the role of the school management team (smt) in the
TRANSCRIPT
THE ROLE OF THE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT TEAM (SMT) IN THE BRANDING OF A SCHOOL
by
MICHAEL MOOKETSI MANGENA
A MINI-DISSERTATION
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
MAGISTER EDUCATIONIS
in
EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT
in the
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
at the
UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG
SUPERVISOR: DR. P.J. DU PLESSIS
CO-SUPERVISOR: PROF. K.C. MOLOI
SEPTEMBER 2009
DEDICATION
I dedicate this research work to God the Almighty and my ancestry.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I hereby thank and acknowledge the following people for their inspirational and
motivational role in the completion of this mini-dissertation:
• Professor Tom Bisschoff
• Dr. Pierre Du Plessis
• My maternal grandparents Tryphina Ikeleng More and Mackson Seremi
Sebatane.
• My parents Grace Tshegofatso More and Willie Pelo Mangena.
• Brenda and Tlotlego.
• Smith, Wendy, Gomolemo and Kholofelo.
• Gordon, Molatela and Obakeng.
• Lindiwe Sarah Masuku for her extraordinary patience in typing this
research document.
• All the SMT members who participated in the focus group interviews.
MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL!
SYNOPSIS
The introduction of School Based Management (SBM) in South African Schools
ushered in School Management Teams (SMTs) whose responsibilities include,
among others; planning, organizing, leading and control. These fundamental
day-to-day duties also relate to school branding which is a new concept in South
African Schools.
School branding is a new concept that warrants empirical research so that school
management teams can thoroughly understand and implement it professionally.
Branding a school cannot be left to the ad hoc devices of the layman. School
Management Teams need to be factually conversant and knowledgeable about
cultivating a knowledge substrate of school branding for application by school
management teams.
Understanding and implementing the concept school branding stands to benefit
schools in this era where learner mobility is determined by school choice. School
choice in turn is a crucial aspect of the supply and demand of learners. These
two market forces have a direct impact on the survival and existence of a school.
Schools in this day and age are compelled to market and transform themselves
into winning, compelling and powerful brands. In the past schools enjoyed the
geographic and racial monopoly over parents and learner choice of a school.
With the advent of the democratic dispensation the survival of a school needs a
scientific and commercial praxis of concepts like branding. Branding itself holds
a host of benefits for all the stakeholders in a school.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i
SYNOPSIS ii
CHAPTER 1: ORIENTATION, PROBLEM, AIMS, METHODOLOGY, CONCEPTS AND PLAN OF STUDY
1
1.1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH PROBLEM 2
1.3 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM 4
1.4 AIMS OF THE RESEARCH 5
1.5 RESEARCH DESIGN 5
1.5.1 Sampling 6
1.5.2 Data collection 6
1.5.3 Data analysis 7
1.6 DEMARCATION OF THE RESEARCH 7
1.7 ETHICAL ASPECTS 8
1.8 CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS 8
1.8.1 School management team 9
1.8.2 Branding 9
1.9 DIVISION OF CHAPTERS 9
1.10 CONCLUSION 10
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ON BRANDING 12 2.1 INTRODUCTION 12
2.2 THE NATURE AND DESCRIPTION OF BRANDING 14
2.3 THE ORIGINS OF BRANDING 15
2.3.1 The historical origin 16
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2.3.2 The philosophical origins 17
2.4 THE LAWS OF BRANDING 21
2.4.1 The 22 immutable laws of branding 21
2.4.2 Zissel’s seven laws of branding 30
2.4.3 Frankel’s laws of big time branding 31
2.4.4 The three laws of online personal branding 32
2.4.5 Wellesly Hills Group five maxims of branding 33
2.5 BRAND EQUITY 33
2.5.1 Brand name awareness 35
2.5.2 Brand loyalty 36
2.5.3 Brand associations 37
2.5.4 Perceived brand quality 38
2.6 BRAND IDENTITY SYSTEM 38
2.6.1 Brand audit 40
2.6.2 Brand identity structure 41
2.6.3 Brand identity approaches 41
2.6.3.1 The brand as a product/service 41
2.6.3.2 The brand as a person 42
2.6.3.3 The brand as organization 42
2.6.3.4 The brand as a symbol 46
2.7 VALUE PROPOSITION AND CREDIBILITY 49
2.8 BRAND IMPLEMENTATION SYSTEM 50
2.8.1 Brand positioning 50
2.8.1.1 Positioning fundamentals 51
2.8.1.2 Sources of positioning 51
2.8.1.3 The value context positioning 52
2.8.2 Brand communication 53
2.8.2.1 Types of brand communication 53
2.9 BRANDING STRATEGY 55
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2.10 MEASURING BRANDING EQUITY (TRACKING) 56
2.11 BRAND IMPERATIVES 57
2.12 BRANDING BENEFITS 58
2.13 CONCLUSION 59
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES 60 3.1 INTRODUCTION 60
3.2 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN 60
3.2.1 Philosophical foundations 63
3.3 STUDY DESIGN 65
3.3.1 Literature review 65
3.3.2 Role of the researcher 66
3.3.3 Sample and sampling 68
3.3.4 Validity, reliability and ethical considerations 71
3.3.4.1 Validity 71
3.3.4.2 Reliability 73
3.3.4.3 Ethical consideration 74
3.4 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS 75
3.4.1 Interviews 76
3.4.1.1 Definition of an interview 76
3.4.1.2 Types of interviews 76
3.4.1.3.1Semi-structured group interviews 77
3.4.1.4 Conducting and recording interviews 78
3.4.1.5 The interview schedule 79
3.4.2 Observations 80
3.4.3 Document analysis 81
3.5 DATA PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS 81
3.5.1 Assembling and organizing data 82
3.5.2 Method of data analysis 83
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3.5.3 Reporting findings 83
3.6 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 84
3.7 CONCLUSION 84
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 85 4.1 INTRODUCTION 85
4.2 ANALYSIS OF DATA 85
4.2.1 Interviews 85
4.2.1.1 Definition of school branding 85
4.2.1.2 The reasons for school branding 88
4.2.1.3 How schools can be branded 91
4.2.1.4 The benefits of school branding 98
4.2.1.5 Perceptions of township, rural and former whites only
schools as equal brands
102
4.2.2 Document analysis 105
4.2.3 Observations 106
4.3 CONCLUSION 107
CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 108 5.1 INTRODUCTION 108
5.2 SUMMARY 108
5.3 FINDINGS 109
5.3.1 Findings from the literature survey 110
5.3.2 Important empirical findings 111
5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS 113
5.5 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 117
5.6 CONCLUSION 118
BIBLIOGRAPHY 119
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APPENDICES
Appendix A: Document on branding strategy
Appendix B: Research letter of approval from the GDE
Appendix C: Statement of consent
Appendix D: Interview A
Appendix E: Interview B
Appendix F: Interview C
Appendix G: Interview D
Appendix H: Interview E
Appendix I: Interview F
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CHAPTER ONE
ORIENTATION, PROBLEM, AIMS, METHODOLOGY, CONCEPTS AND PLAN OF STUDY 1.1 INTRODUCTION One of the many changes that have taken place in education since 1994 in South
Africa, was the introduction of school-based management (SBM). This concept
is a product of the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 which places the
professional management of a school in the School Management Team (SMT).
(Bisschoff, Du Plessis and Smith; 2004: V). The School Management Team is
responsible for the generic fundamentals of management which are: planning,
organization, leading and control (Van der Westhuizen, 1991:135). Within these
fundamental tasks, there are subtasks that the School Management Team has to
execute such as the marketing and branding of the school.
Schools in South Africa operate in a milieu defined by transformation,
competition and market forces of supply and demand. These defining factors in
the education and school milieu determine the mobility of educators and learners,
the choice of schools by parents and the funding of schools by the state. This
brings into focus the concept of branding which is becoming increasingly relevant
in the market driven model that continues to drive education policy (Holmes
2006:1). This line of logic is bolstered cogently by Litshani (1998:1) when she
posits that it comes as no surprise that up to now scant attention has been paid
to the idea of marketing schools and that for many years public schools existed
as a monopoly over a certain group of learners.
The monopoly that schools had over certain communities ran along racial and
financial lines. The status quo changed with the transformation to a democratic
form of government in 1994. Prior to 1994 schools in South Africa were
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segregated. Every racial group had their own educational system, administration
and schools (Behr, 1984:163). The promulgation of the South African Schools
Act heralded a new era in the management and control of schools (Van Wyk &
Mothata, 1998:1).
1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH PROBLEM Schools in South Africa still reflect political, ethnic, language, cultural and
religious inclinations and divisions. The geographic separation of various racial
groups also aided and strengthened the division. Thus schools were given
names that bear testimony to the negative social and historical baggage of the
past. This trend is evident in the present school names. In the former white
areas, one still finds schools named after colonial and racial oppression icons
such as “King Edward”, “HF Verwoerd” and “Riebeeckrand”. In the townships
and rural areas, school names are reflective of liberation struggle heroes, former
homeland presidents and black intelligentsia, school names such as: “A.B.
Xuma”, “Paul Mosaka” and “Dr. W.F. Nkomo” come to mind. School names such
as these, I would argue, owe their existence to the polarized nature of the socio-
historical course and context of education in South Africa.
Most politically polarized racial groups contributed to a large scale to the negative
brands that schools have become. School names are symbolic of the ethics,
culture and climate of schools. Davies and Ellison (1991:119) postulate that the
name which a school bears, conveys the image of that school. The image that a
school has, is very crucial in the perception of the school by the populace. The
community that a school serves can have a positive or negative image of a
school. This argument is supported by Holmes (2006:1) when he posits that
schools are focusing on the concept of branding because of the market forces
and they are striving for a clearer identity, differentiation and positioning in the
minds of potential students and parents (2006:1). This assertion is amplified by
Bisschoff, Du Plessis and Smith (2004:14) when they contend that: “schools
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believe that their reputations have been discredited by negative events that
happened in their past and that a new name would help transform a tarnished
image. The transformation of a tarnished image, I would argue, implies the
branding of a school. Jackson (2003:51) concurs with this argument by stating
that the strongest brands today started out with just their good names… The
right name, he states, has always been fundamental to the success of a brand.
Branding is a complex marketing concept which gives value to a school. Thus it
requires professional expertise. It cannot be left to the devices of the lay man.
In a school context, the School Management Team (SMT) is responsible for the
administration and professional management of the school. This scope of duties
includes, inter alia, marketing and branding. The SMT is thus in a better position
to navigate the task and challenge that the branding of a school requires. This
implies that the SMT should strive to be knowledgeable and conversant with
school marketing because this concept is aimed at sustaining the school’s
survival, image and publicity (Bisschoff et al, 2004:7).
Branding is part and parcel of marketing which is a relatively new management
concept in South African schools. The extent to which this concept is known,
understood and practised is aptly stated by Anderson (2005:139-141) when she
states: “school marketing in South Africa is characterized among others by:
• A reactive, ad hoc, approach to marketing with the dominance of short
term promotion activities.
• The adoption of undifferentiated marketing strategies with most schools
seeking to be all things to all potential pupils.
• A failure to recognize the dynamic nature of markets threats even to
schools in currently strong positions”
School management teams need an independent and functional knowledge of
branding. This body of knowledge will assist them in their endeavours to
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establish their schools as brands. Ries and Ries contend that brands are about
credentials, the name and quality (2006:5). These attributes of a brand are in
alignment with what Singo states, that organizations should embrace a few basic
beliefs or values such as:
• A belief in being the best.
• A belief in superior quality and service (2003:23). Moser also shares the
logic of a brand as a set of core values that a company espouses at all
times. He lists values such as commitment, reliability, education etc.
(2003:18).
A close scrutiny and analysis of the degree of branding application in schools is
very limited. It extends only as far as school names, logos, colours, mottos and
crests. This shows that schools are by and large not established brands
because they lack the differential advantage over each other.
1.3 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM The existence and manifestation of incidents such as: racism, ethnicity, violence,
poor work ethic and working relations, under performance, weak leadership and
management, vandalism, ill discipline, low morale etc does not augur well for
schools in South Africa to be presented and regarded as strong and compelling
brands. It is against this backdrop and plethora of similar problems that school
branding warrants an investigation. The concept of school branding is a
relatively new concept thus the understanding and implementation thereof by
school management teams is the subject of this inquiry. The following questions
will assist the researcher in putting the problem into perspective:
• What is branding?
• How can a school be branded?
• What role can the SMT play in the branding of a school?
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The statement and the questions above lead to the aim of this research.
1.4 AIMS OF THE RESEARCH The main aim of this inquiry is to investigate how the School Management Team
can play a role in the branding of a school. To achieve the main aim of this
research, the following specific objectives can be formulated:
• To define branding
• To explore how a school can be branded
• To describe the role of the SMT in the branding of a school
The purpose of this study is to culminate in providing a discourse that will explore
the notion that a school can be branded and to generate guidelines for school
management teams in the branding of schools.
1.5 RESEARCH DESIGN A qualitative research design is deemed as the most suitable for this study. It will
take the form of basic or generic research as its theoretical frame work. Basic or
generic research is characterized by “description, interpretation and
understanding. It identifies the current patterns in the form of themes and
categories and may delineate a process” (Merriam, 1998:12). Rudestam and
Newton (2001:45) augment the researcher’s choice of research framework when
they assert that qualitative data consists of detailed descriptions of events,
situations, and behaviours, as well direct quotations from people about their
experiences and beliefs. This type of research will allow the researcher to gain
insight into the views and perceptions of SMT members on their role in the
branding of a school.
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1.5.1 Sampling Sampling is the selection of a unit of analysis. It is the selection of a research
site, time, people and events (Merriam, 1998:60). By sampling, the researcher
needs to select interviewees that can shed optimal light on the issue that she is
investigating (Henning, 2004:71). Wilkinson and Burmingham (2003:52) concur
with Henning et. al (2004) by averring that a researcher’s sample of interviwees
must be representative - if generalizations from the data provided are to be made
– and sensible. The method of choice for qualitative research sampling is non-
probability purposeful sampling. This method is described thus: “purposeful
sampling is based on the assumption that the investigator wants to discover,
understand and gain insight and therefore must select a sample from which the
most can be learnt (Merriam, 1998:61). For purposes of this research, three to
six School Management Teams will be selected to participate in this inquiry. A
maximum of five members per SMT will be selected for interviewing.
1.5.2 Data Collection Data in qualitative research are collected through interviews, observations or
document analysis (Merriam, 1998:11). Strauss and Myburgh (Research
Methodology Study Guide,2003:41-42) state that in qualitative research, it is
important that triangulation of methods, techniques and even approaches are
utilized to get an in depth exploration and eventual description of the
phenomenon under investigation. Conrad and Serling (2006:380) assent with
Strauss and Myburgh (2003) when they postulate that triangulation is important
in data collection because it allows the researcher to obtain information from
several different sources, cross checking and verifying sources of information.
This inquiry will employ interviews to elicit information about branding from the
selected SMTs; the interviews will be open ended and less structural. Merriam
(1998:77) lists four types of questions that can be used during an interview, these
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are: hypothetical, devil’s advocate, ideal position and interpretive questions
.These types of questions will be used to conduct the interviews.
1.5.3 Data Analysis Merriam (1998:156) distinguishes the following data analysis strategies:
“ethnographic analysis, narrative analysis, phenomenon analysis and constant
comparative method” in addition to these methods, she lists: “two lesser-used
techniques – content analysis and analytic induction” Data in this inquiry will be
analyzed using the constant comparative method. Glaser and Strauss (cited in
Merriam, 1998:159) describe this method as a constant comparison of tentative
categories to each other and to other instances. Mykut and Morehouse
(1994:127) contend that the constant comparative method is one way to conduct
an inductive analysis of qualitative data because what becomes important to
analyse emerges from the data itself. Data will be transcribed and coded into
categories and themes, Henning (2004:105) advices that once the transcription is
ready and codes have been awarded to different segment of units of meaning,
the related codes can be grouped or categorized.
1.6 DEMARCATION OF THE RESEARCH
• The research will be limited to the School Management Teams of the six
selected schools.
• A maximum of five members per SMT will participate in the research.
• The selected schools will be representative of primary and secondary
schools, gender and districts.
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1.7 ETHICAL ASPECTS The ethical code of the faculty when doing research, prescribes that a researcher
adheres to the following aspects:
• Participants in the research be informed right at the beginning that their
participation is voluntary and that they can withdraw from the inquiry freely
without any penalty – their autonomy will be respected.
• The respondents should know what the purpose of the research is and in
what way the information will be used – the aim of the research must be
clearly communicated.
• The basic rights of individuals as human beings must be respected. Thus
the SMT members in the focus groups will be told that the research will
have no detrimental consequences for them.
• To ensure the confidentiality and anonymity of the respondents their
actual names will not be used during the data collection and transcription.
Their confidentiality will be respected at all times.
• No participant will be coerced into providing data; respondents will not be
expected to act contrary to their principles.
• As a researcher, I should be professionally and personally qualified to
conduct research. This means I should know and understand the
research instrument and methodology respondents.
• The respondents will be ensured maximum benefit of the research by
being informed about all the outcomes of the research (Bisschoff,
2005:71-72; Strauss and Myburgh, 2004: 61-62)
1.8 CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS Two salient concepts will be clarified according to literature: School Management
Team (SMT) and branding.
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1.8.1 School Management Teams (SMT) A School Management Team is a group of educators employed at a school. This
group is composed of the principal, deputy principal (s), heads of department and
master teachers. Their responsibility is to manage the day to day activities of the
school on a consultative and professional basis. (Own definition)
1.8.2 Branding Branding is defined as: “The use of a name, term, symbol or design – or a
combination of these to identify a product. It includes the use of brand names,
trademarks and practically all other means of product identification” (McCarthy
and Perreault, 1993:271). Doyle (1991:295) on the other hand, contends that a
successful brand name is a name, symbol, design or some combination which
identifies the product of a particular organization as having a sustainable
differential advantage. This definition is also shared by Czinkota and Ronkainen
(2004:260) who state that branding is a name, term, symbol sign or design used
by a firm to differentiate it’s offering from those of it’s competitors. The most
contemporary definition of branding is given by Jackson (2003:86) who states
that a brand “is an idea, stemming from a belief, that through it’s consistent
identity, experience and the positive emotional investment (PEI) of shareholders,
creates sustainable benefit”.
1.9 DIVISION OF CHAPTERS The research will be presented in the following format:
CHAPTER ONE Chapter one of this research project will comprise of the following aspects: The
title, introduction, background of the research, statement of the research
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problem, aims of the research, clarification of concepts, division of chapters and
conclusion.
CHAPTER TWO In this chapter a literature study will be undertaken. The focus is on aspects of
the branding of a school.
CHAPTER THREE Chapter three will outline the empirical research design and data collection
methods.
CHAPTER FOUR This chapter will provide the analysis of data from the empirical study conducted
and will link it with the existing information from the literature study.
CHAPTER FIVE Chapter five will summarize the findings of the literature review in chapter two
and the empirical findings in chapter four. This chapter will also provide
guidelines for the SMTs in the branding of a school. Recommendations will also
be provided.
1.10 CONCLUSION The overview of the research was given in this chapter. This was done by
discussing the background of the research problem. The research questions,
objectives and the research design were outlined. Various concepts that are
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prominent in this research were clarified. The ethical considerations were
identified and explained. The demarcation of the research was briefly given and
lastly the division of chapters was outlined.
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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW ON BRANDING
2.1 INTRODUCTION The notion of School Based Management (SBM), alluded to in chapter one,
contextualizes the branding of a school as an inherent part of both the strategy
and strategic management of a school by the school management team. It thus
stands to reason that, the point of departure in the endeavours of the school
management to brand a school is a grounded and lucid knowledge of the
framework of what organizational strategy and strategic management are.
Pearson and Robinson (2007:3) define a strategy as: “Large-scale, future-
oriented plans for interacting with the competitive environment to achieve
company objectives”. Hofer and Schendel (as cited in Anderson, 1982:15) define
strategy as: “the major link between the goals and objectives the organization
wants to achieve and the various functional area policies and operating plans it
uses to guide its day-to-day activities”. “Strategic management, on the other
hand, is defined aptly as: “the set of decisions and actions that result in the
formulation and implementation of plans designed to achieve the company’s
objectives” (Pearce and Robinson, 2007:3).
The preceding definitions, the researcher would posit, locate the concept of
branding within the functional realm of strategic management. Branding is thus a
goal driven, policy-linked part of organizational strategy. It provides an essential
leverage towards the realization of organizational plans and objectives. Smit and
De Cronjé elucidate the status of branding within an organization by identifying
three levels of strategic planning. The three levels are: the corporate strategy,
business strategy and the functional strategy (1992:109).
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Pearce and Robinson (2007:5-6) explain the corporate strategy as a decision-
making level at the top of the organizational hierarchy which involves principally:
the board of directors, the chief executive officer and the administrative officers.
These incumbents are responsible, inter alia, for enhancing the firm’s image,
fulfilling its social responsibilities and exploiting their firm’s distinctive
competencies. In the middle of the decision-making hierarchy is the business
and corporate managers. They are accountable for the formulation of concrete
objectives and strategies emanating from the vision and mission formulated at
corporate level. They have to determine how the firm will compete in the market
area. The functional level is at the bottom of the decision-making hierarchy. This
level is composed of managers of products, geographic and functional areas.
Their responsibility is to develop annual objectives and short term strategies in
functional areas such as: marketing, finance, research and development
etcetera. Branding is thus an essential component of the functional strategic
management element of marketing.
In a school context, the researcher would aver, the equivalent of the board of
directors is the school governing body (SGB) who are responsible for drawing,
the mission of the school i.e. the corporate strategy. The second tier is the Head
of Department (HODs) who are accountable for the core business of the school
which is curriculum delivery. The school management team is the functional
area management structure which, among others, deals with the branding of the
school. They have to formulate objectives and strategies on branding the school
(see table 2-1). These objectives and strategies should guide the day-to-day
activities of the school such that the school is ultimately a strong and meaningful
brand.
The discourse in this chapter will expound cogently on branding against the
backdrop of the preceding argument. Firstly, the discourse will elaborate on the
nature and description of branding. This will be followed by a discussion tracing
the origins of branding from a historical and philosophical perspective.
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Thereafter the laws of branding will be outlined from a school context. The
concepts brand equity, identity and its implementation to establish a strong brand
will be discussed. A branding strategy will then be formulated. The measuring of
brand equity and the branding imperatives will be discussed. Finally, the benefits
of branding a school will be elaborated on.
2.2 THE NATURE AND DESCRIPTION OF BRANDING
An analysis of branding literature reveals a subtle emergence of two schools of
thought regarding branding. The two schools of thought comprise older
authorities like Kotler and younger authorities like Post. The senior generation
puts emphasis about branding on the use of names, logos, signs etc, to define
and describe branding. The younger generation take the definition and
description even further and state that: “branding is not merely a logo, some
catchy tagline, or a creative pastime…branding is a way of life. Branding is at
the heart and soul of an offering. It should be woven into every important
decision and resonate into every point of contact within a marketer’s plan”(Post,
2005: xvii). For purposes of this study, the two schools of thought will be
espoused.
Chiaravelle and Schenk (2007:22) agree with Post, that branding is much more
than a logo or sign, when they state that branding is in essence, the process of
building a positive collection of perceptions in your customers’ minds. A brand,
according to them, is a promise about who you are and what benefits you deliver
that get reinforced every time people come in contact with any facet of you or
your business. The two descriptions of the essence of a brand and branding
highlight the significance of benefits for the customer at every point of contact
with the brand. This has very relevant implications for the name, logo or other
signs of the organization because the business name automatically conjures up
impressions and memories that determine what they believe about you as an
organization, Post (2005:1) elucidates this point by aptly and cogently averring
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that a brand is a psychological impression of value based emotions, lodged in the
mind of the buyer or prospect. Atkins (2004: xi) also argues that the human mind
is capable of turning a brand into an obsession to the point of evangelical or cult
zealotry. This implies that the human mind is a fertile substrate where brands
can thrive abundantly.
Grant (2006:27) confirms the existence of the two schools of thought on the
nature of branding by drawing a comparison between what he calls the old model
and the new theory of branding. The old theory as summarized by Doyle
concludes mathematically that a strong brand = product benefits X distinct identity X added values (S=PxDxAv). Thus a branding programme would
communicate a distinct product benefit – a unique selling proportion (USP), a
distinctive identity made of a logo, name, look and personality as well as
emotional brand values (Post, 2006:26). In countering this description of a
brand, she concludes that a brand is basically a cluster of strategic cultural ideas
(2006:27). Herman (2003:20) concurs with Post (2006) by taking this line of logic
to a higher cognitive level when he asserts that a brand is the anticipation
consumers feel towards a specific benefit about to be derived from an identified
source (a product, a service…) often associated with a standardized set of
symbolic representations (name, logo, emblem, color, tagline, image, etc). The
preceding discussion focused on the nature and description of branding. Focus
will now be on how and when branding originated.
2.3 THE ORIGINS OF BRANDING
The origins of branding are traceable from both historical and philosophical
perspectives. First, the researcher will endevour to give an extensive outline of
the historical origin and then the philosophical origin.
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2.3.1 The historical origin
The word brand, according to Sherry (2005:41), has a tripartite etymology. The
first emphasis in the etymology clusters around burning, the second emphasis
clusters around marking and the third emphasis clusters around deliverance from
danger. The three emphasis have connotations of ownership, indelibility and
intrinsic essence. He further explores the origins of branding in A.D. 960 where
the brand of the rabbit hao was discovered in Northern Song. He also mentions
the handprints in blown ochre on the prehistoric cave paintings at Peche and the
signed casting blocks of the Meidum pyramid as milestones in the historical
development of branding. In medieval Europe there were the trademarks of the
guild hegemony where makers marked their creations as distinctive (Sherry,
2005:44).
Raine (2006:01) tracks the origin of branding down to the period 2700 B.C. This
period marked the origin of livestock branding. The earliest traces of this practice
are found in Egyptian tombs documenting oxen branded with hieroglyphics.
Ancient Greeks and Romans also marked livestock and slaves with a hot iron.
The New world was introduced to branding in 1541 by Hernando Cortez who
used three crosses to mark his cattle. Cheverton confirms the origin of branding
by stating that 200 or 300 years ago, branding was something you did to a cow.
Modern branding, according to him, emerged in the 19th century. Brands
emerged during this period as marks of authenticity in a world of mass
production. Brands bowled into the 21st century as promises. This period
marked the birth of the unique selling proposition (USP) whose intent was to give
a single minded competitive advantage. In the 1950s the brand promise evolved
into the brand image. The 1960s saw the creation of a brand into a synthesis of
knowledge, beliefs and emotional projections (2002:20-5). Keller (2008:43-45)
observes that the history of branding in the USA can be divided into four main
periods: the period 1860 – 1914 which marked the emergence of National
Manufacturer Brands, the period 1915-1929 saw the establishment of Mass
17
Marketed Brands, from 1932-1945 Manufacturer Brands came into being and the
period 1946-1985 introduced the establishment of Brand Management Standards
where a brand manager took ownership of the brand and became responsible for
developing and implementing its annual marketing plan. The philosophical origin
will now be outlined.
2.3.2 The philosophical origins
The philosophical origins of branding are chronologically captured in the sole
work on this subject by Braun (2004). He delineates the origins of branding from
the philosophical ideas and writings of 15 ancient philosophers. The first
philosopher to expound on this concept is Heraclitus (540-475 B.C.). His
greatest perception was that the world is continually in flux. Nothing is stable,
everything changes constantly. Braun (2004:19-25) then concludes that the
aforementioned perception implies that brands provide reference points in an
ever-changing world. Brands stand for something and the relative position and
perception of a brand will not be the same from one day to the next; therefore it
must be managed on the basis of constant flux.
Socrates’s (470 B.C. – 399 B.C.) thought as a philosopher was driven by his
persistent question in search of the truth and his unrelenting focus on the way
our understanding of truth affects our behaviour. To him the rigorous questioning
of the values, motivations and perceptions of all the brand’s stakeholders is
fundamental to good branding and brand management (Braun, 2004:29, 34).
From Socrates the exploration of the origin of branding focuses on Plato (427-
347 B.C.). Plato’s philosophical thought divides total reality into two: the
changing bit which we experience through our senses and the bit which we
cannot experience. These two levels of reality imply that a brand exists on two
levels: the visible, tangible level which is part of our everyday reality and at a
deeper level which is rooted in something unchanging (Braun, 2004:41).
18
According to Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), a brand is a brand by virtue of its form.
Therefore what makes the thing a brand? He identified four causes of branding.
The first cause he called the material cause which focuses on what a brand is
physically whether it is a product or service. The second cause is the efficient
cause which focuses on the name of the brand. It answers questions like who
makes the brand? Who brings the brand to the customer? The third cause is the
formal cause which gives the brand the shape by which it is identified by the
world. The fourth cause gives the brand its ultimate reason for being, i.e., the
end benefit of the brand (Braun, 2004:51-52).
Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was the first of the philosophers whose ideas
contributed to branding in the 1600 era. He was well known for his view on man:
“Cogito ergo sum; I think, therefore I am”. Braun (2004:66) interprets this view
as: I think, therefore I brand. He interpreted branding in terms of Cartesian
dualism which creates two worlds of branding. The first world is what is in the
consumers’ mind which is different from the world of what we see and touch.
This logic helped to raise the importance of relationalism and logical deduction in
the process of branding.
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) and Gottfried Wilhem Leibniz (1646) views on
branding are interlinked. Spinoza stated that the development of a brand’s
tangible properties and how consumers think about a brand overall should not be
managed as if they are separate. The innovation and communication strategies
should be clearly synchronized. Leibniz on the other hand claims that any
statement about a brand that is not self-evident must be subject to ongoing
validation as part of the process of moving it from current reality towards where
we want it to be (Braun, 2004:77).
John Locke (1632-1704) philosophically stated that our experience of the world is
the only reference point for how we progress and that a better test of reality is
19
what our senses tell us – not just reason. Thus we cannot perceive things
without the senses. A brand is only built by adding together a whole range of
sensory perceptions (Braun, 2004:81). David Hume (1711-1776) expands
Locke’s view on the value of the senses on branding when he declared that the
key to the management of brands and branding is feelings, emotions and
passions rather than thoughts. Both Hume and Locke argue that branding
cannot be limited to the cognitive only. Hume further states that consumers
choose and consume brands out of desire, instincts or habits (Braun, 2004:94-
95).
