MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING ...

MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING INSTITUTIONAL
EFFECTIVENESS IN A COLLEGE
by
Cornelia Petronella Haasbroek
THESIS
submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
DOCTOR EDUCATIONIS
in
PSYCHOLOGY OF EDUCATION
in the
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
at the
UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG
Promoter: Prof C P H Myburgh
Co-promoter: Prof M Poggenpoel
March 2006

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I hereby want to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to
My Higher Power, my Creator, who sustained me on my journey
“Here, ons Here,
Hoe wonderbaar is u Naam oor die hele aarde,
Wat is die mens dan
Dat u aan hom dink, die mensekind dat u na hom omsien?
U het hom net `n bietjie minder
As `n hemelse wese gemaak
En hom met aansien en eer gekroon,
U laat hom heers
Oor die werk van u hande…” (Psalm 8:2,5 - 7)
and
my mentors, Professor Chris and Professor Marie, who guided me on my
journey and helped me to discover the old, old truth in myself, and assisted
me to grow wings to my story…
and
Silence Truth and the human beings she served, who facilitate my journey on
earth to make it a purposeful, meaningful and joyful experience.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
OPSOMMING i
ABSTRACT iv
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1
1.1 ORIENTATION 1
1.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE COLLEGE
SECTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA
3
1.3 PRESENT MILIEU: TRANSFORMING THE
COLLEGE SECTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA
7
1.4 PROBLEM STATEMENT AND RESEARCH
PROBLEM
12
1.5 RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES 15
1.6 PARADIGMATIC PERSPECTIVE 15
1.7 DEFINITIONS OF OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS AND
TERMS
19
1.8 RESEARCH DESIGN 23
1.9 RESEARCH METHOD 23
1.10 RESEARCH ETHICS 24
1.10.1 The participant as a person 24
1.10.2 Human rights 25
1.10.3 The ethic of justice, fairness and objectivity 25
1.10.4 Competence 26
1.10.5 Integrity 26
1.10.6 Sensitivity 26
1.10.7 Confidentiality 27
1.10.8 Demarcation of roles 27
1.10.9 Communication 27
1.10.10 The danger of coercion 28
1.11 RESEARCH STEPS 28
1.12 CHAPTER CONTENT CLASSIFICATION 29

1.13 CONCLUSION 30
CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH METHOD 31
2.1 INTRODUCTION 31
2.2 RATIONALE 32
2.3 RESEARCH PARADIGM 35
2.4 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD 39
2.4.1 Conceptualising and formalising research objectives 39
2.4.2 Obtaining permission from authorities to conduct the
study
39
2.4.3 Sampling 42
2.4.3.1 Selection of the site 43
2.4.3.2 Selection of the participants for the interviews 44
2.4.3.3 Selection of the participants for the naïve sketches 45
2.4.4 Phase 1: Exploration and description of the lived
experiences: data collection methods
46
2.4.4.1 Phenomenological interview 46
2.4.4.2 Naïve sketches 51
2.4.4.3 Observations and field notes 53
2.4.5 Analysing and interpreting of results 54
2.4.6 Literature control 56
2.4.7 Dissemination of findings 56
2.5 MEASURES TO ENSURE TRUSTWORTHINESS 57
2.5.1 Truth value 59
2.5.2 Applicability 61
2.5.3 Consistency 63
2.5.4 Neutrality 65
2.6 CONCLUSION 66
CHAPTER 3 LIVED EXPERIENCES OF
INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
3.1 INTRODUCTION 67
67

3.2 REALISING OF THE SAMPLE 67
3.2.1 Interviews 68
3.2.2 Naïve sketches 69
3.3 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 71
3.4 FINDINGS 72
3.4.1 Theme 1: Multiple realities on a continuum of
institutional effectiveness with pockets of
effectiveness
75
3.4.2 Theme 2: Factors promoting institutional
effectiveness
78
3.4.3 Theme 3: Factors impeding institutional effectiveness 92
3.4.4 Theme 4: The silence voice 129
3.5 CONCLUSION 135
CHAPTER 4 THE STORY OF SILENCE TRUTH 140
4.1 INTRODUCTION 140
4.2 THE STORY OF SILENCE TRUTH 142
4.3 CAST OF PLAY 149
4.4 CONCLUSION 150
CHAPTER 5 MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGIES FOR
DEVELOPING INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
5.1 INTRODUCTION 152
5.2 RATIONALE FOR MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGIES 155
5.3 AIM OF MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGIES 161
5.4 THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS UNDERPINNING
PROPOSED MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGIES
163
5.4.1 Strategy for enforcing promoting factors for
institutional effectiveness
173
5.4.2 Strategy for searching meaning 180
5.4.3 Strategy for letting go of the past 184
152

5.4.4 Strategy for becoming authentic 187
5.5 CONCLUSION 198
CHAPTER 6 ASSESSMENT AND CONCLUSION 202
6.1 INTRODUCTION 202
6.2 RESEARCH SUMMARY 203
6.3 FINDINGS 205
6.3.1 Research outcome: explore and describe lived
experiences of institutional effectiveness during
transformation
205
6.3.2 Research outcome: recommend mental health
strategies for personal and systemic growth to
develop sustainable institutional effectiveness in the
college sector
207
6.4 LIMITATIONS 208
6.5 RECOMMENDATIONS 209
6.6 CONCLUSION 210
BIBLIOGRAPHY 212
APPENDIX
Appendix A: Example of invitation letter for
participation - naïve sketch
236
Appendix B: Example of naïve sketch 238
Appendix C: Example of invitation and letter of
consent - qualitative interview
240
Appendix D: Example of transcribed interview 242
Appendix E: Letter of consent
Appendix E: List of exercises for individual and group
capacity building activities
248
250

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1: Conceptual framework of the study 34
Figure 3.1: Gestalt of multiple realities of institutional
effectiveness
138
Figure 5.1: Gestalt of mental health strategies 162
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: Stages and activities of the research
process
Table 2.2: Measures to ensure trustworthiness
Table 3.1: Profile of participants involved in the
interviews
Table 3.2: Profile of participants involved in the naïve
sketches
Table 3.3 Summary of themes and categories 73
Table 5.1: Summary of proposed mental health
strategies
40
58
69
70
199

i
OPSOMMING
Hierdie studie is genoodsaak vanweë onderwystransformasie van die kollegesektor
wat gebaseer is op ideologiese gelowe en `n historiese agtergrond wat gekenmerk is
deur apartheid en kolonialisme. Die huidige aansprake van oneffektiewe kolleges
wat gemaak is in die afwesigheid van longitudinale data, het verder daartoe bygedra
dat indringende navorsing oor hierdie probleem gedoen moes word. Dit wil voorkom
of onderwystransformasie gelei word deur ideologie en nie deur `n versigtige analise
van die transformasie, of die beleid teenstrydig is, al dan nie. Baie transformasie-
inisiatiewe misluk omdat die belangrike rol wat deur menslike kapitaal gespeel word,
geïgnoreer word.
Die navorsingsdoelwitte was om:
• die belewenisse van deelnemers van die effektiwiteit van instansies
gedurende transformasie te verken en te beskryf; en
• geestesgesondheidstrategieë vir persoonlike en sistemiese groei vir
volhoubare effektiwiteit in die kollegesektor aan te beveel.
Die doelwitte van die studie begunstig die gebruik van die kwalitatiewe
navorsingsparadigma om `n digte beskrywing van die belewenisse van die
effektiwiteit van instansies gedurende transformasie weer te gee.

