South Africa continues to under-perform. Whilst curriculum coverage has received a lot of attention, poor leadership and the consequent low morale and low performance in the classroom by educators has received less attention. Whilst curriculum coverage is critical, we ignore leadership in education at our peril. Researchers have identified poor leadership and management as a key contributing factor to the poor performance.

Through the monitoring and evaluation of our programmes and through research that has been conducted into our programmes, we have observed that the delivery of quality education in the classroom is directly impacted by the quality of leadership given by the leadership team and by the cohesiveness and morale of the staff team as a whole. This is borne out by other research that is widely available. 

The impact of our programmes

SEED has continuously monitored 3 key indicators to understand the impact it is making. The first is resilience which we measure by asking educators if they have applied for a job outside of education. The second is organizational climate where all educators in participating schools complete a questionnaire comprising 45 questions that measure 5 key areas of team performance. The third is learner performance where we track matric results in the high schools in which we work. Our findings are as follows:

  1. Resilience in schools improves
    1. In 2013 in KWT District, 32% of respondents indicated that they had applied for a job outside of education in the past 6 months. By 2019 this had declined to 16%. 
    2. In 2013 in Jane Furse District 14,4% indicated that they had applied for a job outside of education in the past 6 months. By 2019 this had declined to 9%
    3. In 2013 in Duncan Village District 13,4% indicated that they had applied for a job outside of education in the past 6 months. By 2019 this had declined to 12%
  2. Staff at participating schools report improvement in organisational climate. SEED measures 5 areas of organizational helath viz Morale, Goals, Roles, Processes and Relationships 
    1. 78% of schools maintain or showed improvement in at least 3 of the areas of organisational health
  3. Matric results improve
    1. In Jane Furse in Limpopo 
      1. In the 2012 matric examination 438 learners from the 6 schools wrote the matric examination with 300 passing, giving them a pass rate of 64,9% with 104 bachelor passes (34,6% of people who passed obtained bachelor passes).
      2. In the 2018 matric examination 708 learners from the 7 schools wrote the examination including 200 who had been progressed despite failing Grade 11. 500 learners passed giving them a pass rate of 70,6% (including progressed learners) or 98,4% if these learners are excluded. There were 192 bachelors passes (38,4% of people who passed obtained bachelors passes). 
    2. In King Williams Town since 2012
      1. In the 2013 matric examination 1628 learners from the 18 high schools wrote the matric examination with 1019 passing giving them a pass rate of 58,5% with 236 bachelor passes (23,2% of learners who passed obtained bachelor passes). 
      2. In the 2018 matric examination, 1,575 learners from the 18 schools wrote the examination including 225 who had been progressed despite failing Grade 11. 1084 learners passed giving them a pass rate of 68,8% (including progressed learners) or 80,3% if these learners are excluded. There were 428 bachelor passes (39,5% of people who passed obtained bachelors passes). 
    3. In Duncan Village in East London since 2013
      1. In the 2013 matric examination 737 learners from the 8 high schools wrote the matric examination with 526 passing giving them a pass rate of 70,3% with 124 bachelor passes (23,5% of learners who passed obtained bachelor passes). 
      2. In the 2018 matric examination, 713 learners from the 8 schools wrote the examination including 181 who had been progressed despite failing Grade 11. 554 learners passed giving them a pass rate of 77,7% (including progressed learners) or 104,1% if these learners are excluded. There were 213 bachelor passes (38,4% of people who passed obtained bachelors passes).

SEED Leadership Development Programmes

  1. The School Leadership Programme. The SLP is aimed at members of School Management Teams and is aimed at developing these school leaders so that they can lead sustainable, systemic change in their schools. The SLP includes leadership training, personal coaching and group coaching. This is offered at NQF level 7 and upon successful completion, students receive a certificate from the University of Stellenbosch. Read More
  2. The Principals Leadership Programme. This programme is aimed at recently appointed School Principals. The PLP assists both the newly-appointed principal and the school through the leadership transition phase by preparing the incoming school leader for the role, and developing the capabilities that are required to maintain and strengthen school functionality and performance. The programme runs over 18 months and comprises the following key components: training workshops; an action learning or action research project; mentorship, and participation in a peer learning network. Three common threads are woven throughout the four components – action, learning, and development (professional and organizational). This is offered at NQF level 7 and upon successful completion, students receive a certificate from the University of Stellenbosch (Accreditation is still being processed). Read More
  3. The School Coaching and Mentoring Programme for District officials. The SCM programme is aimed at District officials and Circuit Managers in particular. It seeks to develop District officials to be reflective practitioners performing their mentoring and managing roles in ways that strengthen teaching and learning in schools. The programme runs for 10-12 months (depending on commencement date) and includes a combination of study blocks, coaching, faculty supervision, peer supervision and academic assignments. This is offered at NQF level 7 and upon successful completion, students receive a certificate from the University of Stellenbosch.   Read More
  4. The School Coaching and Mentoring Programme for Coaches and Mentors working in schools. The SCM programme seeks to develop coaches and mentors who are working in schools to be reflective practitioners performing their mentoring and coaching roles in ways that strengthen teaching and learning in schools. The programme runs for 10-12 months (depending on commencement date) and includes a combination of study blocks, coaching, faculty supervision, peer supervision and academic assignments. This is offered at NQF level 7 and upon successful completion, students receive a certificate from the University of Stellenbosch. Read More
  5. The Whole School Development programme. The WSD aims to bring about sustainable and systemic change in a group of schools (normally 12-15 schools) in a geographic area in order to improve learning outcomes. This is a 3 year programme that includes community engagement, leadership development (training, coaching, mentoring and action learning assignments) for principals, Senior Management Team members, School governors and a selected group of community leaders. It also has a focused intervention of mentoring for Mathematics and English teachers. Principals and Deputy Principals are enrolled in the Principals Induction Programme (See above) whilst the other role players are engaged in more informal adult learning processes. Read More