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Prof Jan HeystekDepartment of Education Policy Studies

Faculty of EducationUniversity of Stellenbosch

Heystek@sun.ac.zaEmasa 2011

School leader’s School leader’s identity in identity in ethnical diverse ethnical diverse primary schools primary schools in South Africa in South Africa and Englandand England

http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/country/southafrica.html

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Lusikisiki

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DiversityDiversity

• Language, race, ethnicity

• Gender

• Learner ability and needs

• Socio economic environment

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South Africa school contextSouth Africa school context

• Eleven official languages

•24 751 schools

• In most schools there is one ethnic group dominates

• At 1994, about 3000 former white, Coloured and Indian schools;

• After 1994 learner composition changed

• Currently most of former white, Coloured and Indian schools

with large number of African learners

• England similar situation, learner population change,

teacher population limited changeHasselt 2010

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IdentityIdentity

• You cannot think diversity loose from identity

• Identity is the building foundation for diversity

• Individual identity

• Group identity

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Scale and intensity of diversityScale and intensity of diversity• Europe – immigrants; small percentage of population• US – permanent residents –

• European and native American• Afro Americans• Immigrants - Spanish speaking

• South Africa • Permanent residents• Immigrants – Africa?

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Social researcherSocial researcher

• Objectivity and subjectivity

• Own identity and life world

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• Students (teachers) in Advanced certificate and Honours programs

• Twelve venues in the country

• 2545 completed questionnaires

SampleSample

Table 1: Racial classificationFirst phase

African 2472

Coloured 31

Indian 13

White29

African 248

Table 2: Phase 2

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"VR 10"; W eighted MeansC urrent effec t: F(11, 2372)=342.91, p=<0.01 K rus kal-W allis p<0.01

Effec tive hypothes is decom pos itionVertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals

AfrikaansEnglish

Is iNdebeleSepedi

Ses othoS iSw ati

XitsongaSetsw ana

Ts iVendaIs iXhosa

Is iZuluO ther

VR 10

none

0-20%

21-40%

41-60%

61-80%

81-100%

VR

41(IsiXhosa)

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The case studies The case studies

South Africa – three school

England - one school

Interviews

• Principals of schools

• Senior management team / teachers

• Learners

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TheoryTheory

Social capital (Something valuable – if not used – become depleted)

Social reproduction (Critical theory perspective)

Social identity theory Social identity theory (Tajfel)

• In and out group

• Advantage in group

• In and out group may differ in and out side school context

• Power to make decisions

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Identity• Who am I?

• See it in the SA context• My personal identity in the school / community identity

Diversity• Difficult to define diversity – • Race is obvious• The rest is vague

The other - in a micro and macro context• Dominant group determines us and them• Who is dominant group in SA context• (White teacher ) school in dominant African South African context

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• Leaders are not trained or supported for the diversity

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Lead and manage diversityLead and manage diversity

Change the structure

• New policies

• Learner composition

•Teacher composition

Agency to change it• Leader• People• Attitude• Motivation