THE AMPHIBIOUS LIFE OF SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS DEPARTMENTAL HEADS: A STRADDLE BETWEEN LEADING AND TEACHING

Departmental heads are teachers of subjects and specialists who in turn are leaders of such specialized fields called subjects. They lead departments and carry a workload they must execute in their classes and being part of the school management. These cohort of teachers are part of the middle management of schools. They are the bridges between what is decided in the school management teams and what should happen in the classrooms and are expected to enforce policy implementation in their departments and school-wide too. Basically, they are channels of communication between teachers and the school management teams and vice versa. Their existence is “amphibious” as they straddle between leadership and teaching, responsibilities that are regulated and must be caried out satisfactorily. The departmental head position in South Africa is a recognized, formal one as it is constituted in the Personnel Administrative Measures on what and how they should carry out their responsibilities. The document also indicates the workload of all teacher categories with teaching load ranging from 85%-90% for primary school departmental head and up to 85% for secondary school departmental heads as stipulated by the Education Labour Relations Council Resolution No. 7 of 1998. Therein, the departmental head is appointed as a post level two teacher who is responsible for teaching, extra and co-curricular activities, personnel, general or administrative and communication responsibilities. As leaders, they are expected to have basic knowledge of policy pertaining for their subject specialization area, lead a team of educators, motivate their teachers, manage resources and facilities in their departments, advice the principal on teacher placement and assist in the recruitment of new members of staff particularly those serving in their subject department. The other demand placed on the departmental head are that they are subject teachers. They are not ordinary teachers as they must be specialists in those subjects. This is because they should advice their teams on the best practices of teaching the subject. They must have specialized skills in the assessment and moderation of such subjects. As a result, departmental heads spend most of their time teaching than leading and managing. The latter was supposed to be their primary occupation, but this is to the contrary. Due to the contradictions, the DH is forced to live an “amphibious” life which needs to be managed well and for which they require to be well informed and supported in.