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) also took a critical stance against the
focus on the concept of Reason when he argued that it was a positively bad thing
to be led by Reason. The appeal to Reason suppressed a more natural way in
which we should approach life including branding. He put emotional values to
the centre of branding. Brands, according to Rousseau should be powerful
expressions of people’s feelings (2004:102-103). Emmanuel Kant (1724-1804),
unlike Rousseau, puts emphasis on Reason and the cognitive in his views. He
brought together the two major strands of thinking which are: Reason and
Empiricism, i.e. that which can be thought and that which can be experienced
(Braun, 2004:110). His contribution to branding was pointing out that our
knowledge of consumer markets and brands is not only determined by what
there is to know. It is also determined by what we are capable of knowing
through our bodily senses and our mental facilities (Braun, 2004:113).
George Wilhem Friederich Hegel (1770-1831) was the first philosopher to see
change as a systematic and recognizable process. He saw reality as organic,
inherently unstable and constantly in state of becoming something else. Reality
to Hegel was propelled by the essence of life called “Geist”. His philosophy
centered around the dialectical process. This process is made up of a thesis,
antithesis and synthesis. According to him, brands and branding are the
outcome of the dialectical process. Brand marketing, as influenced by Hegel’s
20
philosophy, is about getting to the next important “Synthesis” first (Braun,
2004:121, 127).
Friederich Nietzsche (1844-1900) saw the world as one entity which is directly
experienced in its totality. He believed that God is dead; however his philosophy
emphasized values. To him values are key to life and branding thus brands will
need to stand for values that truly reflect the way we are…(Braun, 2004:133).
Branding is the search for values which are seen to serve consumers’ interest
(2004:135).
Ludwig Wittgenstein’s (1899-1951) contribution to the philosophy of branding is
contained in his picture theory of meaning. According to this theory, brands
represent the world to us. Each brand does this job in basically the same way
that a picture represents a particular part of the world to us. The role of the
brand is similar to that of a picture in that a brand represents for us something
that we value (2004:145-146). In his second theory of branding, Wittgenstein
sees the brand as a tool that can have several uses and applications
(2004:1514).
The origin and development of branding also went through the era of
Existentialism which, according to Braun (2004:157) was the dramatization of a
brand’s individualism or personality in a way that forces consumers to engage (or
not) with it as part of their world. Brand Existentialism, however, insists that the
brand must assert its individuality and existence in a much more impactful and
challenging way. The key to a successful brand is to make sure that whatever
the brand does, is an authentic expression of its personality and purpose – in
other words its reason for existence (2004:159).
The last of the philosophers to contribute to the philosophical origins of branding
is Karl Popper (1902-1994). The premise of Popper’s philosophy is that scientific
theories can never be proved right. He argued that a single viewpoint is never
21
justified, and that a pluralistic approach will always yield more healthier and
practical outcomes. He also encouraged continuous problem solving which
focused fine tuning the brand to perfection (Braun, 2004:167). The preceding
discourse expounded the historical and philosophical origins of branding. The
researcher will now focus the discussion on the Laws of branding.
2.4 THE LAWS OF BRANDING
An intensive literature study on branding brings to light various streams of
thought on the subject of the Laws of branding by various authorities. First the
researcher will elaborate on the 22 Immutable Laws of branding as advocated by
Ries and Ries (1998). Second will be Zissel’s Seven Laws of Branding as
outlined by André (2007). Third the researcher will give an outline of Frankel’s
Laws of Big Time Branding (2004). Fourth are the Three Laws of Online
Personal Branding (2007). The fifth stream of branding laws is the Five Maxims
of Branding by the Wellesly Hills Group (2007). A discussion of the individual
laws of branding will now be presented and an attempt to argue how these laws
can be applied in a school context, by the School Management Team, will be
made.
2.4.1 The 22 immutable laws of branding
According to Ries and Ries (1998: vii-viii) there are twenty two immutable laws of
branding. These laws are inextricably linked to the marketing programme of an
organization. Everybody in the organization – be it a school or a corporation –
should be conversant with the laws of branding as an aspect of marketing.
Marketing and branding, the researcher would argue, are crucial factors in the
process of building powerful brands in the minds of prospects. Davis (2005:227)
concurs with this assertion when he postulates that an internal culture has to be
created in an organization that makes upholding the brand and its implicit
promises and representations everyone’s raison d’ etre. The prospects in the
22
case of a school would translate into parents, learners and educators. The
purpose of the twenty two immutable laws of branding is to imprint a dominant
mental image of the school in the minds of prospective and potential clients. A
dominant mental image of a brand attests to the power of a brand which lies in its
ability to influence pure purchasing behaviour (Ries and Ries, 1998:5).
The first law of branding is the law of Expansion which as explicated by Ries and
Ries (1998:9), states that the power of a brand is inversely proportional to its
scope. This law implies that the smaller the scope of a brand, the greater the
power of the brand. Inversely, the larger the scope of the brand, the lesser the
power of the brand. For a school to become a powerful brand name, the school
management team needs to keep a narrow line of core curriculum activities. The
National Curriculum Statements set boundaries with regard to this law by
prescribing learning areas in the various phases of schooling. The further
education and training phase (FET) however needs to observe the law of
expansion with caution because the curriculum activities in this phase are broad
and many. To adhere to this law SMT members should understand that
customers or clients prefer brands that are narrow in scope and are
distinguishable by a single word – the shorter the better (Ries and Ries,
1998:13).
The second law is the Law of Contraction. According to this law, a brand
becomes stronger when you narrow its focus (Ries and Ries, 1998:17). The law
of contraction dovetails with the law of expansion. The contraction of a brand
offering allows a school to dominate a particular category of its activities thus
making it a powerful brand. The SMT should decide on the category of
curriculum aspects that they would like to dominate with regard to expertise and
competence. A school can therefore become an icon of excellence in
mathematics or music. Narrowing the school’s focus on its category of activities
also implies intensifying and giving depth to curriculum delivery because
23
educators and learners are afforded the opportunity to excel in their school’s
chosen category.
The law of Publicity is the third law of branding. According to this law the birth of
a brand is achieved with publicity, not advertising (Ries and Ries, 1998:25). For
a school to generate publicity, the SMT has to lead and be dominant in a
particular category. By being a pioneer brand, the school management team is
guaranteed favourable publicity in the media and the community surrounding it.
Once born, a brand needs advertising to stay healthy – that is according to the
fourth law of branding which is the Law of Advertising (Ries and Ries, 1998:33).
Advertising is a phase in the branding process that follows publicity. The school
management team should advertise its strengths in its pioneer category. The
school as a leader in the category should be advertised emphasizing quality and
excellence in its core activities. A township or rural school can advertise its
leadership status as the first school to run a classical music programme with its
orchestra.
The fifth law is the Law of the Word. This law states that a brand should strive to
own a word in the mind of the consumer (Ries and Ries, 1998:39). The word
should not be owned by anyone else. It should be an exclusive word around
which the branding efforts of the SMT will focus and it should be indelible in the
prospect’s mind. A school’s name can evoke a strong sense of order and safety
when prospective consumers think about it. This emotional appeal may result in
the school owning the word ‘discipline’. Another school may own the word
‘athletics’ in the mind of its clients. Ries and Ries (1998:44) concur with this
assertion when they aver that the essence of the brand has to be reduced to a
single thought or attribute which nobody else already owns in a particular
category. The school’s name should be used as a word that seeks to expand the
market and not the brand itself.
24
Law number six is the Law of Credentials. This law maintains that the crucial
ingredient in the success of any brand is its claim to authenticity (Ries and Ries,
1998:49). The claim to authenticity gives a brand its credentials. The credentials
then elevate the brand above competing schools. The leadership position of a
school as a brand is also an important aspect of the brand’s credentials. A
school can get to be known as the leading music school in the country. The
seventh law is the Law of Quality which states that quality is important, but
brands are not built by quality alone (Ries and Ries, 1998:57). Quality and its
perception reside in the minds of the learners, parents, teachers and the
community about a school and its service to them. The implication here is that
the SMT should strive to build a powerful perception of quality in the minds of its
prospective and current clients. The Law of Quality applied in conjunction with
other laws such as the Law of Contraction and the Law of the Name provide for
the creation of a strong brand in a school. Ries and Ries (1998:61) argue
controversially that a high price not only enhances the perception of quality in a
brand, but it also benefits customers in that it allows the affluent customers to
obtain psychic satisfaction from the public purchase and consumption of a high
end brand. A high price, however, needs to be justified with a sterling
performance by the teachers and the school management team.
The eighth law is the Law of the Category which declares that a leading brand
should promote the category, not the brand. Creating a new category is the most
efficient, most productive and most useful aspect of branding. Once a category
has been pre empted, it needs to be aggressively promoted so as to create a
powerful brand and a rapidly escalating market (Ries and Ries, 1998:65-67).
The school management team, in keeping with the law of the category, needs to
establish the school as a category with a unique offering, in other words, locate
the school in the minds of prospects as an exclusive institution which is the very
first one to offer a particular activity. This endeavour will place the school as an
exclusive leader in that category. The school management team can, for
example, establish an efficiently run school orchestra in a township or rural
25
village which plays a combination of classical and traditional African repertoire.
By being the pioneer in the category, the brand would have a generic impact
which will enable it to be representative of that category. Closely linked to the
Law of the Category, is the Law of the Name. This is the ninth law of branding.
It states that in the long run a brand is nothing more than a name (Ries and Ries,
1998:73). This law has a strong link with the law of the word. Both of them refer
to mental icons that can be verbalized which give leverage to a vivid image of an
organization and its worth as a brand. The laws of the name and the word
advocate for a school name which will elicit positive emotions and expectations
whenever it is mentioned.
The Law of Extensions is the tenth law of branding and it proclaims that the
easiest way to destroy a brand is to put its name on everything (Ries and Ries,
1998:79). The existing age old practice in South African schools is to have a
school name that overarches and is all encompassing for all the activities in the
school. This practice is exposed as a branding weakness by the law of
extensions. Rather than attaching the school name to each and every activity,
each activity could be branded independently. This would ensure that the school
is afforded the opportunity of owning a word representative of a particular
category. Presenting individual school activities as independent brands will
ensure that the school’s name is not tarnished by the underperformance and the
ensuing bad publicity generated by a particular activity. Ries and Ries (1998:87)
agree with this statement when they posit that if the market is moving out from
under you, stay where you are and launch a second brand.
The Law of Fellowship is the eleventh law of branding and it states that in order
to build the category, a brand should welcome other brands (Ries and Ries,
1998:89). This law promotes co-existence of competing brands by advocating
the sharing of locations by similar brands. Sharing locations stands to benefit
competing brands due to the element of choice for consumers which in turn
stimulates demand. The rate of demand for excellent service by schools is
26
directly linked to the power and appeal of the brand in a client’s mind. A
dominant brand should welcome competing brands. The school management
team should be knowledgeable about its competitors within its vicinity.
Knowledge of its competitors will provide the SMT with a strong springboard from
which to launch branding tactics and strategic maneuvers to entrench the school
as a strong brand. Knowing one’s competitors also provides a yardstick to
fathom one’s strengths and weaknesses. While competition among schools for
brand dominance is good for the school and its clients, Ries and Ries (1998:94)
argue that research conclusively shows that it is virtually impossible for a brand
to claim more than 50% of the market share. This argument holds true,
particularly with regard to the application of the laws of expansion and
contraction.
Law number twelve is the Law of the Generic which holds that one of the fastest
routes to failure is giving a brand a generic name. Generic names should be
avoided like a plague (Ries and Ries, 1998:97). Giving a school a name like
National School of the Arts does not help the school to be a strong brand name
unless the school is a pioneer in that category. The Law of the Company also
has a bearing on the school as a brand name. This law, which is law number
thirteen, states that brands are brands, companies are companies. There is a
difference (Ries and Ries, 1998:105). The school as a brand is different from a
school as a generic socio-cultural entity. The school management team has to
establish a point of differentiation in their branding of the school.
The fourteenth law is the Law of Subbrands. It declares that what branding
builds, subbranding can destroy. Subbranding can be described as an inside-out
core brand that tries to push the core brand into new directions by making
promises (Ries and Ries, 1998:113-115). Instead of subbranding the school
management team should narrow their focus on the brand as the law of
contraction requires. This means retaining the core brand and perhaps
establishing a second independent brand. This line of logic is amplified by Ries
27
and Ries (1998:117) when they aver that the essence of a brand is some idea,
attribute or market segment you can own in the mind of the customer.
Subbranding on the contrary, is a concept that takes the brand in exactly the
opposite direction. The SMT should avoid the subbranding route. The best
branding practice is to follow the Law of Siblings which holds that there is a time
and place to launch a second brand (Ries and Ries, 1998:119).
The Law of Siblings – which is the fifteenth law of branding – bolsters the case
made by the laws of expansion, contraction, extensions and subbranding with
regard to magnifying a brand such that it is everything to everybody instead of
keeping a narrow focus of the brands. This law seeks to create a family of
brands; each one with its own compelling separate identity. The thrust of this law
is the understanding that the strength of a brand lies in having a separate, unique
identity not in being associated in the mind with a totally different category (Ries
and Ries, 1998:122). The school management team can present various
activities or subjects in various departments as sibling brands each with its own
separate identity. The following six principles should be considered when a
sibling branding strategy is opted for:
• Focus on a common service or curriculum area.
• Select a single attribute to segment.
• Set up rigid distinctions among brands.
• Create different, not similar brand names.
• Launch a new sibling only when you can create a new category.
• Keep control of the sibling family at the highest level (Ries and Ries,
1998:126).
Law number sixteen is the Law of Shape which emanates from the traditional
definition of branding. This law maintains that a brand’s logotype should be
designed to fit the eyes. Both eyes. A logotype is a combination of a trademark,
which is a visual symbol of the brand, and the name of the brand set in distinctive
28
type. The ideal shape for a logotype is horizontal. This horizontal shape
provides maximum impact wherever the logotype is used; be it on buildings,
brochures, letterheads, advertisements, calling cards, school apparel and sports
attires. The words used in the logotype must be legible because they are what
communicates the power of the brand. The typeface used in the logotype must
be carefully considered because the power of a brand name lies in the meaning
of the word in the mind of a prospective client (Ries and Ries, 1998:129-130).
Once a logotype has been selected to give shape to the brand’s visual
representation, colour has to be added to the logotype. The Law of Colour
prescribes that a brand should use a colour that is the opposite of its major
competitor’s. The colours that can help to reinforce the brand name distinctively
are primary colours: red, orange, yellow, green and blue as well as the neutral
colours: black, white and gray (Ries and Ries, 1998:135). When selecting a
colour for a brand or logo, the SMT should focus on the symbolism of their
chosen category, the mood they want to establish and the unique identity they
want to create. The overriding consideration however, is the use of opposite
colours to the school’s competitor. If school A use blue as its colour, school B
should use red. It is preferable that a single colour be used consistently over a
long period because this helps a brand to burn its way into the mind (Ries and
Ries, 1998:140).
The Law of Borders states that there are no barriers to global branding. A brand
should know no borders (Ries and Ries, 1998:143). Building a global brand
implies complying with the first law of branding which is the Law of Expansion–
keeping the brand’s narrow focus in its home country and then going global. The
globalization of a brand is subject to perceptions about its place and origin.
These perceptions can enhance or subtract value held in the mind of the
consumer about a particular school. In the current South African context, the
researcher would contend, schools that are capable of attracting global clients
are Orthodox Church schools. Public schools still need to brand themselves.
29
The Law of Consistency follows after the law of borders. This law states that a
brand is not built overnight. Success is measured in decades, not years (Ries
and Ries, 1998:153). A brand should in essence stand for something of value in
the mind of a prospective client. For a brand to represent something in the mind
its shape, colour, word, name and quality should be firmly etched in the minds of
consumers over decades through consistent effort. The efforts of the SMT
should be consistent over decades in striving to implant the school’s name as a
brand to learners, parents and educators. The sustained use of school
resources should be aimed at building a strong and compelling brand that can
influence the choice of a school among parents and learners. The law of
consistency implies the use of a brand as a personality statement. This
translates into the school becoming a status symbol for everybody associated
with it.
The twentieth law of branding is the Law of Change which states that brands can
be changed, but only infrequently and only very carefully. This law is regarded
as the biggest exception to the laws of branding in that change is not necessarily
good for building a brand because consistency is the cornerstone of branding
(Ries and Ries, 1998:1500). To change a brand is a challenging endevour
because the change process occurs in the mind of the consumer. A brand
should only be changed when it is a weak brand or non-existent in the minds of
prospects (Ries and Ries, 1998:160-161). Where the school management team
is bound to change its brand, the starting point would be to conduct research to
establish the level of its strength and existence in the minds of possible clients. If
the results of the research reveal that the brand is weak, change becomes
imperative with regard to the brand’s focus and positioning.
The Law of Mortality is the twenty first law of branding, and it declares that no
brand will live forever. Euthanasia is often the best solution (Ries and Ries,
1998:165). There are schools – particularly in townships and rural areas which
have lost their credibility and standing in the communities that they are supposed
30
to serve. This status quo is largely brought about by poor management, weak
leadership and conflicts within the school. The law of mortality advices that when
a school is characterized by mediocrity and a void as a brand, then its time to let
it die. A new brand with a completely new image should be created. This may
mean renaming the school, introducing new school colours, a new branding
strategy which means a new vision and mission.
Law number twenty two is the Law of Singularity which maintains that the most
important aspect of a brand is its singlemindedness (Ries and Ries, 1998:171).
This law augments and strengthens the description of a brand as being a
singular idea or concept that you own inside the mind of the prospect (1999:172).
The law of singularity is intertwined with the law of the word which advocates
ownership of a word in the psyche of a client. A school can be symbolic or
representative of prestige, excellence, discipline, class etc. in the minds of
learners, teachers and parents. Conversely the school name can be an icon of
mediocrity, chaos or iniquity when there is no branding strategy being
implemented. Herman (2008:4) acknowledges the significance of Ries and Ries
sterling role in branding but he is also critical of some of their laws particularly the
laws of the word and category. His assessment of these laws led him to
conclude that Ries and Ries simply fail to understand the psychological and
social instrumentalities of branding. This criticism notwithstanding, it is
imperative for the school management team to have a good grasp of the twenty
two laws of branding as advocated by Ries and Ries (1998).
2.4.2 Zissel’s seven laws of branding
André (1999:2) argues that the new approaches in branding call for new
principles or a re-expression of existing principles to better reflect the new
dynamics hence the development of the seven laws of branding by Zissels. The
first law advices that your brand must be a name you can own. This law is
closely linked to Ries and Ries’s law of the name. The school’s name must be
31
clearly identifiable and distinct. The second law contends that your brand must
give the right impression. This implies that the school must have credibility and
positive values. This law dovetails with the law of credentials as stated by Ries
and Ries (1998). Zissells third law of branding, according to André (1999:3)
states that, your brand must stand out from the crowd. This is particularly true
where competition in the market is stiff. The school’s name should stand for
compelling benefits. Law number four holds that your brand must have a certain
something because names that are special touch people and names that touch
people attract people (André, 1999:4).
The fifth law states that your brand name must be short and simple; a good name
must be easy to follow and easy to relate to (André, 1999:5). Most South African
School names do not conform to this law as it was explained in chapter one (1.2)
of this study. The sixth law states that your brand must look and sound good
because when a brand has these attributes, it has appeal. The school itself must
be attractive physically and productive curriculumwise. This combination of
qualities will conjure up a compelling brand whenever the school’s name is
mentioned. Law number seven holds that your brand must linger in the mind.
This means that the school’s name must be able to imprint itself in the minds of
clients (André, 1999:6).
2.4.3 Frankel’s laws of big time branding
Frankel (2004:1) lists ten laws of big time branding. The first law declares that
Brands are not about you, Brands are about them. This law implies that the
school management team must put the interests of its clientele first. The second
law concludes that if branding is wrong, so is everything else. The school
management team should thus have the expertise to transform the school’s
name into a recognized brand. The third law states that Advertising grabs their
minds. Branding gets their hearts. Through branding the SMT can create an
emotional bond with their customers. The fourth law holds that you should build
32
from your strengths. The school management team should identify the school’s
strengths and capitalize on them. The fifth law states that if you can’t articulate it,
neither can anyone else. This law forms a strong link to Ries and Ries’s (1998)
law of the name and Zissel’s law number one (1999). The sixth law proclaims
that the success of a brand varies directly with the ability to accept the mantle of
leaders. If a school is a pioneer in innovative teaching methods it will be a
dominant and successful brand. The seventh law states that the stronger your
brand, the less susceptible you are to pricing issues and competition. The school
will be able to fend off competition even if it charges high school fees. The eighth
law states that the brand begins in the business plan. The school management
team must have a professionally drawn business plan which will result in the
school being a powerful brand. Law number nine warns that advertising is not
branding. Branding is branding. Advertising raises awareness that you create.
The tenth law states that there is no such thing as co-branding. The school
management team should strive to be leaders in a narrow category of their
choice.
2.4.4 The three laws of online personal branding
The Web Worker Daily (2007:1-2) states that there are three laws of personal
branding. Law number one states that an organization should create a valuable
message. Clients must be offered something of value which is an excellent
educational service. Law number two appeals that the organization must repeat
the message about its value often and widely. The SMT must understand that
branding is about repetition. The third law is to be consistent with your message.
The actions and benefits of the school should be consistent with its message.
This law is in alignment with the law of consistency highlighted in Ries and Ries
(1998).
33
2.4.5 Wellesly Hills Group five maxims of branding
The first maxim is the maxim of differentiation. According to this maxim, to build
a strong brand, service companies must implement their brand with hard hitting
positioning strategies that differ significantly from competitors. In fact, most
powerful differentiation strategies are directly opposite from those of primary
competitors (Wellesly Hills Group, 2007:1)
2.5 BRAND EQUITY Aaker (2002:7) defines brand equity as: “a set of assets (and liabilities) linked to
a brand’s name and symbol that adds to (or subtracts from) the value provided
by a product or service to a firm and / or that firm’s customers”. Chiaravalle and
Schenck (2007:22) conceptualize brand equity to be: “The value of your brand as
an asset, based on its qualities, reputation and recognition as well as the
commitment and demand it generates”. Bennet (1995:28) captures the definition
of brand equity as the value of a brand based on consumer attitudes about
positive brand attributes and favourable consequences of brand use. The
Landor lexicon (2006:1) succinctly defines brand equity as the value of the brand
in its holistic sense to its owners as a corporate brand. Keller (2008:48)
broadens the scope of brand equity by introducing customer based brand equity
(CBBE) which he defines as “the differential effect that brand knowledge has on
consumer response to the marketing of that brand”.
A close scrutiny of the definitions of brand equity reveals a golden thread that
spans the words “value, asset, quality, owners, consumers and brand
knowledge”, which are common throughout all the definitions. All these terms
have direct implications with regard to the brand name. The implications are that
the brand name must conjure up positive and appealing attributes of the product
or service being offered to the market. Chiaravalle and Schenck (2007:103)
maintain that a brand image is the key that unlocks your brand image in the
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minds of your customers. The image can be positive or negative. The brand
name must also be representative of the values that a company represents and
also be indicative of the real value of the firm for the owners. Marconi (2006:06)
agrees by stating that your company name should suggest stability and integrity
because having a right name can be as good as having the right product.
Brand equity is an intangible asset whose value in the minds of consumers is the
result of public perception formed by all the impressions a brand makes in its
market place (Chiaravalle and Schenck, 2007:254). The significance of brand
equity is aptly captured in research by Keller (1993:02) where he states that
perhaps the most valuable asset for improving marketing productivity is the
knowledge that has been created about the brand in consumers’ minds from the
firm’s investment in previous marketing programmes. Thus marketers need a
thorough understanding of consumer behaviour. This will enable them to make
better strategic decisions about target market definition and product positioning
as well as better tactical decisions about specific marketing mix actions.
According to Keller (1993:02) brand equity emanates from the concept of brand
knowledge. Brand knowledge encapsulates first the brand identities which are:
the name, term, sign, symbol, design or a combination of these to differentiate
goods or services. The totality of the identities is the brand. Secondly, brand
knowledge can be explained in terms of the “associative network model” which
views semantic memory or knowledge as consisting of a set of nodes and links.
Nodes are stored information connected by links that vary in strength. A
spreading activation process from node to node determines the extent of retrieval
in memory. The nodes and links are crucial for understanding the content and
structure of brand knowledge because they influence what comes to mind when
a customer thinks about a brand.
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Aaker (2002:8) lists four asset categories that are linked to a brand’s name and
symbol which also underpin brand equity. These asset categories assist in
creating value for both the customers and the firm. The categories are:
• Brand name awareness
• Brand loyalty
• Perceived quality
• Brand associations
Research on the conceptualization of brand equity from an individual customer’s
perspective (Keller, 1993:2) proves that the four asset categories help to define
the essence of brand equity which is brand knowledge. This discourse will now
focus on the four asset categories of brand equity in a school context.
2.5.1 Brand name awareness Understanding brand equity and the creation of brand name awareness marks
the beginning of the school management team’s role in branding a school. Aaker
(2002:10) defines brand awareness as the strength of a brand’s presence in the
consumer’s mind. Keller on the other hand states that brand awareness relates
to the likelihood that a brand name will come to mind and the ease with which it
does so (1993:3). The preceding assertions imply that the school management
team should have a plan whose objective would be to imprint the school’s name
and logo in the memory nodes and links of current and prospective clients.
Chiaravalle and Schenck (2007:49) postulate that brand name awareness leads
to marketplace dominance thus a school management team that successfully
achieves brand name awareness is well on its way to becoming a dominant
brand in the marketplace. The brand name awareness concept consists of brand
recognition and brand recall.
Brand recognition reflects familiarity gained from past exposure to the product or
service (Aaker, 2002:10). According to Keller (1993:3), brand recognition relates
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to consumers’ ability to confirm prior exposure to the brand when given the brand
as a cue. This concept requires customers to discriminate the brand as having
been seen or heard of previously.
Brand recall relates to consumers’ ability to retrieve the brand when given the
product category, the needs fulfilled by the category or some other type of probe
as a cue (Keller, 2008:54). Brand recall can be top of the mind i.e. the first
product or service recalled among others. These two concepts of brand name
dominance are dependant on the use of event promotions, sponsorships,
publicity and audio visual media. While Aaker (2002) and Keller (2008) are
strong advocates of brand awareness towards creating brand equity, Godin
(2002:23) cautions that awareness and its reliance on media like the TV may not
necessarily increase brand equity. This line of argument is espoused by Wreden
(2005:36) who regards brand equity as flawed because it excludes the customer
from the brand. Instead he promotes the concept called customer equity which
he describes as the pay-off for retention branding. Brand recognition and brand
recall require a striving by the SMT to ensure that the school’s market is aware of
its existence as a brand. Clients should be able to recognize and recall the
school and its offering. To achieve brand awareness the SMT may embark on a
well planned campaign to inform the market about the school, its location,
achievements, teachers’ and learners’ achievements etc.
2.5.2 Brand loyalty Research on the construct of brand loyalty’s definition yields a number of factor
variances with regard to this concept. The four factors yielded are labelled as
behavioural brand loyalty, attitudinal brand loyalty, multi-brand loyalty, attitudinal
brand loyalty. Jacoby and Kyner (1973:1) assert that while there are many
operational definitions of brand loyalty, there are no conceptual definitions. Thus
they define brand loyalty as the biased behavioural response expressed over
time by some decision making unit with respect to one or more alternative brands
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and it is also a function of psychological processes (1973:2). According to
Bennet (1995:28) brand loyalty is the degree to which a consumer consistently
purchases the same brand within a product class. Cheverton (2002:36)
maintains that brand loyalty results from the quality of the relationship between
the supplier and the customer. The implications of these definitions for the
school management team is striving to establish long term quality relationships
with learners and parents. Learners and parents in the marketplace can be
segmented into clients who are committed, fence sitters, passively loyal, price
switchers and non-customers (Aaker, 2002:22). Understanding these types of
clients will enable the SMT to innovate programmes to instill & sustain brand
loyalty to their school
2.5.3 Brand associations Creating brand associations is one of the ways to establish brand equity. Keller
(1993:3) defines brand associations as the other informational nodes linked to
the brand node in memory and contain the meaning of the brand for consumers.
Brand associations are part of the brand image and can vary according to their
favourability, strength and uniqueness to the client. They can be classified into
three categories, viz, attributes, benefits and attitudes. Attributes are those
descriptive features of a brand that characterize a product or service – what the
consumer thinks the product or service is. They can be divided into product and
non-product related attributes (Keller, 2008:58). Brand benefits are the personal
value consumers attach to the product or service attributes – what the
consumers think the product can do for them. Benefits can be categorized into
functional, experiential and symbolic benefits. Brand attitudes are defined as a
consumer’s overall evaluations of a brand. They relate to salient beliefs a
consumer has about a product or service (Keller, 1993:4). Kotler (1991:66)
concurs with Keller (1993) on the conceptualisaion of brand associations by
positing that the best brand names carry associations. These brands are strong
when their very name connotes positive attributes, benefits, company values,
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personality and uses in the buyer’s mind. Cheverton (2002:136) avers that the
brand name, logo, slogan and customer relationships can help cement positive
brand associations in customers’ minds. For a school to become an established
brand, the SMT should endevour to build favourable, strong and unique
associations of the school. The associations should also engender positive
attributes, benefits and attitudes about the school from its clientele. The school
can thus be associated with excellence, order, discipline and innovative ways of
effective learning and teaching.
2.5.4 Perceived brand quality Ries and Ries (1999:59) aptly state that quality, or rather perceived quality,
resides in the mind of the buyer. If one wants to build a powerful brand, one has
to build a powerful perception of quality in the mind of the consumer. Arnold
contends that perceived brand quality is not an inherent physical characteristic
but a consumer perception. Research on perceived quality of a brand ranks this
aspect as a key measure of brand equity which is also highly associated with
brand liking, trust, pride and willingness to recommend the product or service
(Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000:20). Quality education is the ultimate
aspiration of all stakeholders in education – it should also be an inspiration that
drives the SMT in its efforts of branding the school in a meaningful way. The
school’s market should be able to perceive the quality of teaching and learning
activities both in the form of academics, extra and co-curricular activities. Having
expounded on the concept of brand equity this discussion will now focus on the
formation of the brand identity system.
