Investigating the Role of Rectors as Pedagogical School Leaders in

Monitoring Teaching: A Case Study in Mauritian State

Secondary School

Mrs Sangeeta Ramsurrun Nunkoo

Deputy Rector

29th October 2014

What prompted me to embark on this research?

Thirst for more knowledge

Need to perfect practice

Indefinite liking for research

Opportunity to address a major concern of

Mauritian Rectors

“Schools teach a 19th century

curriculum in 20th century buildings

to 21st century students”

John West Burnham

My Research Questions

1. How far are present-day Rectors

pedagogical leaders ?

2. What are the major roles and

responsibilities of a pedagogical leader?

3. In what way(s) does/do effective

monitoring of teaching by Pedagogical

Leaders impact on school effectiveness?

Aims

Explore major challenges of

Rectors in assuming their role

and responsibilities as

pedagogical leaders

Bring to light ways and means to

better assist Rectors as

Pedagogical Leaders in their task

of monitoring of teaching

Literature Review

Pedagogical Leadership

Pedagogical versus Instructional Leadership

Roles and Responsibilities of the Pedagogical

Leader

Pedagogical & Distributed Leadership

Monitoring of Teaching by the Pedagogical

Leader

Scrutiny of pedagogical Documents

Lesson Observation

Non-Probabilistic Sampling

Method

Convenience Sampling

Enables easy access to participants for Observation and administering the Survey Questionnaire

Purposive Sampling

Most suitable to gather information through Survey Questionnaire and Interview

Avoids hassle of establishing rapport with

My Sample

Educators & Rectors

• Age

• Gender

• Level of interest in subject

Ethical Issues

• Permission of Rectors

• Explanations given to Participants

• Anonymity of Participation

• Findings to be communicated to Participants

Data - Gathering Tools

Observation – Educators at work

• Participant /Non-participant Observer

Survey Questionnaire – Educators

• Close & open-ended questions

Interview – Rectors

• Semi-structured

Analysis of Data

Qualitative

• Detailed and rich

• intensively descriptive

• Interpretative, critical and reflective

Quantitative

• Descriptive Statistics

• Tables, pie or bar charts do not lie provided they are understood

Blend of both helped achieve a somewhat good balance and reach a valid data

Results

Rectors cannot assume their role as pedagogical

leaders fully as they are bogged down by too many

administrative duties and hosts of other

responsibilities thrust upon them by the Ministry

Rectors agree that monitoring of teaching is a pre-

requisite for students’ improved performance and

impacts on overall school effectiveness but deplore

the fact that due shortage and incompetency of

staff they cannot be effective pedagogical school

Leaders

Results

Rectors practice distributed leadership as

far as pedagogy/Monitoring of Teaching is

concerned

Contribution to the professional

development of educators is limited to staff

and department meetings where matters

pertaining to teaching and learning are

usually discussed

Reflection on Results

The pedagogical school leader should focus fully on the

planning, organisation and implementation of the curriculum

and on the monitoring of teaching and learning

To be an effective pedagogical school leader, the Rector

needs to practice distributed leadership and should also

favour the professional development of staff

Monitoring of teaching is challenging and is mainly carried

out in schools for the sake of administrative convenience

When the monitoring exercise is irregular and ineffective,

the quality of teaching suffers and the vision of Quality

Education of MOEHR faces a setback

Recommendations MOEHR

• Issue of shortage of staff to be resolved

• Creation of post of discipline master

• Pool of officers available for replacement of staff on leave

• Training of Rectors ,Senior Educators and School Superintendents

The School &The Rector

• Teachers , students & parents to alter mindset

• Performance standards to be raised and laxity of any sort not to be tolerated – PMS in force

• Practice of distributed leaders for ‘unpedagogical’ tasks

• Clinical supervision and classroom walkthroughs to be encouraged

• Regular in-house training sessions for educators

THANK YOU