OVERCOMING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP: THE PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENTS IN TWO HISTORICALLY DISADVANTAGED SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS

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OVERCOMING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP: THE PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENTS IN TWO HISTORICALLY DISADVANTAGED SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS

Prof. K. C. Moloi

[email protected]

Prof. J.L. van der Walt

[email protected]

Prof. F.J. Potgieter

[email protected]

Prof C.C. Wolhuter*

[email protected]

North-West University

Potchefstroom Campus

Abstract

This paper reports on two historically disadvantaged South African schools that

managed to overcome the perennial problem of the achievement gap (as measured

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by the matric results) – between the historically advantaged and the historically

disadvantaged schools. A qualitative, narrative-research design, entailing

interviews for exploring and studying the views of the students, was used. From

the data analysis, the following themes emerged as sets of factors, which, in the

opinion of the learners, had contributed to the two schools being able to bridge the

achievement gap: A supportive teaching and learning environment; teacher

effectiveness; collaborative relationships; a positive school climate; and

principals’ instructional leadership. These factors are discussed, and are compared

with / contrasted to and synthesised into what appears in the scholarly literature as

those factors explaining the achievement differentials between different students

and different schools. This research cautions educational leaders and scholars not

to attach too much value to theories, such as socio-economic and cultural

reproduction – in so far as they portray the socio-economic descent of learners as

being deterministic – with respect to their achievement levels at school. Rather

than such a fatalistic view, this study tends to support the more voluntaristic view

that intra-school factors are significant, and that they can potentially overcome

any extra-school factors.

Historically disadvantaged schools in South Africa: twenty years after the end of Apartheid

The purpose of this introduction is to give a brief overview of the situation of

historically disadvantaged schools in South Africa. Its main thrust is to show that

– although the relevant authorities have been doing their utmost to help these

schools to catch up with the historically more-developed schools – there are still a

relatively large number of these schools that are struggling to catch up with their

more-privileged counterparts.

The political, socio-economic and cultural discrimination and inequalities

prevailing under the previous political dispensation have shaped, amongst others,

the schooling system in the country; and the new government has, since 1994,

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taken steps to address the situation, among others, by increasing the education

budget. As Modisaotsile (2012:5) has pointed out, in 2009/10, almost 18 per cent

of total government expenditure was spent on education, which is considered

appropriate in a developing country – where there is a pressing need to improve

education quality and to supply skills to drive the country’s economic growth and

broader development.

However, the huge imbalances inherited from the previous dispensation have left

their mark on education. This will take a long time to eradicate, particularly in

rural communities (Govender 2013:1). Schools and learners in these areas still

have to contend with appalling conditions, such as toilet walls collapsing on them,

a toilet collapsing under a learner – resulting in the child’s death, learners having

to attend schools where the roofs have been blown away by tornadoes, or schools

built using unfired bricks that tend to collapse during rainstorms, and so on.

The 2006 National Education Infrastructure Management (NEIMS) study

(Department of Education, 2007) showed that 6 per cent of schools had no toilets;

17 per cent were without electricity; 12.6 per cent had no water supply; and 68 per

cent had no computers (Reviews on National Policies, 2008:22). Basic Education

Minister, Angie Motshekga, faced mounting calls for her resignation following

the lack of delivery of textbooks to thousands of Limpopo learners in 2013; but it

is now clear the schoolbook crisis was neither unique to the Limpopo province

nor of recent origin (Nkosi, 2013: 1).

Surprisingly, in view of the above, as Dipa (2014:1) reported, the Gauteng

Member of the Executive Committee for Basic Education, Barbara Creecy, could

recently announce that for the first time since the dawn of democracy, certain

previously disadvantaged township schools had outshone model C (previously

advantaged) schools in respect of the matric results. The top performing 2013

grade 12 learner was a black student from the school-improvement programme.

Despite great social unrest, the matric pass rates in several Bekkersdal schools

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have improved. The Simunye Secondary School, for instance, increased its pass

rate from 55 per cent in 2012 to 72.2 per cent in 2013.

Schools in Soweto and Eldorado Park have also improved their matric pass rate,

from 65.4 per cent in 2012 to 84.7 per cent in 2013, despite the adverse socio-

economic conditions in which they find themselves.