Die vernaamste temas wat deur die navorsingsbevindinge geïdentifiseer is, is:
ii
• Veelvoudige realiteite van die effektiwiteit van instansies op `n kontinuum met
“pakkies” van effektiwiteit.
• Faktore wat die effektiwiteit van instansies bevorder is:
o die kultuur van onderwys, opleiding en leer;
o leerderondersteuning en omgee; en
o personeelondersteuning en omgee.
• Faktore wat die effektiwiteit van instansies belemmer is:
o ontoereikende bestuur van die transformasieproses;
o ontoereikende bestuur van menslike kapitaal (personeel en leerders);
o ontoereikende bestuurstyle, sisteme en prosedures; en
o die stil stem as `n sentrale tema.
Die storie van Stille Waarheid is `n narratiewe metafoor wat uit die belewenisse van
die deelnemers, teorie en die belewenisse van die navorser tydens die ondersoek
gekonstrueer is. In die studie word uiteengesit hoe die storie van Stille Waarheid as
`n instrument gebruik kan word om geestesgesondheid te implementeer om mense
en sisteme in staat te stel om nuwe stories gedurende angswekkende transformasie
te skep.

iii
Die voorgestelde geestesgesondheidstrategieë wat gebaseer is op die
navorsingsbevindinge en teorie gaan verder as die plig om die onderwyspraktyk
slegs te beskryf en te verstaan. Die studie het verder daarin geslaag om die
volgende geestesgesondheidstrategieë te formuleer:
• `n Strategie om die faktore wat effektiwiteit van instansies te bevorder te
versterk.
• `n Strategie vir die soeke na betekenis.
• `n Strategie om van die verlede weg te breek.
• `n Strategie om outentiek te word.
Die studie is afgesluit deur aan te dui dat eksterne transformasie nie effektief kan
wees as interne gedrewe transformasie dit nie gekomplimenteer nie. Interne
gedrewe transformasie moet gerig word deur die konfrontering en hantering van
vrees deur die outentieke stem te vind en te beoefen.

iv
ABSTRACT
This research study was essential because of educational reform of the college
sector. This sector was based on ideological beliefs and its historical background
featured by apartheid and colonialism. The present claims of colleges’
ineffectiveness in the absence of longitudinal data also necessitated this research
study. Educational transformation seems to be guided by ideology and not by a
careful analysis whether policies are counterintuitive. Many transformation initiatives
fail because the vital role part played by human capital in educational and training
institutions is ignored.
The objectives of the study were to:
• explore and describe lived experiences of institutional effectiveness during
transformation; and
• recommend mental health strategies for personal and systemic growth to
develop sustainable institutional effectiveness in the college sector.
The objectives of this study favoured the qualitative research paradigm to reach a
dense description of the lived experiences of institutional effectiveness during
transformation.

The major themes that were identified by the research findings were:
v
• Multiple realities of institutional effectiveness existed on a continuum with
pockets of effectiveness.
• Factors promoting institutional effectiveness were:
o the culture of teaching, training and learning;
o learner support and caring; and
o staff support and caring.
• Factors impeding institutional effectiveness were:
o inadequate management of the transformation process;
o inadequate management of human capital (staff and learners);
o inadequate management styles, systems and procedures; and
o the silence voice as a central theme.
The story of Silence Truth, a narrative metaphor, was constructed from the
participants’ real life experiences, theory and the researcher’s experience when
conducting the study. The study illustrates how the story of Silence Truth can be
used as a mental health strategy implementation tool to enable people and systems
to create new stories in the conditions of frightening transformation.

vi
The proposed mental health strategies based on its research findings and theory
took up the duty to go beyond simply describing and understanding education
practice. The study further succeeded to formulate the following mental health
strategies:
• A strategy for enforcing promoting factors for institutional effectiveness.
• A strategy for searching meaning.
• A strategy for letting go of the past.
• A strategy for becoming authentic.
The study concluded by indicating that no external driven transformation can be
effective, if it is not complemented with internal driven transformation. Internal driven
transformation should be aimed at confronting and dealing with fear by finding and
exercising one’s authentic voice.

1.1 ORIENTATION
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
When comparing South Africa with developing countries, South Africa can be proud
of its high participation rates at all levels of the school system. But that does not
imply that South Africa can be proud of its public school system. Taylor, Diphofa,
Waghmarae, Vinjevold and Sedibe (1999:35) acknowledge that the efficiency of
public schooling in South Africa “must be one of the lowest in the world”. The White
Paper on Education and Training (1995) states the necessity of quality improvement
of education and training services to bring South Africa inline with international
trends. Educational transformation in the post-apartheid era is therefore aimed at
redressing the decline in quality performance in schools and colleges (Steyn,
1996:134).
In his foreword, the former minister of education, professor Kader Asmal, urges all
South Africans to join in developing the country’s education system as part of his
Tirisano Call to Action (Department of Education, n.d.:2 - 3). Asmal (Department of
Education, 2001:1 - 2) describes the college system as “ineffective, outdated, poorly
led and badly structured”, as well as “simply not designed to encourage growth or
development”. In his foreword, he puts the challenges for meeting the social,
economic, training and educational needs of the country.

2
An audit done by Pretorius (2000a:2) of South African technical colleges indicates
that “…technical colleges are poor value for money often providing inadequate and
outdated skills training…”, “40 % of learners failed their exams”, “…the sector was
fragmented and inefficient, with too many small, weak institutions…”, “85 % of the
former technical colleges were historically disadvantaged…”.
The findings of the audit confirm the seriousness of ineffective provision of technical
and vocational education and training in South Africa. Fielding, Belfield and Thomas
(1998:487) accentuate that learner failure and drop out from education and training
are important sources of ineffectiveness that have serious consequences for
education success and resource allocation. Chetty (1993:23) questions the affect of
high repetition levels on learner and educator performance and queries if repetition is
adding value to learner achievement.
Before the college sector can address the social, economic, training and education
needs of the country, it first needs to address its ineffectiveness as stated by Asmal
(Department of Education, 2001:1). This study accepts the challenges for
institutional effectiveness, growth and development in order to provide in the person
power needs of the country. Institutional effectiveness as experienced by staff and
learners during transformation is the focus of this study. In order to comprehend
colleges and the negative qualities ascribe to them, it is necessary to understand the
historical background and present context of the college sector in South Africa.

3
1.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE COLLEGE SECTOR IN SOUTH
AFRICA
Colleges are one of the four entities making up the Further Education Training Band.
The other entities are senior secondary schools (Grades 10, 11 and 12), industrial
trainers and private sector education and training providers. The Further Education
and Training Band provides for programmes between Levels 2 and 4 as defined by
the National Qualifications Framework and offers multiple entry and exit points
(Sedibe, 1998:278).
A literature review (Haasbroek, 1998; Kraak & Hall, 1999) calls attention to the
negative perceptions associated with the college sector. Haasbroek (1998:10)
reflects on the college sector as the abused stepchildren of the South African
Education and Training System. Kraak and Hall (1999:17) perceive technical
colleges to be neglected in terms of management information systems in the South
African education landscape. They (Kraak & Hall, 1999:22) ascribe this state of
affairs to the facts that:
• Further Education and Training institutions (especially colleges) exist on the
margins of General Education and Training (General Education and Training
Band) and Tertiary Education and Training (Higher Education Band); and
• colleges become differentiated institutions due to the racially defined financial
support and lack of effective social development strategies during the
apartheid era.

4
The former minister of education, Asmal, supports the belief that the apartheid era
created a technical college sector that is “built to support a world that no longer
exists” in which “the aspirations of the majority of our people were not considered …”
(Department of Education, 2001:1). The apartheid legacy is thus regarded as the
culprit for the perceived poor state of affairs ascribed to the college sector. Maharaj,
Naidoo and Pampallis (1995:9) point out that the inequities in the provision of
education and training during the apartheid era resulted in the deep crisis in the
education system through massive resistance by black educators and learners.
The historical development of the college sector in South Africa is linked also to the
colonialising of Africa (Ashley, 1989; Mungazi & Walker,1997; Vilakazi,1998). Ashley
(1989:67) stresses the impact of apartheid and colonialism on the South African
education system as “characterised by domination and the lack of a common national
unity and purpose” and “resulted in a divided, unequal and unstable education
system which has been the site of some of the worst violence and intimidation of
recent times”. Mungazi and Walker (1997:122) assert that “…the development of
Africans as a group who were educated to serve the needs of the colonial status
quo”. Vilakazi (1998:78) alleges the nature of the colonial encounter and racism as a
“Master-Servant relationship, with the West being the Master, and Africa the
Servant”.
Van der Walt (1991:166 - 172) holds that education and training presented in the
early years of the Cape of Good Hope settlement succeeded in inoculating the
colonialist social relationship of master and servant. As the settlement slowly
changed from a refreshment post to a colony and started moving to the interior of the

5
country, the settlers increasingly regarded the blacks in the interior as a source of
cheap labour. The settlers believed that these blacks had to be mobilised for the
development of the settlers’ first world economy. In the period up to 1910, blacks
came to see themselves as inferior to whites, also as a result of the education they
received in schools. Especially in mission schools, handicrafts and manual work
formed part of the curriculum.
According to Van der Walt (1991:166 - 172), the period between 1910 and 1948 was
featured by labour unrest and consistent efforts of the prime ministers Botha, Smuts
and Hertzog to protect white labour by effectively excluding all non-whites from
artisan training. However, after 1948 technical and vocational training was
encouraged for blacks to improve the economies and infrastructures of the
homelands. In 1954, Bantu Education was centralised under a single state
department. Efforts were made to introduce the same forms of differentiated
schooling and training as for whites into these separate schools for blacks. Doctor
HF Verwoerd’s words to the effect that blacks could not aspire to any other but the
lowest occupations of manual labour in the white areas of the country resulted in the
rejection of the Department of Bantu Education and its successor the Department of
Education and Training. The history of education and training in South Africa came
to be associated with inferior education for non-white South Africans perpetuating the
system of apartheid.
During the middle and late 1990s the abolition of apartheid resulted in new legislation
that aims at transforming the education and training system in the post-apartheid
South Africa. In light of the historical background of the colleges in South Africa, it is