2.6 BRAND IDENTITY SYSTEM According to Aaker (2002:68) the brand identity system is a unique set of brand
associations that a brand stands for and imply a promise to customers from the
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organisation’s members. Upshaw (1995:12-13) maintains that brand identity is
the configuration of words, images, ideas and associations that forms a
customer’s aggregate perception of a brand. Kapferer (1995:30-33) elucidates
that brand identity lies in the brand’s individuality, goals, consistency, values and
vision. He also captures the essence of what brand identity is, by posing a series
of questions to the brand strategist:
• What is the brands individuality?
• What are its long term goals & ambitions?
• What are its values?
• What is its consistency?
• What are its basic truths?
• What are its recognition signs?
• What colours shall we choose?
• What design will look best?
• What type of print should be used?
Kotler (2001:66) shares Kapferer’s (1995) viewpoint when he postulates that
strong brands typically exhibit an owned word, a slogan, a colour, a symbol and a
set of stories. Kapferer (1995:35) expands his standpoing by drawing a
distinction between brand identity and brand image. He concludes that brand
image centres upon the way a certain public imagines a product service, a brand
etc. Identity on the other hand comes from the sender’s side, its aim is to specify
the meaning, intention and vocation of the brand. Identity precedes image.
Keller (2008:51) defines brand image as the consumers’ perceptions about a
brand, as reflected by the brand associations held in consumer memory. The
school management team needs to create a set identity for the school. By using
the vision and mission of the school, they can specify the meaning, intention and
vocation of the school as a brand. The identity formed will then translate into the
brand image as held by the populace in the school’s market.
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2.6.1 Brand audit Before the school management team sets out on a deliberate endevour of
creating a brand identity for their school, a systematic analysis (a brand audit) of
the school itself, its market, competitors, prospective and current clients should
be done. Aaker (2002:79) outlines three areas of strategic brand analysis, viz,
competitor, customer and self analysis. Customer analysis involves studying the
trends, motivation, unmet needs and segmentation of learners and parents with
regard to schooling. Competitor analysis means a thorough scrutiny of the
identity, image, strengths, weakness and vulnerabilities of competing schools in
the market. Most importantly the school itself should take serious stock of its
existing brand image, its brand heritage, strengths, capabilities and
organizational values. According to Chiaravalle and Schenck (2007:32) the
analysis of the school’s offering should focus on the product or service’s
uniqueness and excellence in attributes. Prospective customers and competition
should be well researched so as to enable the school’s management team to
differentiate their offering as unique and better.
Arnold (1993:40) agrees with Aaker (2002) and Chiaravalle & Schenck (2007)
that a market analysis of a brand is the starting point of brand identity formation.
According to him, market analysis should include market definition,
segmentation, competitor positions and trends. This should be followed by a
brand situation analysis which focuses on the brand personality and individual
attributes of the brand. Holmes (2006:4) suggests that a school should list its
key strengths with concrete proof that they are true. The school management
team should ask itself what is the single claim they want to make as a school and
why should prospects accept it? Wheeler (2006) agrees with Aaker (2002) on
the aspects of brand audit when she posits that understanding competition
should be done by engaging in a competitive audit which she describes as a
dynamic, data gathering process. She goes on to identify the stakeholders and
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language audits to determine their insights as well as content audit, Wheeler
(2006:88-92).
2.6.2 Brand identity structure
The brand identity structure consists of a core identity and an extended identity.
The core identity represents the timeless essence of the brand. It is central to
both the meaning and success of the brand (Aaker, 2002:86). In a school
context the core identity would represent the enduring ethos, values and vision of
the school. According to Kapferer (2008:183) the identity structure can be
represented by a hexagonal prism which contains brand identity attributes such
as the physical specificities and qualities, brand personality, the brand as a
culture, a brand as a relationship, a brand as a customer relationship, a brand as
a customer reflection and a brand as self image. The extended brand identity
includes elements that provide texture and completeness such as important
elements in the brand’s marketing programme (Aaker, 2002:87).
2.6.3 Brand identity approaches
The brand identity system has four perspectives or approaches which are
essential to give a brand texture and depth. These perspectives are important in
the creation of a strong and meaningful brand thus the school management team
should consider these approaches in their efforts of branding their school.
2.6.3.1 The brand as a product/service
A school can be conceptualized as both a product and service offering (Davies
and Ellison, 1991:51). The dualistic nature of a school as a brand, the
researcher would argue, is centred on the nature of learners nurtured at the
school as well as the quality of tuition offered at the school. Keller (2001:20)
points out that strong brands consistently convey meaning of the brand to
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consumers in terms of what products the brand represents, what core benefit it
supplies and what needs it satisfies. Aaker (2002:78) sums up the discussion of
a brand as a product or service by stating that, a core element of a brand’s
identity is its product or service thrust which brings desirable and feasible
associations.
2.6.3.2 The brand as a person
The brand careers glossary (2006:3) defines brand personality as the attribution
of human personality traits such as warmth, seriousness, imagination etcetera to
a brand as a way to achieve differentiation. Aaker (2002: 141) defines a brand
personality as the set of human characteristics associated with a given brand.
Kapferer (1995:39) also maintains that a brand has a personality and acquires
character. Neal and Strauss (2008:346) also concur with Aaker (2002) that a
brand personality is the human characteristics associated with a brand.
Buchholz and Wordeman (2000:112) contend that a brand can symbolize a
specific, fascinating character trait that the consumer either possesses and or
wishes to demonstrate. They go on to list personality traits such as: free,
independent, hip, innovative, trendy, individualistic, unconventional, interesting,
intelligent, dependable, tough, brave, courageous, inner strength, open, tolerant,
laid back, nonchalant, natural, genuine, down to earth, mature, clever, astute,
sauve, sophisticated, active, dynamic, sporty, youthful, rebellious and decadent.
A school’s management team can select the appropriate brand personality for
their school. The personality may be based on the founder or sponsors of the
school.
2.6.3.3 The brand as organization
This perspective of branding focuses on the attributes of the organization such as
innovation, a drive for quality and concern for the environment which are created
by people, culture, values and programmes of the company. The most
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representative associations with regard to the brand as an organization are
outlined by Aaker (2002:118) as follows:
• Society or community orientation
This occurs when an organization such as a school is simply a good citizen
and it demonstrates this inclination by being environmentally sensitive,
sponsoring worthwhile charities, showing interest and getting involved in their
communities and even how they treat their employees. Keller (2008:474)
posits that creating a sense of brand community through cause or corporate
societal marketing can serve as a rallying point for brand users and a means
for them to connect to or share experiences with other consumers or
employees of the company itself.
• Perceived quality
Quality is by its nature an intangible asset of a brand – the researcher would aver
– hence marketers consistently concentrate on providing tangible evidence of
service quality in organizations. To achieve this goal, organizations make good
use of mechanisms such as the place where the brand is offered. The place
should be attractive and inviting. The people working in the
customer/organization interface must be professional and well groomed. The
equipment and other resources must be of a high standard and contribute to
efficiency. The communication systems must effectively promote the
organization’s desired market position as a quality service provider (Chaston,
1999:119-120). Brand quality, according to Keller (2008:68), is a brand
judgement by the consumers’ overall evaluations of a brand choice. The
importance of brand quality is highlighted by Neal and Strauss (2008:12) when
they illucidate that customers today are looking for more than an assurance of
quality from their brands; they are looking for meaning. Aaker (2002:123)
concurs by postulating that quality can be communicated directly by showing,
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through demonstrations by argument that a brand’s product or service attributes
are superior to a competitor’s.
• Innovation
Innovation is a vehicle for companies to appear more modern and up to date. A
reputation for innovativeness can provide credibility, particularly when the
innovations can make a difference in people’s lives (Aaker, 2002:125). Keller
agrees by contending that innovation is being modern and up to date, investing in
research and development and introducing the newest product features
(2008:456). Innovation may also mean looking at your customers the way your
competitors don’t and also looking at your employees and other stakeholders the
way your competitors don’t – and that this may also provide rich sources of ideas
and inspiration (Neal and Strauss 2008:173). Innovations in communications are
particularly significant for companies. Pringle and Gordon (2001:145) attest to
this statement by arguing that the first point for a CEO and top management to
take on board is that the era of increasing high technology in communication is
creating extra value in quality personal interaction with customers using
technology to create a high touch. Innovation implies that the school
management team should be creative and up to date regarding methodology,
curriculum delivery and communication with stakeholders.
• Concern for customers
Many organizations enshrine a drive to always place the customer first as a core
value. This implies that the brand will strive to deliver what the customer wants,
with honesty, care, dependability and respect (Aaker, 2002:27). The significance
of concern for customers is illuminated by research conducted by Susan Fournier
at Boston University on the concept of brand relationship quality. According to
her a caring brand creates a consumer brand relational bond. The bond results
in six main facets such as interdependence, self concept connection,
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commitment love/passion, intimacy and brand partner quality which define a
brand’s strength in terms of the depth, and durability of the consumer-brand
relational bond (Keller, 2008:388). The school management team should thus
strive to establish harmonious and professional relations with its brand users.
• Presence and success
The visibility of and presence of the organization behind the brand can create an
image size, substance and competence. The organization’s background of
success brings with it prestige and credibility (Aaker, 2002:122).
• Local vs global
Local schools have had their measure of globalization trends and influences.
The advent of the internet and websites has resulted in schools adopting a global
outlook and practices. Keller (2008:605) argues that for an organization to
establish global customer based brand quality it has to establish breadth and
depth of brand awareness, create points of parity and points of difference, elicit
positive accessible brand responses and forge intense, active brand
relationships. The aforementioned factors are strongly dependent on the six core
brand building blocks; brand salience, brand performance, brand imagery, brand
judgements, brand feelings and brand resonance. The local school management
teams need to implement these principles when planning to enter the global
market arena.
According to Keller (2008:607) there are the “Ten Commandments of Global
branding” which he lists as follows:
• Understand similarities and differences in the global branding landscape.
• Don’t take shortcuts in brand building.
• Establish marketing infrastructure.
• Embrace intergrated marketing communications.
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• Cultivate brand partnerships.
• Balance standardization and customization.
• Balance global and local control.
• Establish operable guidelines.
• Implement a global brand equity measurement system.
• Leverage brand elements.
For local schools to concentrate on becoming great local brands is a good
strategic option. Going global as a school, would enhance the identity and equity
of local school brands, the researcher would contend, because competing
against global school brands implies that local schools would be ranked and
rated by global standards. Thus a South African school which has a global
intake of learners would be a strong and meaningful brand.
2.6.3.4 The brand as a symbol
Aaker (2002:84) aptly distinguighes three forms of symbols used in branding, viz,
visual imagery, metaphors and the brand heritage. Kotler (1999:66) concurs with
Aaker’s assertion (2002) when he postulates that the brand identity of strong
brands typically exhibits an owned word, a slogan, a colour, symbol and a set of
stories.
• Audio visual imagery
The audio visual imagery aspect of brand identity includes symbolic
representations such as the brand name, owned word, associated sound,
colours, logos and symbols. Etzel, Walker and Stanton (1997:92) define a brand
name as the part of the brand that can be vocalized – words, letters and or
numbers. According to Kotler (1999:64) a brand name should have the following
desirable qualities.
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(a) It should suggest something about product benefits.
(b) It should suggest something about product qualities such as action or
colour.
(c) It should be easy to pronounce, recognize and remember.
(d) It should be distinctive.
(e) It should not carry poor meanings in other countries and languages.
Ries and Ries (2004:5) argue that the heart of a good marketing program is a
great name. Wheeler (2006:104) cogently contends that the naming process
requires experience in linguistics, marketing, research and trademark law.
Names should be judged against brand positioning, goals, performance criteria
and availability within a sector. The law of the word states that a brand should
strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer. A strong brand should trigger
another word whenever it is mentioned. The triggered word should be a
favourable one in the minds of consumers of the brand (Ries and Ries, 1998:39).
When a school name is mentioned a word that may be triggered can be
discipline, music, quality etcetera.
In addition to an owned word, a school may adopt a slogan. A slogan or tagline
is associated with the brand name and it is repeated every time in an
advertisement of the brand and it helps to strengthen the brand image.
Chiaravelle and Schenck (2007:140) advise that a great tagline should: be short,
memorable, convey a brand’s point of difference by telling what sets it apart from
others, differentiate a business from others, promise and personality, believable
and original and also clarify a brand’s market position and key benefits. A brand
may also use jingles which are musical messages written around the brand.
They often have enough catchy hooks and choruses to become almost
permanently registered in the minds of listeners (Keller, 2008:164).
A brand should have its own colours that are consistently used to create powerful
and immediate recognition and brand recall. Wheeler (2006:110) posits that
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colour is used to evoke emotion, express personality and stimulate brand
association. Traditionally the primary brand colour is assigned to the symbol and
the secondary colour is assigned to the logotype, business descriptor or tagline.
The ultimate goal is to own a colour that facilitates recognition and builds brand
equity. Symbols and logos play an important role in communicating the identity
of the brand and they also make the brand unique and distinctive.
• Brand metaphors
According to Aaker (2002:85) brand metaphors make brand symbols to be more
meaningful – particularly where the symbol is representative of a functional,
emotional or self-expressive benefit. The school logo or symbol should
encapsulate a metaphorical benefit.
• Brand heritage
The brand essence can also be captured in a vivid meaningful heritage (Aaker,
2002:85). Kotler (1999:67-69) agrees by stating that interesting and favourable
stories associated with the brand can be beneficial to the brand. The stories
might be stories about the founders of the brand or the struggles encountered in
the building of the brand. According to Neal and Strauss (2008:184-185) the
storytelling power in branding can start with the CEO who can employ storytelling
to dramatically communicate the core values of the brand, its meaning to the
organization, how relevant this is to the market and how it differentiates the
company, product or service. Another way is through formal communications via
internal newsletters, intranets, videos and CDs. In-person storytelling at face-to-
face meetings can also be used. In these meetings the legends and myths that
are part of the school can be used to underline the core values central to the
brand promise and brand experience. The legends can be used to show how
they can be employed to overcome operational and organizational barriers and
contribute to the school’s success.
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2.7 VALUE PROPOSITION AND CREDIBILITY
The notions of value proposition and credibility form part of the brand identity
system. The brand’s value proposition or unique selling proposition (USP)
precedes the brand identity implementation system. According to Aaker
(2002:95) a brand’s value propositioning is a statement of functional, emotional
and self expressive benefits delivered by the brand that provide value to the
customer. Functional benefits are based on product attributes that provide
functional utility to the customers. These benefits usually relate directly to the
functions performed by the product or service for the customers. Keller
(2008:195) describes functional benefits as the attributes of a product or service;
its value and its quality.
Emotional benefits are positive brand feelings which a customer gets upon
purchasing or using a brand. Emotional benefits add richness and depth to the
experience of owning or using the brand (Aaker, 2002:99). According to Keller
(2008:69) there are six brand building feelings which are: warmth, fun,
excitement, security, social approval and self respect.
Self-expressive benefits provide a way for a person to communicate his or her
self image i.e. the brand becomes a vehicle to expressing part of their actual or
ideal self-identity to which they aspire (Aaker, 2002:153). Keller (2008:388)
refers to self-expressive benefits as the self concept connection which he defines
as the degree to which the brand delivers on important identity concerns, tasks or
themes thereby expressing a significant part of the self-concept, both past and
present, and personal as well as social. Cheverton (2002:10) asserts that a
brand is a complex emotional charge which is composed of social expression,
satisfaction, a promise and a guarantee of use authenticity. A value proposition
essentially lends credibility and trust to the brand which ultimately results in an
enduring customer-brand relationship. Keller (2008:68) describes brand
credibility as the extent to which customers see the brand as credible in terms of
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three dimensions which are perceived expertise, trustworthiness and likability. Is
the brand seen as competent, innovative, a market leader, dependable, keeping
customer interest in mind, fun, interesting and worth spending time with?
The implications of the notions of value proposition and credibility for the school
management team are that their school should satisfy the functional, emotional
and self-expressive benefits of its clientele in order to establish enduring
customer-brand relationships.
2.8 BRAND IMPLEMENTATION SYSTEM
The brand implementation system is made of three steps. The steps are: a
brand position statement which specifies what part of the identity is to be actively
communicated. The second step is the execution of the communication program
which includes selection of the media to be used and creation of actual
advertisements or programs. The last stage is the tracking stage (Aaker,
2002:176).
2.8.1 Brand position
According to Tybout and Sternthal (2005:11) brand positioning refers to the
specific, intended meaning for a brand in the consumer’s mind. A brand’s
position articulates the goal that a consumer will achieve by using the brand and
why it is superior to other means of accomplishing this goal. Chiaravalle and
Schenck (2007:78) define brand positioning as the process of finding an
unfulfilled want or need in your customer’s mind and filling it with a distinctively
different and ideally suited offering. Aaker (2002:176) aptly defines a brand
position as the part of the brand identity and value proposition that is to be
communicated to the target audience and that demonstrates an advantage over
competing brands. Keller (2008:98) defines brand positioning as an act of
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designing the company’s offer and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued
place in the target customer’s minds.
Brand positioning requires the school management team to identify its target
market and thereafter strive to capture the minds and confidence of its
prospective clients such that the school brand resonates with the clients.
Wheeler (2006:38) supports this argument when she declares that positioning
evolves to create openings in the market that is continually changing, a market in
which consumers are saturated with products and messages. It takes advantage
of changes in demographics, technology, marketing cycles, consumer trends and
gaps in the market to find new ways of appealing to the public. This assertion
further means that the SMT should consider its world of competition, the needs of
learners and parents as well as its own strengths and weaknesses. This
exercise in self analysis will enable the school to imprint and etch its position in
the minds of its prospective audience.
2.8.1.1 Positioning fundamentals
Tybout and Sternthal (2005:12) suggest that a brand’s position be started by:
• A brief description of the targeted consumers in terms of some identifying
characteristics such as demographics and psychographics.
• An assertion regarding why the brand is superior to alternatives in the
frame of reference referred to as the point of difference.
• Supporting evidence for claims related to the frame of reference and point
of reference referred to as reason to believe.
2.8.1.2 Sources of positioning
Kotler (1999:58) lists the following seven possible sources of positioning a
product or service:
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• Attribute positioning – where the company positions itself on an attribute
or feature.
• Benefit positioning – the product or service promises benefits.
• Use or application positioning –the product or service is positioned as the
best in a certain application.
• Competitor positioning – the product or service suggests its superiority or
difference from a competitor’s product or service.
• Category positioning – the company may describe itself as the category
leader.
• Quality/Price positioning – the product or service is positioned at a certain
price level.
Upshaw (1995:23) makes an interesting claim that brand positioning is the
strategic genesis of the marketing mix. He further states that a brand is
positioned by consumers in their own lives based on their own perceptions of the
brand. This includes other competing goods and services performance. This
means learners and parents will position a school in their minds on the basis of
its perceived quality.
2.8.1.3 The value context positioning
Cheverton (2002:101) and Kotler (1999:59-61) come to the same factual
presentation and outline of brand positioning on the basis of value for money as
perceived by customers. They outline the key aspects of value positions as
follows:
• Getting more for more.
• Getting more for the same.
• Getting more for less.
• Getting the same for less.
• Getting less for much less.
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These contexts of positioning are relevant to the SMT that seeks to quantify its
service offering at its school in financial terms. The quality and performance of
the school should convince the paying clientele that there is value for money
offered by the school as a brand.
2.8.2 Brand communication
A brand as already indicated, is a mixture of tangible and intangible attributes
which are symbolized by a trademark which creates value and influence. Also,
branding has already been defined as the use of a name, term, symbol, design or
combination of these to differentiate a product or service from a competitor’s.
These two concepts are the point of departure in communicating a brand. They
follow the first line in brand communication. Kapferer (1995:64) concurs with this
assertion by stating that a brand has created a territory of communication by
according itself a combination of spoken and visual language. He goes on to
aver that brand communication expresses the meaning of a brand. It injects its
own values into the product and it seeks to portray the brand concept (1995:175).
2.8.2.1 Types of brand communication
A brand can be communicated to the market to create brand awareness and
brand loyalty through publicity, advertising, promotion and a website. Ries and
Ries (1999:25) maintain, in their branding law of publicity, that the birth of a
brand is achieved with publicity, not advertising. Thus the brand manager needs
to start by targeting a specific audience, selecting the right communication media
outlets and preparing the publicity news. This can be done via phone calls, fax,
mail, e-mail or editorial contacts (Chiaravalle and Schenck, 2007:171). A
creative press kit should be created for effective publicity. New angles and photo
opportunities should be scheduled and proactively pitched (Post, 2005:122).
54
Ries and Ries (1999:33) argue, in their law of advertising, that once born a brand
needs advertising to stay healthy. Cheverton (2002:150) concurs and posits that
there is a difference between advertising and brand advertising. Brand
advertising is intended to build and communicate the brand’s definition. It should
concern itself with communicating the essence of the brand or the brand DNA.
Chiaravalle and Schenck (2007:186-187) assert that good advertising grabs
attention, heightens interest, creates emotional connection and etches a positive
brand image in your target prospect’s mind; thus the brand strategist should
strive to communicate a message of consistency and clear purpose. According
to Keller (2008:229) the brand strategist has the following advertising options:
television, radio, print, direct response, interactive and place advertising.
Wheeler (2006:140) maintains that signage is also an important brand
communication option which functions as identification, information, persuasion,
communication and drama.
Research on the effects of advertising on brand switching and repeat purchasing
(Deighton, Henderson and Neslin, 1994:28) highlights the consequences of
advertising on household brand choice. The research revealed that advertising
exposure can: increase the probability that the household will change brands
(brand switching), induce the household to stay with the brand last purchased
(repeat purchase) or it can have no effect on results from advertising, building
brand awareness or altering beliefs about brand awareness.
Promotions are time sensitive, attention generating events that aim to alter
customer perception or behaviour (Chiaravalle and Schenck, 2007:203).
According to Kelly and Silverstein (2005:152) the broader and more appropriate
meaning of promotion includes such diverse non traditional marketing tactics
such as advertisements, event marketing and buzz marketing. Keller (2008:257)
lists two forms of promotions, viz, consumer and trade promotions. Public
relations and publicity relate to a variety of programs and are designed to
promote or protect a company’s image. Public relations may include annual
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reports, fundraising and membership drives, lobbying, special event
management and public affairs. Publicity is non personal communication such
as press releases, media interviews, press conferences, feature articles,
newsletters, photographs, films, CDs and tapes (Keller, 2008:264).
A website can be a powerful brand building tool for the school management
team. It can be used for advertising and sponsored content such as the school’s
information. A website should also have an intranet to connect people within the
organisation. The intranet can also be used to directly communicate the brand
identity and the brand strategies. Another feature of a website is to establish a
customer extranet to allow them access to information about the school (Aaker,
2002:237).
2.9 BRANDING STRATEGY
According to the Brand Career Glossary (2006:3) a brand strategy is a plan for
the systematic development of a brand to enable it to meet its agreed objectives.
The strategy should be rooted in the brand’s vision driven by the principles of
differentiation and sustained consumer appeal. The brand strategy should
influence the total operation of a business to ensure consistent brand behaviour
and brand experiences. Kapferer (1995:108) conceptualizes the following
branding strategies: product brand, line brand, range brand, umbrella brand,
source brand and endorsing brand. The problem with these strategies, the
researcher would argue, is that they are strictly applicable to tangible products
only.
Recklies (2006:4) on the other hand suggests the use of the following strategic
structures of branding: individual brands, family branding, line family branding
and brand extension branding. Both Kapferer (I995) and Recklies (2006) make a
case for corporate branding as a new strategy which can be inclusive of both
products and services. Closely linked to the corporate strategy is the family
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branding strategy. Chematomy (cited in Recklies, 2006:4) concludes that the
corporate brands are a crucial means to help make the service offering more
tangible in consumers’ perceptions and trust in the range of services provided by
the company.
Corporate branding according to King (cited in Ind, 1996:2) is a brand that has a
relationship with a stakeholder. It is thus a combination of all forms of
communication and experience. A corporate brand has the following core
attributes: cohesion, uniqueness, intangibility, complexity and responsibility (Ind,
1996:2-3). A corporate brand begins by acknowledging the vision, mission and
values of the brand. It is a reflection and an embodiment of brand equity as
manifested internally and externally of the organization. It should thus align itself
perfectly with the purpose and value system of the organization (see fig. 2-2).
2.10 MEASURING BRAND EQUITY (TRACKING)
Brand equity can be measured using quantitative and qualitative approaches.
The Young and Rubicam (Y&R) Asset Valuator is one such equity measurement
tool. It uses a questionnaire with 32 items to examine a brand. The tool also
includes a set of brand personality scales and four sets of measures such as:
brand differentiation, relevance, esteem and knowledge of the brand. The
second quantitative measure is the Total Research’s Equitrend (Aaker,
2002:304) which is based on a small sample set of simple yet powerful questions
that can make judgements about the dynamics of brand equity and its effects. It
is based on measures of three brand equity assets: brand salience, perceived
quality and brand user satisfaction (Aaker, 2002:310). Interbrand’s top brands is
another approach of identifying the strongest brands in the world. It uses seven
criteria to measure the business prospects of the brand, the brand’s market
prospects, the brand’s market environment and consumer perceptions. The
seven criteria are brand: leadership, stability, market, international vs national or
57
regional brands, trend, support and protection of the brand by its legal trademark
(Aaker, 2002:313).
Qualitative measures base their conclusions on focus group information. To elicit
information about the brand, focus group interviews are conducted to measure:
brand loyalty, perceived quality and leadership, differentiation measures,
awareness and market behaviour measures (Aaker, 2002:319).
2.11 BRAND IMPERATIVES
Building a brand involves strategic and tactical imperatives that create significant
organizational challenges. The first strategic imperative is to create a brand
identity and the second is to coordinate across organizational units, media and
markets. This implies designating organizational positions that will provide
leadership and management of the brand. This management portfolio will
include the brand manager, brand equity manager, CEO, global brand manager,
brand champions, a brand committee, communications coordinator and agencies
(Aaker, 2002:340). The brand manager in collaboration with other members of
the team will focus on analyzing the market, planning, coordinating and
controlling brand activities (Bureau, 1981:3).
Sartain and Schuman (2006:242) point out that a brand should also be branded
from the inside, that is, from within the organization. They advocate that a brand
that starts from the inside based on the vision, values and mission is a brand that
communicates what an organization stands for and creates a stellar performance
to consumers. Chiaravalle and Schenck (2007:329) amplify this assertion by
positing that for a brand to be successful it needs brand champions, beginning
with the leader of the organization and every single person who affects the
consumer’s experience with the brand – in other words everybody in the
organization must live the brand.
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In a school context, for the school to live the brand, the entire SMT would have to
espouse the branding imperatives as already outlined. Particularly the
establishment of roles and responsibilities regarding branding within the SMT
itself. It is the researcher’s considered view that when the SMT leads by
example and strive to live and sustain the brand, every member of the school will
follow suit.
2.12 BRANDING BENEFITS
Keller (2008:6) argues that brands take on special meaning to consumers;
brands provide a shorthand device or means of simplification for their product
decisions. They can serve both as symbolic devices and signals of quality.
Based on their knowledge of the brand, consumers can make assumptions and
form reasonable expectations about the brand. Recklies (2006:2) summarises
the benefits of branding by postulating that a brand identifies the company
products or service and makes repeat purchases easier. Branding helps to
evaluate the quality of a product or service. It also fosters brand loyalty. It may
offer psychological reward as a status symbol.
Branding a school has several benefits for the school and its stakeholders. The
school that is a strong and meaningful brand will have a large enrolment of
learners. A large learner enrolment would ensure a higher grading level of the
school, e.g. an S12 school. This means more positions of employment at both
promotional and entry level. The higher the school grading the higher the
salaries of the top management of the school. The ministry of education will
allocate more funds for the school. The reputation of the school becomes
enhanced and positive. A well branded school will never be a candidate for
school mergers, closure or redeployment of teachers. Branding a school also
has the benefit of stable and harmonious working relations among all the
stakeholders.
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2.13 CONCLUSION
The discourse in this chapter began by providing a context for the branding of a
school by the school management team. The nature and description of branding
was discussed. This was followed by the historical and philosophical origins of
branding. The discussion then focused on the salient concepts of branding such
as brand equity, brand identity, value proposition, laws of branding, branding
strategy and lastly brand benefits. The entire discourse focused on the role that
the school management team (SMT) can play in branding a school.
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CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES
3.1 INTRODUCTION Chapter two of this research focused on an extensive literature review of
branding. In this chapter the researcher’s intent is to present an outline and
discussion of the methodology that the researcher used to gather data on
branding because the main aim of this research is to investigate the role of the
school management team in the branding of a school. This discourse will focus
first on the salient aspects of the qualitative research design. The discussion will
then be on how the sample was chosen. The sampling process will be followed
by an outline of the issues of validity and reliability. A discussion of the research
instruments used will follow the aforementioned concepts of validity and
reliability. The discussion will then elucidate how data processing and analysis
will be done in this research. Lastly, the limitations of this study will be stated
and the chapter will be concluded.
3.2 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN The praxis of research bifurcates into two main classes which are the quantitative
and the qualitative paradigms. Quantitative research methods were originally
developed in the natural sciences to study natural phenomena. Qualitative
research methods on the other hand were developed in the social sciences to
enable researchers to study social and cultural phenomena (Myers, 2008:2).
This discourse will be situated in a qualitative research paradigm firstly because
the unit of analysis is the school, which is a socio-cultural entity. Secondly, this
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form of inquiry will afford the researcher the opportunity to examine the qualities,
the characteristics or the properties of a phenomenon for better understanding
and explanation (Henning, Van Rensburg, and Smit, 2004:5). A definition of
qualitative research will further elucidate the reasons why the researcher chose
to locate this study within the realms of this mode of inquiry.