Problem statement

The fact that some schools seem to be able to overcome the negatives of their

adverse socio-economic conditions; whereas others do not seem to be able to do

so, has piqued the interest of the authors of this paper. Why do some previously

disadvantaged schools seem to be able to overcome the achievement gap between

themselves and the better-performing historically advantaged schools, while

others cannot? Put in more elaborate terms, the problem on which the research

reported in this article focused was as follows. By far the largest majority of the

30 000 schools in South Africa, namely around 27 000, can still, after 20 years of

democracy since 1994, be regarded as historically disadvantaged; since they are

situated either in deep rural areas, or in the former Black and Coloured townships

around the former White cities and towns, i.e. in areas that were not privileged by

the pre-1994 Apartheid government with the funds and resources that the former

White schools in the former White towns and cities enjoyed. As a result of their

historical heritage and background, these historically disadvantaged schools tend

not to achieve the same standard of results as the historically privileged white

schools, referred to in some circles as “former Model C schools”. However,

despite their being historically disadvantaged, some of these schools in the deep

rural areas and in the former Black townships seem to have overcome the

obstacles that prevented them from being highly effective. This research has

focused on these schools, which, despite their historical background and the many

obstacles that they face – among others, their geographical location, their meagre

resources (as described above), their un- and under-qualified teachers in some

subjects, their unsophisticated parent corps, their poor surroundings and so forth –

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have succeeded in achieving scholastic results comparable to, or even exceeding,

those of the more-privileged schools.

In other words, they have succeeded in bridging the achievement gap between

themselves as historically disadvantaged schools and their more historically

advantaged counterparts. The research in this article was undertaken to determine

the reasons for their success in bridging that gap.

To discover these reasons, the researchers became involved with two schools that

had clearly overcome the achievement gap. The researchers were informed of the

excellent grade 12 results of two schools – despite the very adverse socio-

economic conditions in which the schools operate (d). The purpose of this article

is to report on our findings. To achieve this purpose, the rest of this article is

structured as follows: The next section contains a brief background description of

the two schools. The section thereafter contains a brief explanation for the

researchers’ methodological orientation; and this is followed by the conceptual-

theoretical framework on which the empirical research was based. This is then

followed by a section, in which we report our findings; and the article is

concluded with a discussion of the findings, together with a number of

recommendations.

Two historically disadvantaged schools in South Africa that boast excellent student achievements despite their adverse conditions

We decided to focus on just these two schools for various practical reasons, such

as the time available for deep interaction with the schools (particularly the

learners), the fact that we wished to do an in-depth case study, and the

accessibility of the schools. Admittedly, this caused our focus to be rather narrow

(two of the eight combined secondary schools in the Ehlanzeni region of

Mpumalanga); but this allowed us to gain an in-depth qualitative understanding of

the measures taken by the schools to overcome the achievement gap. The purpose

of this section is to inform our readers of the socio-economic situation, in which

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these schools find themselves, and which they had to overcome, in order to attain

such excellent results in the matriculation examination.

There are 130 secondary schools in the Ehlanzeni region, eight of which are

combined secondary schools. Secondary schools offer grades 8 to 12; whilst

combined schools offer grades 1 to 12. Of the 130 schools in the region, 22 are

regarded as under-performing; since their pass percentage in grade 12 ranges from

30 per cent to 60 per cent (according to the senior managers of the region, 70 per

cent and above is regarded as a feature of a performing school). The two schools

in this study fall in the latter category, with matriculation pass rates of around 100

per cent in the case of school A, and between 68 and 97 per cent in the case of

school B (see Tables 1 and 2).

Table 1: School A: grade 12 results from 2003-2007

Year No. of

learners

who wrote

matric

Pass % Exemptions Fail

2003 42 42 100 26 (61.9%) Nil

2004 39 39 100 32 (82%) Nil

2005 47 47 100 32 (68%) Nil

2006 53 53 100 34 (62.6%) Nil

2007 79 77 97.8 50 (62.8%) 2

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Table 2: School B: grade 12 results from 2003-2007

Year No. of

learners

who wrote

matric

Pass % Exemptions Fail

2003 243 167 68.7 12 (4.9%) 76

2004 171 125 73.1 13 (7.6%) 46

2005 212 150 70.6 10 (4.7%) 62

2006 195 149 76.4 27 (13.8%) 46

2007 202 185 91.5 30 (14.8%) 17

Their performance has to be viewed against the backdrop of the national pass rate

for the five years in question: 2003-70%; 2004-70%; 2005-68.3%; 2006-66.5%

and 2007-65.2%, and of the Mpumalanga provincial rate: 2003-58.2%; 2004-

62%; 2005-58%; 2006-65.3% and 2007-65.2%. These two schools had clearly

overcome the achievement gap, despite the dismal socio-economic conditions in

which they found themselves at that time.

At the time of the study, numerous Black South African township and rural

secondary schools were achieving around 20 to 30 per cent pass rates in the final

matriculation examination; whereas schools in general, in Mpumalanga and in

South Africa, as a whole, were achieving a pass rate of between 65 and 70 per

cent. In view of this, the achievement gap that these two schools succeeded in

overcoming was defined as the gap between the 65-70% pass rate that schools in

general achieved, and the 95-100% pass rate that historically advantaged schools

in the country typically achieve.

In terms of this criterion, school A has fully bridged the gap; while school B was

on the point of bridging it (see Tables 1 and 2).