6
apparent that transforming the sector is a major challenge for all role players and
stakeholders, so much more in the presence of globalisation. Welch (1998:172)
points out that education institutions are not immune against the effects of economic
globalisation and that institutions are pressed to become more efficient. He stresses
that individuals and societies demand better economic rates of return on the
investments they make with regard to education and training.
The national and international discourse of transforming technical colleges seems to
be the business of the day. Various role players and stakeholders (Chisholm,
1999:87; Jansen, n.d.:56; Pretorius, 2000b:1; Selingo 1999:A28; Welch, 1998:157)
express different opinions with regard to the process to be followed in making the
Further Education and Training institutions more effective.
A theme that emerged from the literature (Collins, 2001; Selingo, 1999) is if merging
of institutions is the answer for redressing the claims of the sector’s ineffectiveness.
Collins (2001:11) points out in their study they found that merging of companies does
not turn ineffective institutions into effective ones. Lessons from overseas indicate
that merging technical colleges may result in dreadful outcomes as colleges may lose
their identity “Under pressure from the governors and legislators to heighten their
academic rigor, technical colleges in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, and a few other
states are having an identity crisis…the mergers signify something else: the death of
technical education” (Selingo, 1999:A28).

7
The next section will brief the reader on the attributes of the transformed college
sector based on merging of South African institutions as envisaged by Asmal
(Department of Education, 2001).
1.3 PRESENT MILIEU: TRANSFORMING THE COLLEGE SECTOR IN
SOUTH AFRICA
Section 29(1)(b) of Chapter Two of the Constitution of South Africa stipulates,
“Everyone has the right to further education, which the state, through reasonable
measures, must make progressively available and accessible.” (Constitution of South
Africa, 1996:13, Meyer, 1998a:4). With the presentation of the Further Education
and Training Bill (Hansard, 8 October 1998:2651) before the National Council of
Provinces the effectiveness of the apartheid system was queried in order to lay the
platform for the new system. It was stressed that graduates from technical colleges
struggled to find employment or create self-employment or to continue and succeed
in the higher education system. The Bill, later the Further Education and Training Act
(Hansard, 8 October 1998:2651), formed the ideological basis for transforming the
Further Education and Training system into a high quality and responsive system that
offers diversified programmes.
The struggle for employment opportunities and/or furthering of studies put challenges
both to the Further and the Higher Education Bands. Brown (n.d.:61) points out that
changes in the nature of the employment market require the ability from the labour
force to be flexible and adaptable to utilise state of the art technology. Rapid

8
changes in the labour market may produce qualifications that overnight become
redundant.
Transformation of the Further Education and Training sector necessitates elimination
of the historical division of state and state-aided colleges (Department of Education,
2001:1). It should be acknowledged that the impact of new education policy and the
resulting transformation of the Further Education and Training sector is a complex
and time-consuming task because it “…is mediated by deeply embedded, historically
engendered organisational practices and approaches developed over time and
situated in and conditioned by local contexts and wider political and economic
developments” (Chisholm, 1999b:89).
International debates point towards avoidance of taking responsibility for education
reform initiatives. In the Unites States of America (USA) it is a continuous debate
whose responsibility education issues is, such as should school reform be a national
priority and the rationale underpinning such a decision (Wagner, 1996:40).
Bureaucracy of the education system seems to be not only a problem related to the
South African education system. Nathan and Myatt (1998:286) question the
presence of the same kind of bureaucracy towards the end the century as the one
the century commenced with when referring to secondary schools in Boston’s
unsuccessful endeavours to become autonomous institutions. Enslin and
Pendlebury (1998:266 - 267) argue that although some contributors support the new
policies, other stakeholders and role players are concerned about theoretical flaws,
implicit political betrayals and unfilled values and beliefs.

9
From the literature (Hirsch,1997:24) it appears that tension between policy makers
and practitioners represented by researchers/academics exists. Hirsch (1997:24)
advocates that each side has to be blamed for the failing relationship between policy
makers and education researchers. Policy makers are to be blamed for not taking
cognisance of research findings and researchers for not disseminating their research
findings. In South Africa it appears that this same sort of tension exists between our
country’s academics and policy makers with regard to the new education reform
initiatives. It seems that some academics are cynic towards the new education policy
plans that are aimed at transforming the education sector.
From the South African literature (Chisholm, n.d.:55; De Villiers, 1997:80; Jansen,
n.d.:57 & Mehl, 1994:11) it appears that education transformation in South Africa is
regarded not to be the ultimate solution for the advancement of teaching and
vocational training. It is perceived to add existing bureaucracy and managerialism of
the sector “Far from breaking down the division between the academic and
vocational, it has contributed to the new managerialism and bureaucratisation of
teaching and learning” (Chisholm, n.d.:55). De Villiers (1997:80) points out that the
new one integrated education department does not erase the problems experienced
and caused by former apartheids fragmented systems, because it is the same people
who run the system. Jansen (n.d.:57) argues that policy forethought is needed to
ensure sustainable education transformation in South Africa “Ordinary bureaucrats
face constant pressure from political heads to respond to the multiple crisis pervading
the education system, without the long-term policy deliberation essential for deeper
transformation in the nation’s schools”. Mehl (1994:11) points out that education
systems will not change as long as we only focus on changing the “shape, size or

10
colour of the incumbent bureaucracy” and fail to realise that a school is a
professional organisation.
Fortunately not all academics sketch such a depressing picture. Fisher, Hall and Jaff
(1998:6) are of the opinion that the new policies present South African colleges with
a chance unique in their past namely, to develop into centres of novelty and growth,
with a new and improved standing and responsibility in society. McCaffray
(1998:138) is of the opinion that colleges in the international arena can add value to
the perplexing contemporary societies as they can make an exceptional and powerful
contribution by their co-ordinating function.
The Department of Education’s strategic plan for 2002 to 2004 (Department of
Education, 2002: 32) stipulates that one of the strategic objectives for the programme
for Further Education and Higher Education is to guarantee a systemic and
excellence solid vivacious private Further Education and Training sector.
Performance indicators for this programme include gazetting new regulations, and
the registration and regulation of colleges.
The policy plan for the new Further Education and Training sector consists of 50
Further Education and Training colleges. The process commences in 2001 in
accordance with section 4 of the Further Education and Training Act, No 98 of 1998.
By means of Provincial Gazettes Extraordinary No 149 of 2 August 2001 and No 182
of 11 September 2001 the Member of the Executive Council responsible for
education in the provinces published notices to elicit comments from interested
persons regarding the intention to declare technical colleges as public Further

11
Education and Training institutions, as well as to elicit comments regarding the
merger of specific declared Further Education and Training institutions into merged
Further Education and Training institutions and eventual exercised his power to
decide to appoint single councils for the identified clusters of institutions. By doing so
the Minister of Education succeeded in
• levelling the playing fields so that state and state-aided colleges are declared
as Further Education and Training institutions; and
• legitimating colleges to merge with each other into large, multi-site institutions.
Asmal (Department of Education, 2001:16 - 20) identifies seven characteristics that
will distinguish transformed colleges from the “old” and still “present” system. These
are:
• Large, multi-site Further Education and Training colleges.
• Greater authority.
• A quality assurance framework.
• Specialised niche and multi-purpose colleges.
• Open and distance learning.
• Articulation and collaboration with higher education.
• Student support services.
The features of Asmal’s large, multi-site Further Education and Training colleges,
include “strong, visionary leadership, as well as trained and effective staff” that will be
“required to lead, manage and sustain these colleges” (Department of Education,
2001:16). According to Kraak and Hall (1999:22) one of the specific systemic
problems of the Further Education and Training sector at this point in time is low staff

12
morale resulting in poor work ethics. These authors ascribed staff problems such as
low morale, a low work ethic and low professional self-esteem to especially the
unfavourable working conditions in the college sector and an authoritarian
management culture that put emphasis on the racial and gender divisions within the
specific sector.
Haasbroek (2000:175) identifies the features of autonomous Further Education and
Training institutions to include confidence in their potential to become self-managing
institutions that embrace a “self-help” ethic. From South African literature (Kraak &
Hall 1999:164 - 167; Haasbroek 2000:174) and policy documents (Department of
Education, 2001:10) the assumption can be made that human capital is recognised
as a vital factor in transforming the sector, but no reference is made to the manner in
which human capital can be developed in order for institutions to become effective.
1.4 PROBLEM STATEMENT AND RESEARCH PROBLEM
Diphofa, Vinjevold and Taylor (1999:1) stress that schooling systems all over are
considered to be in catastrophe and enhancement and transform of these institutions
are high on the programme of politicians, academics and education bureaucrats.
According to Levin and Riffel (1997:17) we require an improved knowledge both of
what schools at present do and of what they might logically do better in future.
Knowledge of such a nature should be originated by a solicitous study.
Miller (1999:A17) points out that research conducted in the past in South Africa that
focused on effectiveness of reform initiatives, was not adding any value to the school