Denzin and Lincoln (2001:xii) define qualitative research as an interdisciplinary
field constituting at one and the same time a set of theoretical and interpretive
practices and the study of such practices as they represent, re-present, interpret
and indeed, constitute some set of realities and lived experience. It is multi-
paradigmatic in focus, encompassing more than a dozen ‘lenses’ which seek to
give focus, meaning and substance to the lived experiences which are being
reported. Weber (1999:3) concurs with the preceding definition when he states
that it is a strategy of social research which deploys several methods and
displays a preference for the interpretation of social phenomena from the point of
view of the meanings employed by the people being studied; the deployment of
natural rather than artificial settings for the collection of data and generating
rather than testing theory.
The two definitions provide a substrate for the researcher to probe the lived
experiences of school management teams with regard to the phenomenon of
branding. The meanings attached to this concept by school management team
members will be understood by analyzing their feelings, beliefs, ideals, thoughts
and actions (McMillan and Schumacher, 1993:371). The qualitative research
design, as Merriam contends, focuses on meaning in context thus it will further
strengthen the aim of the research which is to investigate the role of the SMT in
the branding of a school (Merriam, 1998:2).
Qualitative research in education can take the form of anyone of the following
five types: basic or generic qualitative study, ethnography, phenomenology,
grounded theory or case study. This study is structured as a basic or generic
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qualitative study. The researcher chose this genre because it exemplifies the
salient characteristics of qualitative research which are:-
• The goal of this research orientation is to elicit understanding and
meaning that people have constructed.
• The researcher is the primary instrument for data collection and analysis.
• This research strategy and
• The product of this type of research is a richly descriptive narrative
(Merriam, 1998:11)
Maykut and Morehouse (1994:43-47) also characterize qualitative research along
the same lines as Merriam (1998) when they outline the characteristics that it has
an exploratory and descriptive focus designed to discover what can be learnt
about the phenomenon of interest. This research genre is undergirded by an
emergent design where the researcher can identify new leads during the data
analysis which then implies either broadening or narrowing the salient aspects of
the inquiry. A purposive sample has to be selected in the gathering of data.
Data collected from the sample is done in a natural setting. The role of the
researcher as a human-instrument in data collection is emphasized. The data
collected for qualitative inquiry should be collected using methods that will allow
for capturing using language and behaviour of participants. The data analysis
should occur early and on an ongoing basis in the research. Lastly a discursive
approach is used to report the research outcomes.
The implications of the two streams of qualitative research characteristics are
that – the researcher, should understand and be conversant with the
researcher’s role as a data collection tool that has to mediate and respond to the
data. In this research, the researcher had to explore and try to elicit meaning
attached to the phenomenon of branding by the school management teams.
This process was done by adhering to and applying the aforementioned
characteristics of qualitative research. The researcher had to visit SMT
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members, record the interviews, and analyze them with the aim of presenting the
findings in the form of a rich, thick description (Merriam, 2002:15)
3.2.1 Philosophical foundations Merriam (1998:1) contends that when a choice for a research design is made,
the researcher should understand the philosophical foundations underlying the
type of research. She then distinguishes three philosophical traditions or
paradigms that research can be embedded in or underpinned by – these are the
positivist, interpretive and critical research orientations (1998:2). Henning, Van
Rensburg and Smith (2004:16) also, posit that research is located within the
realms of philosophical epistemologies which they outline as:
positivist/postpositivist, interpretivist/constructivist, and the critical frameworks. In
the positivist framework knowledge is gained through scientific and experimental
research and it is objective and quantifiable. In the interpretive orientation,
knowledge is gained through the understanding of the meaning of the process or
experience by employing inductive, hypothesis or theory generating methods.
In the critical paradigm of research knowledge is gained through an ideological
critique of power, privilege and oppression (Merriam, 1998:4). Wiseman
(1999:255) also makes a case for the philosophical foundations of research by
differentiating between the test and measurement or quantitative method and the
philosophical or phenomenological method of research. He further avers that the
philosophical method is a procedure for describing the various ways individuals
conceptualize the world around them. The test and measurement method
involves the creation and validation of instruments of assessment.
From the various research paradigms outlined in the preceding discourse, the
applicable one to the researcher’s inquiry is the interpretive research paradigm.
The interpretive research paradigm is also referred to as qualitative research
because it is a mode of inquiry that aims to capture the lived experiences of
64
participants in order to understand and interpret meaning (Henning et.al.
2004:19). Merriam (2002:4) strengthens this description of interpretive
qualitative research when she states that it is a research paradigm that focuses
on the multiple constructions and interpretations of reality and learns how
individuals experience and interact with their social world, the meaning it has for
them. This mode of inquiry, not only gives a theoretical framework for my
discourse but it also creates a platform for the researcher’s assumptions and
biases on the topic of this research.
McMillan and Schumacher (1993:372) postulate that qualitative research is
naturalistic inquiry which uses noninterfering data collection strategies to
discover the natural flow of events and processes and how research participants
interpret them. Maykut and Morehouse (1994:3) locate the interpretive
qualitative research within the phenomenological position. The two philosophical
foundations outlined enable the researcher to further place my inquiry in the
basic or generic qualitative mode because it focuses on description,
interpretation and understanding of the phenomenon of interest (Merriam,
1998:12).
The phenomenological approach that the researcher referred to in the preceding
paragraph forms a bedrock on which the basic or generic qualitative research
can answer fundamental philosophical questions which Mykut and Morehouse
(1994:3) categorize into ontological, epistemological, logical and teleological
questions. The ontological assumptions seek to ask questions such as what is
the nature of reality? Thus what is the nature of branding as a reality to the
school management team. The epistemological assumptions relate to questions
about the origins of knowledge – can this study strengthen the relationship
between what the SMT knows and what needs to be known about the values of
branding? Logic seeks to explore the possibility of generalization – can this
study be applied to all schools in terms of branding? Teleological questions
probe the purpose of this research with regard to its contribution to generating
65
knowledge (1994:3-4). This research should thus be able to fill the knowledge
gap that might exist regarding the branding of a school by the school
management team. The philosophical foundations create a context and a
theoretical framework for the researcher’s chosen mode of inquiry which is
strongly linked to the role of literature review in designing a research study.
3.3 STUDY DESIGN This research falls within the ambit of qualitative research design. The inquiry is
framed within the generic or basic qualitative research. This framework of the
study was chosen because it will be key to providing results that are compelling
and useful to readers and will contribute towards advancing the field’s thinking
about a problem. It will also help in the reduction or solving of educational
problems. The empirical nature of qualitative research and its focus on natural
setting (fieldwork) make it even more suitable for this study (Heck, 2006:407).
3.3.1 Literature review A literature review is described by Heck (2006:375) as a conceptualization of the
various theories, methods, patterns of findings, conclusions and limitations of
previous empirical work that provides a platform for the study being conducted.
Merriam (1998:55), on the other hand, postulates that literature review is a
coherent narrative essay that integrates, synthesizes and critiques the important
thinking and research on a particular topic. The two descriptions of literature
review highlight a number of pertinent points which are pervasive in a basic or
generic qualitative design. Firstly they address the issue of the research
framework, and then they focus on research methods and findings and lastly the
inductive conclusions emanating from the empirical work done by other
researchers, and scholars.
66
In chapter two of this study, the researcher presented an extensive and intensive
literature review on the branding of a school’s name by the school management
team. This review allowed the researcher to create a framework for this inquiry
as well as to study the works of other researchers with regard to research
methodology and findings – this is inclusive of how data was collected using
interviews, how the data was analyzed and presented in the research report,
Merriam (1998:51) advances a number of reasons why a literature review should
be undertaken.
Firstly it demonstrates how the present study advances, refines or revises
existing knowledge. Secondly, it shows the necessity, urgency and importance
of understanding the study. Thirdly a comprehensive literature review on a topic
offers a point of reference for discussing the contribution of the study to the
knowledge base in the area of interest. Henning et.al (2004:27) make a strong
case for a literature review when they aver that it comes in handy when as a
researcher, one has have to explain data, contextualize this study and show the
relevance of its findings in relation to the existing body of literature. In summary
this section focused on the role and essence of a literature review in conducting
a basic or generic qualitative research. The researcher will now discuss the role
of the researcher in this mode of inquiry.
3.3.2 Role of the researcher The role that the researcher plays in qualitative research is aptly posited by
Henning et al. (2004:10) that the human mind is the instrument of research in
qualitative research. Merriam (1998:20) concurs by postulating that the
investigator is the primary instrument for gathering and analyzing data. The
outlined role of the researcher implies that as a researcher, one has the primary
role of initiating, directing and sustaining the research throughout its various
stages.
67
According to Merriam (2002:5) the human instrument is the ideal means of
collecting and analyzing data since the goal of qualitative research is
understanding phenomena and the human instrument can be immediately
responsive and adaptive. The author further identifies other advantages that
depict the role of the researcher which she states as follows:
• The researcher can expand his or her understanding through non-verbal
as well as verbal communication.
• He or she can process information (data) immediately, clarify and
summarize material.
• He or she can check with respondents for accuracy of interpretation and
explore unusual or unanticipated responses.
Smith (as cited in Hopkins and Antes, 1990:270) locates the role of the
researcher in the empirical nature of qualitative research, when he observed that
the researcher collects data, organizes and studies it and compares it against
ideas, hypothesis and categorical definitions to test them. While all these
empirical activities are positive and contributory to standard research practice,
Merriam (1998:20) cautions that the researcher can be limited by being human
and this renders him or her fallible.
In order for a researcher to conduct a successful research, certain personality
skills and characteristics are a prerequisite. The first one is that as a qualitative
researcher one needs to have a great tolerance for ambiguity. This means that
in the pursuit of meaning, the researcher should understand that qualitative
research processes do not have set procedures and protocols that can be
followed step by step. Secondly, as a researcher, one must have sensitivity or
be highly intuitive. The researcher should be sensitive to the context, the
variables therein, the physical setting, the people, the overt and covert agendas,
the nonverbal behavior of the participants in the research, and also one’s
personal biases. Thirdly the researcher must be a good communicator. Being a
68
good communicator means being able to empathize with and establish a rapport
with the research participants. The researcher must inspire trust, be a good
listener and be able to ask good questions. Writing skills are also part of being a
good communicator. As a researcher, one should be able to capture in writing
emerging findings and one’s reactions and reflections (Merriam, 1998:20-24).
Henning et al. (2004:10) expand on the personal attributes of a qualitative
researcher by noting that he or she should be a learner by doing. The
researcher has to read and practice his capabilities and refine his mental and
material technologies for his advancement. Once the researcher is conversant
with his or her role the next logical step is to seek the appropriate sample.
3.3.3 Sample and sampling Merriam (1998:60) defines a sample as a unit of analysis. This unit of analysis
includes people or settings selected with the goal of gaining a deep
understanding of the phenomenon experienced by a carefully selected group of
people (Mykut and Morehouse, 1994:56). Roberts (2004:135) defines a sample
as a data source that includes a description of the individuals who participate in
an interview. She distinguishes a sample from sampling by postulating that
sampling is the process of selecting a number of individuals for a study in such a
way that the individuals represent a larger group from which they come.
To effect the sampling process, a researcher needs to know and understand the
various types of samples. Merriam (1998:60-61) lists two basic types of
sampling: probability sampling and non probability sampling. The non probability
sampling is widely used and applicable to qualitative research. The most
common form of non probalistic sampling is purposive sampling. This method of
sampling allows the researcher to search for information – rich key information,
groups, places, or events to study (McMillan and Schumacher, 1993:378).
Merriam (1998:61) argues a strong case for purposive sampling when she writes
that it is based on the assumption that the investigator wants to discover,
69
understand and gain insight and therefore must select a sample from which the
most can be learned. The following types of purposive sampling are
differentiated in qualitative research: typical, unique, maximum variation,
convenience, snowball, chain and network sampling (Merriam, 1998:62). Site
selection, comprehensive sampling and sampling by case type are purposive
sampling types as outlined by McMillan and Schumacher (1993:379).
As a researcher conducting the basic or generic qualitative research, the
researcher chose to make use of nonprobabilistic, purposeful or purposive
sampling. The specific types of this sampling method being a combination of the
maximum variation and convenience sampling. These samples fall under the
sample model of case study models in which individuals or institutions are
selected because they fit a set of commonly recognized criteria (Wiseman,
1999:259). The maximum variation strategy of sampling is described by
McMillan and Schumacher (1993:379) as a quota selection strategy aimed at
representativity of the subunits of the major unit of analysis. The selection of the
sample is done in order to obtain maximum differences of perceptions about a
topic among information-rich informants or a group. A convenience sample is a
sample selected on the basis of time, money, location and availability of sites or
respondents (Merriam, 1998:63).
In keeping with the definitions and essence of the maximum variation and
convenience sampling strategies, the researcher selected five school
management teams as samples for this research. All the five schools’ sites are
located in Soweto. Three of the schools are situated in Orlando East, one in
Pimville and another in Orlando West. The SMT of school A is made up of three
members – the principal who is a male and two female heads of departments
(HODs). The school has a total of 450 learners enrolled. This school caters for
the intermediate phase i.e. grades 3-6.
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School B has five SMT members comprising the principal who is female, three
HODs who are also female and one male HOD. The school has both the
foundation phase and the intermediate phase. It caters for grade R to six. The
total enrollment at the school is 800 learners. School C has five school
management team members. The principal who is a male, the deputy principal
who is female, two female HODs and one male head of department. The school
caters for the senior phase – it has grades seven, eight and nine. The total
enrollment at this school is 829. School D also has five SMT members. The
principal who is a male, two male heads of department and one female HOD.
The school is a further education and training band school (FET). It gives tuition
to learners in grade 10, 11, and 12. The total enrollment is 459 learners. School
E has 12 SMT members – only five of them will be selected for sampling
purposes. Seven are males and five are females. The principal is a male and so
are his two deputies. The other two members are female HODs. The total
enrollment is 1 300 learners.
The criteria used for including these five schools in the sample are:
• School management teams are the unit of analysis as indicated in the
research topic.
• The schools selected should be representative of various phases of tuition
levels.
• The schools should also be located within two districts – in this case
district 10 and 11.
• The SMTs should comprise both male and female.
The rationale for including these schools management teams is that they are
better placed for the researcher to undertake the inquiry in a cost effective
manner within a limited time frame and proximal geographical location. This
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rationale is supported by Wiseman (1999:259) when he advices that a
researcher has to ensure that the nature of the sample that he or she acquires as
the subject of his or her investigation is purposeful and small.
To gain access to the five schools, the researcher obtained permission firstly
from the Gauteng Department of Education and secondly from the individual
sample members. Specially designed letters bearing the logo of the University of
Johannesburg were issued to both the GDE and the participants requesting their
participation in this study. After each interview the participants were thanked by
the researcher for their inputs.
3.3.4 Validity, reliability and ethical considerations Merriam (1998:198) contends that all research is primarily concerned with
producing valid and reliable knowledge in an ethical manner because this will
create trustworthiness for the research results. When expanding on the issue of
trustworthiness, Lincoln and Guba cited in Toma, (2006:412) declare that
qualitative researchers establish the trustworthiness of their findings by
demonstrating that they are credible, transferable, dependable and confirmable.
The implication here is that a qualitative inquiry should be a trustworthy
endeavour and for it to be trustworthy the researcher must ensure that it is valid,
reliable and ethical.
3.3.4.1 Validity
The concept of validity can be looked at from two basic levels which are internal
validity and external validity. Internal validity deals with the question of how
research findings match reality (Merriam, 1998:201). Toma (2006:412) on the
other hand gives a quantitative slant of the definition of validity when he avers
that internal validity refers to findings which enable the researcher to draw
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meaningful inferences from instances that measure what they intend to measure
McMillan and Schumacher (1993:391) agree with Merriam (1998) on what
validity is when they aptly state that internal validity refers to the degree to which
the explanations of phenomena match the realities of the world. They expand
this explanation further by postulating that internal validity of qualitative designs
is the degree to which the interpretations and concepts have mutual meanings
between the participants and researcher. In order for a researcher to ensure a
high level of internal validity in his or her investigation, Merriam (1998:204-205)
outlines six strategies. The first strategy is triangulation which she defines as the
use of multiple investigators, multi sources of data or multiple methods to confirm
the emerging findings. The second strategy is member checks where the
researcher tries to establish the plausibility of the results by taking the data back
to the research participants. Thirdly long term observation of the same
phenomenon at the research site over a period of time also can enhance internal
validity. The fourth strategy is peer examination which is about asking
colleagues to comment on the findings as they emerge. The fifth strategy is
participatory or collaborative modes of research which involves participants to
take an active role in all phases of the inquiry.
The sixth strategy is the researcher’s biases where the researchers’
assumptions, worldview and theoretical orientation are clarified from the
beginning of the inquiry. In an attempt to enhance internal validity in this
research, the researcher made use of triangulation. This took the form of
interviews of the SMT on branding and also analysis of branding strategy
documents of the schools. Member checks were also done. After interviewing
the SMT, a transcript of the interview was made available with tentative findings.
The researcher took this back to the relevant SMT for their inputs. Lastly, the
researcher used peer examination where fellow students had to comment of my
findings as they emerge. This discourse will now focus on external validity.
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Toma (2006:412) posits that research findings are externally valid – or
generalizable – when they extend to certain individuals and settings beyond
those immediately studied. Merriam (1998:207) describes external validity as the
extent to which the findings of one study can be applied to other situations.
The issue of qualitative research results being generalisable is a subject of
debate among various scholars. Instead of findings being regarded as
generisable various researchers would rather have people for whom the research
is meant apply the patterns in the findings to their own situations in the form of
naturalistic generalizations, reader or user generalizations, working hypothesis
etc (Merriam, 1998:211). To this extent she outlines three strategies which can
be used to enhance generalizability of results.
The first strategy which the researcher employed in this enquiry was to provide a
thick rich description from which readers of this research on school branding can
transfer the findings to their schools as SMT members. The second strategy is
typicality or model category where a typical program, event or individual is
compared with others in the same class so that the users of the research can
compare it to their own situations.
The multisite design is the strategy that the researcher used. This strategy links
up and is intertwined with the maximum variation sampling discussed in 3.3. The
multi site design involves using several sites, cases, situations, especially those
that maximize diversity in the phenomenon of interest for maximum application to
other situations that call for the branding of a school by the SMT (Merriam,
1998:212).
3.3.4.2 Reliability McMillan and Schumacher (1993:385) define reliability as the extent to which
independent researchers could discover the same phenomena and to which
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there is agreement on the description of the phenomena between the researcher
and participants. Toma (2006:412) asserts that findings are reliable when
various researchers using the same approach would find the same results.
Merriam (1998:205) succinctly writes that reliability refers to the extent to which
research findings can be replicated.
To ensure that the results in this inquiry are reliable the researcher explained the
assumptions and theory behind this study. The groups being studied were
described as SMTs and the rationale for selecting these groups was also
explained in 3.3. The second strategy was triangulation in the form of interviews
and document analysis and ensuring internal validity as discussed in 3.4. Lastly
an audit trail was done. The audit trail explains how data were collected, how
categories were derived and how decisions were made throughout the study
(Merriam, 1998:206-207).
3.3.4.3 Ethical considerations Dockerell (1988:180) highlights the concerns that relate to ethics in qualitative
research as opposed to upholding technical standards only – these concerns
relate to the ethical status of the subjects of study, the customers for a particular
investigation, the scientific community and the society in general. Merriam
reinforces this statement by arguing that for qualitative research findings to be
trustworthy, they must be valid, reliable and ethical (1998:198).
Strauss and Myburgh (2004:61) list the following desirable features of ethically
acceptable data collection practices:
(i) Participation in the study should be voluntary with the freedom to
withdraw from the study without penalty guaranteed. In this study this
was explicitly stated to the participants from the onset.
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(ii) The respondents in the study should know what the purpose of the
research is and in what way the information will be used. I took the
trouble of explaining to the SMTs interviewed the value and
significance of this study to their schools.
(iii) The researcher made sure that the respondents were familiar with the
nature of the research instrument before the research commenced.
(iv) The researcher also informed and promised the participants that the
research will not have detrimental and harmful consequences to them.
(v) In order to guarantee confidentiality and anonymity of the respondents,
letters of the alphabet were used to denote the identity of their schools
as well as their names. Thus a school would be called school A,B, or
C and a participant would be A,B,C etc.
(vi) During the course of conducting this research no participant was
expected to act in a manner contrary to his or her principles.
(vii) As a researcher one strived to be as non biased, accurate, honest and
respectful as is humanly possible (Merriam, 1998:216).
3.4 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS Merriam (2002:12) lists and differentiates three major sources of data collection
or research instruments in qualitative research – these are: interviews,
observations and documents. A researcher has the option of using anyone of
these sources or triangulate them i.e. use all of them. The choice of these data
sources depends largely on the nature of the inquiry, its problem statement and
the questions that the study seeks to answer. In this study a triangulation of the
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instruments will be used in order to enhance the internal and external validity as
well as the reliability of the study.
3.4.1 Interviews Interviews were chosen as a data collection strategy firstly because qualitative
research is by nature interpretive with its focus on gaining meaning,
understanding and building concepts and theories (Heck, 2006:407). The
interviews will provide the researcher with leverage to gain meaning and
understanding of the concept branding. Secondly, Merriam (2006:71) notes that
interviews are the most common means of collecting data. Heck (2006:380)
concurs when he aptly declares that interviews are a primary source of case
study information.
3.4.1.1 Definition of an interview An interview is defined as a research technique in which a conversation is carried
out with the definite purpose of obtaining certain information (Mouly, 1970:263).
Mykut (1994:79) and Morehouse also state that an interview is a conversation
with a purpose. For Holstein and Gubrium (1997:114) an interview is a social
encounter in which knowledge is constructed – it is a site of, and occasion for
producing reportable knowledge itself.
3.4.1.2 Types of interviews Henning et al (2004:50) differentiate between two main trends of interviews – the
conventional standardized interview and the discursive constructionist interview.
The standard interview is defined as a mechanism or technology which must be
used objectively and neutrally with guidance without interference or conversation
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from the interviewer, to avoid contamination of data. In the discursive,
constructionist interview the respondents are seen as social actors who are
interacting with an interviewer and who are at the same time involved in
discursive practice Henning et al (2004:53, 57).
Merriam (1998:74-75), on the other hand, locates the various types of interviews
on a continuum where at one end is the highly structured interview, in the middle
of the continuum is the semi-structured interview and at the other end is the
unstructured interview. In highly structured interviews questions and the order in
which they are asked are determined ahead of time. Semi-structured interviews
have open questions and are less structured. The unstructured or informal
interviews do not have a predetermined set of questions and the interview is
essentially exploratory.
3.4.1.2.1 Semi-structured group interviews
In this study, the role of the school management team in the branding of a
school, will be investigated by using the semi-structured group interviews. A
group interview is defined as a group conversation with a purpose (Mykut and
Morehouse,1994:104). The aforementioned authors argue that the purpose of
conducting a group interview is to understand what people experience and
perceive about the focus of inquiry, through a process that is open and emergent
(1994:103). Patton, (1990) (cited in Merriam 1998:71) augments the argument
on the purpose of interviews by positing that the main purpose of an interview is
to obtain a special kind of information. The researcher wants to find out what is
in and on someone else’s mind.
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3.4.1.3 Conducting and recording interviews
Taylor and Bogdan (as cited in Merriam, 1994:84) advocate that the following five
issues should be addressed at the beginning of every interview:
(a) The investigator’s motives and intentions and the inquiry’s purpose.
(b) The protection of respondents through the use of pseudonyms.
(c) Deciding who has the final say over the study’s content.
(d) Payment (if any).
(e) Logistics with regard to time, place and number of interviews to be
scheduled.
When conducting an interview the researcher should be neutral and strive to
establish a rapport with the respondents. Thus as the investigator one should
avoid arguing, debating or otherwise letting my personal views be known
(Merriam, 1998:84). To bolster this argument Seidman, (1998) (as cited in
Shivambu, 2006:49) offers the following guidelines to be observed during the
interview.
• Listen more, talk less
• Follow up what the participant says
• Ask questions when you do not understand
• Ask to hear more about a subject
• Avoid leading questions
• Ask open ended questions
• Follow up, do not interrupt
• Ask participants to talk to you as if you were someone else
• Avoid reinforcing your participants responses
• Use an interview guide continuously
• Keep participants focused and ask for concrete details.
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Five school management teams from five schools were interviewed for this study.
The interviews took five days to conduct – one SMT was interviewed per day.
The setting for the interviews was the principal’s office in each of the schools. At
the beginning of each interview the investigator greeted all SMT members,
introduced himself, informed them about the purpose of the interview and its
value. In order to effect the concepts of confidentiality and anonymity, each
member was given a letter of the alphabet as a pseudonym. Once permission
was granted the tape recorder was switched on to capture the participant’s
responses verbatim on tape. Each interview lasted for about an hour. All the
interviews were transcribed first by hand and then later typed.
3.4.1.3.1 The interview schedule
The interview guide or schedule is basically a list of questions that a researcher
intends to ask in an interview. The interviewer can make use of hypothetical,
devil’s advocate, ideal position and interpretive questions. Multiple questions,
leading questions and questions that require yes or no answers should be
avoided (Merriam, 1998:81-84). In keeping with this argument participants in this
study were asked the following questions during the interview:
• What do you understand by the concept of school branding?
• Why do you think schools should be branded?
• How do you think schools should be branded?
• What are your thoughts on the benefits of branding for your school?
• Do you think the former whites only, that is, the former model – C schools
compared to the township and the rural school will ever be equal brands?
These questions and the participants’ responses to them were tape-recorded.
During the interview minimal probes were used for eliciting more information from
the respondents.
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3.4.2 Observations
According to Henning et al., (2004:84) an observation may be brief and serve
only as a discrete research tool for gathering information within a study that is not
ethnographic. It may also mean participating in the actions of people in the
research setting and getting to know their ways of doing very well. It is a
research tool that provides both the ‘emic’ and the ‘etic’ viewpoints during
observation. The etic way is the categorisation of knowledge by the researcher
as an external element to the phenomenon. The emic categorization of
knowledge is the internal generation of data from the respondents’ stance
(2004:83). Merriam on the other hand avers that observation is a research tool
that involves going to the site, program, institution, setting – the field – to observe
the phenomenon under study (1998:111).
The researcher have over a number of years, observed the ironic and parasitic
relationship between schools and corporate companies with regard to branding
activities. Companies have always targeted schools as part of their marketing
and branding strategies. My observation is that it is always the company’s name
and ethos that are promoted at the expense of the school. The researcher also
observed that schools are doing very little to sell themselves as winning brands.
The researcher then, on the basis of these observations, questioned himself how
the school management teams can play a role in the branding of their school. In
trying to answer this question, observation as a research tool will be used to
examine and analyse the physical setting, the participants, activities and
interactions, the conversations, subtle factors which are important to the research
like symbolic and connotative meaning of words and non verbal communication
such as dress and physical space (Merriam, 1998:97-98). All these factors will
be observed with regard to how they relate to and affect the concept of branding.
My final observation in terms of this study pertains to the glaring inequalities
where resources and development, between suburban and township/rural areas
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schools, are concerned. This status quo results in the mobility of learners from
poorly resourced and developed schools to the well resourced and developed
schools. This mobility results in the township and rural schools being
disadvantaged. These schools that are constantly redeploying teachers and face
mergers or closures due to low learner numbers. Singo (2003:40) acknowledges
this argument when he reasons that it is important for any institution or school to
engage itself with the creation of a positive school image that will assist with
learner recruitment if that institution is to survive and succeed.
3.4.3 Document analysis
Documents are a ready-made source of data easily accessible to the imaginative
and resourceful investigator. Four types of documents are available for use by
qualitative researchers – these are public records, personal documents, physical
materials and researcher – generated documents (Merriam,1998112-113).
These documents are not only important for content value but they are also open
to discursive analysis (Henning et al., 2004:98). In this study, researcher-
generated documents will be used to capture and analyze data on the salient
aspects of the branding strategy. Each SMT will be given a sheet (A4) of paper
where they give an outline of their branding strategy. The researcher will then
analyze the documents to gain insights into the branding activities of the schools.
The document will form part of the appendices in this research. Researcher-
generated documents are documents prepared by the researcher or for the
researcher by participants after the study has begun. The specific purpose for
generating documents is to learn more about the situation, person or event being
investigated (Merriam, 1998:119).
3.5 DATA PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS
McMillan and Schumacher (1993:479) elucidate that qualitative data analysis is
primarily an inductive process of organizing data into categories, and identifying
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patterns among the categories. In conducting data processing and analysis,
according to the aforementioned authors, means that categories and patterns
emerge from data rather than being imposed on the data prior to data collection.
This process entails several cyclical phases:
• Continuous discovery, especially in the field but also throughout the entire
study, so as to identify tentative patterns.
• Categorising and ordering data, typically after data collection.
• Qualitatively assessing the trustworthiness of the data, so as to refine
one’s understanding of the patterns.
• Writing an abstract synthesis of themes and or concepts.
Marshall and Rossman (as cited in Toma, 2004:421) posit that a typical analytic
framework or procedure is to:
(a) Organise the data
(b) Generate categories, themes and patterns
(c) Code the data
(d) Test the emergent understandings
(e) Search for alternative explanations
(f) Write the report
3.5.1 Assembling and organizing data
Data for this study were assembled by conducting semi-structured non probalistic
interviews, five samples of school management teams – each one with a
maximum of five members – were interviewed. For anonymity and confidentiality
purposes the SMTs were given alphabetical codes i.e. A, B, C, D and E. The
same coding was done to refer to individual participants in the same sample
group. A tape recorder was used to capture the participant’s responses ad
verbatim. Each school management team had to document their branding
strategy which would be analyzed by the researcher. The observations that the
researcher made were noted and memoed as part of the data collection process.
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3.5.2 Method of data analysis
According to Merriam (1998:156) data can be analysed using three major
strategies in qualitative research – ethnographic analysis, narrative analysis,
phenomenological analysis and the constant comparative method. In this study
the constant comparative method will be used. This method allows for a
constant comparison of incidents from the interviews, field notes or documents of
the same data. These comparisons then lead to tentative categories that are
also compared to each other (Merriam, 1998:159).