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School A was established in 1994, with only six educators including the principal,

and with 366 learners (61 learners per educator). In 2008, there were 1 384

learners (69.2 learners per educator). This school now has 20 teachers, including

heads of department and the principal. It is situated in deep rural Mpumalanga

close to the border of Mozambique. School B was established in 1975 with five

educators and 200 learners (40 learners per educator). In 2008, there were 1 540

learners (77 learners per educator). This school today also has 20 teachers,

including heads of department and the principal. It is situated in KwaMaqhekeza,

one of the poorest and remotest rural areas in the Mpumalanga province. On the

issues of infrastructure and socio-economic conditions, the two schools still do not

compare favourably with historically advantaged schools. Both are situated in

remote rural areas, with insufficient infrastructure (no science laboratories and

libraries, and with only limited collections of dated books). They also possess

very limited teaching and learning resources, such as textbooks and teaching aids

in the form of information and computer technology.

The research method

The research question was explored by means of a qualitative, narrative research

design. Located within a reconstructive-transformative research paradigm, this

narrative research began from the perspective of the students being studied – and

then explored: “How they see the world and define situations” (Neuman,

2011:177). It “assumes that multiple interpretations of human experience, or

realities are possible” (Neuman, 2011:103) and emphasises an individual’s own

thoughts and perceptions, and the internalised thoughts and perceptions of the

others, as being more significant for their actions “than the external, objective

conditions and structural forces” (Neuman, 2011:104).

A narrative research design was conducive to the exploration of the ways in which

individual students construct, interpret and give meaning to their subjective

experiences on how their schools were overcoming the achievement gap, as

defined above. It also provided the space to describe and explore human

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behaviour, and to explore how high school students, who have managed to

overcome the negatives of their adverse socio-economic conditions, and are

similar to and also different from one another (Cohen et al., 2007; Neuman, 2011;

Silverman, 2010; Terre Blanche et al., 2004).

Conceptual-theoretical framework

This framework commences with a clarification of the term “achievement gap”

and the measurement of that gap. That is then followed by a survey of the theories

explaining the achievement gap, and finally by the need for examining learners’

perceptions of the achievement gap, particularly in the South African context.

The achievement gap can be defined as the disparity in academic performance

between specific groups of students, especially those defined by gender,

race/ethnicity, ability and socio-economic status (Giroux 2005:114), poverty and

unemployment (Burris & Welner, 2005:595), high family stress levels, child-

headed families, HIV/AIDS, the teachers themselves, under-resourced schools

(Apple in Zeichner, 2009: ix) and parents’ educational levels (Fleisch, 2008:60),

or – as in the South African context – between learners in township and rural

schools and those in schools in middle-class residential areas.

The achievement gap can be seen as the observable difference in the academic

achievement levels of learners, e.g. in South Africa, those in the township and

rural schools, as compared with those in the middle-class integrated schools in the

more affluent suburbs (Rothstein, 2014:1). If, for example, the average mark for a

particular group of learners in an international test in Physical Science in grade 12

in 2012 was 47 per cent, while their peers obtained an average of 65 per cent; the

difference is an achievement gap of 18 per cent. Such a gap is often observable in

the results of standardised tests, grade-point average, drop-out rates, college

enrolment and completion rates (Jansen, 2011:5).

For example, of the total population of 18-year olds (about 980 000), less than 140

000 pass grade 12 Mathematics; while only some 20 000 to 25 000 (2.5%) pass

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the subject at higher grade (Fleisch, 2014:1). Children who attended former Black

schools had average Mathematics scores of 227, compared to the average scores

of pupils who attended former White schools, namely an average of 456, which is

close to the international average (Taylor, Fleisch & Shindler, 2007:20). The

achievement gap in this instance would be an average of 228 points.

Diverse cultural, intellectual, historical, emotional, reading, writing, and language

skills, as well as uneven academic preparation can play a role in creating such

gaps (Council on Higher Education, 2010:168). Another factor that can play a role

is the multi-ethnic make-up of the schools; and as Howie and Scherman

(2008:118) argue, there may be significant differences in achievement between

classrooms headed by teachers with different racial profiles. A substantial body of

literature looks to extra-school factors for an explanation of the achievement gap,

in particular the socio-economic background(s) of the learners (Clark 2014:3).

Theories of socio-economic reproduction or cultural reproduction seem to focus

on these causal factors (cf. Wolhuter, 2014: 13; Valenzuela et al., 2012).

Theories such as these can be regarded as plausible and valid, on condition that

extra-school factors are not seen as deterministic; they can be overcome by intra-

school factors.

Based on this point of departure, it was decided to base the study reported in this

article on Portes’ (2005) cultural-historical approach: The thesis that poverty-

bound children might be left behind by an education system that fails them for

belonging to a class/culture different from that for which it was designed, namely,

those in power. This thesis maintains that as poverty-stricken children are

disadvantaged even before they enter school, and hence tend to fall further and

further behind, the achievement-gap problem should be understood

developmentally as requiring action within and outside the school.

