Title: A systems perspective on school improvement approaches

Authors: Lieschen Venter; Maria M. Vosloo

Addresses: Department of Logistics, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa ' DataSense Consulting, Reditus, Blumberg Road, Stellenbosch, 7600, South Africa

Abstract: In this paper, the impact of school leadership on the learners' academic performance is considered in the South African context. School leadership is a systemic concept that cannot be analysed out of its context and thus we develop a simulation model to investigate the effect of various school leadership and management intervention programs on the principals themselves, and on the schools which they lead. The model is initiated with a mix of narrative and qualitative data. Interventions on the basis of what-if scenarios are modelled to illustrate the systemic nature of the education environment. The model can also assist school leaders to visualise the nonlinearity, time dependence and interdependence of the impact of their decisions. We show that interventions have to be made early and consistently to improve and maintain the system and that there is no immediate silver bullet solution.

Keywords: South Africa; basic education; systems simulation; interventions; scenario testing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJASS.2018.093041

International Journal of Applied Systemic Studies, 2018 Vol.8 No.2, pp.151 - 180

Received: 20 Apr 2017
Accepted: 19 Feb 2018
Published online: 04 Jul 2018 *

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