13
reform initiatives. Research on the effectiveness of reforms was often scrawny, open
to doubt, or absent. Kraak and Hall (1999:3) summarise the Further Education and
Training discourse as lacking research interest; in so far that research in this sector is
“noticeably absent”. The Human Sciences Research Council (1996:1) highlights that
at present very little qualified data on formal and non-formal education resources at
technical colleges are available.
Research agendas in the South African context often focus on policy aspects where
it was tended towards what should be. Research of an exploratory nature such as
which models might best represent specific principles, or an evaluative nature such
as which models work best under explicit circumstances have been quite uncared for
(Diphofa, Vinjevold & Taylor (1999:5). Muller agrees with Diphofa, Vinjevold and
Taylor by implicitly stating that in South Africa there is no established educational
research community to speak of “…only a minuscule pool of research data to draw
on…most of it ideologically suspect…” (1998:219). An example in the South African
context is donor interventions that add another complicating factor with regard to the
education reform discourse. According to Taylor, Diphofa, Waghmarae, Vinjevold
and Sedibe (1999:16) the absence of longitudinal data often results in education
reforms guided by ideology and not by a careful analysis whether policies are
counterintuitive to their own aims. Political influences and short-term donor
interventions let school reform initiatives to be tailored or, more typically, overturned
before their effects become apparent.
Against this background education research that focuses on education
transformation initiatives is vital to add value to policy and decision-makers reform

14
debates, as well as to assist the implementers of policy plans with strategic
information. Scientific research can ease the current tension between policy makers,
academics and implementers and direct the South African education discourse in a
constructive manner.
The post-apartheid era requires Further Education and Training institutions to face
unique challenges in becoming effective, self-managing institutions. In order to deal
with these challenges, institutions should be responsive and flexible, as well as
prepared to learn from previous experiences. Understanding the real life
experiences with regard to institutional effectiveness during transformation can
become a powerful agent to capacitate staff and learners, and promote and sustain
institutional effectiveness.
In the absence of relevant research and the yearning for growth and development in
the Further Education and Training sector to satisfy the training and economic needs
of the country, an investigative, explorative study can make a significant contribution.
Exploring the experiences of staff and learners and describing factors that promote or
impede institutional effectiveness during transformation can facilitate sustainable
change in these institutions. Mental health strategies aimed at capacitating individual
persons and the system can facilitate personal and systemic growth in striving for
effectiveness and becoming eventual institutions of excellence. The fundamental
question that should be answered by such a study should then be: “How can
institutional effectiveness, within a particular Further Education and Training
institution during transformation, be promoted?”

15
1.5 RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES
This study employs the qualitative research paradigm to explore and describe the
experiences of institutional effectiveness during transformation. Factors promoting
and/or impeding institutional effectiveness can be identified and strategies can be
proposed that are grounded in the findings to facilitate personal and systemic growth
for sustainable development.
The objectives of the study are to:
• explore and describe lived experiences of institutional effectiveness during
transformation; and
• recommend mental health strategies for personal and systemic growth to
develop sustainable institutional effectiveness in the college sector.
1.6 PARADIGMATIC PERSPECTIVE
The paradigmatic perspective refers to the assumptions and/or beliefs the researcher
used in the study. These assumptions can be regarded as the criteria that are used
by the researcher in the selection and conceptualising of the research problem that
include the meta-theoretical, theoretical and methodological assumptions. In this
section the assumptions, commitments, suppositions and beliefs as suggested by
Mouton (1996:174) are reported for scientific communication purposes.

• Metatheoretical assumptions
16
The researcher is of the opinion that human capital is very much neglected by
politicians and designers of the new institutional South African landscape for Further
Education and Training in South Africa. The importance of acknowledging the
human factor in a holistic manner in successful institutional reform initiatives appears
to be absent as observed by national and international experts (Evans, 1996; Kotzè,
Myburg, Roux & Associates, 2002).
Evans (1996:9) is of the opinion that school reform initiatives “failed to fully realize
the improvements they promised, and many staff development programs have
developed teachers’ cynicism more than their expertise”. He ascribes the failure of
initiatives to designers that ignored the “flux and complexity in and around
organizations” and “overlooks the vital realities of context, human psychology and the
process of change”.
The researcher is of the opinion that successful initiatives aimed at promoting
institutional effectiveness in education settings takes into account the living realities
of the people involved during transformation processes; the human psychodynamics
and people’s lived experiences of their world of work. For this reason the researcher
associates with Kotzè, Myburg, Roux and Associates (2002:11 - 12) that the focus on
the scientific value of paradigms and bodies of knowledge or the doctrinal truths of
faith systems should be on the effects it have on people in real life. “How do they
work? Who benefits? Who suffers? Who has a say and who is silenced?”. The

17
focus of this study is therefore on constructing the truth by understanding the
experiences of institutional effectiveness during the transformation of Further
Education and Training.
In the context of the study the concept “human” are used to indicate the holistic being
of a person on biological, cognitive, personality, environmental and sociocultural level
(adopted from Halonen & Santrock, 1996:505). In this study special attention is
given to his/her feelings, understandings, behaviour and choices he/she makes while
experiencing transformation of his/her teaching, training and learning place that is a
particular Further Education and Training institution (adapted from Fitz-enz, 2000;
Kotzè, Myburg, Roux & Associates, 2002).
This study goes beyond describing the living experiences of people during
transformation by developing mental health strategies to promote the mental well-
being of people during transformation. Mental health strategies are tactics designed
by this study grounded in its findings to assist people during the transformation of a
Further Education and training Institution to cope with the associated stress,
understand and find meaning in their lived experiences, to develop resilience and to
become self-reliant.
• Theoretical assumptions
The study is mapped out by the realities of the context of the people involved, human
psychology and the process of change. The study acknowledges the real teaching,
training and learning world of people during an institutional change process. Basic

18
human psychology and the response to change form the basic theoretical
background to this study.
The study contributes to school reform initiatives by deriving from systems thinking
and strategic approaches to school development, aiming at producing second order
change in a college. Evans (1996:5) points out that first order change is focussed on
improving the efficiency or effectiveness of what already is being done, while second
order change goes beyond by also focusing on changing the beliefs and perceptions
of the people involved. Wessels and Kotzè (2002:128 - 139) argue that change is an
“emotion-laden” concept and dualistic in nature, categorising people in the work
place. Evans (1996:17) emphasises that if change is not meaningful to one, one will
not accept the losses and discontinuities of change. Focussing on the experiences
of people during the process of change and the meanings they attached to it can add
value to sustainable development initiatives.
• Methodological assumptions
The study follows a qualitative research design to explore, understand and describe
the living realities of staff members and learners with regard to institutional
effectiveness within a particular Further Education and Training institution during
transformation. For this reason the phenomenological interview (Kvale, 1983:174 -
179) is the primarily data collecting instrument for the study to discover the truth from
the real life stories of the persons involved with regard to their experiences of
institutional effectiveness during transformation. Chapter Two provides an in-depth
discussion for employing a qualitative research paradigm, design and method, as

19
well as demonstrating how this study adheres to rigour in research through
trustworthiness. In paragraph 1.10 it is explained how the study does justice to the
post-modern principles of “logic” and “justification”.
1.7 DEFINITIONS OF OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS AND TERMS
To ensure a common understanding and frame of reference, working definitions for
the following key concepts and terms are hereby given.
• College
A college is a secondary education and training institution that offers technical
subjects and other vocational-orientated subjects such as business studies, utility
studies, and skills courses.
• Develop
“Develop” means the act to cause growth for becoming more advanced in order to
make progress (Pearsall, 1999:391 & 18).
• Capacitate
In this context it is used as a synonym for empowering that is the process of giving
power and/or authority to people in order to strengthen and build confidence, moral
and self-esteem among staff members to enable them to become competent in order

20
to successful and legitimately accomplish their tasks with job satisfaction (Pearsall,
1999:467 & 206).
• Experience
Experience can be defined as an event or occurrence that leaves an impression on
an individual (Pearsall, 1999:501). Epston and White (1992:78 - 79) argue that it is
not possible for persons to have a “direct knowledge of the world; that an objective
description of the work is not available to us” and “our experience of the world is all
that we have, and this is all that we know”. “The best that we can do is to interpret
the experience of others; that is, the expressions of their experience as they go about
the business of interpreting it for themselves”. The term “experience(s)” as used in
this study refers to interpreting the expressions of participants’ experiences as they
tried to interpret it for themselves.
• Feeling
Feelings can be described as emotional states and/or reactions that are instinctive
and/or intuitive and can be distinguished from reasoning and/or knowledge (Pearsall,
1999:520 & 466).