To close the gap, Portes (2005:94) proposes that differential factors external to

schooling (such as poverty) have to be neutralized, thereby allowing

disadvantaged children to gain ground on others while attending school. This is,

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of course, easier said than done. Attention, therefore, has to be shifted to intra-

school factors. For Portes (2005: xiv), inequalities in both processes and outcomes

are organised in the public education system; and this is reflected by

disproportionate statistics on student learning, which result from a conglomerate

of social and economic practices, which operate at different levels and are

structured to place additional burdens on the least advantaged.

Thus, to address the problem of the achievement gap, he suggests that a

developmental framework is essentially what is needed. The two main sets of

intra-school factors that require close attention are learner support and teacher-

related factors. Regarding the first set of factors, to place already disadvantaged

students, many of whom have not had adequate pre-schooling, in primary schools

that fail to provide extra assistance to help them catch up with their more-

advantaged peers sustains the reproduction of inequality in educational outcomes.

As far as teacher-related factors are concerned, Norfleet and Kritsonis (2006:2)

found that teachers in disadvantaged communities have to adjust their teaching

approach with respect to the disadvantaged learners to include: caring, mothering

skills, demonstration of belief in learners, demanding the best from them,

balanced discipline, and adopting the teaching profession as a calling – in order to

help them catch up with their more-advantaged peers. Neethling and Rutherford

(2001:18-19) agree with this strategy by suggesting that the classroom setting in

which the teacher plays an important part should be a continuation of the guiding

process, a process that includes the effective shaping of the relatively

disadvantaged child, based on teacher qualities, such as enthusiasm, passion,

honesty, trust, encouragement, thereby forming a framework in which the

learner’s creative spirit can function dynamically.

Research by Darling-Hammond (1994:36) has indicated that the narrowing of the

academic achievement gap depends on the teacher’s knowledge of learners

(including, and particularly, disadvantaged learners) and their learning, the

curriculum and the social foundations of education. According to Pianta, Belsky,

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Vandergift, Houts and Morrison (2008:368), teachers’ instructional interactions

with learners have the greatest value for learners’ performance when they are

focused, direct, intentional, and characterised by feedback loops.

This applies particularly to the situation of disadvantaged learners. The teachers’

best placed to incorporate the learners’ responses into the teaching and learning

process are those who fully grasp the subject matter and the various methods of

getting the children, particularly the disadvantaged, to learn (Wadesango &

Bayaga, 2013: 209). As Norfleet and Kritsonis (2006:2) claim, effective

instructional practices and deep content knowledge on the part of the teacher

would improve learner achievement in general, and that of disadvantaged learners

in particular. How schools respond to the differences between advantaged and

disadvantaged learners, how they manage the internal and external pressures and

interests across the teaching-learning and social spaces of the two groups, will

determine whether teachers contribute to the narrowing of the achievement gap.

In Zeichner’s (2009:1) opinion, tensions such as these, render many schools to be

sites of struggle. Inter-personal factors pertaining to the teacher have been

highlighted by the work of Nel Noddings (1984) with regard to caring.

Bailey and Dziko (2008:2) draw attention to the situation in South Africa by

averring that the achievement gap for Black learners requires a focus on teacher

quality, teaching and learning, school and district leadership, student support and

family and community engagement. This is necessary because, as Jansen (2011:4)

points out, despite the demise of Apartheid, the opportunities for the

disadvantaged to attain the same quality of education in public schools – as the

historically more advantaged – are still unequal.

Bloch (2011:1), therefore, rightly concludes that the reproduction of a deep state

of inequality and underperformance in the country’s schools threatens the

cohesion of the new democracy.

The (disadvantaged) learners involved in these unequal processes can be regarded

as an informative source of information on key aspects in the intra-school

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environment, particularly regarding the roles of their teachers in helping them

overcome the achievement gap (Lam, Ardington, Branson & Leibbrandt, 2014:1).

Lee and Burkham (2002:2) confirm the notion expounded above that a key goal of

education is to ensure that every learner – including the disadvantaged – has a

chance to excel, both in school and in life. Ikpa and McGuire (2009: xiii) agree

that teachers, school leaders, parents, community leaders, and policy-makers, as

well as other related external factors, can affect academic achievement.

Burris and Welner (2005:595) hold a slightly different view. In their opinion,

“...when all students – those at the bottom as well as those at the top of the gap –

have access to first-class learning opportunities, all students’ achievement can

improve”. In the light of this, Howard (2009:1) asserts that “...school leaders and

teachers need to look at schools from the perspectives of their learners; because as

social actors, they know about institutional hierarchies, power and governance ...