Data analysis can also be done at a level where the challenge is to construct
categories or themes. These categories or themes are devised intuitively but in a
systematic process informed by the purpose of the study and the investigator’s
orientation and knowledge. Units of data are grouped into meaningful segments
(Merriam, 1998:179). The categories constructed should: reflect the purpose of
the study, be exhaustive, mutually exclusive, sensitizing and conceptually
congruent (Merriam, 1998: 183-184).
3.5.3 Reporting findings
The findings in this research will be reported by making use of a combination of
the three streams of narrative descriptions: particular description, general
description and the interpretive commentary Erikson, 1996 (as cited in Merriam,
1998:235). The participants’ quotations will be used to support the findings and
interpretations made by the researcher. The findings from the interviews will also
be juxtaposed to the literature review that was conducted in chapter two.
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3.6 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This research inquiry was limited to determine the views of five school
management teams using a combination of convenience and maximum variation
non probalistic sampling. The views of the SMTs interviewed were elicited on the
basis of the research question “the role of the school management team in the
branding of a school”. The views of the five SMTs were tape recorded and
transcribed. This study was limited to interviewing five school management
teams who, in the opinion of the researcher, would offer information – rich
samples of the phenomenon under study.
3.7 CONCLUSION
This chapter provided a detailed discussion of the research methodology and
procedures used to collect data for this study. The philosophical foundations of a
qualitative research design were extensively discussed. The importance of
literature review and the role of the researcher were outlined. The concepts of
sampling, validity, reliability and ethical considerations were also elucidated.
This was followed by an outline of the research instruments used – interviews,
observation and document analysis. Lastly the data processing and analysis and
the limitations of the study were elaborated on. The next chapter will focus on
data analysis.
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CHAPTER FOUR
RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 4.1 INTRODUCTION
Chapter three of this discourse focused on research methodology and
procedures. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a detailed analysis
of the six semi-structured interviews of school management teams. All the
school management teams are from schools in four various townships of
Soweto. Three of the schools are primary schools, one is a junior
secondary school and two are high schools. The school management
teams were drawn from six selected schools representative of various
schooling phases, gender and districts. From each of the six schools, five
SMT members were interviewed, viz, principal, deputy principal and three
HODs (Heads of Departments).
The core and essence of the interviews was to probe the role of the SMT
members in the branding of a school. Five questions were posed to each
SMT of which all five participants had to respond to. A tape recorder was
used to capture the responses of the participants ad verbatim.
4.2 ANALYSIS OF DATA
The following patterns were emergent when the researcher analysed the
six group interviews of school management team members.
4.2.1 Interviews 4.2.1.1 Definition of school branding
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The thirty SMT members interviewed equated the definition of the concept
school branding with concepts such as selling a school as a business, the
vision, mission, goals & objectives of a school, differentiation, uniqueness
of a school, cultural activities in a school, school name and identity etc.
PARTICIPANT B (SMT A) Understands school branding as follows: “… branding says to me selling your school it’s a business …”
PARTICIPANT E (SMT A) Defines school branding as: “ … the name that is going to be aligned to your vision and mission,
intentions as well as objectives and goals of the institution.”
PARTICIPANT D (SMT B): “The uniqueness of the school.”
PARTICIPANT A (SMT C) Thinks school branding is: “ … when I advertise my school in such a way that it should have its own
thing that will make it identified by, for example, if I want this school to be
known like the emblem I am having there. The uniform, the way we make
things at our school different from other schools.”
PARTICIPANT B (SMT C) States that: “It’s about uniqueness, our unique culture as a school, what we aim for,
what we are all about, how we differ from others.”
PARTICIPANT A (SMT D) Understands school branding thus: “It would refer to the features of the school which make the school unique.
Which make the school different from the other or others.”
PARTICIPANT C (SMT D) Further says:
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“… the activities that are occurring here at school make the school to be a
brand.”
PARTICIPANT D (SMT D) “… I think also culture can also fall into branding. When you think of
school A in town you know what you are expecting …”
PARTICIPANT A (SMT E) Thinks school branding is: “… when one treats a school as a product.”
PARTICIPANT E (SMT E) Understands school branding thus: “… to attach meaning to our school. To give it a nametag which can be
used to sell it.”
PARTICIPANT A (SMT F) Had this to say: “To me it would mean what makes the school to be what it is in that case
what defines our school is excellence …, its leadership … its team work,
its unity in the school …”
PARTICIPANT C (SMT B) “… school branding is what constitutes the school in its totality.”
PARTICIPANT E (SMT C) Understands branding to be: “What we want to be … what makes us different from other schools …”
The responses by the various participants can be linked to the existing
literature definitions of branding which then makes it possible to define the
concept school branding.
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4.2.1.2 The reasons for school branding
SMT members interviewed gave the following reasons as essential for the
branding of schools.
• School identity.
PARTICIPANT D (SMT A) “I think to be identified.”
PARTICIPANT C (SMT B) “For identification process. So that we must be identified …”
PARTICIPANT B (SMT B) “… we must identify schools globally so and locally so.”
PARTICIPANT E (SMT E) “… to give the school an identity. Yes, to give the school an identity.”
• Awareness.
PARTICIPANT A (SMT E) “Ja, I think branding would mean making people aware of the good things
that the school is doing for the community as well as the learners.”
• Knowledge.
PARTICIPANT E (SMT E) “… that the community knows about the school, that even the corporate
world knows about the school …”
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PARTICIPANT C (SMT E) “… it has to be branded so that when you say the name of the school, it is
known which school you are talking about.”
“… to make our school reputable and also to make it known …”
• Uniqueness and Differentiation.
SMT members cite uniqueness and differentiation as one of the reasons
why schools should be branded.
PARTICIPANT D (SMT E) “To give the uniqueness because two schools cannot be the same.”
PARTICIPANT C (SMT E) “Branding is to differentiate.”
PARTICIPANT A (SMT A) “… to be unique and having those features and characteristics which are
not the same with other schools.”
PARTICIPANT B (SMT D) “I think the motive would be uniqueness …”
PARTICIPANT A (SMT C) “Schools should be branded because we want them to be unique we want
our school to be known to be different from other schools.”
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• School Choice.
SMT members believe that branding provides parents with guidance with
regard choosing schools for their children.
PARTICIPANT B (SMT A) Asserts that: “… branding also gives individuals a chance to have a choice to say …
this is where I want my child to belong…” so this brand has got what I
need for my child.”
PARTICIPANT A (SMT B) “I think for the parents to go on to the right schools because if a parent
does not know the brand of the school, he will go to a wrong school.”
• Improving the quality of teaching and learning.
SMTs cited factors such as the competition and pride which can be
brought about by branding to improve the quality of teaching and learning.
PARTICIPANT C (SMT D) Says: “I am also thinking of competition and I think that we can improve the
culture of teaching and learning if we compete among ourselves.”
PARTICIPANT A (SMT D) Thinks that: “While you are struggling to add features which will make you different you
are invariably also achieving efficiency.”
PARTICIPANT B (SMT F) States that: “And we need to brand our schools in order to provide good service to our
community”
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PARTICIPANT A (SMT A) Thinks that: “Branding … achieves pride you see everybody wants to be associated
with a good brand so when you are inside you become proud of being part
of the institution.”
PARTICIPANT D (SMT A) States that: “… it provides the educators to do mo more in what they are doing
knowing that if schools are branded that way, it will be very competitive to
them. So it also provides a good quality of education in every school …”
4.2.1.3 How schools can be branded
The SMTs mentioned a whole range of ways that can be employed in the
branding of schools. These include, inter alia, formulating a branding
strategy, providing quality education, producing good results, school
traditions, ethical behaviour among stakeholders etc.
• Formulating a branding strategy.
PARTICIPANT E (SMT A) Had this to say about how schools should be branded: “… we align the branding to the mission and the tactics and the strategies
of the school … we align the branding name to the tactics, strategies and
intentions of the school.”
The respondents recognize the significance of a well coordinated branding
strategy. The strategy is inclusive of the vision, mission, objectives and
tactics of the school to establish itself as a brand.
• Quality Education.
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SMT members share the viewpoint that quality education is one of the
core tenets of branding a school. To ensure that quality education is
manifest in a school, respondents highly regard the value of effective
teaching and learning, achieving good results, hard work and efficiency.
PARTICIPANT A (SMT B) Believes that one way of branding a school can be done thus: “I think the main role as an SMT we have to promote effective teaching …
because the parents want their children taught and properly taught.”
PARTICIPANT A (SMT A) “By producing good results, quality education …”
PARTICIPANT C (SMT B) “You cannot take your child to a school where you know that there is no
effective and efficient teaching.
PARTICIPANT C (SMT E) “… a school can be branded by doing outstanding things like getting good
results …”
PARTICIPANT C (SMT F) “… by working hard …”
Quality education is crucial in the branding of a school. Thus a school that
is striving towards becoming a powerful brand cannot ignore this aspect of
its operations. The SMT needs to perform optimally in this regard.
• The ambassadorial role of all the stakeholders.
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The respondents pointed out that all stakeholders, i.e., parents, learners
and teachers have an important role to play in upholding the name and
reputation of the school in order for it to attain a brand status.
PARTICIPANT A (SMT A) “… I think we should also be ambassadors of the school as an SGB and
as the stakeholders … we should know that we are not representing us
alone, we are representing the community and the school.”
PARTICIPANT D (SMT C) “… also to protect our brand. For example as an employee or a person
who is also a member of the school whatever I say goes a long way.”
• Ethical behaviour by school stakeholders.
SMT member cited the moral or ethical practices as an important aspect
of the branding endevours of a school.
PARTICIPANT D (SMT A) “… the morality of the school it also depends on us if our morals are
portrayed in the community, that’s how they are going to perceive us. I
mean the brand name will also be in the concept of the morals of the
school.”
PARTICIPANT D (SMT F) “… the SMT must do the right things at all times … the staff must be
seeing good things happening from SMT.”
The behaviour of stakeholders in the school has a strong bearing on the
perceptions of the school by the community. This places an imperative on
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high moral ground by members of the school. High and positive ethical
behaviour will have a positive impact on the school as a brand.
• Discipline.
SMT members regard this element as one way of developing the school
into a brand.
PARTICIPANT A (SMT D) “… discipline is actually one of the things you do in order to brand your
school. People must know your school as a school with order. A school
where everybody does the right thing.”
PARTICIPANT E (SMT C) “… keeping discipline the discipline of learners in the environment …”
The maintenance of discipline and order in a school by both teachers and
learners as well as the SMT and SGB is pivotal to the success of branding
a school.
• School Traditions.
The respondents believe that there are numerous ways in which school
branding can be achieved by employing school traditions.
PARTICIPANT A (SMT D) “They should have a tradition, they would know that in the first term in this
school these are the ceremonies that we conduct … They would have a
school calendar which will tabulate events in the school that this week we
celebrate … it may be festivals … some schools have a day when they
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celebrate the founder of the school or the person the school is named
after.”
The ceremonies, festivals, events and celebrations that are encapsulated
in the traditions of the school should be utilized as one manner in which a
school can be branded.
• School Uniform.
SMT members regard uniform as the embodiment of school colours and
an indispensable part of school branding.
PARTICIPANT E (SMT E) “I think branding would be regarded be used for instance whereby the
school would have its own type of colours in other words its own uniform
and the motto …”
PARTICIPANT A (SMT D) “Uniform is a big part of branding. When the standards go down you are
reducing your branding … The colour is part of the uniform.”
The use of uniforms by schools fortifies the identity aspect of a school by
providing specific colours which can be associated with that particular
school. The respondents agree that uniform is an integral part of branding
a school.
• Branding Techniques.
SMT members cited a number of branding techniques such as advertising,
promotion, showcasing and magazines or prospectus.
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PARTICIPANT B (SMT C) “… we’ve been selling our school to other schools.”
PARTICIPANT E (SMT C) “We can do it to everybody advertise by writing some flyers to them so
that they can get information about the school itself.”
PARTICIPANT B (SMT D) “… we as SMT we can schowcase our activities … we can even go to an
extent of making some adverts. The logo of the school, what the school is
offering, and again prospectuses.”
PARTICIPANT C (SMT D) “… we can even make a magazine which we’ll send to the parents and the
community once a month.”
The use of branding techniques is acknowledged as an essential part of
enhancing the profile of a school as a brand. These techniques can be
optimally used to exhibit every activity that is taking place in the school so
that the community can see what the school excels at and what its
achievements are.
• Using the alumni’s successes and achievements.
The SMT members cited the involvement of former students who are
successful in various fields such as industry and sports.
PARTICIPANT B (SMT E) “I think by also tracking down our previous learners their success and use
them to promote the school.”
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The use of former learners who matriculated at the schools who are
holding senior positions in companies and those who excel in professional
sport can be used to advance the school as a brand.
• School Involvement in Community Matters.
The respondents stated that the school needs to be involved in the salient
and topical community issues such as HIV & AIDS and Xenophobia.
PARTICIPANT A (SMT E) “… the role played by the school in the community … for example the
Salvation Army Church when there is a crisis or the Roman Catholic
Church like its helping foreigners … so if a school does that for the
community then people would want to know that brand.”
The social responsibility of a school bodes very well for it to be recognized
as a brand. A school should thus through its SMT actively be involved in
urgent community affairs.
• Strong Leadership.
The SMT members highlighted leadership by the SMT as one of the ways
that a school can be branded.
PARTICIPANT A (SMT F) “For a school to be a school what is going to determine that is the
leadership of the school … in this context and in this case is the SMT of
the school.”
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The SMT members mentioned leadership as a significant and
indispensable element in the branding of a school because everything in a
school pivots around leadership at all levels in a school.
4.2.1.4 The benefits of branding a school
The respondents cited numerous and various benefits of branding
schools.
PARTICIPANT A (SMT D) “The first benefit is you always have enrolment … enrolment will keep on
increasing … you benefit from this by getting more applications coming in
…”
PARTICIPANT A (SMT A) “… you are going to have more learners …”
PARTICIPANT E (SMT E) “Also by attracting a number of learners you end up having good quality
learners …”
PARTICIPANT D (SMT F) “… we won’t run short of learners.”
PARTICIPANT C (SMT B) “It’s going to bring growth to the school …”
PARTICIPANT B (SMT C) “Registration goes high that’s the number of learners coming to our school
and no redeployment and no panic no anxiety no depression.”
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All SMT members agree that one of the benefits of branding a school is a
larger enrolment of learners. The more the learners the less the chances
of teachers being declared in excess and redeployed to other schools.
• Getting sponsorships and donations.
The respondents in this research interviews regard sponsorship and
donations as a benefit that emanates from branding a school.
PARTICIPANT A (SMT A) “I think the branding of a school is going to help the school by getting more
sponsorship …”
PARTICIPANT E (SMT D) “I think attracting sponsors. We can attract sponsors.”
PARTICIPANT A (SMT B) “Sponsors. For us a sponsor who notices the whole school we are sure to
get one.”
PARTICIPANT B (SMT E) “Ja, people will like to get involved in the school, they would want to
identify with the school whatever happens to the school they want to
donate …”
Sponsorship and donations are an essential benefit for schools that are
meaningful and strong brands. These two aspects are a financial life line
for schools, because schools always need funds to function optimally.
• Trust and confidence in the school by the community.
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PARTICIPANT A (SMT A) “… the parents are also going to help and the community will engender
also have a positive attitude towards the school … parents will be having
will have confidence on us …”
PARTICIPANT E (SMT E) “To make the community aware of the school thus have confidence in the
school.”
PARTICIPANT B (SMT C) “… and the public will trust us …”
PARTICIPANT B (SMT B) “Relationship with the community relationship with other schools …”
The SMT members are of the opinion that a well branded school will
engender trust and confidence from the community when it sees all the
good and positive elements in the school.
• Attracting good teachers and learners.
The respondents cited attracting good teachers as one of the benefits of
branding a school.
PARTICIPANT A (SMT D) “… you also attract good teachers because good teachers would like to go
to a good school. You don’t attract mediocre teachers …”
PARTICIPANT E (SMT A) “… if you are an institution … is well branded, then whoever is going to …
associate with that brand will be of quality including the kind of educators
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that will apply for positions in our school. Those will be the best educators
in the market …”
• Promotion opportunities for teachers
The respondents also mentioned promotion opportunities and interschool
teacher mobility as a benefit for teachers in well a branded school.
PARTICIPANT B (SMT C) “… if our school is well branded we can even get promotions because they
know us.”
PARTICIPANT E (SMT E) “And also it will be a platform of the outside world to source human
resources from it. Erm even when it comes to promotional posts.”
PARTICIPANT C (SMT E) “… the school will be stripped of those good excellent educators. Every
one wants to have something out of the school.”
Teachers from well branded schools are always sought after for
recruitment purposes. They stand to benefit when it comes to promotional
opportunities and changing schools.
• Good relations between the Education Department and the school.
SMT members cited good working relations with the education
department’s officials as a benefit of branding a school.
PARTICIPANT A (SMT C)
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“… even the inspectors won’t be visiting the school because they know
that everything which is being done is perfectly done.”
PARTICIPANT D (SMT F) “We are not maybe time and again getting maybe tongue lashing from
department.”
A well branded school is a source of pride for education authorities as well
as the school itself. Both the school and the education department will
have a good working relationship.
4.2.1.5 Perceptions of township, rural and former whites only schools as equal brands
The SMT members interviewed hold a variety of perceptions and views
with regard to the equality of township, rural and the former whites only
schools. When probed on whether township, rural and former whites only
schools can ever be equal as brands the participants in the research
responded by citing a number of disparities and commonalities that may or
not contribute to the equality of the schools as brands.
• Physical resources
The respondents cited disparities with regard to physical resources as a
factor that contributes towards the inequality of schools being brands.
PARTICIPANT A (SMT A) “… we are still struggling … we are using the same classes that is the
buildings. We don’t have enough yard … But there are some things that
they have already benefited from the system and we are still struggling to
have them …”
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PARTICIPANT E (SMT E) “… they can be moulded to be have equal brands provided the provincial
governments giving and doubling their efforts to uplift the physical
structure of the school.”
PARTICIPANT A (SMT D) “I have mentioned the aspect of sport, we can never be equal to them until
we have all those facilities they have.”
PARTICIPANT D (SMT B) “… they already have resources far better than us. Before 1994 their
schools were well equipped…What we lack are resources … I think we
still need another 14 years … with rural school I think will need another 20
years.”
• Financial resources
SMT members mentioned this aspect as a significant factor in determining
the brand equality in schools.
PARTICIPANT D (SMT B) “We don’t have funds. Funds in the sense that our parents don’t pay up
fees as compared to white schools.”
PARTICIPANT A (SMT D) “Sometimes a school that’s poor there’s no money you know its efforts are
limited … If I make you an example a school must have a flag. A flag with
the colours of the school and the logo of the school flying at the gate …
Now if a school with a zero balance in the bank wants to achieve a flag
and a banner where will they get the money to do that.”
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• Parental involvement The respondents decried parental involvement in township and rural
schools. Parental involvement is considered very poor in black schools as
opposed to the former white schools.
PARTICIPANT B (SMT D) “… the context that we are in, we are in a very poor context in terms of the
parents that we have … hence there’ll be that imbalances between those
white schools and us …”
PARTICIPANT A (SMT B) “And the other thing Meneer, our learner’s parents are not literate most of
them.”
PARTICIPANT D (SMT C) “… the parents participation in the running of the school, with the so-called
Model-C school its far much better than us.”
PARTICIPANT B (SMT E) “Most of the parents who afford they will take their learners to the former
white school and they’ll pay a high amount of school fees whereas in
townships and village the learners who attend those schools are learners
who are poor families.”
PARTICIPANT E (SMT A) “I think it will take time for us to arrive there because most of our learners
the parents are not educated.”
Parental involvement in the branding of a school can be a handicap where
parents are illiterate and unwilling to support the school. The preceding
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two factors are evident when parents fail to pay school fees, monitor
homeworks, attend meetings and not participate in fundraising activities.
• Commonalities of schools as brands
The commonalities in township, rural and the former whites only school
are cited as curriculum delivery, discipline, uniform, tone of the school and
school procedures.
PARTICIPANT A (SMT D) “… township schools can be top brands in their own context without
necessarily comparing them to a top brand, for example in Randburg.”
“In some aspects they can be equal like regarding the curriculum … like
discipline … uniform, the tone of the school and procedures.”
PARTICIPANT D (SMT C) “But under those circumstances look we are still maintaining discipline and
teachers are still going out there teaching even though there are no extra
incentives to push them.”
4.2.2 Document analysis
The researcher compiled a document which was handed to each SMT to
work on as a group. The document sought to probe the understanding of
the SMT on drawing a branding strategy for their school. The various
SMT’s knowledge and understanding of a branding strategy was
analysed.
A detailed analysis of the documents revealed the following factors with
regard to a school’s branding strategy as outlined by the respondents.
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• The school’s branding strategy must have a vision and mission
statement.
• There should be a logo & motto.
• The school must have a flag with school colours.
• A uniform that embodies the school colours should be worn by all.
• A school calendar which makes provision for cultural festivals which
potray the ethos of the school should be drawn. Events in this
calendar would include for example festivals such as Founder’s day,
Parent’s day, Cultural day, Reading week, Maths week, Merit awards
day etc.
• Recruitment and selection of staff should reflect the culture, ethos and
tone of the school.
• Discipline should be ubiquitous in the school.
• Excellence in sport should be prevalent.
• The school buildings and grounds must be neat and tidy; the garden
must be beautiful.
• The core functions of the school must be delivered, i.e., effective
teaching and learning must take place.
• The SMT must engage in advertising, promotion, publicity etc, to
provide for differentiation.
• A school’s website must be established on the internet.
• Community outreach programmes should also be initiated and
sustained.
4.2.3 Observations The researcher’s observations of the branding field of practice in the
corporate world were analysed vis-á-vis the branding of schools. The
analysis of the branding of schools revealed a very limited application in
some schools while the majority left the professional practice to chance.
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4.3 CONLCUSION
This chapter provided a detailed analysis and interpretation of data that
were gathered through the researcher’s observations, semi structured
interviews and document analysis. The themes that emerged were
formulated on the basis of the actual words from the participants
responses. The next chapter of this discourse will focus on findings and
recommendations emanating from the data that were analysed.
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CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 INTRODUCTION
Chapter four of this discourse centred on the analysis of data that were gathered
from six SMTs comprising thirty members. The data were obtained using semi-
structured group interviews. Flowing from the data analysis the research
revealed the practices and understanding of SMT members with regard to
branding their school. The researcher also discovered the level of knowledge of
school management teams regarding branding. The limitations of the SMTs in
creating meaningful and powerful brands were also uncovered.
In this chapter, the researcher will first provide a summary of the preceding four
chapters of this study. Secondly, the researcher will discuss the findings
emanating from the analysed data. Thirdly, the researcher will make
recommendations that will contribute to the body of school branding knowledge
and improve on the practice of branding by SMTs. Lastly recommendations for
future research will be made.
5.2 SUMMARY
The course of this study was demarcated into five chapters. Each chapter dealt
with a specific aspect of the study. A summary of the main aspects of each
chapter will be given.
CHAPTER 1 pivoted on orientation. The rationale for the study, statement of the
problem, research questions and the aims of the research were discussed.
Furthermore, the research design, research methodology, reliability and validity
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and the ethical aspects were elucidated. Lastly, the reseracher indicated the
demarcation of the investigation and also clarified salient concepts of the study.
CHAPTER 2 provided a literature review of the study. The following aspects of
branding were discussed in relation to a school: The nature and description of
branding, the origins of branding, the laws of branding, brand equity, brand
identity and its implementation, branding strategy, measuring brand equity,
branding imperatives and branding benefits.
CHAPTER 3 outlined in detail the research methodology and procedures. The
research design that was used to gather data was explained. The role of the
researcher as a research instrument was elucidated. The concepts of reliability
and validity were also discussed. Strategies for collecting and analyzing data
were outlined. Data were in the main collected by the researcher using the semi-
structured group interviews at six schools in two districts in Soweto. Each
school’s SMT was represented by the principal, deputy principal and three heads
of departments. This makes the total number of respondents in the study thirty.
The SMTs were interviewed in groups and a tape recorder was used to capture
the interviews ad verbatim.
CHAPTER 4 concentrated on the analysis of data which were collected through
the six semi-structured interviews of five respondents each. The responses of
the school management team members to the questions posed were transcribed
and then analysed.
5.3 FINDINGS Findings from this research can be classified into findings emanating from the
focused literature review on branding which was undertaken in chapter two and
findings emanating from the data obtained through empirical research.
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5.3.1 Findings from the literature survey Finding 1
The literature definition of branding advocates the use of a name, term, symbol,
sign or design to provide a differential advantage over the service of a
competitor. The concepts encapsulated in the definition prescribe a thorough
understanding and implementation by the school management team (see 1.8.2)
Finding 2
Branding and brand building are geared in essence towards the creation of a
brand identity, which is the outward expression of the brand including its name
and visual appearance, and a brand image. A brand image is the total sum of
the perceptions of the features, tangible and intangible that characterize a brand
to the customers.
Finding 3
The process of branding should culminate in the creation of brand equity which is
the sum of all distinguishing qualities of a brand, drawn from all relevant
stakeholders, that results in personal commitment to and demand for the brand;
these differentiating thoughts and feelings make the brand valued and valuable
(Brand careers glossary, 2006:2).
Finding 4
A brand must offer a value proposition and also have credibility in the eyes of its
prospective and current users.
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Finding 5
The branding of a school needs to be undertaken within the framework of a
clearly thought and designed corporate strategy (fig. 2.2).
Finding 6
The success of the branding process hinges on the implementation of its
imperatives within the hierarchy of the school. The imperatives prescribe a well
defined structure involving all the levels of management in the organization who
will contribute meaningfully to the branding process.
5.3.2 Important empirical findings
Finding 1
SMT members have a limited understanding of what branding is.
Finding 2
SMT members all acknowledge the importance of school branding.
Finding 3
This research revealed that branding in schools is largely confined to the use of
school logos, uniforms and school name boards at most.
Finding 4
SMTs are not actively promoting their schools as powerful brands in a structured
purposeful manner.
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Finding 5
Schools do not have branding committees with a budget for this purpose.
Finding 6
SMT members appreciate that branding can benefit their schools immensely.
Finding 7
The respondents all agree that branding should involve all stakeholders in the
school.
Finding 8
The role of excellent school results is highly recognized by SMT members for
school branding.
Finding 9
SMT members acknowledge the role of cultural, extra and co-curricular activities
as essential in the branding of a school.
Finding 10
The respondents were divided in their opinions of the perception of brand
equality between black and former whites only schools.
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Finding 11
Excellent physical and financial resources are regarded as significant in turning a
school into a meaningful brand.
Finding 12
The SMT members value school branding for the ethical imperatives that it
requires of everybody in the organization.
Finding 13
SMTs are not familiar with branding techniques and methods.
Finding 14
Some SMT members hold the view that the former whites only schools are
superior brands compared to township and rural schools.
Finding 15
School branding is acknowledged as a new practice that needs the involvement
of the education department.
5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS
The recommendations that are made in this research are a product of the
findings which were yielded by the analysis of data gathered from the focused
literature review and the six sample schools. In essence this study’s aim was to
investigate the role of the SMT in the branding of a school. The investigation
would also focus on the definition of school branding, probing how a school can
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be branded and generating guidelines for school branding. The
recommendations made in this study are advanced with the objective of
improving the practice of school branding.
Recommendation 1
SMTs need to fully understand the concept of school branding. The point of
departure is their ability to define this concept. Thus this study defines school
branding as the use of a school name, term, symbol or design or a combination
of these to identify or differentiate a school and its offering or service in the form
of positive perceptions in the minds of its market, from that of its competitors.
Recommendation 2
SMT members should take it upon themselves to become brand ambassadors in
order for them to sustain the importance and benefits of branding. As brand
ambassadors they will be in a strong position to bring on board the SGB, learners
and teachers thus present the school as a brand.
Recommendation 3
SMT members should read branding literature extensively so that they can
expand their knowledge of the subject beyond the confines of the school logo,
name and uniforms. They should empower themselves with detailed information
on school branding. Reading widely on branding will make the SMT conversant
with the salient concepts in branding.
Recommendation 4
The school management team should establish a committee which will be
specifically responsible for the branding of the school. This committee should
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have a stable membership and it must be fully functional. It has to report
consistently to the SMT on its operations. It should also formulate a branding
strategy. A suitable and recommended strategy is the corporate branding
strategy which was discussed in fig. 2.2.
Recommendation 5
When the school budget is drawn, the SMT should make inputs for the allocation
of funds for branding programmes. The branding committee should have its own
budget allocation.
Recommendation 6
The SMT needs to formulate structured branding activities that will take place
throughout the course of each school year. These should be activities that are
linked to the ethos, vision, and mission and values of the school and which will
contribute towards making the school a meaningful and powerful brand.
Recommendation 7
The SMT has to strive to get the consensus of all the stakeholders in the school,
namely, SGB, learners, teachers, parents and the community. The collective
effort of all the stakeholders is crucial for the success of turning the school into a
brand. Roles and duties must be structured and allocated such that the schools
branding efforts are well co-ordinated.
Recommendation 8
The SMT must encourage excellence in academic, extra and co-curricular
activities in terms of results. Excellent results are the epitome of a successful
116
brand. To achieve this objective the learning areas and extra and co-curricular
activities themselves must be treated as sub brands of the school by the SMT.
Recommendation 9
SMT members in township and rural schools need to shed off the perception that
the former whites only schools are superior to them. They should devise means,
ways and ideas to uplift their schools.
Recommendation 10
The school management team should give ample focus on the upkeep of
buildings and grounds. The buildings and grounds should be neat and beautifully
kept to make them attractive and conspicuous. The SMT should formulate
fundraising programmes that will secure sponsorship, donations and a steady
income for the school. This implies empowerment with regard to fundraising
skills and knowledge.
Recommendation 11
The SMT should lead by example and be ethically impeccable. They should be
the embodiment of moral uprightness and uphold the positive value system of the
school. Ethics and branding are mutually interlinked for the success of the
school as a brand. Thus the level of knowledge and understanding of ethical
issues should be valued by SMT members.