• Further Education and Training
21
Further Education and Training included courses offered within the Further Education
and Training Band as recognised by the South African National Qualifications
Framework Levels 2 - 4 (Human Sciences Research Council, 1995:20).
• Human capital
Human capital is defined in this study as the combination of factors that include the
traits one brings to the job, one’s ability to learn and one’s motivation to share
information and knowledge (Fitz-enz, 2000:xii).
• Institutional effectiveness
Institutional effectiveness can be defined as the success of an institution in producing
a desired or intended result or outcome (adapted from Pearsall, 1999:456). Legotlo
and Teu (1998:8) states that “There are number of ways to define effective
schools…(and)…for a school to be labelled effective or ineffective, depend on the
criteria used to measure effectiveness.”, words such as “effective”, “excellent” and
“good” are synonyms. McCaffray (1998:138) is of the opinion that “Institutional
effectiveness, like beauty, is often in the eye of beholder” and that college
effectiveness is measured by different people differently and include pass rates,
placing rates in the workplace, ability to attract private sector support, state of the art
equipment and facilities, qualification levels of staff, and relevancy of programmes
offered.

• Meaning
22
Meaning in the context of this study can be explained as the worthwhile quality
and/or significance and/or worth a person attached to an experience (adapted from
Pearsall, 1999:863).
• Strategies
Strategies can be regarded as tactic plans that are designed carefully to achieve long
term and/or specific outcomes beyond the immediate action (adapted from Pearsall,
1999:1418 & 1457).
• Technical College
A technical college is a secondary education and training institution that offered
technical subjects or applied technical subjects (theoretical and/or practical) within
the Further Education and Training Band.
• Understanding
In this study the term “understanding” means the perception and/or judgement of the
situation by a person when making an opinion about a specific state of affairs
(Pearsall, 1999:1562 & 764).

1.8 RESEARCH DESIGN
23
The study follows a qualitative research paradigm (Mouton, 1996:36 - 40;
Schurink,1998b:239 - 251) to explore, understand and describe a particular Further
Education and Training institution in its natural setting, a college, during
transformation. Triangulation is achieved through employing various data gathering
methods (De Vos, 1998b:359) namely, individual phenomenological interviews and
naïve sketches regarding perceived institutional effectiveness. The qualitative
research phenomenological interview is the major data collection tool used in this
study to gain a phenomenological understanding of the research topic (Kvale,
1983:174 - 179; Willis, 1999). Guidelines for implementing the qualitative research
interview and interpreting the data as stipulated by Kvale (1983:171 - 196) are
employed. The research design and methodology are explored in more detail in
Chapter Two.
1.9 RESEARCH METHOD
The research takes place in two phases. In the first phase the lived experiences of
institutional effectiveness during transformation are explored and described. In the
second phase mental health strategies for personal and systemic growth to develop
sustainable institutional effectiveness are recommended. Chapter Three reflects
Phase 1 and Chapter Five reflects Phase 2. Chapter Four symbolises a bridge
between the two phases.

1.10 RESEARCH ETHICS
24
Traditional principles of research conduct covered the following areas of ethical
concern:
• protection of participants from physical and psychological harm;
• deception;
• loss of privacy; and
• informed consent for protection of researchers.
These principles are now extended to include the community, voice, reciprocity and a
relationship that is built on the sacred (Denzin & Lincoln, 2001:xxv).
In the quest for assuring that the basic national and international ethic principles of
behaviour are respected and honoured by the researcher, the ethical principles as
summarised by the South African Medical Research Council (MRC, 2002:5 - 6) are
valued by this study as follow.
1.10.1 The participant as a person
Autonomy of the participants were assured by giving interested persons such as staff
members and learners through their representative bodies the opportunity to
participate out of free will in this project. An open invitation was given to interested
persons of the three academic faculties, support services, skills development
facilitator, international bursary student job placement officer, and the learner
representative serving on the college council. The purpose and the nature of the

25
research process were explained by a written invitation (see Appendixes A and C).
Participants were asked to give informed written consent for participation in the study
(see Appendix C).
1.10.2 Human rights
The human rights of the participants were honoured by being transparent and
respectful to the participants and the data revealed by them. Gaining permission by
the college’s governing body and management and assuring confidentiality of the
individuals involved and making the findings accessible to them, attained this
principle.
1.10.3 The ethic of justice, fairness and objectivity
The agenda of the research was discussed verbally and in writing to the participants
(see Appendixes A and C). In case of any enquiries with regard to the research
process and/or the researcher’s conduct, contact details of the responsible university
authorities were given prior to data collection. Audiotape recordings of the data
collection interviews, and access to the transcriptions of the audiotapes and the final
findings were given to the participants on request. It was explained that the
audiotapes had to be verified by an independent coder. Confidentiality of the
participants was respected throughout the research process by making use of coding
for verifying purposes and destroying the tapes on completion of the study.
Participants were not requested to write their names on the naïve sketches (see
Appendix B).

1.10.4 Competence
26
It was stated verbally and in writing prior to data collection that the research study
was done by a DEd candidate of the University of Johannesburg (former Rand
Afrikaans University) (see Appendixes A and C). Contact details of the supervisors
were given to the participants prior to data collection in case of any enquiries or
creditworthiness checks.
1.10.5 Integrity
Integrity was honoured by this study through:
• being honest with regard to the agenda and process of the research;
• stating the student status of the researcher;
• giving interested parties a fair chance to be involved in this study out of free
will; and
• assuring access to the findings after completion.
1.10.6 Sensitivity
Throughout the research process the researcher attempted to be sensitive for
cultural and managerial differences between the researcher and the participants.
The participants’ unique interaction with and their interpretation of their living realities
were valued and respected by the researcher.

1.10.7 Confidentiality
Confidentiality of the participants was respected in the following ways:
27
• invitation letters outlined measures to respect confidentiality (see
Appendixes A and C);
• written informed consents from participants were gained prior to the
interviews (see Appendix C);
• no names were mentioned in analysing and interpreting the data and report
writing;
• codes were used by the researcher to identify sources; and
• audiotapes were destroyed after completion of the project as agreed on with
the participants.
1.10.8 Demarcation of roles
Mutual understanding of the roles, interests and expectations of the study were
assured by following a transparent process in:
• sharing with the participants the research agenda and method employed;
and
• discussing the research expectations.
1.10.9 Communication
Open two-way communication was respected throughout the research by explaining
verbally the necessary information to the participants and confirming important

28
information in writing (see Appendixes A and C). The findings of the study were on
request available to the participants.
1.10.10 The danger of coercion
The human being as the major contributor to this study was valued by:
• respecting the choices for participation or not participation made by potential
participants;
• following a transparent process;
• honouring open two-way communication verbally and in writing between the
researcher and the participants;
• honouring the autonomy and confidentiality of the participants;
• respecting the principles of research conduct throughout the research
process;
• allowing participants to terminate or withdraw from the research process
whenever they wish without penalising them; and
• discussing potential benefits and disadvantages with them.
1.11 RESEARCH STEPS
The research process consists of the following steps:
Step 1: Conceptualising the research theme.
Step 2: Developing the research question.
Step 3: Gaining permission to conduct the research from authorities.
Step 4: Piloting the research question.

Step 5: Finalising the research question.
Step 6: Collecting the data.
29
Step 7: Analysing and interpreting the data.
Step 8: Verifying coding of the data by an independent coder.
Step 9: Controlling the research findings with the literature.
Step 10: Developing mental health strategies.
Step 11: Conclusion and assessment of the study.
Step 12: Dissemination.
1.12 CHAPTER CONTENT CLASSIFICATION
The thesis consists of different chapters dealing with the research process, findings,
literature review for control purposes, and recommendations. Conceptual maps are
used for figurative explanations and tables are used to condense information when
needed. The contents of the different chapters are:
• Chapter 1: Introduction and background.
• Chapter 2: Research method.
• Chapter 3: Lived experiences of institutional effectiveness.
• Chapter 4: The story of “Silence Truth”.
• Chapter 5: Mental health strategies for developing institutional effectiveness.
• Chapter 6: Assessment and conclusion.
• Bibliography.
• Appendixes: Examples of a letter for permission, a transcribed interview, a
naïve sketch used in the study and exercises.