[and about] responsibility and ... commitments to a range of what may be

conceptualised as the common good.”

Indeed, learners in schools are often keenly and critically aware of the success of

their teachers’ efforts. This awareness is a result of the learners’ lived experiences

as people in the complex socio-political circumstances of family, school and

community.

As averred above, despite the fact that the learners are well placed to express an

opinion on their schools’ efforts at eradicating the achievement gap, little attempt

has so far been made to listen to their voices. Learners, as a source of information

on key aspects in the intra-school environment, have been grossly neglected in

research, particularly in the South African context (cf. Moloi et al., 2010: 476).

While a learner-perspective has recently been given in Carter’s (2012)

publication, it deals with the closing of the achievement gap in a desegregated

school context, leaving the context of a more homogeneous historical Black

school (in which the majority of poorly performing learners in South African

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schools find themselves ) still uncovered. This study is an attempt to fill that

hiatus.

Empirical investigation

Sampling

From the eight combined secondary schools in the area, two were selected on the

basis of their excellent grade 12 results. These two were also the only schools that

expected all learners from grade 1 to 12 to take Mathematics. The learners (n =

16) who participated in the interviews were nominated by the school principals as

appropriate spokespersons on how their schools had succeeded in closing the

achievement gap (Day, 2007:30). Grade 12 learners were interviewed; because

they had attended the school from grade 1, and were able to provide rich

information on how differently positioned they were in terms of their rural

environment and of the historic inequalities woven into the fabric of South

African public education (Fine & Weis, 2005:75). Documentary information was

obtained from each of the two schools principals, which included school

development plans, school prospectuses, assessment reports, class visit reports

and newsletters. These were used to contextualise the empirical data, and in some

instances, as a means of cross-checking their accuracy and validity.

Interviews

Two semi-structured group interviews, consisting of open-ended questions, such

as “Do you feel the school is helping you to achieve the best grades you could

have?” were conducted. The group interviews conducted with the grade 12s lasted

60 minutes each. In seeking to capture the authentic voices of learners, the

discussions in both schools were based on the same generic questions. The

questions, together with the sequence in which they were organised, were

designed to provide a common agenda for discussions between different

respondents across the two case-study schools. Each of the questions was

accompanied by prompts and supplementary questions or probes, which the

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interviewers used to obtain further details, and which invited the respondents to

elaborate, or to provide further clarification (Patton, 1980).

With the permission of the participants, each of the researchers used an audio-tape

recorder. And transcriptions were made of the recordings.

Content analysis

Content analysis was done; since the communication of meaning in terms of the

achievement gap was the focus (Merriam, 1998:160). Using a common data-

analysis framework that was developed for the International Successful School

Principals’ Project (ISSPP), the researchers (Day, 2007:30) were able to contrast

data with ‘similar’ data in connection with the achievement gap across the two

schools. The analysis of the field evidence began right from the beginning of the

project, and proceeded concurrently with the collection of the data in the two

schools. In this way, data collection and analysis became closely integrated

(Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Miles & Huberman, 1984) in line with an emergent

qualitative design (Merriam, 1998:155). The simultaneous collection and analysis

of the data, therefore, became a reflective, recursive and dynamic activity. In this

regard, the process of reflection took a number of forms, including periodic

meetings of the team, at which progress was reviewed and ideas and opinions

discussed, usually as a result of analytical memos based on the reflections of

individuals (Day, 2007: 30).

These reflective documents and the subsequent discussions prompted further the

process of analysis by helping the team to move between concrete field data and

conceptualisation. They also provided an accountable record or audit trail

(Lincoln & Guba, 1985), which demonstrated that the process of reflection and

inductive-data analysis was not only occurring, but was proceeding in a manner

that, while being flexible and eclectic, was nevertheless orderly and systematic

(Day, 2007: 30).

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The data were organised into smaller homogeneous units of information, in order

to make sense of them. By means of the reflective process described above, the

researchers arranged the data into segments of material – based on an organising

system derived from the data themselves (Day, 2007:30). The process was

essentially one of inductive cross-case analysis (Miles & Huberman, 1984), the

main outcome of which was a two-dimensional matrix with themes related to the

achievement gap on one axis, and the different sources of evidence (quotes)

provided by the interviewed learners. In the early stages of this process, the

organising themes were regarded as tentative and provisional; and they were later

modified in the search for a more satisfactory system. It is difficult to disagree

with Lofland (1971), who concluded that ‘no order fits perfectively’. Having

arranged the data for purposes of analysis in such a way, it was possible to

compare what the different sources of evidence i.e. the learners from the two

schools had to say about how the achievement gap was addressed.

The richness of the insights that were gained as a result of the analysis of the

different perspectives of the learners who were interviewed, are reflected in the

manner whereby the research is reported.