Recommendation 12
It is significant that school management team members are conversant with
advertising, promotions, public relations and networking as essential tools in
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branding. The effective use of these tools can contribute profoundly towards the
branding of a school.
Recommendation 13
The SMT should preach and practice teamwork in all the facets of the school.
Efforts should be made to inculcate a sense of synergy that is pervasive in the
various structures of the school. Synergy is vital in the branding efforts of the
SMT; it helps to channel the endevours of every member of the school towards
building a strong brand.
Recommendation 14
The SMT and the branding committee should engage in dialogue with the
department of education to have branding workshops conducted so that the field
of branding expands and the practice of school branding is fully appreciated and
optimally exploited for the benefit of the school.
Recommendation 15
SMTs should educate the other stakeholders about the real benefits of school
branding. Making other stakeholders aware of the benefits will elicit positive
attitudes necessary for creating strong brands.
5.5 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
This study focused on the views and opinions of SMT members in six schools.
Due to time and financial constraints the study could not include interviews of the
former whites only school, SGBs, learners and parents. It would, for instance, be
intriguing to find out the views of the school governing bodies on the subject of
school branding. The rural schools could also not be included in the study. The
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researcher would, consequently, recommend that the outstanding stakeholders
form part of future research on the subject of branding a school. It is essential
that further research in the field of school branding be conducted because this is
relatively new concept in education.
5.6 CONCLUSION
This chapter gave a summary of the preceding chapters, it gave the findings of
the research, it also provided recommendations emanating from the findings and
lastly recommendations for further research on school branding were outlined.
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LIST OF A TABLE AND FIGURES
1. Table 2-1 of a comparison of management structures and strategy levels
between a firm and a school.
2. Figure 2-1 of a diagrammatic representation of the scope of branding
within the strategic management process in a school.
3. Figure 2-2 of a school branding strategy framework.
APPENDIX A
MICHAEL MANGENA 909672715 Med Research on School Branding
If you were to draw up a branding strategy for your school – how would it be structured?
APPENDIX D
AN INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF SCHOOL A‘s SMT CONDUCTED ON 23-07-2008
AT 09:00 – 10:00
TRANSCRIPT
Researcher: Okay,… Let’s start … (tape sound) … right. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. SMT: Morning Researcher: I have five questions to ask you on my topic which is the role of the school management team in the branding of a school. What do you understand by the concept school branding? What do you understand by the concept school branding? Anyone to go… yes Ma’m. B: Okay, I understand branding to me says er… selling your school it’s a business and in a business we know that the…the…the…there’s lots and lots of competition and you have to work very hard to see yourself maybe er… being the best in whatever business that you’re … you’re in (tape sound) so iiits very much important to … to … to …to like have a certain label people should know yourself as so and so. Like us as Thembalihle and we need to have some characteristics that define what Thembalihle is and that’s … that’s how I understand branding. Researcher: Okay, thank you Ma’m. A: I think branding is who you are, er … how you do things the quality and also I can say its uses its supposed to have some characteristics and the history, its your history, its your future and the present, this is branding. B: I think branding is who you are, er …how you do things the quality and also I can say its uses its supposed to have some characteristics and the history, its your history, its your future and the present, this is branding. Researcher: Thank you Ma’m, C … D: Okay, I also think that branding means er… the mission and the vision of the school, what do you want to see yourself in so much years. You… you want to
know where your school will be in so many years, maybe it… it determines the vision of the school where you want to see yourself in a certain time. That’s what I think of branding. E: Ja, now maybe I should come in there to say er… in our own culture we normally say “Lebitso lebe le a roma” so if they can say they give you a name that has more to do with bad things, you are likely to do bad things in your life. So, branding has got to do with making sure that er… youuu get your er… the name that is going to be aligned to your vision and mission and your intentions as well as objectives and goals of the institution. So that er… at the end that name should be the one that is going to steer and direct you in the right direction because er… all whatever you will be doing, you will use your name as a marketing strategy to make sure that er… the… the…the… stakeholders all of them understand that er… they can associate themselves with the brand which is the name itself. So, the name has got more to do with er… who thinks about the institution itself. C: They’ve already covered what I am going to say. Researcher: Okay, er… what comes to your mind other than what they’ve just said about the concept branding of a school? B: Can I maybe add the… I think also uniqueness, uniqueness. I think if you come up with something that is unique people tend to want…to…to…to…to know about that you know. To want to have that new thing in their life. A: I think they can also – to add – identify the school with that uniqueness and see that is because you can carry the effect some characteristics of the branding of the school. Researcher: Okay, thank you Ma’m. Ladies and gentlemen. My second question is why do you think schools should be branded? D: I… I think to be identified. You can’t use er… er… it is so important just to know the school I can say that just to identify the schools. I don’t know what I can say. A: I think it it adds on the uniqueness of the school so that you can able to… to be unique and having those features and characteristics which are not the same with other schools. So we need to be branded as a school. Researcher: Okay, Any other inputs? E: Ja, schools nowadays are supposed to be run like er… business institutions so branding has got more to do with er… your marketing strategy so that er… stakeholders can easily associate with er… the name itself after branding so that er… er they can be able to understand what is the school er… what is the aim of the school and what is the school er…what is the aim of
the school and what is the school all about. So the name itself has got more to do with er marketing strategies. B: I think also er… branding also gives er… individuals a chance to…to…to…to can to have a choice to say this is what I want like I like for instance a school this is where I want my child to… to… to…to belong because of one, two, three. You know as we have been talking of characteristics, values and what have you and what have you. So this brand has got what I really need for my child. So I have that choice to say due to one two three reasons, I want my child to belong into this institution. D: As members said that I think also it… it provides the educators to be more in what they are doing knowing that er… if schools are branded in that way, it will be very competitive to them. So it also provides a good quality of education in every school in that way because we are known as to be the schools that are nonperforming only because they are in the location compared to model – C schools. So if schools are branded, it will provide I mean good quality of education. Researcher: Okay, any other additions? Input around this? Okay er… the third question is how do you think schools should be branded? In other words your role as SMT members. How do you go about branding your school or promoting it as a brand? A: By producing good results quality education when in that way you… you are also encouraging the… the community to recognise you and then you are going to carry a certain brand. B: I think also by having the vision and the mission not only in a written form but also by practicing what you are saying in your mission and your vision and letting your stakeholders the people from outside knowing what exactly what is it that you are doing what is your vision? What is your mission and they should not only read it, they should see it from the educators, from the learners and anybody the parents. You know, so that that that’s I think that’s how we can brand our school. E: Ja, and I think er… you know er… Branding I think we should be looking at it from a situation where in we align the branding to the mission and the er I mean the tactics and the strategies of the school. We align the… the… the… the branding name to the tactics, strategies and the intentions of the school so that at the end the brand name whoever associates himself or herself with the brand name should be helping the institution to realize the brand itself so the brand should remain as quality as possible for ever. So now it means the brand name it’s er its steering us in the right direction because it contains all the intentions of the institution itself. So you should be proud of your band name and you should remain committed to making sure that you protect the brand name because it has got more to do with everything that the institution is all about.
B: And also it reflects back to us. I mean to be able to brand ourselves we need to work hard, I mean er… we need to have sponsorships. It has to reflect back to us I mean what how much are we doing exactly to brand our name or our school? It also depends on us as the community as a whole the parents, the… the department officials everybody who is involved in the community service which is the school is I think is it is important for that person to be more reliable and helpful to not only to receive but also to give. I think that’s how we should do it. A: Mm mm mm (agreement sound) C: (cough & clearing of throat) I think, I don’t know whether I am on the right track. I don’t know whether when we are referring to branding you are talking about naming a school or… C: Its part of it? I think that one it it will depend on the parents SGB or the governing body of the school to brand the school name. Researcher: What would you say they do to promote the name of the school. C: The name of the school Researcher: What activities are you looking at that they can use to brand the school? B: I think the… the… there are activities like er… for instance let’s take just a simple simple policy code of conduct for learners. Just dwelling on that, you know, seeing to it that the… the… the… the children are in the right track they have values, you know, they have values. Their attitude towards their school, their work everything around them, everything in totality is just on the right track and without having to… to… to… to tell people, people can just see that this is you know the brand that we want to associate with and once you call the name Thembalihle, people say oh, its that institution and we would love to work with it. If we have proposals for funding and so on and so on it it works out easier because already people have an association they can associate the name with er er the institution due to the… the…the effects that were brought by all the stakeholders, SGB, Educators you know and the outsiders. A: Mm I think we should also be er… ambassadors of the school as an SGB and as the stakeholders. So whenever we do advocacy or wherever we do the marketing for the school wherever we are we should know that we are not representing us alone, we are representing the community and the school. E: But I Mr. er think er Mr. Mangena (the researcher) if we have to help you there, I think the er the question of your dissertation is the role of management in making sure that the school is branded. So whatever good things my colleagues
have said there we need to direct it straight to your question to say the management team will facilitate er… the issue of making sure that the brand name its relevant to what we want to do as a school by making sure that the SGB is involved in the branding of the name and the SGB is er going to serve as ambassadors in our communities to sell the brand name and so forth, so that we can be di… er… you know we can answer those questions directly from a management point of view. B: I think we are on the right track because us as management, we are there to work with others as as a team because on our own we cannot like conquer, you know, we need to make up a team of which it will be the parents, it will be the educators the learners and other outsiders, you know, so us as management we are there to steer all the team members to the right direction. You know, so its up to the whole management to have that vision, to have that eagerness, you know, to have that plan of wanting to share with the other team members or where do we want to see ourselves in so er many years. What is our future? You know, so the SMT is there to see to steer the whole process into the… the right direction and to monitor the process until we are where we want to be. So I think that’s the role of the … the… the SMT. Researcher: Okay, any other inputs? D: Maybe also to add on that er… the morality of the school it also depends on us if our morals are portrayed in the community, that’s how they are going to perceive us, I mean the brand name will also be in the concept of the morals of the school. That’s what I can say. A: Yes, mm Researcher: Okay, er… my last question… that’s question four er… what are are your thoughts on the benefits of branding for your school? How will branding the school benefit the school? A: I think the branding of a school is going to help the school by getting more sponsorship and you are going to have more learners and you going to have also positive attitude towards everything that you are doing and the parents are also going to help and the community will also have a positive attitude towards the school so we are going to benefit we are going to have a good enrollment or a high enrollment we its going easier for us to get donations from the business people and we are going to be easily identified, you know, we can also get some other benefits that we are not even aware of them because of school branding. B: I think also the… the… the branding will also encourage us as team members of this institution, to say because we are at this level we need to go further, you know, and that will encourage like for instance our educators to improve their…their their skills, you know, to improve their skills because we are now in the limelight people see us as the people who are up there and we wouldn’t like to
see ourselves, you know, lagging behind not having information, not having enough er…skills. So that will encourage and push our educators and our learners and all the stakeholders to…to…to…to work towards, you know, being the best. The best of the best. Er… always striving for… for… for… for excellence. In all aspects our education as educators, the learners improving their ways of, you know, of living socially, economically and so on. So improvement, development is going to happen automatically because we know that so much is expected of us. (cough). C: Even produce er… er… good citizenship, good citizenship learners if we are er… going to do right things and also we are going to have a roll as the principal said and then sponsorship from other… others people even even overseas we can get we can get a sponsors there and also, people will recognise us for what we did. U yabona (you see). D: Most importantly is quality, education to learners because I mean African countries are being known to be the last er… on… on the continent in education our learners are being known as not being able to read at a certain stage of their lives I mean that is the key role of us being in schools to improve the education of our learners. I think that the most key role, for the educators. E: Ja, I think lastly you the brand name will always keep you on your toes to deliver er… what you are required to do and it will also make us highly competitive in this er educational market that is becoming so intensified and so difficult and and also it will make sure that we deliver a decent service to our clients and stakeholders including everybody associated with the er brand. To make sure that er… we always er… compete with er… the best in education more so because we are trading learners between former model C schools and township schools, so the brand name will always er… make sure that whoever is involved or attached to it er… is er… making sure that er… we deliver as we are expected. So that we can compete with the best in the market. A: And just to add the parents will be having … will have confidence on us because that is the biggest thing that the parents are lacking nowadays. They … they believe the former model C schools. They are not believing on us as we are here. So they are going to have a confidence if we are really having a good brand. Researcher: Okay any other inputs? E: And the benefits of er also will, you know if you are an institution which er is well branded, then whoever is going to associate with er… that brand will be of quality including the kind of educators that will apply for positions in our school. Those will be the best educators possible in the market because they will know that er that brand is a challenge on itself if want to associate with it you must be the best. So now that will be the benefit to the school because we won’t just get er… er… er waste in the market. We’ll get the best because they know that the
brand name is a challenge. If you go there you must be up to scratch. So its one big benefit again. Researcher: Okay thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. And the next question which is the last question is do you think the former whites only and the township or rural schools can ever be equal as brands? Let me repeat the question. Do you think the former whites only and township or rural schools can ever be equal as brand? A: I don’t think so (laughter) I don’t think so because at the present moment we are still struggling and there was no er… restructuring if I may say because we of the we are still having same classes that is the… the… the buildings. Excluding some of the things that the former model C schools are having. We don’t have enough yard at the present moment so, there are so many things that we want to do we won’t be able to do EVER! So I… I those things I think we won’t be able except the monies and the resources that we’ve got. But there are some other things that they have already benefited from the system and we are still struggling to have them at the present moment. So it is going be very difficult and it is going to take another 40 years or 50 years to reach that stage. B: Uh… depending on…on what exactly we are talking ab… are we talking about, I think slowly but surely the …the…the government is realizing that there is a big gap between er… the former model C schools and the rural and the…the…the…the township schools and if and when the government er…er…er have things in place, like for instance we are busy now with this ACE course whereby we…we are able to engage even with these former model C schools e…e… educators can see that er… slowly but surely we are just about to be equals because when we discuss (phone ringing) and engage, the problems that they have, you know, some of them say maybe because we are been far apart for some time we…we do not see we do not er…er we are able to can identify the progress. Although its minimal and its very slow but I think with time we are going to be able to be at par and with these courses like the one that we are busy with, like the ACE course if the government er…er has its systems in place it will be able to can evaluate to say this is where we are lacking and this is what we can do, you know, to make everybody to be at par and to…to…to…to not trying to include unfortunately we cannot like separate the two our government policies and so on and so on on equality we cannot separate them because everything that has to do with institutions schools and what have you it has to do with the government its rural, its urban its everybody has to be included and everybody has to be equal. And I think that the government will look into that and one way or the other, we have to be equal. C: Aarccording to me it is not going to be easy here to to er… what can I say? to compete or to compare ourself with the white schools because er… due to our… due to our… erm… due to apartheid I can say iit… it…it… Researcher: You can speak in Zulu Sisi
C: Its openeda a very big gap between us because they got a lot of money than us so even now they have a lot of apparatus that we don’t have er… even the money that they are catered for now they got more than us so I think they but according to the teachers qualifications I think there we are equal. But according to the apparatus and other things they had and then they had the opportunity because they are there they are paying school fees here in our township childrens are not paying school fees they don’t have money they paid a lot of money there. If you send your child there, its going to be a problem. Even coming to the work that they did there they do in the class if er they gave them er… homework, they did homework, but if you can give the children here the homework, they are not going to do it there is not. Coming to the meetings that we had, here in in Soweto you can call the parents to…to…to… to attend the meeting you are going to get less than 10% but there even you the the learners I mean even the children from Soweto who are in whit school, parents are trying by all means to attend the meeting even if its at nights, they get 99%. Here us here here in townships it’s just less than 10% attendance so it gives us a very very serious problem so we can’t perform er to our satisfaction. B: But I think one way or the other we are contradicting ourselves because we had said that as a brand name that is, you know, to make well known we will be able to can like attract sponsors and so on and so on and I should think those resources thy will enable us to be at least at least closer to to to to the former model C schools and when other schools in the township see that this brand, you know, because it has sold itself so much and here they are they are just about to be at par with the former model C schools, they they’ll copy what we’ve been doing and that can slowly but surely help us to be at least next to the mode. C schools. A: I…I think er… just to add we… according to my understanding we need to develop the child in totality. But now at the present moment we are trying our best to develop the child as I have said we are lacking some resources and some space to do that. So we are using one side instead of other sides that learners are supposed to get, you know, they are supposed to do if its art they are supposed to perform all types, you know, but for us its difficult because whatever activities that we are supposed to do you are supposed to think of the space, of the er… the equipment that you’ve got, you know, they cannot even play the piano, for example, they cannot be able to swim. Some of the learners are not good in class but they need to be best in in swimming, cannot be able to swim, cricket, we are having some problems to make them to play in the yard you know, there are some other things that we really really need. They also have some psychologist inside the class the the school. We don’t have. So as I am saying that er… to my understanding its going to take us time to reach that because they need also to demolish some of the schools and move learners to a one place or one big school with everything. So for now the schools are like before during the apartheid era there are Nguni schools alone, Sotho schools alone, you know, we are still having that er… separation. The term… if really we say we are its about
time that we are going to really try to be equal as the former model C schools, supposed to have one main primary school in the area. We are having more than two in a small area that is compelling us to be divided again, you know, so if really we can also try to work on those things we are going to be somewhere in the near future but I…I think its its going to take time. E: No, Sir I think er… we are living in a very very diversified society and there are redress policies that are really aimed at er…transforming the schools and education in general, but those are as they are they are very very good on paper but in practice they are not taking off the ground er…m I’ll give you an example er… you see we don’t see Indian White educators applying for posts in er… black schools former black schools and most of the black teachers also do not want to go and work in white schools because this has got more to do with the culture and the mentality that er… the apartheid government has inculcated in us. So until we change the mindset er… then I think it’s gonna be difficult fooor township or rather black schools to to be comparable with the white schools or former model C schools and er… I think one other thing is we need to put it in. Weee we can’t it’s er… blame resources and other things for lack of transformation, because er… let me give you an example there is a school called er Job Rathebe here former Altem. If you look at that institution it’s a very… it’s a school that maybe sometimes if you walk around er… the suburbs, you don’t get er… a facility like that one. But if you can see it’s a white elephant its misused and so forth. So that’s why I’m saying it has got more to do with culture, and the kind of education that blacks received in the past and commitment that er… as educators we should have er… in ourselves not to believe in other people that they can come and er… bring change. If we are committed and we do the right things I think er… slowly but surely as my colleague said we will get there. For an example I can tell you to say some good educators are there in schools, but once they arrive in black schools the…y a comfort zone and they are no longer able to use their skills in a manner that they will help the brand name of the school. Accelerate it in fact, so its because of the mindset and the culture that is taking place in our black schools because you’ll remember “hore fela re re setlhare sa motho o motsho ke lekgowa” (blacks need a white man to be human). So even if a white person is not competent but if they put him in front of you, then ultimately you follow you toe the line you do all these sort of things. So, that’s whay I’m saying if we can change the mind set and believe in ourselves and believe that black brothers and sisters can do it, then we can we can we can be comparable in future. D: Er… also our parents, you have to understand that most of them, are not, they don’t have that kind of education. So, in their mind if you are able to talk English then for them they don’t believe er… I mean I mean in a indigenous language will help their kids in future they believe the companies they want English you go to interviews they want English. So in that way I think we will never be the same because in their minds you need to know English then, they going to see you their going to see you future but if you’re in a location school they won’t see the future of their children because of the language.
A: I… I think to add the other reason that I… I… I am thinking of is salaries. You know in a former model C school and white schools they do get some extra money, whatever performance that they are doing, the extra work that they are doing they are getting extra money. So where are we going to get those monies because we don’t have enough money. The salary from the department they are not depending on it. They are having their extra money that are given to the educators. I think the money part of it is another thing that is motivating the… the… the whites educators because they become so committed that really even at at nine o’clock if they can say the meeting is at nine o’clock they do volunteer to do it. They know that they are going to get an extra buck. To us we are lacking money an the teachers are always in a er stressful condition you know. They think of money whenever its month end, there is no happiness in schools because they need to go and pay this and that and that and that, and no one is enough money. So I think if really the department of education can just think of the salary part of it because as blacks we really we are living in a same area with the white colleagues and you know but they are living better lives even their their standard of living is far better than ours, and we feel that we are below them. And that is making us automatically feeling that they are superior than us, you know. So I think that is the other thing that is really really making us not to perform at our ability. E: No, I think she reminds me of something er…, the principal, that er… you see if we want to compare these schools er… really the problem would be the why are we making slow progress towards the intended er… destination its because there is high level of illiteracy in the country and it is con is er… black communities are abundant with illiteracy. Now the kind of learners that we receive in black schools er.. they do not have strong backup at home. So-o why you go to white former model C schools or white schools, you find that both parents are highly educated even better equipped than educators who are teaching their children at school. So their children are getting education from home, at school the support system is very strong. So I think it will take time for us to arrive there because er… most of our learners are… the parents are not educated. So, when they are not educated, we er… as teachers in the townships of black schools we are not helped by parents and the community to accelerate the level of education that our kids are receiving. So now er… really is gonna be difficult. Its gonna be difficult for an example if my father is a lawyer my mother is a medical doctor, then I am taught by a teacher even if the teacher is not good at school obviously the child is going to be viable in education. So, that is I think er its gonna be difficult but er… we should have er positive intentions that er… one day we’ll arrive there. E: So, in a nutshell what would you say should be done to bridge the gap? Between the two brands township schools and… E: The Department of Education must make sure that er… all the good intended er… policies are actioned are… Researcher: Let’s focus on ourselves as the SMT.
E: Okay internally. Researcher: What can be done to bridge that gap briefly. B: I think like I have spoken about team work, you know, we… we… we… know that we have this problem of parents not being literate, you know, and as an institution, this unique institution that we’ve been talking about we we we need to come up with er… er strategies on hw we can like uplift the standard of the parents for starters. We can start with parents and let’s let’s instill into them maybe by way of workshoping them instill into them the worthiness of education the worthiness of being er… er… er parents who are responsible. Parents who are committed to their children’s learning you know, children’s education. Parents who are committed to the environment of you know, that they create here at school for their homes the the we need to… to come up with strategies to show them the importance of them being involved, and then maybe we’ll get somewhere. Whether they are educated or not but just showing them the importance of the values, you know, of being there being committed also and being part of the school being part of the team of the school. I think… A: I think the department can help us by reducing the ration number, because we are having 1:40 it’s a big number for the educators really to have an individual teaching in a class. We also I think also what can help is to also excluding the principals in the post establishment because the principal is also being added as one of the educators. And also to try and reduce the periods and of the management they should also have the management of the school to do the management part of the school because if you are busy with the class and now you are expected to manage its very difficult if you’ve got the number of periods that er… are equal to the educators and you are also expected to do their management, to perform the duties of the manager. I-i-it makes one not to perform her duties quite well because of times you are in a class you don’t see some of things that are happening at the school. So, it would be much better if the managers really they are given an opportunity to manage the school and to reduce the periods fo the HOD and maybe the deputy and the principal should also er reduce er their periods to go to the classroom and try to manage the school so that they can have at least the feeling of the school each and every time you can see what is not working what is working. You can make a try and error things, you know, having your own time. So I think really and truly as as department is trying but its not doing their best. (Door opening). Researcher: Okay any other inputs? E: Ja, you can also have regular meetings with er all your stakeholders in order to make sure that you inform, adopt, adjust your strategies and you get a broader view of what er people are thinking about you’re your brand name as to whether are you making in roads and making impact in the community so that you can always update whatever you is happening in your school, and also to make sure
that whatever you strategise on or do in your institution, its er dedicated to teaching and learning which is the kind of service that you want to deliver to the clients stakeholders and nothing else, and keep in making sure that your educators get abreasted all the time with current information so that they can be able to be effective in delivering the service within the institution. A: I think the salaries again if you can be paid according to the qualifications that you’ve got really we can be very happy because er the the person who is having a degree in a in a private sector is earning much much there is a big gap between us and them, you know. If really they can also help us by really trying to give us what we are deserving. E: And maybe this will help you as well. You see schools must run like projects. Er in a project er… once you have a concept you gonna grand your name, you must have proper planning around… the concept and the design of the concept itself and then have proper control and monitoring systems to monitor whether the brand name is getting off the ground and making sure that you deliver what er the brand name is er intended to do and also you must make sure that once you get feed you must get feedback from the system itself so that you can be able to make sure that wherever there are gaps you close them tight. You don’t wait for the irreparable damage to be created and try and deal with that. You must deal with it whether you are… in fact what I am saying even if the school is doing well but you must always look for gaps. Don’t wait for the time when they say... er… problems come and you try and and fix the problem. Continue to due self reflection even if you think you are doing better. That’s the only way you can get there. A: I think Sir also as we’ve said that er… we need really to make managers to manage, that is the other weapon that the white schools are doing, and that is why they are excelling because they are having enough time to think about the school. Unlike us we are supposed to go to the classes and then you come back and there’s a meeting and there’s what and what and that makes you not to sit down and think about the school. I think also with the plans of the department they don’t do their planning well, you know, they interfere with the planning that we’ve got in the school, and with all the changes that they are doing I we are supposed we are supposed to comply unlike the white schools they are doing their own thing. What their headmaster is best. So even if you do have your best thing that you are doing at times you are supposed to leave it and do the department one. And that is making you not to perform according to the ability that you’ve got in the school. B: I think maybe also like the principal has been like raising some of the the the issues, you know, monetary issues and so on, and so on er… I think also talking in one voice with like all the schools like you have principal’s meetings where by you share all the problems that we have, I think its very imperative that what ever has been discussed or whatever you are discussing in your meetings should be honestly be be given to the department so that they know that its not only maybe
this school that is complaining about one, two three should be sorted out by the government itself, you know as everything its in its hand. So for for for all the school’s to be performing well, educators to be stressless, you know, because as principals you are experiencing that, you are experiencing absenteeism of teachers who are constantly ill due to stressful situations that they encounter in their work environment. So if that can be given to the department and follow ups be made to say we had like requested for one two three to be sorted out like for instance teacher learner ration. Those things to be dealt with, you know, I think we can like go somewhere and the department also can see that you know the stress that teachers have is given to the principals and they are the ones to see on what to do and they cannot do it alone the department has to inter inter intervene and see to it that everybody is working in a conducive environment everybody is happy to carry out his duties if one two three is done. Researcher: Er… would you still like to say something? D: Yes, I mean teamwork is very important and the SMT must also remember that we have educators who are very knowledgeable who have good ideas and that they must include them in what ever they are doing. Er… transparency is also more important so that there won’t be this them and us. Yes, I think that’s very important. E: Which means team building strategies should be employed to make sure that we work in concert to make sure that we deliver er… on the objectives and goals of the school. Researcher: Thank you ladies and a gentlemen.
APPENDIX E
AN INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF SCHOOL B‘s SMT CONDUCTED ON 22-07-2008
AT 13:00 – 13:45
TRANSCRIPT
Researcher: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. SMT: Afternoon Researcher: Er…my first question to you as the SMT is: “What do you understand by the concept school branding? What do you understand by the concept school branding? Any one can give it a try. As I said there are no wrong answers there are no right answers all that I need are your genuine opinions. What do you think? A: I think you mean the type of school. Researcher: Er…now the concept A: By branding by branding you mean the type of school. Researcher: No no under general what do you understand by school branding. B: It is: It is not categorizing what type of school you would want your school to be? Researcher: Er…no, what I need is an explanation. B: Branding? Researcher: Yeah, of school branding. Er…what do you think school branding means? I other words I need an explanation of branding. B: What school branding means Researcher: Ja, in your opinion. C: Er…I would say that er…school branding its what constitutes the school in it’s to to. Er…talking about er…the if we draft a policy or the constituent of the
school and that is where will exactly subscribe what the branding of the school will be. Researcher: Okay. C: Like er the name Selope Thema you will not call it a brand on its own where it derives from. Researcher: Okay. What do the other members think? D: To me branding I think you know I take it as a maybe it is a slogan like I say “run faster or forever remain behind.” When I thought maybe Selope Thema er meaning that er…like vision and mission how you want the school to be how the school is going to be marketed maybe according to that brand then it will maybe it will market the school. Researcher: Okay. The other members. A: I think we’d brand our school, as to concur with the last speaker that it is one of the old most notable, productive schools. So our brand would be we would brand our school as the most excellent school that we want or we are still having to continue to hold the legacy of that very school because it is branded as one of the best schools that we’ve had if you go back to the history of the schools around Orlando. Researcher: Okay. I understand that. But how would you explain say to a parent what school branding is. If a parent asks you to say Ma’m what is school branding? How would you explain that concept to a parent? In your own opinion. C: We could categorise as what? As a good school we could brand our school as a school when you bring your child to it you are not going to regret bringing your child but unfortunately my my my understanding of branding end up giving the last answer that when we want to brand our school will be that bring your children to our school then you will see wonders. We will brand it as a good school. An excellent school of knowledge where we would brand it in a sense that er…we’ll encourage them that we brand our school to be amongst the school here in Orlando. Researcher: Okay. What do the other members say? B: I’d day the concept branding is too generic. Er…I’d say branding maybe in simple terms it’ll it’ll mean naming of the school… Researcher: Okay
B: …where does the name comes from. Ja, what prompted us to name the school Selope Thema. The recipients that we’ve used to name the school. Pause E: Branding its its it comes from the word its form of how does the school offer talking about good education, talking about the the the extra curricular activities talking about code of conduct it is more complex than its about learning at school. A: And also its about people that are in the school for example we at Selope Thema we are a multi multi-lingual er…school we are composed of Zulu and Northern Sotho so we could be a different brand from other schools in the area. Researcher: Okay. Any other additions? Maybe something that you have just thought about? D: The uniqueness of the school. Researcher: The uniqueness of the school. Any other? Er… Right the second question is: “Why do you think schools should be branded? Why should schools be branded? B: Er… if we agree that branding is the name of the school, there is no school that can be without an identity and then er… branding its very important that it also market as one of the speakers said markets the school, you know it also gives the origin of the school. So its very important that a school must be branded. Researcher: Okay. Well. Other members? What comes to your mind? What comes to your mind? B: If the question is why it means it is necessary that a school must be branded? Researcher: What are the reasons? Why schools must be branded? C: For our identification process. So that we must be identified that we we as a school we are at senior primary. We are branded as a senior primary. W also identify Zifundeni as a Junior Secondary. So we brand our schools we categorise our schools that way that its important that we brand the schools. A: I also think for the parents to go on to the right schools, because if a parent does not know the brand of the school, he will go to a wrong school. But due to branding, parents will go to the right school that she wants.