1.13 CONCLUSION
30
In this chapter the reader is briefed on the background and present milieu of Further
Education and Training in South Africa, the research strategy and the research
problem statement, the research aims and steps, as well as the manner in which the
research principles is honoured by this study. The chapter is concluded with the
chapter content of the imminent chapters.

2.1 INTRODUCTION
31
CHAPTER 2
RESEARCH METHOD
In Chapter One, the reader was introduced and orientated with regard to Further
Education and Training institutions, in particular the college sector in South Africa.
Chapter One reflected the unique challenges facing the college sector and
transformation thereof to meet the economic and social demands of South Africa.
Reference was made to the education discourse that was lacking acknowledgement
of human capital during education transformation to facilitate and sustain
development in education institutions.
Allusions were made in Chapter One that the interpretation of the nature of scientific
inquiry as used in this study was searching for the truth by:
• exploring and describing people’s lived experiences of institutional effectiveness
during transformation; and
• understanding and gaining insight in the complexity of human dynamics during
transformation from an insiders view. This chapter’s purpose is to attest the
research paradigm within the context of the study.

2.2 RATIONALE
32
The historical background of the college sector in South Africa, as well as the
transformation and reconstruction drive in the education and training field since
1994, necessitate research to inform transformation models for sustainable
development. It has to be stressed that differences between education institutions
are great in terms of variants that include aspects such as capacities, resources,
leadership and management, culture, relationships inside the education institution
and with the outside environment. Taylor, Diphofa, Waghmarae, Vinjevold and
Sedibe (1999:17) stress that discovering a master plan for school improvement is
“…an elusive holy grail” and therefore it is better to regard change as a “…guided
journey…”.
Nedeble, as quoted by Bak (1998:(i)), stresses that the “greatest challenge of the
South African revolution is the search for ways of thinking, ways of perception, that
will help to break down the closed epistemological structures…”. According to Bak
(1998) these closed structures limit and compromise insight that necessitates
education reform initiatives and they include:
• silences that have developed in education discourse;
• disjuncture and tensions between policy and practice; and
• disenchantment between ideals and constraints within the “real world”.
The significant contribution made by this study is that staff and learners were given
the opportunity to raise their voices and by doing so, break the silence regarding their
lived experiences of institutional effectiveness during transformation as challenged by
academics (Ashley, 1989; Haasbroek, 1998; Kraak & Hall, 1999; Taylor, Diphofa,

33
Waghmarae, Vinjevold & Sedibe, 1999) and policy makers (Department of
Education, 2001). The real life experiences of institutional effectiveness as described
by staff and learners as explored by this study, can promote understanding and
insight for the transformation journey by the college sector. Value is added to the
education discourse by developing mental health strategies that can guide the
transformation process to ensure the well-being of education institutions’ human
capital and facilitate sustainable development.
The study concerned a single case exploration and description, nonetheless the
lessons learnt and knowledge gained from this in-depth research can:
• promote insight to ease the tensions between policy and practice;
• inform policy making and decision-taking activities when mapping out
sustainable development choices for transforming the education sector in
South Africa;
• create sensitivity for human dynamics during transformation; and
• acknowledge human capital as fundamental to successful education reform
initiatives.
A detailed description of the research paradigm, objectives, and methodology, as
well as the ethical considerations used by this study will be given in the following
sections.
Figure 2.1 provides an explanation of conceptualising the study by illustrating the
study’s context.

34
Figure 2.1: Conceptual framework of the study
POLITICI
LEGEND
Different faculties within the college.
Claims of ineffectiveness.
Responses to claims as informed by real life experiences.
ACADEMICS
Transformation of the further education and training sector.
HUMAN
CAPITAL
Human capital and lived experiences of institutional effectiveness during
transformation.

2.3 RESEARCH PARADIGM
35
According to Mouton (1996:28) the central theme for scientific enquiry is motivated
by exploring “…‘true’ or at least ‘truthful’ knowledge…”. The main intention of all
research is to “…arrive at results that are as close to the truth as possible…” that are
the most valid results likely. Mouton (1996:36 - 37) entitles the highest levels of
science complexity as methodological paradigms. He distinguishes three paradigms
namely quantitative, qualitative and participatory action. The selection of a particular
paradigm is subject to the collections of research methods and techniques, as well
as the assumptions and values underpinning the specific circumstances.
In this study, the researcher wished to explore, understand and describe experiences
of institutional effectiveness of staff and learners of a Further Education and Training
institution during transformation. The primarily aim of the research was to reach a
dense description of the experiences of participants to promote institutional
effectiveness of a particular Further Education and Training institution namely, a
college within its natural setting. The objectives of the study were to:
• explore and describe lived experiences of institutional effectiveness during
transformation; and
• recommend mental health strategies for personal and systemic growth to
develop sustainable institutional effectiveness in the college sector.
Schurink (1998b:243) argues that in the case of the qualitative research paradigm,
scientific enquiry for the truth is founded in the participants’ accounts of meaning,

36
experience and/or perceptions. The qualitative researcher is therefore concerned
with:
• understanding rather than controlled measurement;
• naturalistic observation rather than controlled measurement; and
• the subjective exploration of reality from the perspective of an insider and not
from an outsider, as the case with quantitative paradigms.
Therefore, the objectives of this study favoured employing the qualitative paradigm
as the study explored, understood and described real life experiences of institutional
experiences and thus the truth of implementers (staff) and beneficiaries (learners) of
the transformation of a college in its natural setting; and a dense description of the
participants’ experiences of institutional effectiveness during transformation. College
staff and learners have to teach, train and learn and live on a daily basis with real life
experiences of institutional effectiveness during education transformation.
According to Denzin and Lincoln (2001:xxiv) post-modern and post-structural
challenges questioned the “assumptions that had organised ‘history’ in each of its
colonizing moments”. In this new area, qualitative researchers do “more than to
observe history; he or she plays a part in its construction”. Real life experiences of
institutional effectiveness told and/or untold by the participants, as well as mental
health strategies to develop institutional effectiveness, can create self-reliance,
cultivate a self-help ethic and add value to human life.

37
Miller (1999:A18) adds another valuable contribution that qualitative research makes
to scientific knowledge to inform transformation debates by explaining/answering the
“Why?” question. Qualitative studies can both disclose valuable theories for
quantitative investigation and help elucidate things that statistics cannot, such as the
reason(s) why a particular reform works and in what conditions.
Today there seems to be an increased consciousness that development should take
place together with active participation of the communities 1 involved. Rahman, cited
by De Vos, Schurink and Strydom (1998:18), encapsulates the significance of
community involvement as follows “…people want to stand up, take control over what
they need to work with, do things themselves in their own search for life and move
forward, supporting each other”. Rahman (De Vos, Schurink & Strydom, 1998:18)
continues by stating that researchers are no longer supposed to have the right to
dominate elucidating the social world, but rather to empower research participants to
know and unravel their own situation and problems, become conscious of their own
potential and recover their own sense of dignity to take joint action for their
development. Sustainable development can only take place through people’s self-
growth and mobilisation and never when the state or outsiders take the initial
responsibility for commencing and implementing growth. If state agencies or
international organisations take such liability, people will anticipate them to deliver
instead of mobilising their own assets and taking their own decisions.
Although the study was not in the strict sense participatory research in nature, it is
trusted that the findings of this study can be used to stimulate participation between
1 It needs to be noted that in this study the “community” is defined as the staff and learners on
“grassroots level” of a single college within the Further Education and Training Band.

38
policy makers and policy implementers; through enhancing understanding and insight
of human complexities during transformation on grass roots level. College learners
can even use the findings to position them in the post-apartheid era. Sehoole
(1999:61) is of the opinion that studies of this nature create a new challenge to
students to no more run by demands based on resolutions, but to slot in with
institutions on transformation issues that are based on research. Students are
therefore placed ”…not only as consumers of knowledge but also as producers of
knowledge” (Sehoole,1999:61).
It needs to be added that the study was contextualised within the specific setting of a
single college within the Further Education and Training Band. The aim of the study
was not to generalise the findings, but rather to reach an in-depth understanding of
the experiences of institutional effectiveness in a natural setting (an insider view); a
dense description. Fouché and De Vos (1998:125) point out that contextual studies
enable the “researcher to develop insights, ideas, questions and hypothesis” with
regard to the research topic. Knowledge generated by this study will be used to
recommend mental health strategies to develop institutional effectiveness.
From the above it can be concluded that the objectives and values of the research
study substantiated the use of the qualitative research paradigm. The study was a
dense description that explored, explained and described lived experiences of
institutional effectiveness in a natural setting during education transformation. The
following sections discuss the research design and method used by this study in
more detail.