The process of inductive analysis assists with the articulation of the findings;

because it helps to deconstruct the data. The ultimate objective of the research,

however, was to synthesise the empirical evidence that was gathered during the

study with the theoretical constructs. These constructs include the achievement

gap, a positive school climate, teacher abilities and core qualities, as well as

contextual factors, including the available resources, achievement in relation to

location, resources and other contextual factors, which have already been

discussed in the literature (Day, 2007:31). The aim was to go beyond what Hycner

(1985) called a ‘composite summary’, and what Patton (1980) has referred to as a

descriptive account of patterns and themes. The final goal of the analysis was to

offer a critique of the existing theories of teacher effectiveness, and to contrast

Darling-Hammond’s views on cultural-contextual-relational issues, with Pianta’s

more psychological views on the behavioural aspects in the light of the study’s

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empirical findings, and to suggest some ‘provisional’ hypotheses (Turner, 1981;

Merriam, 1998:151), new concepts, or ‘theoretical categories’ (Lazarsfeld, 1972),

as well as some tentative thoughts on ‘substantive theory’ (Glaser & Strauss,

1967).

Results / Findings

We could not help but notice, as we visited and worked with teachers and school

management teams in the Ehlanzeni district, that diverse schooling conditions still

persisted to privilege some learners and marginalise others. Compared with urban

schools, the two schools with which we worked were disadvantaged; and they

also lacked resources, such as running water, laboratories and sports facilities.

Despite these adverse conditions, we were struck by the collective commitment of

teachers, school principals, and the surrounding communities to provide access to

educational rigour and quality (cf. Fine & Weis, 2005:75). The learners shared an

equal commitment, as they theorised their identities, learning to claim and daily

negotiate their places in a microcosmic-classed hierarchy.

From the data analysis, the following themes emerged as sets of factors that, in the

opinion of the learners, had contributed to the two schools’ bridging of the

achievement gap: a supportive teaching and learning environment, teacher

effectiveness, collaborative relationships, a positive school climate, and

principals’ instructional leadership. These themes will now be discussed briefly

and substantiated by the learners’ observations.

Theme 1: A supportive teaching and learning environment

It emerged from the data that a well-equipped and supportive teaching and

learning environment was essential to facilitate student learning, and hence to

overcome the achievement gap. The following remarks made by learners contain

their perceptions:

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Learner 1: I am happy because it is a school where the educators motivate us.

Our future is important to them. We should work hard and prepare for the future.

We are supported and we are usually encouraged to succeed.

Learner 3: My family (school) is close, I have friends. I have learnt many things.

When I am lonely, the teachers are there to support me.

Learner 1: When we go for the evening classes, the police are invited to watch

over us. Even when there are school activities and functions, the police and

parents support us when we go home after the activities.

Learner 2: The school is like a home. Orphans feel welcomed, loved and

protected. We are supported physically and financially. When you have a problem

you first talk to the teacher before you talk to other learners.

Learner 6: We need more learning support materials, such as libraries,

computers, chemicals, a laboratory; a big hall because when it is raining, it is

difficult to have assembly.

Learner 7: For homework support we need encyclopaedias, microscopes,

research equipment, and visual aids.

Learner 4: They encourage us to study. The school is different from other schools.

We are encouraged to go for extra classes.

Learner 1: We need sporting codes, a Learners’ Christian Organisation (LCO),

and other recreational activities.

Learner 3: We need sports grounds, cultural activities, and musical instruments.

Across the focus groups, we heard learners expressing the importance of a

supportive teaching and learning environment. As observed by Portes (2005: xiii),

the achievement gap cannot merely be addressed by creating new slogans or

insufficient and fragmented reforms.

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Theme 2: Teacher effectiveness

From the analysed data, it emerged that teachers played a pivotal role in leading

and managing the curriculum. How they planned, co-ordinated, controlled,

administered, evaluated and reported on learners’ academic progress contributed

to effective or ineffective student learning. What was expected of teachers’

contribution to address the achievement gap could be identified from the

interviewed learners’ voices:

Learner 4: The teachers are very good, and they are committed to their work.

Learner 2: The teachers are very good, and they are committed to their work. We

get a lot of support, even from our principal.

Learner 1: I have seen that the teachers want the learners to understand the

learning content for the future. We have afternoon and evening classes; and we go

for camps. The principal should bring more qualified educators.

Learner 6: Even if we have had the xenophobia problem, teachers from

Zimbabwe, Somalia, Mozambique, Kenya should be employed; because they have

better skills and qualifications. As long as they are experienced, they should be

employed.

Learner 3: The principal should bring more qualified educators.

Learner 7: We need access to information.

Learner 2: Teachers and learners should be more committed than before.

Learner 1: The learners should be more dedicated, committed; and they should

work harder, so that we could get a 100% pass rate in grade 12.

Learner 3: We are always engaged with our work.