Researcher: Okay. Ma’m what is your opinion? E: I think branding its its Researcher: Er… why why should schools be branded? E: I think to encourage competition, branding itself will encourage competition in schools. Researcher: Okay. B: Ja, imagine if schools were nameless, imagine if people were nameless – what would happen? Because er… even if we call school A school B that’s bad that’s the name of the school but I think it’s very important that we must identify schools globally so and locally so. Researcher: Er… any other inputs? Are you happy? That’s fine. B: Er… the brnad on its own it also counts to say what is the name of the school. Researcher: Okay. Er… question number three. How do you think schools should be branded? In other words as an SMT, what is it that you can do to brand your school? What activities can you engage in as an SMT to promote your school as a brand? A: I think the main the main role as an SMT we have to promote effective er teaching that is the main role because the parents want their children taught and properly taught. B: I’m sorry we might be out of context here, if really our understanding is that er… branding is naming then er… I am a bit lost, I am a bit lost. If branding means to add value on that particular school then we are on the right on the right track. But now er… maybe we can try to er you know disintegrate in a branding so that we understand what actually is needed so that we must come with a you know a viable and a right inputs. Because we might be out of context. The third question according to me I am not sure maybe our statements that we uttered its very much irrelevant with the third question because if really we talk about the SMT before branding you can’t name the school if the I mean we we we have SMT before naming of the school. C: They don’t go hand in hand. We’ve got an institution which is branding unless branding means is to add value on that particular school. Researcher: Er… I would propose that we we try to respond to the question asked don’t worry about the wrongness or the rightness er… of your understanding. If you can just try to focus on the question itself. You see as an
SMT. Okay you have a school that has a name Selope Thema and as an SMT how do you promote that school that name Selope Thema as a brand? D: I think as an SMT, by developing you, you have to develop the educators and the school and look into it that the educators there is, as Ma’m said, there is effective teaching and learning taking place. Researcher: Okay. Other inputs? C: I think when you want your school to be branded and how we as SMT brand our school is to to have policies in place that would guide our school to be one of the unique schools so we would want to brand our school to be one of the schools in the area. In a sense that, like the speakers have said, people would all want to bring the ir learners to your school because of the background or the results that parents see from your school. So, we know that parents take their children to schools because of branding. You cannot take your child to a school where know that there is no effective and efficient teaching in it. So we’ll brand our school to be one of the best schools in the area. B: Ja, just just to add on that er… I think er the question doesn’t soley, you know, dwell with the SMT. I think all the stakeholders, you know, they must prove, you know, the branding of the school. Er… I am talking about er parents, SGB, SMT, learners er they must all come together and the SMT must always convene meetings for that so that if maybe something goes wrong with any of of of of the happens of the school, then we must rectify that as the SMT must rectify that as the stakeholders of the school even the department of education is also inclusive in that. Because with the policies and er and er regulations and the laws everybody is inclusive they must participate on that. Researcher: Okay. Er… yes, ladies what do you think? How do you think a school can be branded? E: I also think sports Sports using such er learning as it should be taught at er because from sports teach a child can develop to be something and earn a living through sports or through music. Researcher: Okay. B: And ethos do count in branding. The ethos of the school. Researcher: The ethos of the school. Researcher: Any other inputs? D: Maybe to look at the the needs of the community.
(pause) Researcher: Okay. Er… ja. Any other additional inputs on how the SMT can brand the school? B: Consistent meetings on development of the school. Researcher: Okay. Right. Question four would then be what are your thoughts on the benefits of branding for the school? If you succeed in branding your school what benefits would branding bring for your school? C: It’s going to bring growth to the school and it will develop both the people and development, and er empowerment, employment as soon as there’s growth then there will be employment. Researcher: Okay. Any other thoughts on the benefits of branding? B: Ja, I think branding of the school is very important as the speaker has said, it will bring more numerous things because er it markets the school on its own. It markets the school so there are numerous things er that can be brought about by branding of the school. Researcher: Okay. Numerous things such as. D: Good results. Good results A: Sponsors. For us a sponsor who notices the whole school we are sure to get one. B: Relationship with the community, relationship with the force, relationship with other schools, relationship with the department of education, relationship with you know overseas schools. Researcher: Okay. Any other inputs on what the benefits would be? B: The most important thing is one has been said – employment. C: A well branded school would be recognized by the feeder school because if a school is well branded, children from that school all feeder schools will enjoy er of a well branded school because we as a primary school, our main objective is to build learners in totality. We expect them to represent, to be ambassadors of our school. So if you’ve got a well branded school no principal would reject the learners from our school from a well branded school. Researcher: Okay. Any other inputs?
B: And you cannot change brand with any other concept. A brand will be a brand. Researcher: Okay. My last question would then be: Do you think the former whites only and township or rural schools can ever be equal as brands? Do you thing the former whites only that is, er model C schools and townships or rural schools can ever be equal brands? D: For now I think we still need another 14 years. To date we still have what with us the that the SMT can do even if there are classes where you feel that it needs er additional manpower. We don’t have funds. Funds in the sense that our parents don’t pay up fees as compared to white schools. We the parents from township take from the urban areas we take our children to white schools and we respond positive to that. And to me its that they they already had er resources far better than us. Before 1994 their schools were well equipped. So I think what we need to do simple things like a school hall. If we have functions we are bound to use two classrooms its not functional. For now I am not on the curriculum side I am still because with curriculum whites cannot beat black teachers. Black teachers are good, what we lack are resources. But I think we still need another 14 years. Er with rural schools I think will need another 20 years. Truly speaking they still lack. They’re behind far behind even the urban schools. B: What is the question? Researcher: The question is do you think the former whites only and township or rural schools can ever be equal brands? B: Ja, there’s nothing er…impossible but now with the current government that we have now, er its not its not possible. Hence one of the speakers said about funding. Er…more especially for rural schools. Er…the brand will not be the same with the current government that we have but maybe if we have another er of the new government maybe things will be right not now. D: Er…the brand meneer will not be the same, because in rural areas er…they do have you know er comparison of the roll in the in the school. They do have you know lot of children in rural areas. But in urban areas we do have problems. Even if today you know parents like today’s parents they are having some grants but they are unable to pay the you know school fees. But in white schools like it or not you know that you are going to pay. And in rural areas parents are paying. Although they are in rural areas they are paying. They are paying their school fees. And directly into the bank. But in urban areas its more difficult even if they know that this is for the benefit of my child this is the education of my child the parents are unwilling to pay.
Researcher: Okay. B: With the current ere r er government we we still experience imbalances. For instance you have a white educator in black schools he’ll earn more than any other black educator who is in a white school. So the branding won’t be the same even though earlier on I said yes I have but really it will take us some years. Er with funding er…you know we experience a lot of of embarrasses white schools are funded you know more more monies than black schools. So its not easy for a balance. Researcher: Okay. Townships, Rural and white schools. A: Jjaa, mmm in rural areas I don’t think its clear but then what is it? The branding will be the same because of the conditions in rural areas nobody wants to go there. In fact if you’re an educator there you that’s because of the situation otherwise nobody wants to go there, so they will remain maybe of lower brand because good people rush to the urban areas maybe we in schools in township areas we can we can try because of maybe the nearness to the big school. We can go and copy and improve on what we we have but we generally er Researcher: Okay. White schools versus black schools? E: I think xxxxxxxx he township schools are not supposed to be onxxxxx the former white schools on Wednesdays they they they have everybody and we still have xxxxxfor us to get there its going to take time. Researcher: Okay. Er… now, briefly, if you had to try and bridge the gap between the white and the black schools what do you think er… SMTs in townships and rural schools should do to try and close that gap? Ma’m was saying it will take us 14 or 20 years. Now to try and bridge that gap what is it that SMTs can do – say as an SMT at Selope Thema – what is it that should be done to close the gap? B: We’d we’d have an advantage of networking with the white schools. And during the network like I said earlier on I xxxxx to black teachers when it comes to curriculum, we don’t have a problem. And as I said most of the time (cough) we are exposed. xxxxxxx We could network with the white schools we’ve got resources we’ve got computers we can look for more information on the internet so we not be as far as they are but with them they still have the t advantage they are able to get teachers who are being paid by the SGB and to us its about 10% of schools who still afford who can afford to get an SGB post where teachers the burden of the teachers will be alleviated. So with them they still have sportsmasters who come specially to train learners. That’s why when it comes to some sports our children don’t excel as compared to whites because they have swimming pools in their schools they don’t have a problem they’ve got
equipment. Before we buy equipment in our schools the first thing that we think about is the textbooks. You know that is why we we we are still crawling but we will reach. Researcher: Okay. A: Maybe we can do what the whites are doing er… they take a teacher they for example take him to the rural area and take one teacher to an urban area so that he can learn whatever is there to try and get some information to take it back to his or her own school. B: Ja, on the educational aspect its easy to do it but on the socio economic aspect its not easy because as we said earlier on that er… there is this gap and everybody is concerned about that and its only politicians beside SMT because SMT are just minute, you know, people in the country, politicians are the one who must do this. They must bring all the societies together so that they must make things easy for the SMT just to implement. Researcher: Okay. Ladies… how do you close the gap? When I look at that question there is only difference challenge that we have about township schools is that er I think curricular we can do we can do we are able I mean we lack resources. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx B: And in conclusion the buck lies with the governor the government Researcher: Yes, Ma’am D: Yes Meneer, er… I think the gap we can it by networking and you know networking by sitting together maybe er the the the teacher from A in an urban area you know, work together with a teacher in school B in school A in town. I think by so doing I think things will shape up and then we’ll be there I think we’ll be reaching you know, we’ll the somewhere. If they are in 10% we’ll be in 8%. Researcher: Okay D: Partnership A: Yeah partnership D: I think if we can form a partnership it will be okay. Researcher: Okay.
A: And also and also er… try to upgrade our our qualifications as you are doing. When you learn you are more knowledgeable you can really think through the knowledge that you get from it. I think maybe it can help to bridge the gap. C: But but the socio economic, like one of the speakers said, the socio economic factors are really beating us. We cannot compare a school in Orlando which gets its feeder learners from informal settlements as compared to learners in Bryanston. WE we attend the workshops, workshops that to to empower ourselves. Some of the workshops that we attend its easier said than done because they’ll tell you that we’d take your learners to Durban we’d estimate to them that when we go to Durban the flight lets say for arguments sake in Mathematics that they tell you that to do that RNC and to do shapes and size or to do measurements, er… some of our children because of the socio economic factors even if you give them projects, the very area that we are in here in Orlando irrespective of the informal settlement that we are surrounded by they don’t have resources because number one electricity the are struggling with electricity the whole winter some of the houses irrespective of the load shedding they are always having this load shedding in their areas. So we don’t have resources. So teachers are working hard they they really, like the speakers have said er, trying to improve the academic er background but at times you end up being a person standing alone in crowd because you are the one who is pulling yourself and you are leaving the others behind, like I said we attend workshops some of the thinks when you have to implement er… it becomes a very difficult because you are being exposed to white schools we attend workshops at private schools where a person will be telling you that I have fitteen learners and this activity is simple for me to take it over you come back even if you can have 15 learners you cannot compare learners from the township from the suburbs and our learners because of the socio economic factors. Researcher: Okay. A: And the other think Meneer our learners’ parents are not lite rate most of them. So maybe if we can be er improve literacy maybe if they know they can try because they are also the stakeholders of the school, maybe they can help make the school a good brand. B: Ja, the question of closing the gap Meneer is a bit dodgy. Ja I understand the question of intergration, interaction and networking but now bear in mind that we are talking about er privatized schools here and they are owned by rich people and how do you close that gap with a millionaire and a, you know, a school like Selope Thema. So its that’s why “kere” (I say) the honours lies with the with the government. Why are they privatizing the schools. Researcher: Okay. Do we still have any inputs? All right.
APPENDIX F
AN INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF SCHOOL C‘s SMT CONDUCTED ON 18-08-2008
AT 13:00 – 13:50
TRANSCRIPT
Researcher: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen once again. Er…my first question to you is what do you understand by the concept school branding? What do you understand by the concept school branding by the concept school branding? What comes into your mind? What is it that you understand by the concept school branding? Anybody who feels like making a contribution can do so. Understanding of school branding… A: Branding Researcher: Yes. What is it that you understand by the concept school branding? A: I think school branding its when er…er…I…I…sp advertise my school in such a way that er…it should have its own er…a thing er…that will make it to be identified by, for an example if I want this school to be known, like the the emblem I am having there. The uniform, the way I we make things at our school. Different from other schools. Researcher: Thank you. Any other inputs? B: Ja, its exactly what just (cough) what meneer has just said. Its about uniqueness, our unique culture as a school, what we aim for, what we are all about, how we differ from others. Yeah. Researcher: Ja. Any extra inputs? What do you think? A lady and gentlemen? What comes into your mind when you think about school branding? C: I think meneer has said it. Its uniqueness, its what makes it different from other schools. Something that will attract people. Like people when I say people I mean pupils to come and attend this school as compared to other schools. Researcher: Ma’m, what do you understand by the concept school branding? D: Aren’t we going to make a repetition of the same thing?
Researcher: No, it doesn’t matter. D: Because…doesn’t matter? (Laughter) Researcher: I just want to know your…what goes on in your brain when you think about school branding. D: I think it’s the way we portray ourselves. The way…what can I say? Who we are. The way people are…defe…in fact our definition of ourselves is the way people must see us. Although it does not necessarily mean sometimes I think I am portraying myself this way and some people will understand me the other way round. E: I think its what we want to be, what er…make us different from other schools and then what (pause) what we use at I mean what we do as…no…I think that we have exhausted all the things. Researcher: Okay. You are comfortable. Okay. Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. My second question to you would be: Why should schools be branded? Why do you think as an SMT schools should be branded? A: I think this is a repetition of what we have said. Er…schools should be branded because we want them to be unique, we want them we want our school to be known to be different from other schools. Researcher: Okay. Is that A: For an example you gave us an example of a Pick ‘n Pay and er…what the Mm mm mm (agreement) A: Aim is to make dif this er this er…Pick ‘n Pay to be different from er…Checkers. So we want our school to be unique. B: Yes, as individuals we are unique. We are I am not a duplicate of somebody else and then my brand is who I am. Me. D: I think we have been doing this for…for…for… the past years. Its just that we…the term brand is like C: Ja D: We are bringing something new here because we each school has its own vision and mission. Its just that its not publicized. Not known to the other people. So what I think branding has to do with more about promotion. How other people view us maybe we need to sell more to our our our vision and mission to other people to say this is what we are all about, and we are associated with success or whatever that is part of our vision. I think, I think there is a need thereafter
because what we have been doing before yes there are still principles or visions and so forth that we’ve established but they are not known, not sold to other people. I think now branding is important then in other words now we are selling we marketing we are promoting ourselves. Researcher: Okay. Is that the feeling of everyone? Did they leave anything out that you would like to add? B: You’ll forgive us if we we remember something whilst we are go: we will come back to it (laughter). Researcher: By all means. By all means. By all means. Okay. Now the third question ladies and gentlemen would be branded? In other words, as an SMT how would you go about branding your school? What would you do to brand your school: A: I think we’ve been doing that the principal B Ee (yes) Ee (yes) we’ve been selling our schools to other schools. B: He always goes there. A: Ja B: Aha and then sometimes we even tell our chi that one I’ll leave it to you because you know what you are doing when you get there and then sometimes we even tell our children you know us you know our school you know what we can do. So tell the others. Aha. Researcher: Er B: Ehee! (Yees) D: At the school level it is very very much broad. (Cough). One er…er…definitely you needs to be functional. By being functional it means definitely all the structures should be there, and they should be operational. Policies should be there, and all the process of developed policies review them and so on should be done timeously. And and moreover to that its its its not only the responsibility of an individual. What you need to take care of when you talk about branding, everybody has to buy into the idea. Even even a gardener has to buy into an idea because he has to understand; doing his work is marketing the motto of the school. Er even sometimes for example there might be a visitor or an official coming through the gate, the gardener, whatever he says with his mouth may either promote or not promote the school. So its very much important everybody understands; the SGB (cough), learners themselves we have been talking about SMT as well. Sometimes a learner wears a school uniform and does something wrong at night. One may argue and say it was after school but the mere fact that he or she is still wearing school uniform, so it means its either
bringing the school to disrepute by doing anything wrong you know whilst wearing the school uniform. So everybody has to understand in terms of marketing and branding of the school that there’s definitely its everybody’s responsibility. So its its everybody’s buy in. So it’s a lot its not a one its not an event also it’s a process you know. It’s an ongoing process. Not to say we are going to promote once and that’s it. It’s continuous in terms of us as educators we deliver we deliver quality work in terms of the learners whenever they are seen by other people outside there they must be perceived to be really complimenting what we are working on. Everybody like I said. Everybody. Researcher: Okay. (cough) E: I think its not we are not only doing that to some of I mean the schools. We can do it to everybody advertise by writing some fliers to them so that they can get information about the school itself. (cough) Researcher: Any other activities? D: I think I’ve got something also to protect our brand as well I think its important as well beyond beyond beyond promoting it to protect it as well at the same time you know and feel proud you know even the little things (cough). Erm for an example er as an employee or a a person who is also a member of the school whatever I say about the school it goes a long way. You know if I am about branding the school you know whatever I say about their school will just be positive. Not with saying I should be lying about it. I need to be realistic but at the same time put the positives more than the negatives to it. Researcher: Er…any other inputs? Are you comfortable? E: And I think I think you again you can you can do that by you know er…conducting yourself in the in the right way. Or er keeping discipline the discipline of learners in the environment so that everybody who comes here I mean if you you as a school you leave er learners to hang around here during lea school er let you let them hanging around here. The public is going to say something about them and then next year lets say next year, you won’t get a some of them coming to your school because of the behavior of the children. The learners. And then er…even ourselves as teachers its very important to to to practice that. The learners are going to learn from the teachers if the teachers are basking in the sun then the learners are also going to do that and the public is definitely going to say something about you. Researcher: Okay. You want to say something? A: In in short it is er involvement of all stakeholders.
Researcher: Right thank you ladies and a lady and gentlemen. Right er…question four is what are your thoughts on the benefits of branding your school? What benefits does the school stands to reap if its well branded? B: Registere registration goes high that’s the number of per learners coming to our school and no redeployment and no panic no anxiety no depression eish lie (laughter) happy everyday (laughter) because if no redeployment, everybody is going to be happy and everybody is going to go into classer give the best, because I cannot be expected to give the best when er…my redeployment is pending. I I’m expecting to go at anytime so when I go the re into the classroom, really the children are not getting what they deserve to get, but if really er everything is going according to plan, everybody is happy then even the best quality education is given to the children. A: And again if the school is well branded, you’ll find that er…we are exposed to many things for an example we can get sponsors, from overseas or even insp the inspectors won’t be visiting the school because they know “hore” (that) everything which is being done there is perfectly done. We will be exposed to everything. B: Mm mm mm (agreement) Researcher: Let’s give meneer a chance. I see people are are stealing his ideas before (laughter) B: Oh and and and if our school is well branded er as I was saying quality education means best results and our learners can get even the bursaries from er different schools because of their performance. Aha, and the public will get er…will be…will trust us and even the companies will trust us with their monies because if they take our children they will they know that er…they will they will they will pass whey they go with their monies “akere” (isn’t it) or… A: Yes, hence I said we are exposed to everything. B: (Laughter) “ehe” (yes) D: I…I think they have said a mouthful (cough) er…because I would like to make an example of one of the big teams Kaizer Chiefs. People are crying foul saying they are getting everythin but that’s how they have branded their institution, and I think by by benefits of the school properly the the definitely sponsors hips will be coming er…learners will benefit, everybody will be pushed by success itself not by pushed by the manager. Success will you, and its much better if you’re pushed by success, you know, and (cough) in terms of learners definitely the roll is gonna increase because parents vote with their feet. Er…and also their confidence with the community, you know, because you know once once everybody had confidence in the school, definitely the very same structural buildings the very same community will protect that buildings, the infrastructure
and and its so good and fulfilling deep down, you know, to to be praised for doing something good and it encourages. (cough) because in terms of what we are getting every month it doesn’t fulfill us but you know to get those good compliments (cough) from public from even your senior employers, from senior employees as well you know its so its so its so nice, from any colleagues it it fulfills, and I think definitely its that fulfills and definitely after all the product is my compliment benefits the most. Ja. Researcher: Okay. Do you have any other inputs on the benefits of branding? Still thinking? Any other inputs? B: And and and I think (laughter) if our school is well branded we can even get promotions because they know us. They know us. You are from that school, okay let us go to that school and pull some some educators and for one two three. D: Ja, definitely this reminds me of one school. I don’t know whether meneer knows about that school; there is a school in Pimville Zone-4 known as Progress, I don’t know what is happening with that school because its producing principals left and right. I once heard that there’s a principal in Orlando who once worked there as a deputy principal and then now a lot of them are coming from that school. I wonder what that school is doing probably it has to do with branding as well. (laughter) Researcher: Okay. Okay. My last question to you is: Do you think the former model-C or the whites only schools can be equal as brands with the township or rural schools? The former whites only or model-C schools versus township or rural schools. Can they ever be equal as brands? B: I I would say… Researcher: Let’s give meneer a chance before we steal his ideal (laughter) C: Ja, maybe somewhere in the future they will. But for now mm mm (no). I don’t think so. I mean if you check the facilities they are not the same… B: I was going to say if we have the facilities I don’t see any problem, because far we do not have facilities but the only thing that I would say let me say not always but in most cases the only thing that er…the the the learners in er model-C are better than us it is the tone and English and so forth but coming to the content even when we do not have the facilities most of our learners can match them. So, I would say if we can be equated with facilities, haai (no). A: Definitely according to what er what we have said a bit earlier, yes we can match the schools. Er…I…er I mostly put my speech on branding. If we’ve branded our school in a suing way that each and everybody see our branding and then all the things we’ve said here that what what what what what we do this
and that and that and that definitely because we said earlier that if the school is properly branded, we can get sponsors from outside it means that once we get sponsors from outside it means that once we get sponsors from outside, we are going to get the things that those model-C schools are having. As long as the school is properly branded, we can match them. Educationally when we go inside classes definitely we are far from them. B: Yes. A: The only thing they they beat us with is English. B: Yes. Aha aha Yes A: Ja. Branding. D: Okay, I just want to touch on one aspect particularly when I compare us with so called former model-C school. Er…the the parents participation in the running of the school, with the with the so called er model-C shool its far much better than us. Er…the the the their parents are inquisitive they want to know more what’s happening with their children at school unlike us here and er…secondly also in the governance of the school you you find that er…like they are having skilled parents employed in the private sector who are willing and to assist schools. You find chartered accountants; they assist the schools particularly in the financial matters. You find marketers; they assist to bring sponsors to the school and equuip the schools with with with dynamics in the marketing world. You know some of them they are even CEO’s of companies to sponsor schools is much much easier. Unlike us here. Once a parent in our township succeeds, they leave the township. They go and live in the suburbs then what we find here is poverty stricken families. We struggle also with the emotion emotional aspect of the child. You know we are faced with a lot of challenges. But beyond that we are doing far better than them because in terms of the output, the results, yes, schools in the township maybe looked at maybe judged at the quality and the pass rates and that yeah. But what is not looked at is the kind of learners of which we deal with day in and day out, and also the resources that we have. I think under these circumstances I am not defending township schools but I think far better should they then schools be branded on an equal footing same I would the grounds are leveled, I strongly believe that er…it would be much better than the whites because even now if you can just notice you look at transformation only only township black schools are transforming. Look at the the the learners in so called model-C schools they are not even practicing the OBE, the NCS and all this. They are still doing the old er…parrot teaching. Learners are memorizing stuff and yet we are still teaching here. We are trying even even something that we don’t have. For example Science, few schools that actually do have laboratories-functional laboratories-there may be a structure but no chemicals in there-and also our educators are not that skilled as compared to to them, and what also pushes educators in that side-finances-they still have top ups even though the law is against that but they still have top ups to encourage
their educators. Look at what is happening to us here. No top ups nothing is coming forth. It is so difficult to motivate you. But under those circumstances look we are still maintaining discipline and teachers are still going out there teaching even though there are no extra incentives to push them. Researcher: Er…a D: Are you saying in short do you say that we can match them ore we can’t. A: No we cannot even in fact they can’t match us. SMT: Ja! D: They can’t match us because we are doing this even though we are not getting any incentives. Extra. They are getting top ups. I…I once experienced it because I once taught in in in in such a school. Believe you me for any activity just to participate on a weekend you are paid R300 just for you came, what we do here we we we we do hold athletics meeting over the weekend but we are paid nothing but we out of love, and push our learners but whereas in those schools you attend a parents’ meeting in a model-C school you are paid for that. Of which it does’nt happen here. It is out of love. E: Er…er there’s something that I want to say. They…they are better than us because when they admit some of the learners we admit everybody here we admit everybody they select. B: Yes mhm E: They select the best students B: So, they cannot say they are better than us. WE take the children even those who were pushed from their learners and then we transform them we make them better learners and then when they start passing they snatch them away. Ah ah (laughter) D: O one more thing can I say its something interesting also with regards to accepting learners. Even the department itself they get these challenges from these schools but they do nothing about those challenges, but when they come to us they hammer us and really we don’t get the best like meneer has just said and also we are saying we a looking at a particular family unit which succeeds or do well financially. They move out of the township, and those are the ones that are getting support because somehow financially they are financially sound from that particular family unit. Those that we find in our townships they are staying with their grandmothers they lack parents love because they live with their grandmothers or grandparents you know its so difficult you need to deal with you to acquire some emotional intelligence I don’t know where to get that school where we can get emotional intelligence to deal and help with these learners.
We really we find a lot of difficulties. I think that’s the challenges that are facing us in our townships, and like as I said we just accept everybody here despite other problems. Researcher: Any other inputs with regard to the last question? Er…if you do not have any let me thank you once again for your inputs ladies and gentlemen.
APPENDIX G
AN INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF SCHOOL D‘s SMT CONDUCTED ON 29-07-2008
AT 14:30 – 15:30
TRANSCRIPT Researcher: Ladies and gentlemen good afternoon. SMT: Afternoon. Researcher: Er… my first question to you would be: What do you understand by the concept school branding? What do you understand by the concept school branding? A: It would er refer to the features erm of the school which make the school unique. Which make the school different from the other school or from others. Erm generally all schools are the same. But er… there are those features that erm make the school erm I would say unique. Erm features which we find in school A and not find in school B. Erm those would be maybe part of er erm of the branding of the school. Right. Researcher: Thank you Sir, what do the other members think? What comes into your mind? B: Mmmm… I I must agree with the principal. But er from my point of view I also feel that erm uhm are things that makes that make the school erm to function in a proper manner. Errr… something like er the vision and mission. Er something like er the the the systems that are are put in a school that teachers must follow together with the parents and the learners which make a school to be effective. Researcher: Ma’m are you still thinking? Ladies, what comes into your mind when somebody says school branding? What is your opinion of school branding? C: I would like to to say er I agree with my er fellow deputy principal has just said er mentioned that the school is a brand because of er the teaching that is going on in the school. Er… the activities that are occurring here at school makes the school to be a brand. And also A.B. Xuma is the pride of Orlando community. E: Every parent wishes that her child come and attend her primary school here at A.B. Xuma school.
Researcher: Okay. Okay. D: All points are taken but I would just add by saying it’s the uniqueness of the institution. Things are done differently here at A.B. Xuma. You know I am attending this leadership course at Matthew Goniwe you know there are things that we discuss with other teachers at other schools, you find that there are things that you won’t even begin to to do in our schools like maybe taking days off unnecessarily. Not talking to one another. You know us our way of doing things at A.B. Xuma is very different. Hence er we are able to carry out our duties er in a in a respectful, I should think, manner and if you say you are from A.B. Xuma you are from the best primary school in Orlando East. That’s all I can say. A: I would also like to say to erm you know the the the concept of branding we must admit it’s a new concept erm in relation to schools it has been a concept in business. You see. For that concept to be applied to schools its new erm we we we still have to explain to our colleagues not necessarily at A.B. Xuma by colleagues I mean teachers what the term brand means and what branding means and in order for us to take them on board and understand that there are things they must do in such a way that erm their school is different from the other when teachers get appointed they they in their minds they think this is a school you teach you do this and that all your functions, erm the same way as done in that and the other one and the other one. You still have to say to them no, work in such a way that you make the school different. It must you mustn’t work in such a way that er the school becomes the same as all others. You still do the things that the other peoples do but you do them differently in such a way that people can see and say this one is different. Then you are developing a brand. Erm because in business there are brands which have been developed over many years and they are now strong and when you come to schools schools must still travel that whole road of er developing a particular character which is different from the other erm I I quickly think of one brand I like very much er that brand is called Orlando Pirates when you think of black and white, you see, (laughter) if somebody says black and white, you that brand comes to your head. If somebody says bones, the brand comes to your mind you see what I mean. It’s a brand you can never destroy now. It’s a household brand that has taken years to develop. Er like all brands in business you’ve Coke, it’s a brand that’s all over the world when you say Coca Cola there is a logo that you begin to see in your mind. Erm Researcher: Okay D: Okay, I’ll like to add to what the principal has said. I think some white schools have already are already practicing that. Its maybe its new or we’ve got to start (cough) in township practicing that because when you think of a certain school in town you know I think also culture can also fall into branding when you think of school A in town you know what are you expecting I think that is also branding.