39
2.4 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD
Mouton (1996:107) stresses that the research design flows from the research
problem with the aims of taking research decisions and conducting the study in such
a way (research method) that validity of the results are maximised. The research
design outlines the process that needs to be followed step-by-step. Table 2.1
reflects the stages and activities of the research process used in this study. It has to
be noted that the research study had two phases namely, Phase 1: the lived
experiences of institutional effectiveness and Phase 2: mental health strategies for
developing institutional effectiveness that were informed and grounded by the first
phase’s findings.
2.4.1 Conceptualising and formalising research objectives
The reader is referred to Chapter One, Chapter Two sections 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 and
Figure 2.1 for a detailed explanation on conceptualising and formalising of the
research problem and research objectives.
2.4.2 Obtaining permission from authorities to conduct the study
To ensure that ethics are honoured, and due to the sensitivity nature of the research,
care was given to ensure that clear guidelines were set and approved by applicable
authorities before commencement of the research. This was done to ensure that
involved authorities had a clear understanding and gave informed consent prior to

Table 2.1: Stages and activities of the research process
40
STAGES ACTIVITIES FOLLOWED
CONCEPTUALISATION • Literature study
• Attending conferences
• Participating in education discourse
• Conducting/participating in education research
• Working in a Further Education and Training
institution
• Defining key concepts
FORMALISATION OF RESEARCH
OBJECTIVES
• Conducting literature study
• Meetings with education and research experts
AUTHORISATION FOR STUDY • Presenting
authorities
proposed study to education
• Writing of letters and proposals to institutional
governing structures and ethical committee of
university
DEVELOPMENT OF RESEARCH
INSTRUMENTS
• Compiling and piloting instruments (interview
question and naïve sketches)
• Reviewing of pilot instruments
• Peer reviewing of instruments
SAMPLING • Defining the research population
• Selecting a college
• Selecting participants
DATA COLLECTION • Conducting interviews
• Collecting naïve sketches
• Making field notes
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
OF THE DATA
• Coding of data
• Reduction of data
• Conducting literature control study
• Formalising findings
• Recommending mental health strategies
• Reaching final conclusions
DISSEMINATION OF FINDINGS • Publishing of findings

41
the study. Consent facilitates accessibility, co-operation, as well as establishes a
mutual agreed ethical framework when conducting a study. Strydom (1998a:24)
accentuates the importance that research rules and behavioural expectations about
the most correct conduct should be accepted. Authorisation for conducting this study
was obtained in writing from the following authorities:
• Governing council from the college (see Appendixes E).
• Management committee from the college (see Appendixes E).
• Ethical committee from the University of Johannesburg (former Rand
Afrikaans University).
The researcher undertook that ethical guidelines as stipulated by the Medical
Research Council would be honoured (see Chapter One, section 1.10) when
conducting the research.
The college authorities (see Appendix E) added the following rules for the researcher
to adhere
• to obtain in her personal capacity permission from participants;
• to obtain permission from head of departments for involving staff and/or
learners;
• time given to the research should be outside the specified 35 working hours
per week for staff members;
• no infringement of faculties’ management and/or administration; and

• when questionnaires were to be used, these activities:
o should be after hours;
42
o should have no cost implications for the college; and
o strict adherence to confidentiality of all staff and learners involved in the
study.
2.4.3 Sampling
Sampling in this study was done on three different levels namely, by:
• selecting the research site;
• selecting the participants that participate in the interviews; and
• selecting the participants that participate in the naïve sketches.
Purposive sampling was used in this study. Strydom and De Vos (1998,198)
describe purposive sampling as a sample that is collected of elements that contain
the most characteristic, or typical qualities of the population that is founded wholly on
the judgement of the researcher. According to Randall, Cooper and Hite (1999:11)
education research today demands “…an adequate exploration of the philosophical
bases and cultural values that underlie the pursuit of truth and knowledge”.
Therefore the following account of the sampling procedure is given for audit tracking
purposes.

2.4.3.1 Selection of the site
43
The research agenda and qualitative research paradigm dictated that the college
selected for this study had the following features. These features served as the
selection criteria:
• a legitimised Further Education and Training institution; and
• an institution targeted for education reform as stipulated by law in accordance
with section 4 of the Further Education and Training Act, No 98 of 1998 and
provincial gazettes extraordinary.
The particular college was a technical college established in the 1960s with the
specific purpose for providing theoretical and practical technical training for one of
the government’s departments. Although the rendering of services was primarily
informed by technical training for the former government, the college developed as
time went by. A business faculty and lifelong learning faculty were added to make
the college more accessible for the business sector and private learners. This was
vital to sustain the college after the political changes that resulted in the change of
government in 1994.
Government declared the college as a Further Education and Training institution and
targeted this specific college to merge with other colleges to become one college
(Further Education and Training Act, No 98 of 1998 and provincial gazette extra
ordinaries numbers 149 and 182). During the time of the study significant changes
happened to the particular college such as:

44
• its status was changed from a college to that of a campus of a new merged
college with multi-sites spread over a geographical area;
• the particular campus served as the head office of the merged college;
• its name was changed;
• there was a time lapse before a new name was found for the particular
geographical setting;
• two names were allocated to the geographical setting indicating the campus
and the head offices as two different entities;
• some staff was redeployed or in the process of being redeployed; and
• a new chief executive officer was appointed (affirmative action appointment)
to head the merged college and he took office in the former college’s (now
campus) rector’s office.
Although the education institution where the study was conducted is referred to as
the “college” in this thesis, it is acknowledged at present as a “campus” of a merged
college. The study was done during the transitional period of a former college
becoming a campus of a new merged college with multi-sites.
From the above description it can be concluded that the specific college/campus
satisfy the selection criteria.
2.4.3.2 Selection of the participants for the interviews
The aim of qualitative research is to reach a dense description of the lived
experiences of the participants (Schurink, 1998e:240 - 241). To enable the

45
researcher to reach such a dense description, purposive sampling of participants for
interviews was done. Care was taken to select participants coming from different
cultural and institutional positions to ensure that voices were generated from
different/alternative backgrounds (Strydom & De Vos, 1998:198). The following
aspects were taken cognisance of when selecting participants for interviews: age,
gender, home language, lecturing versus non-lecturing staff, and staff versus
learners.
Non-lecturing staff was included because these voices are regarded in the literature
as “…trusted voices…and are assumed to be more objective”. (Jackson, 1995:6).
Learners were included as the viewpoints of students on their schools’ strengths and
weaknesses are often noticeably discerning. Learners’ viewpoints on school
improvement initiatives are hardly ever sought for because educators have a tough
time hearing their concerns (Wagner, 1996:43). By including learners in the sample,
an opportunity was created for the learners’ voices to be heard.
2.4.3.3 Selection of the participants for the naïve sketches
Naïve sketches are much more feasible in terms of costs, time and manpower when
comparing it to interviews (Fouché,1998:156). No sampling was done in this case.
All staff members appointed or learners enrolled by the college were given the
opportunity to participate in the research. By doing so, the researcher attempted to
create the opportunity by giving a voice to everybody who wished to do so and as
such enforced the richness and quality of the study as echoed by Lincoln (2001:115)
“…the extent to which alternative voices are heard is a criterion by which we can

46
judge the openness, engagement, and problematic nature of any text”. Naïve
sketches were distributed through formal institutional structures to reach potential
participants.
2.4.4 Phase 1: Exploration and description of the lived experiences: data
collection methods
The choice of method needed for collecting of data, is dependant on multiple factors
that should be taken into account such as among other the formulation of the
problem, the methodological preferences and the nature of the research
phenomenon (Mouton, 1996:127). The study’s qualitative paradigm required
traditional qualitative research methods. For triangulation purposes,
phenomenological interviews and naïve sketches were used by this study. Field
notes and observations were used to reflect other important information and/or
record events when conducting the study. The next sections describe the use of the
research method for Phase 1: Exploration and description of the lived experiences of
institutional effectiveness in more detail.
2.4.4.1 Phenomenological interview
Interviewing is regarded as the most common method of data collecting and can be
regarded as the “universal mode of systematic enquiry” (Schurink, 1998d:297).
According to Denzin, as quoted by Schurink (1998d:300), the aim of un- and semi-
structured interviewing is to vigorously enter the worlds of people and to make those
worlds explainable from the standpoint of a theory that is founded in behaviours,

47
languages, definitions, attitudes and feelings of those studied. In their later work,
Denzin and Lincoln (2001:xxxiv) proclaim that discourse proofs that cultural
considerations are reflected by persons’ created accounts of events. These
accounts have power, meaning and social value. Although they admit that the
interview has become a “taken-for-granted feature of our mediated, mass culture”,
they still claim that the interview “is a negotiated text, a site where power, gender,
race, and class intersect”. They state that a “feminist interviewing ethic” redefines
the interview situation to be called an “active interview” where interviewers and
participants carry on a conversation about mutually relevant issues (Denzin and
Lincoln, 2001:xxxv).
Kvale (1983:174 - 179) identifies twelve aspects that characterise the
phenomenological interview used in qualitative research. These aspects can be
summarised as follows:
• Central to the life-world of the participant.
• Attempt to understand the meaning of the phenomena relating to the participant’s
life-world.
• The interview is qualitative.
• The interview is descriptive.
• The interview is specific.
• The interview and process are presuppositionless.
• It focuses on certain themes.
• It is open for ambiguities.
• It is open for changes.
• It depends on the sensitivity of the interviewer.