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Across the focus groups, we heard how teachers were perceived by the learners,

as they used such words and phrases as “committed”, “dedicated”, “qualified”;

“they understand learning content”; and “we have evening classes” to define

them.

Theme 3: Collaborative relationships

From the group interviews, it emerged that the teachers co-operated with their

colleagues, in order to maintain a good teaching standard, and progress among the

learners. They also collaborated with teachers of other schools in sharing

curricular matters and other activities related to teaching and learning. The

learners, furthermore, pointed out that their teachers met with their parents and

discussed with them the progress and conduct of the children, but also supported

them with their school work.

Learner 1: The principal gets on well with teachers and parents. They work hand

in hand. Learners respect her. We have never heard her fight with teachers. She

has a good relationship with our parents; and the parents appreciate her. She sets

a good example.

Learner 2: She is a Christian. My brother died and she gave us support. She

really cares.

Learner 3: We had to pay for the camps – some parents could not pay the whole

amount (R500) – she was patient with them. She gave them time to get the money.

She understood their situation.

Learner 4: At the camp, parents were interchanging, watching us with the

teachers.

Learner 5: Better school-parents/family connections (examples). Parents should

be more involved, collaborative with teachers for our progress.

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Andrews and Crowder (2013:57) point out that the teacher within an emerging

educational organisation is increasingly a self-managed professional, moving

away from an individual working alone in a classroom to a collaborative

individual – an autonomous self-knowing professional, who works with others to

achieve a shared purpose. Andrews and Crowder concur that teachers who work

in collaborative professional communities exercise the necessary impact to redress

issues of economic, social and cultural disadvantage.

Theme 4: Positive school climate

Clover and Coleman (2013:284) point out that school climate is concerned with

two aspects of organisational analysis:

• The factors affecting learners’ outcomes; and

• The measurability of those factors.

For Moos (1979), school climate is the social atmosphere of the learning

environment in which students have different experiences, according to the

protocols set up by teachers and administrators. The social environment can be

divided into: (i) Relationships; (ii) personal growth or goal orientation, and (iii)

system maintenance and system change. In line with these observations, we heard

the following comments from the interviewed learners:

Learner 2: We all come from different backgrounds. Mr Ndlala talks to the

children. Most of us are groomed. We started at this school from grade 1 and we

are now in grade 12. These people know us very well. Mr Ndlala, when you

behave in an unbecoming manner, he counsels you.

Learner 6: There is a code of conduct, which is followed and weapons are not

allowed here. The teachers make sure that learners are protected. They make sure

that we are guarded at the gate. The police are easily connected to support us.

Even when we get visitors from other schools for sports, the police are always

invited to watch over us.

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Learner 5: Although I am in grade 12, I can talk to grade 1 teachers. They are

supportive.

Learner 3: When our state of health is not good, they feed us so that we can

develop. The school has a partnership with the clinic. Sick children are taken

there for injections (e.g. measles). We have our own first-aid kit and a sick room.

The school nurse comes to school every day. When we are sick, the principal

drives us to the clinic, which is very close to the school.

Learner 4: Some of the children are abused from their homes; we forget about it

when we come to school, because the teachers support us.

Learner 1: We see them as our parents. They are good parents. We also respect

them. They are like my parents, friends and pastors.

Learner 3: They wish the best for us. They are loving people.

Learner 7: They have adopted children who do not have parents. For example,

Ma’am Ngobeni (the deputy-principal) and the Principal have adopted children

who stay far away from the school.

Learner 3: We do not want to go to a different school. We are happy here. This is

the best school. It recruits learners from far away to study here. We are all proud

of this school. We have the best principal, best teachers – and we are the best

learners.

Theme 5: Principals’ instructional leadership

As instructional leader, the principal plays an important role in ensuring that the

school’s focus is on teaching and learning, and that all activities, systems and

procedures are aligned with the core function of the school, i.e. teaching and

learning. As an instructional leader, the principal retains teaching and learning at

the core of all activities in a school. Leading by example is a powerful motivator.

In terms of his/her position, the principal has to establish an overall environment

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conducive to appropriate curriculum management and leadership. Southworth

(2013:55) argues that what distinguishes school leaders from leaders in other

organisations is their desire and responsibility to enhance students’ learning. If

teaching and learning are the most important functions of the school, then

instructional leadership is one of the main features for the management of schools.

In their focus groups, the learners had the following to say about their principals:

Learner 1: She is like a god-mother; and she is supportive, motivational, and

committed to her work. She wishes everyone success, a better future for everyone.

Learner 2: She does not want to see anyone smoking or drinking. We take her as

a parent. She is not a lazy person.

Learner 3: She does not stay in the office. She makes sure that she checks our

results quarterly. She issues our reports to us. She knows our performance. She

gives us motivational talks; and she invites different speakers to address us. She

always checks on whether we do our homework; and she brings other teachers

from outside to help us with the difficult areas of our subjects. She sets very high

standards for us.