So with us in town in township schools we still have to go a long way in establishing er branding. Researcher: Okay. Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. My second question is: Why do you think schools should be branded? Why should schools be branded? What would be the motive for branding schools? B: I think the motive would be er uniqueness if I may say the first one and competition. Uniqueness and competition. C: I am also thinking of competition and I think that can improve the culture of teaching and learning if we compete among ourselves. While you you are struggling to add features which will make you different you are invariably also achieving efficiency. Researcher: Ladies E: Maybe I would say like here in Orlando East, er branding in A.B. Xuma motivate er teachers and parents as well be you’ll see if there are SGB elections every parent wants to serve in the SGB because of the name A.B. Xuma has created for itself. So I think branding will go along those lines. A: Branding also er Ma’m Mthimkhulu achieves achieves pride you see everybody wants to be associated with a good brand so when you are inside you become proud of being part of that institution. You see, and that pride also motivates you to do better because you don’t want to let that institution down and make it the same as others its wherever there’s a big name people would like to be associated with that big name. Researcher: Okay. Any other inputs? After thoughts? Are we happy with our inputs? Okay my third question is: How do you think schools should be branded? As an SMT, how do you go about branding your school? A: One okay one one method erm in the past you know the old schools did branding without knowing that it was branding. They would have a tradition they would know that in the first term in this school these are the ceremonies that we conduct or these are the functions in that term and that term and that term. They would have a school calendar which will tabulate events in the school that this week we celebrate that that week we celebrate this erm this is what we do erm the other schools may not do the same. That will make that school unique. Erm as SMT, we look at what we must look at what er we must add into our school calendar. Erm it may be festivals it may be ceremonies er some schools have a day when they or a week when they celebrate the founder of the school or the person the school is named after. There are celebrations during that week. I doesn’t mean that lessons are not taking place. Erm school B will not celebrate that because that is not their founder, you see, so that’s part of your branding.
So management must look at those things such as who is the school named after or who is the founder of the school and which month can we then celebrate the name of that founder. Recognize or the person the school is named after. In some schools it’s the founding principal the first one who will built the school and put it on that foundation. There’s a week that they will say we celebrate this week and they name that week after that person. And that festival will have the name of that principal or the person the school is named after like A.B. Xuma. Who is A.B. Xuma which week can we say is the A.B Xuma week? You see, festivals and ceremonies will be part of that including maybe merit awards at the end of the year er including uniforms. Uniform is a big part of branding. When the standards go down you are reducing your branding. Er that erm in schools where there is a tie, socks there is this and everybody is wearing that that is why I said in the olden days there was even a blazer, Orlando high with stripes that was part of branding and then you would have a nickname such as “The Rock” its part of branding. You have a nickname for the school. All right. The colour is part of the uniform. Researcher: Okay. Thank you. D: Okay and to identify members staff members who have special talents and enhance those talents so that they can er pass those er those skills actually to to to learners maybe a teacher who is good in music let the school invest in that teacher so that he can teach maybe that school would be better known as the best school that has best choir, best in soccer those different ty er skills that a teacher er should be enhanced with. B: I think just to add on what my colleagues have just said one other think that can make a school to be unique erm we as SMT we can showcase our activities. Or maybe go to an extent where we invite the community to come and see what is it that we are offering er sports culture of learning and teaching how we do it and also we can even go to an extent of making some adverts. The loge of the school, what the school is offering, and again even the prospectus we can even send er send out the flyers as to what is the school and what is it offering? C: What was the question again? Researcher: The question is how do you think schools should should be branded? What are the things you can do to brand our schools, promote it as a brand? C: I can just say to add on what er the deputy has just said about the flyers we even make a a magazine which we’ll may be send to the parents and the community once a month that er magazine must have er each and evey activity that is taking place in each and every classroom so that the community can see what we are good at here at school.
A: Some of things you can do er today. A bit controversial-discipline is actually one of the things you do in order to brand your school. People must know your school as a school with order. As a school where everybody does the right thing. That’s part of branding it but sometimes your interpretation of discipline may not be the same as, you know, interpretation of the next person because discipline is order to achieve it there are tasks which you do and along the way you get into trouble. Researcher: Okay, you were going to say… E: No, my points are taken but I could say er inviting er what erm how can I put this? Er inviting people with expertise to give talks to children and parents if we’ve got er… parents meetings. lIke maybe having people coming to talk about AIDS when you’ve got a parents’ meeting. People who come to talk about whatever problem we have or something that we need to convey to parents. Like special people coming to address parents, teachers and learners. Researcher: Any additions? Are we happy? Right ladies and gentlemen my fourth question is: What are your thoughts on the benefits of branding your school? What are your thoughts on the benefits of branding for your school? In other words if your school is a brand, how can the school benefit? A: The first benefit is you always have enrolment. Erm enrolment will keep on increasing er you know, in the pas you this would not be a benefit because every school had enrolment in the past there were children in every school, but today things are different you get you benefit from this by getting more applications coming in and the school becomes full. Whereas where people don’t care about the school and its name the parents remove the children from that school. So that would be the first benefit the enrolment. E: I think er… attracting sponsors. We can attract sponsors. Researcher: Any other benefits? Emanating from branding. B: I think er… the school will be stable in a sense that er we will be keeping our learners we will be keeping our staff we will be getting er recognition from the outside world, and definitely it’s a pride to all of us. A: Another benefit is that if you have you’ve developed your brand and you’ve become a good school you also attract good teachers because good teachers would like to go to a good school. You don’t attract mediocre teachers because they fear that when they go there, they will not be able to match what’s going on there. Researcher: Other benefits?
D: I think even the learners who who are attending this school who are maybe working who are doing well in business they can come and plough something here which can benefit the learners who are here at present. Researcher: Okay. Er… the last question now, Do you think the former whites only and township or rural schools can ever be equal brands? The former model C school versus township can they be on par as brands? D: With time (cough) I think with time, commitment and dedication but I think with time we can do that. I don’t know equality can be measured there because the contexts are not the same. Er township schools can be top brands in their own context without necessarily comparing them to a top brand for example in Randburg. The contexts are not the same er I think it would be an unfair comparison to to do that. Erm rather you compare apples with apples you compare oranges with oranges you see what I mean. Erm because really a school like this one can’t produce a top swimmer because there is no swimming pool. You see it can’t produce a top cricketer you see what I mean? So rather we look at er the context of suburbs separately that’s my view. Researcher: Er… as the SMT do you think there is anything that you can do to move towards that comparison? C: Which which comparison? Comparing the white and Researcher: Yes B: Meneer is I may get in here, what is it exactly that we are comparing? Is it Researcher: The former whites think about the school the township school or rural school in totality. In totality Researcher: Can we bridge the gap? A: Can they reach reach the big name? Can this one also be a big name equally? D: You say what can we Researcher: Yes. As the SMT. Firstly the question is do you think they can be equal? If they can’t be equal what can be done by the SMT? A: In some aspects they can be equal like regarding the curriculum. They can be equal. Like discipline they can be equal, uniform, the tone of the school and procedures all that but because the context is not the same, there’ll be aspects where they won’t be the same. Erm as I have mentioned in the aspect of sport we can never be equal to them until we have all those facilities they have.
D: That is why I said in time in time maybe we can achieve that. If we do have those facilities but that won’t happen over two, three, four, five years it will take time. Researcher: Okay? What specifically can be done in trying to move towards that in your opinion? C: What’s your question? Researcher: Er… what exactly can we do as SMTs to try and move toward that? C: Maybe like er talking about sportsfields, to attract sponsors to build those facilities in our schools. Researcher: Okay. Do you have any other inputs? What can be done? A: Fundraising, because to build a a brand there are aspects of build it which need finance you see. Er sometimes a school that’s poor there’s no money you know its efforts are limited because I mean if I make you an example a school must have a flag. A flag with the colours of the school, and the logo of the school flying at the gate. When we go to the sportsfield that that flag is translated into a banner a big banner that we’ll hold when the team is playing when you go to the hall you put the banner at the back there, it has the colours of the school, the logo and everything. Now if a school with a zero balance at the at the bank wants to to to to achieve a flag and a banner where will they get the money to do that? You see what I mean? Because a flag is part of branding the school. Mm. We can only fly the South African flag. And not the school flag. Researcher: Any afterthoughts? Okay are we B: You know what Meneer, the context that we are in we are in a very poor context in terms of the parents that we have. And therefore it will be difficult as the principal has indicated that it it won’t be equal. Equality will not prevail because presently we are faced with er learners who are illiterate. And therefore even though we give these learners homework the parents on that other hand they are illiterate. They cannot bridge the gap. Hence there’ll that imbalances between those white schools and us but as we have already indicated that with time maybe if we can offer er literacy programmes to the parents and the community so that we are all on board. I think we Researcher: Any further addition? What are your thoughts ladies? Right Silence
Okay, thank you very much ladies and gentlemen for you time and your inputs.
APPENDIX H
AN INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF SCHOOL E‘s SMT CONDUCTED ON 28-07-2008
AT 14:00 – 15:00
TRANSCRIPT
Researcher: Ladies and gentlemen good afternoon once again my first question to you is: What do you understand by the concept school branding? Anyone can go. What do you understand by the concept school branding? A: Ja, I think its when one treats the school as a product. Then if one has or has manufactured a product, you have to market it properly so that er the consumers buy the product and in our case as a school so that er you can have more learners coming to our schools you have er… more people being involved in our schools be it private companies or the community at large. Researcher: Okay. Any other inputs? What comes to you mind? If somebody had to ask you about school branding. Like I said there are no right answers there are no wrong answers. B: Making our school to be to be always remembered for the good work that we are doing for learners as well as for the community. Researcher: Okay, any Ma’m. C: Okay, like the Mr. Segale has said to make our school reputable and also to make it known so that when you say Phesesco people knows what you are talking about. In that case it will be branded. They immediately know what you are talking about when you say Phesesco. D: And making our school to be developmental. Where we develop characters that will be recognized in the society. Characters that will represent South Africa in the whole world. E: Er… I think its to attach meaning to our school. To give it a nametag which can be used to sell it. Researcher: Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. Any additions or afterthoughts of what you understand by school branding. You may have thought of something that you need to share with us. Are we happy with that?
Okay, my second question to you is: Why do you think schools should be branded? Why should we brand schools. What are your thoughts? Why do you think schools should be branded? E: I think as it has already been said by my colleagues that the community knows about the school, that even er corporate world knows about the school and once it is known then we’ll have learners in the community coming to the school thus increasing the roll of the school. Researcher: Okay. Any other inputs? Why should we brand schools? C: Okay, like it was said already, a school is like a product and a product has a purpose so because it has a purpose so it has to be branded so that when you say the name of the school it is known which school you are talking about. Hence we say it’s a product and a product needs to be known by branding. If you understand it you won’t know the difference between if its two schools you won’t know the difference between the two schools so hence A: Ja, I think branding would mean making people aware of the good things that the school is doing for the community as well as the learners. And promoting the image of the school. B: Ja, like everybody have said, is to attract learners into our schools, and if the public knows about the quality of our brand then they’ll have interest in us. Researcher: Your thoughts Ma’m. Why should schools be branded? They’ve said everything that (laughter) C: Branding is to differentiate. If there wasn’t branding we wouldn’t know the difference between the two products so branding the purpose of it is to differentiate between a number of things but branding it in in in a positive way, it would be to make your school reputable as it was said earlier on and to make it differ from other same products. Researcher: Okay, any E: We did indicate that to give the school an identity. Yes to give the school an identity. Researcher: Okay, E: So that it can be identified. Researcher: Okay. Any other inputs? The reason why schools should be branded?
D: To give the uniqueness because two schools cannot be the same. So in order to let your school look unique you need to brand it. Researcher: Okay. Er my third question is: How do you think schools should be branded? How would you go about branding your school for example? How do you think schools should be branded? C: Erm… a school can be branded by doing outstanding things like getting good results, that will be branding the school, by having disciplined learners so far B: I think also by tracking down on our previous learners their success and use them to promote the school. Eve four five years down the line come up with a group of learners who matriculated at our school who are holding senior positions in different companies to say the CEO of ESKOM at some stage was a student at our school. And people will know that these are the products from the school this is how we make it. Even sports people, if you are very good say in soccer, if we have somebody playing professional soccer we can use that person for branding our school. A: Maybe by the role played by the school in the community maybe one would cite and example of the Salvation Army Church when there is crisis you’ll find Salvation Army or the Roman Catholic Church like its helping the foreigners as we speak so if the school does that as well for the community then people would want to know that brand, you know, that promotes unity, that helps the community. Researcher: Okay D: Like looking at at the role players; what they produce, the type of material that is produced from the same er school, how they conduct themselves both educators and learners and how they treat the community. E: Ja, er… I think branding would be regarded, be used er for instance whereby the school would have its own type of colours in other words its own uniform and the motto as to what does it represent, what does it stand for? Living by it. As well as the mission statement, the vision all those when they are put in practice and lived up to er… I think that would be branding a school. Researcher: Okay. Any other inputs on how to go about branding a school? Are we happy? Okay maybe you’ll also think of others as we go along. My fourth question ladies and gentlemen would be: What are your thoughts on the benefits of branding for your school? What are your thoughts on the benefits of branding for your school? E: As er… it has been indicated, to improve the image of the school. To make the community aware of the school thus have confidence in the school. Er. Also
by attracting a number of learners you’ll ultimately end up having good quality learners who produce quality results thus spread the image of the school across the country. B: Ja, people will like to get involved er in the school, they would want to identify with the school whatever happens to the school they want to donate, you know, they would want some activities to take place in the school. So ja, they would want to be part of the school. E: I think also it will ensure that we maintain good standards because if we brand our school we would created a very good reputation for the school and we have to help that particular school to ensure that they always live up to expectations, because the schools is well known as it has been branded. C: A well branded school will always be attractive it will always make an indelible mark, when any person comes near it, a well marketed school, the discipline, the behaviour and the human relations. Researcher: Okay, your thoughts Ma’m. D: I also think it will benefit us on the performance of the learners because we will be having those partnerships that are helping us and things resources through the partnerships so that will benefit us on imparting a the knowledge to the learners. E: And also it will be a platform of the outside world to source human resource from it. Erm even when it comes to promotional posts. A well branded school which will be producing good results will be viewed with a very acceptable eye. Thus people applying from it are easily accepted in a number of posts because they will be planting good seeds wherever they are. Researcher: Any afterthoughts C: I’d would say also just adding at hand, maybe differing a little bit with the principal that erm that it will benefit the individuals more than the school because this school is branded teachers are okay everybody wants to have something to do with the school people will come and take from the school and the school will be stripped of those good, excellent educators. Everyone wants to have something out of the school. So the benefits in this case will be for the individuals more than the school. Researcher: Any other afterthoughts? Okay we can always come back to that. Er… my fifth and last question to you ladies and gentlemen is: Do you think the former whites only and township or rural schools can ever be equal brands. The former whites only and the township or rural schools; can they ever equal as brands?
E: Er… are you saying rural schools… Researcher: … and township schools E: … and township schools can be brand the same? Researcher: Can they be equal brands with the former whites’ only schools? Can they be viewed as equal brands? E: Yes! Er… they can be viewed and they can be er… er moulded to have equal brands provided we have the provincial governments giving and doubling their efforts to uplift he physical structure of the school. To improve on the training of of the educators to provide resources to schools so that each and every learner has got a book. If educators are well trained and schools are physically well not these schools under trees and chalkboard somewhere there in the playing fields you know and with these I think those become the basics of education and thus we have a status being equal. Researcher: Er… what about your role as the SMT? How how what role do you think you can play to bridge the gap if they can be equal? (silence) A: First getting educators to be life long learners so that they develop themselves in that way they will be able to develop learners as well. Erm… maybe er… twinning with er white only schools so that we see the practices there and we copy good practices and implement them in our schools. Though it will be a very difficult thing to bridge the gap also. I don’t think we look at education only, but like Sir has already mentioned that we talk about facilities and er we talk about er finance. Then when one looks at that then one realizes that the gap its still wide and it will be difficult to xxxxxxxxxxx Yes, we’ll strive to do that but its difficult. B: I think the branding er won’t be the same I don’t want to say never will never be the same but maybe in my lifetime the branding will not be the same, for socio-economic reasons. Er most of the parents who afford, they will take their learners to the former white schools and they’ll pay a high amount of school fees whereas in township and village schools er the learners who attend those schools are learners who are from poor families and er because of that the branding will never won’t be the same. And maybe if it to be the same, the the the I think it it has to be done politically. The perception that we still have is that white is good, black is not. Er just a simple example in our cae we belong to the same district DIZ with white schools but we are being treated differently. Er… the township schools are said to be non performing schools and they are forced by the district officials to follow a certain program to write a common exam in June but the white schools, they can do things as they like because they are white and as long as we still have that perception that white is good branding will not be the same, and it is being perpetuated by our seniors. So the branding
won’t be the same. And maybe one other thing is the the the the the when it comes to former white schools and township schools the the SGB composition in most of the white schools they would have SGB members they would take who are having influential position in companies where those people will use their positions to come and invest in schools that is why you find even today er a former white school having about 10 to 12 teachers who are on SGB posts. But because in the township the learners who attend here are from poor families we cannot afford to raise funds to pay even for one teacher for the SGB. So they will always be ahead of us. D: And again the attitude on our township schools. It will always be pushed by the comparison where learners will also compare with learners from previously white schools. Looking at a rural schools, where the resources are not so good, comparing the resources of the former white schools even today the resources in the former white schools are still excellent. They are able to pay more fees and unfortunately our government is also killing our schools by asking us not to pay as the former white schools are paying. Maybe we may be we may have been able to to have better resources from our own money but money which is given by the parents. Researcher: Your thoughts Ma’m. Any other additions? E: We are fast ne SMT: Ja. (laughter) D: And unfortunately we still have the stigma which remains with us parents, with us educators and ti its spilling down to our learners. That when you are black you have to struggle when you are white you succeed. Researcher: Are your thoughts in your tongue now? C: I think even though there we still have those disparities we do have a little bit of a room to can be on the same branding with former white schools such as “boReashoma” and we have a school such as “Makgwarane” who can do excellent things it means we have that capability its just that there is that stigma that Ma’m is talking about that we are black and there’s nothing good that can come out of us but there’s a room for leveling the ground. Researcher: Okay. Any inputs? Afterthoughts? Are we happy?
APPENDIX I
AN INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF SCHOOL F‘s SMT CONDUCTED ON 30-07-2008
AT 14:00 – 14:50
TRANSCRIPT
Researcher: Good Afternoon once again ladies and gentlemen my first question to you is: What do you understand by sc the concept school branding? What do you understand by the concept school branding? Like I said there are no right answers, there are no wrong answers all that I that I need is your response. A: To me it would mean what makes the school to be what it is in that case what defines our school is excellence, its leadership, its achievement its teamwork, its unity in the school and the support that we get from all relevant stakeholders. Researcher: Any other inputs? B: Just to add on what Mr. Hlahane has indicated, to me it will mean er…all stakeholders working hand in hand giving support to each other meeting, working hand in hand, giving support to each other meeting every time when there is a need, and whenever there’s a problem, resolve it immediately, don’t postpone so that a way forward can be found. Thank you. C: I was going to say the same thing. Stakeholders that you must work towards certain goals and achieve it in whatever way. D: Er…SMT must work as a team because they are the pillars of the school. So the rest of the the the staff will have to follow the SMT if the SMT is working as a team. E: Maybe a follow up the the SMT should be er exemplary they should lead the the the team and what ever they do they should yeah they should be exemplary to the team and also they should er be seen to be doing things not to be talking. Researcher: Okay. Er…question number two is what do you think schools should be branded? Why should we brand our schools? C: Because we are marketing ourselves. Now of late schools are definitely fighting to get learners so, we are definitely have to market ourselves.
A: And it also shows how different one school is or what makes that school to be the kind of school that it is. Its ethos, its uniqueness, its…ja, character or characteristics. C: And also to add to that is that er…(phone ringing) it should be er s sort of a sort of a yardstick to other schools so that other schools should er strive to to emulate what the the the this school is doing. So that we achieve excellence in whatever we do. D: We have done well for many years so we need we need to continue (cough) with the good work that we have done before. Researcher: Okay. B: As…as schools I want to believe that our customers are our children. And we need to brand our schools in order to provide good service to our to our customers because once branding is not there, we may not be able to achieve the goals that we want (cough). Researcher: Okay. Right. Any other inputs? After thoughts, why schools should be branded? B: Just to add. Er…branding will also minimize er m movement because what we have seen is that er…most of the children are now moving out of the township schools into the former model C schools, because of quality. Hence branding is important. Researcher: Er…question three, would be how do you think schools should be branded? In other words your role as the SMT – what would you do to ensure that your school is branded? C: Mm by working hard and also consulting other members – the stakeholders and not maybe like doing something without looking it back to whatever they are doing. You must always sit down and strategise whatever then check where you need to correct things. A: For a school to be a school, and to be declared the school; what is going to determine that is the leadership of the school. In this context and in this case is the SMT of the school. For a school to be successful, is the SMT successful for the school to fail it means there is something that is that the SMT is not doing right. D: (Clearing throat) Er…the SMT must do the right things at all times hence we said that the rest maybe the staff must be seeing good things happening from SMT. As much as SMT’s we may differ, but as we go to meet the staff, we need to talk the same language.
B: I think er…proper planning to me is key. That will determine the role which the SMT has to play in ensuring that er…at the end of the day we achieve what we want to achieve. And that will encourage us to review seeing that we will be having a plan. We need to review from time to time as to whether what we have set out is working or not and er…also consulting er…other stakeholders like the department. Er…like NGOs just to come in and er give us more input on what we have strategised so that it works. E: The planning also should be inclusive so what I mean is that the SMT should not see itself to be working alone they should include also the the the teachers so that whatever is done the the teachers also feel that they are part of the school they are not left out. A: I think the other thing that is important is now and then we need to er…evaluate and assess our short term goals, medium medium mid term goals and long term goals er…I just remember one quote where somebody says: “Everything rises and falls at the hands of leadership”. So as we said earlier on if leadership is not what it is then everything in that particular school will be in shambles. C: Okay and as leaders we must have listening skills. Whatever is happening we must be able to listen and later be able to decide and not just to take decisions on our own. D: Er…but er…the other thing is that SMT I think if maybe the department can also work hand in glove with SMTs. If maybe SMT is to report something they need to take action. To protect the SMT. Researcher: Okay. E: Ja. Lastly the…the concerning the the the department. I think the department should not be prescriptive to the SMT. They should at least talk to the SMT not prescribe what to them what to them what they must do. Researcher: Okay. Er…meneer mentioned the SMT having to do right things. To be exemplary. So what specifically should they do to promote the school as a brand. D: Well, I was also referring maybe to things like punctuality if a member of SMT is a habitual latecomer so most of the educators will be saying so and so is ever late but you are not calling that person to order. Or maybe if you want to check maybe work, the SMT must always lead if maybe we are expected to submit some some marks we are expected to submit maybe some files in order to be checked we need to lead. Researcher: Any other inputs on why schools mm are we happy? Okay er…where are now? Er…question four is: “What are your thoughts on the
benefits of branding for your school? In other words if your school is a well known brand what benefits will be there for the school? D: Err…we won’t run short of learners and then we’ll also get enough support from parents because they’ll have trust on us. B: Standards will always be maintained and er this will always keep each and every member on his or her own toes because there is no one who’ll want to go down because the brand has already set. E: And also I think it will improve the the quality of teaching to other new members who are joining the school so that when they come here they see that here there is no relaxation people are working so then the quality improves. A: And results also will in turn improve because as the principal has said earlier on we’d always want to maintain the standard and the performance of the school. C: And there’s a possibility of us getting the sponsor. The they will definitely feel free to sponsor us they are not going to think of risking. B: Discipline in terms of learners also improves then er…there won’t be any serious problems encountered. Researcher: Okay. Any additions? D: We are not maybe time and again getting maybe er tongue lashing er from department. If you go to department we need some thing we are ever supported because we are known by doing good things. C: Another thing is that the educators in that school I think will be self disciplined. And when when educators are self disciplined then it will go down even to the learners so that we don’t have as as they said, learners who are out of line, because they’ll be looking at the educators (cough) their role models. Researcher: Right. Er my last question to you then would be: “Do you think the former whites only and township or rural schools can ever be equal as brands. The former model C schools versus the township and rural schools can they be in the same league as brands. B: Er…they…we may not be we will not be in the same league as brands because of the following factors. T er…parental participation plays a bigger role in an institution. Er other stakeholders who are surrounding the school also have an influence on er on the on the on the brand fo the particular school. Now er in our case there’s a there’s er there’s er lack of er information in terms of our our parents. They they are not all learned and therefore we’ll have…that is why we’ll always have such problems. Because they don’t see any any need of playing a
role as long as the child is admitted then they become satisfied and relax. The other things that must happen thereafter its no longer their responsibility. D: (Cough) Maybe in rural areas er we have a serious problem because most of the parents people who are still active in rural areas, mother da, father in most cases they are working so and then the the the children are left maybe with grandfathers or grandmothers to schools er is not so much active because maybe of the illiteracy rate. E: And another thing is that er in the rural areas you find that the the schools are too remote from the the cities then so the resources don’t reach the schools easily sometimes because of the the infrastructure, the the roads that help to lead to that particular school. So then the rural schools then will be behind most of the time from the urban schools. A: Other challenges, access to information from both parents and learners and maybe as one of the cololeagues has said, access of resources that are ja not adequate in in our schools. Even if you want to er er match up to er the former model C schools that is still a challenge. Most of our parents are either illiterate – they have not been to school – even if they try to save we trying to keep the name of the school or as you used the word branding its still a challenge to them. So they have to be educated and re-educated. So its going to take time we don’t it I don’t see it happening in the next coming years, its just going to take time. C: They have (giggle) said everything that I wanted to say. E: Even the learners themselves have to travel long distances to school and by the time they reach the school they are already tired, and some are exposed to some dangers on their way to school so that also count for their low levels of er education. Researcher: Okay. Now if as the SMT you were to try and bridge the gap between the former model C and the township or rural schools what would you strive for. C: En…encourage encourage educators to be trained in order to use some of the equipment and have more facilities. Also to visit the schools the model C schools and also liasing with them just to see what they are doing and maybe try to copy what they are doing maybe we can also lift up. A: In the previous years what we used to do as a school we were in partnership with er… B: Jeppe Boys High, Mondeor High A: Yes. So they would come like for English we would have teachers like Janet learning channels. She would come to your school and actually literally teach
and just to say this is how we do it. And gradually we copied all that but along the way I think we need to revive those partnership we had with Northcliff our library so some extent its equipped because of the books that they have given us. Over four, five hundred books that were donated to our school by Northcliff High. And even er Jeppe Girls they brought about fifthy maths text books. So maybe we need to revive those er partnerships. E: Also I think that the government must help us in the the ratio so that the teacher learner – teacher ratio should be reduced so that even though we have partenerships with those schools we find that their learners are fewer in classes so that you can be able to reach every child in class. D: Er…maybe education will also play a role particularly to parents because as much as maybe the government is subsidizing the schools and then maybe if request if given to parents that maybe we need maybe some contributions from parents so that we can employ other educators in order to reduce er teacher ratio in classes wo maybe that education is needed to parents. So parents must also participate. E: Er…I think another thing since this education is a triangle we have the teacher, the learner and the parent sometimes you find that er the parent is not actively involved sometimes not because he wants to its because of circumstances because if you look around where we stay there’s there’s a lot of problems at home families with children some parents just take their children to school to dump them there. They don’t care about them. Maybe where possible maybe from department if maybe they can try to provide maybe schools maybe with social workers maybe one school one social worker or psychologist so that where, we have maybe social problems those social problems can be addressed by other stakeholders. Not educators as such because educators sometimes particularly SMT time and again they hold meetings to address social problems, but if those social problems are addressed by relevant people I think educators can work even far better. Researcher: Okay. A: Can I just add point that er…as a school I think we should also we need to take an and it amongst our learners just to establish which learners still have a full compliment of parents which learner has a single parent which learner er is living on his or her own. I think by having that audit we’ll be able to er…expand and involve other stakeholders like er social workers so that we are able to you know treat these children equally because if you don’t know exactly who is having a problem and you treat everybody equally that might also have a flow in terms of closing up the gap. Researcher: Okay. Any afterthoughts or inputs? Are we happy? Right.
Vision
Core values
Mission
School’s reputation
employee&
learner satisfaction
ext. Stakeholder satisfactionparents
communitySponsorsDonors
* Teaching* Learning* Extra mural activities* Good results* Leadership* Management
* Advertising* Publicity* Promotion* Consistency* PR
SMT
BRAND
Internal image
External image
Internal measures
Externalmeasures
School Branding Strategy Framework Fig:2-2
EQUITY
LoyaltyLoyalty
perfomancequality
CORPORATESGB* Vision* Mission* Values
BUSINESSHODS* Curriculum delivery* Objectives* Strategy
FUNCTIONALSMT* Marketing* LTSM* Management
ST
RA
TE
GY
LE
VE
L
BRANDING
BRANDBENEFITS
LARGEENROLMENT
HIGHERGRADING
MOREFUNDING
POSITIVEREPUTATION
No RedeploymentMergersClosures of schools
BRAND NAME AWARENESS
BRAND LOYALTY
PERCEIVEDQUALITY
BRAND ASSOCIATION
BRAND AS APRODUCT/SERVICE
BRAND AS ANORGANISATION
BRAND AS APERSON
BRAND AS ASYMBOL
BRANDPOSITIONING
BRANDCOMMUNICATION
CORPORATEBRANDING
QUANTITATIVE&
QUALITATIVETECHNIQUES
BRANDING HIERACHY
&COMMITTEE
BRANDEQUITY
BRANDIDENTITY
IDENTITYIMPLEMENTATION
BRANDSTRATEGY
MEASURINGEQUITY
BRANDINGIMPERATIVES
A DIAGRAMATIC REPRESENTATION OF THE SCOPE OF BRANDINGWITHIN THE STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PROCESS IN A SCHOOL. FIG 2-1
A COMPARISON OF MANAGEMENT STRUCTURES AND STRATEGYLEVELS BETWEEN A FIRM AND A SCHOOL. TABLE 2-1
Strategy Firm Responsibility School ResponsibilityLevels
1. Corporate Board of directors - Vision - SGB - Vision - CEO - Mission - Principal - Mission - Values - Values
2. Business - Corporate - Annual plans objectives -HODs - Annual plans & Business & - Short term strategies objectives Managers - Short term strategies - Curriculum delivery
3. Functional Unit managers - Develop annual - SMT - Committee objectives & short term establishment strategies for:- & coordination * production - Marketing & * operations branding * research & - LTSM management development etc * finance * marketing * human relations - Implement & Execute the firm’s strategies