PRINCIPALS’ ROLE IN MANAGING TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH A TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS

Abstract

Despite South Africa’s high spending in education compared to other sub-Saharan countries, its education system is often criticized as ineffective as evidenced by poor student outcomes in both national and international assessments. This educational inefficiency is often linked to poor teacher quality, particularly in mathematics and science where some teachers are considered to have content knowledge below the level at which they are teaching. The researchers interviewed five primary school principals in KwaZulu-Natal on the training needs analysis methods they used to identify the training needs of foundation phase teachers. They all reported that they only used the Integrated Quality Management System template provided by the Department of Basic Education. However, they did not use it optimally due to a lack of comprehensive knowledge of how it should be implemented. In order to address this, it is recommended that principals should receive thorough training on the implementation of the Integrated Quality Management System, and that training needs analysis should be conducted on a quarterly basis rather than once a year. Keywords: integrated quality management system, professional development, training needs analysis, interpretive paradigm.