Learner 4: She assists us to apply to higher institutions. She brings us application

forms and supports us with bursaries. She is the “cornerstone”.

Learner 5: She could make the school better by employing better qualified

teachers.

Our principal is a kind lady. She is also very strict. She cares for us; and she

wants what is best for us.

Learner 6: This is a good school. It would be different if the principal were not

there; because she motivates the teachers and the learners. She tries by all means

to help us, even with technology skills.

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Research has indicated that in schools where there is a true distribution of

leadership, systems and procedures are well-entrenched and leadership functions

shared, so that the school functions well – even in the principal’s absence

(Southworth, 2013:17). Principals manage people and relationships: the school

management team, committees, teachers, learners and parents – these are all

expected to ensure that the learners are effectively taught.

Discussion of the results

Good school leadership and the policy contexts of the two schools

The five themes revealed by this study seem to suggest that the achievement gap

can be addressed through a holistic approach to teaching and learning. This is in

line with Portes’ (2005: xiii) assertion that a course of integrated actions is needed

that progressively shrinks any inequalities within schools at the national level, and

reverses the mechanisms that have produced the academic-achievement gap.

Both schools have aligned their policies to the policies of the Department of

Education. These policies include Educators’ policy, the Integrated Quality

Management System (IQMS), disciplinary measures, teaching curriculum,

language policy, school attendance, periods, fund-raising policy, HIV/AIDS

policy and other policies. The school policy in both schools is drafted by the

respective school governing bodies; and it is aligned to the policy of the

Department of Education. It contains the vision and mission of the school. Good

leadership seems to be the cornerstone of the success of these two schools.

The principal of school B possesses good qualifications, which include a Bachelor

of Arts degree (BA), a Secondary Education Diploma (SED), a Further Diploma

in Education (FED), a diploma in Leadership, and a diploma in Ministry. She

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indicated to the researchers that she combines her religious values and disposition

with her work.

Safety, care, protection and security

During the interviews, the researchers learnt that there are excellent report

systems at both schools. The schools are very vigilant; and they do not allow

strangers onto the school premises – without being sure who they are, and what

the purpose of their visit is. When the children go to camps, they are accompanied

by their teachers, support staff and parents. Children who become ill are cared

for. Both schools spend two weeks at the camp with the children, in order to give

them extra tuition and encouragement to study hard.

How have the schools effectively closed the achievement gap?

The investigation revealed that these two schools were able to overcome the

achievement gap because of sufficient teaching and learning time spent in the

classrooms, the appointment of well-qualified and committed teachers, supportive

principals, parents and community members. It emerged that the support and

care offered by the school – and by the parent community enabled the learners to

focus on their studies, and motivated them to want to achieve academically –

despite their socio-economic disadvantages. From the above, it can be deduced

that, although teaching and learning resources are important for learners to

achieve academically, the intellectual capacity of committed teachers, and their

pedagogical and content knowledge contributed significantly to overcoming the

achievement gap at the two schools.

The investigations at these two schools revealed that their excellent results could

be ascribed to a combination of positive factors, such as good teacher

qualifications, well-qualified and committed principals, general teacher

commitment, teamwork, discipline among the staff and learners, and mutual

respect, as well as parental and community involvement. The staff, learners and

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parents are motivated; and they all work hard. The teachers care about the

children – both in terms of their educational outcomes – as well their psycho-

social issues. They provide extra classes in the morning before school, in the

afternoon after school, and on Saturdays and Sundays. The focus at both schools

is on effective teaching and learning.

An excellent school culture permeates the teaching and learning processes in both

schools. The mission of one of the two schools is to achieve – through the creation

of an environment that is conducive to effective teaching and learning – the

pursuit of a curriculum that meets the needs of society, the optimal utilisation of

resources, the involvement and capacity-building of all members of the school

community, and encouraging partnerships with the private sector for sponsorships

and learner internship. The teachers at both schools are exposed to internal and

external professional training courses, as well as other professional development

activities. They also network with other schools within the province, in order to

share curricula, teaching and learning experiences.

This research, furthermore, cautions educational leaders and scholars not to attach

too much value to theories, such as the socio-economic and cultural reproduction,

in so far as they portray the socio-economic descent of learners as deterministic

with respect to their achievement levels at school. Rather than such a fatalistic

view, this study tends to support the more voluntaristic view that intra-school

factors are significant, and can potentially overcome most of the extra-school

factors.

Conclusion

This study has revealed that historically disadvantaged schools can indeed

overcome the achievement gap between them and more historically privileged

schools. The first step for such a school is to define the particular achievement

gap that it wishes to overcome, and then to strategize to overcome that gap, as in

fact these two schools have succeeded in doing. Based on the voices of the

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learners interviewed, the overcoming of the gap takes great commitment and

diligence from all concerned.

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