• The interview is conducted in an interpersonal interaction.
48
• The process may be a positive experience.
The interview as employed by this study can be described as qualitative,
phenomenological, in-depth, face-to-face and semi-structured, aimed at promoting an
active social interaction between the researcher and the participant with regard to
his/her real life experience(s) of institutional effectiveness (the research agenda).
Schurink (1998d:300) stresses that the disadvantages of un- and semi-structured
interviews are:
• time consuming;
• a vast amount of data are collected; and
• the interviews should be conducted by the researchers themselves.
Despite these disadvantages, interviews were used as the primary data-collecting
instrument. The following process was followed.
• Preparation
Only one question was formulated to introduce the general theme of the study on
which information was needed namely: “How do you experience the effectiveness of
this institution?/Hoe ervaar jy die effektiwiteit van hierdie instansie?” The interviewee
was then motivated by not leading prompts to disclose information freely (Schurink,
1998d:301). The interviews were conducted in English and Afrikaans according to

49
the language preferences of the interviewee. These two official languages were the
languages of instruction at the time of conducting the study at the college.
The introductory question and audiotape recording equipment were tested prior to
the study by conducting a pilot interview to ensure that the data collected were of a
high quality. The pilot interview assisted the researcher to evaluate her interview
technique for research purposes before the actual commencement of the study, for
example, usage of leading questions, reflecting important information, and not getting
involved in clinical and/or therapeutic processes.
• Building the relationship
To ensure access and co-operation, as well as honouring the research principles of
ethics the necessary consent was obtained from the authorities and the participants
prior to the interview process (Strydom, 1998a:24). This was done by group and
individual presentations and in writing. The researcher showed respect during her
contact with the participants by being honest with them with regard to the research
agenda, the status of the researcher, and appreciating their knowledge, their “being-
here” and willingness for sharing their experiences with her (Schurink, 1998d:301 -
308).
Care was given to make the participants feel safe and comfortable, especially with
regard to audiotaping the interviews (Schurink, 1998d:302). Although none of the
participants refused participation on grounds of the audiotape recording, many
expressed their uneasiness about the specific procedure. Their uncomfortable

50
feelings decreased after a while. All the participants enjoyed listening to the audio-
tape (play back) once the individual interview was finished. Playback of the
recording was deemed necessary to validate the quality of the recording (Schurink,
Schurink & Poggenpoel, 1998:329). Some of the participants indicated that it was an
enriching experience for them to listen to their voice during the playback of the
interview.
• Conducting the interviews
The interviews were conducted at the college’s student support offices that were the
most convenient office space to ensure a comfortable and secure place for the
interviewees. This office space was free of disturbances and the office atmosphere
was conducive for interviewing purposes (Schurink, Schurink & Poggenpoel,
1998:318). Scheduled appointments were made to ensure that the time and date
were convenient for the interviewees and no infringement on college activities
occurred.
• Termination
The interviews were terminated in the following cases:
o In case of natural data saturation where the interviewees indicated that they
could not make any new contributions.
o When the scheduled time was depleted.
o When the participant indicated that he/she was getting tired through giving
verbal and/or non-verbal clues.

51
Care was given to debrief the participants after the interviews (Schurink, 1998d:305).
They were given the opportunity to reflect their experiences of sharing their real life
experiences of institutional effectiveness. Appreciation was showed by thanking
them and allowing them to re-enter the process if they wished to do so at a later
stage.
The interviewing process for the gathering of data was terminated when data
saturation occurred and the independent coder confirmed data saturation. According
to Glaser and Strauss (Schurink, 1998d:304) the data saturation point is reached
when no further data are being found whereby the researcher can find new features
of the given category. As the same case in point are repeat over and over again the
researcher becomes scientific certain that a category is saturated.
2.4.4.2 Naïve sketches
Naïve sketches as used in this study can be described as semi-structured, open
ended schedules/questionnaires (Fouché, 1998:152 - 153&160). A one-page
schedule was compiled and participants were asked to submit information with
regard to their gender, age, home language, post-level and faculty (see Appendixes
A and B). After completing the biographical data, they were asked to reflect their
experiences of institutional effectiveness as follows:
• Hoe ervaar u die effektiwiteit van hierdie instansie?/How do you experience
the effectiveness of this institution?
• Motiveer asseblief u antwoord/“Please motivate your answer.

52
Once again the naïve sketches were prepared in Afrikaans and English that were the
languages of instruction at the time of conducting the naïve sketches. Staff members
were free to duplicate the questionnaires in case of a shortage.
The participants were thanked and asked to place the completed naïve sketches in a
marked container at the student support offices before or/on a specified date
(Fouché, 1998:155). To protect the privacy and confidentiality of the participants,
participants were not asked to write their names on the naïve sketches and they
returned their sketches in person by placing it in a container that was accessible.
Please refer to the Appendix B for an example of the naïve sketch that was employed
by this study.
The naïve sketch was piloted prior to the data collection phase (Fouché, 1998:158).
This was done to ensure that the naïve sketch served it purpose namely, to reflect in
written format participants’ experiences with regard to institutional effectiveness.
The naïve sketch was used as a data collection tool for the following reasons by this
study:
• to create the opportunity for all the staff members and learners to participate
in the study so their voices could be heard;
• for practical and logistical reasons because it was cost and time saving;
• a vast number of participants could be reached; and
• to complement the interview for triangulation purposes.

2.4.4.3 Observations and field notes
53
Observations are usually recorded in the form of field notes. Field notes are not only
summaries of events, but also comprehensive copies of what happened during the
fieldwork (Schurink, 1998:285). Especially during the data collection stage, notes
were made of critical events to enrich the data and derive meaning from the
occurrences. Field notes are indicated as such in Chapter Three. According to
Schurink (1998:285 - 286) these notes consist of three elements namely:
• Observational notes
Observational notes reflect what happened in detail by giving an account of the who,
what, when, where and how (Schurink, 1998:285). These types of notes can be
regarded as representations of happenings that do not provide any interpretation of
occurrences.
• Theoretical notes
Theoretical notes differ from observational notes in so far that the researcher makes
notes in a systematic way to obtain meaning from the observational notes (Schurink,
1998:286). The researcher tried consciously to recognise patterns by looking for
similarities.

• Methodological notes
54
Methodological notes can be regarded as reminders, directions and significant
remarks for use by the researcher.
2.4.5 Analysing and interpreting of results
According to Denzin and Lincoln (2001:xxxvii), it is practice for qualitative
researchers to study spoken and written records of human experiences. These
records include transcribed talk and written narratives of experiences. There are
different ways to analyse and interpret text. Arguments concerning the differences
between empiricism and constructivism confuse the process. Denzin and Lincoln
(2001:xxxvii) argue that it should be remembered that documentary materials (text)
are “situated constructions” and “not transparent representations of social life” when
analysing and interpreting qualitative material. For audit purposes the following
account is given of the manner in which the data were analysed and interpreted.
After the interviews were transcribed and the texts were checked for accuracy, the
approach of Tesch (Creswell, 1994:154 - 155) that consisted of eight steps was
adapted and used as a guideline for analysing the data. These steps assisted the
researcher to systematic analyse unstructured data collected by the interviews and
naïve sketches. After analysing the data, it was handed to an independent coder for
validating the emerged themes. A consensus discussion between the researcher
and independent coder followed after the independent coder analysed the data as

55
well. Tesch’s approach (Creswell, 1994:154 - 155, Poggenpoel 1998:343 - 344)
consists of eight steps and can be summarised as follows:
• Get a sense of the whole. Read through all the transcriptions carefully and
make notes of interesting ideas.
• Choose one transcription. The shortest, but also the most interesting, and/or
the top of the pile. Use this script and scrutinises it by asking questions such
as “what is this about?” Write your hypothesis in the left margin.
• Repeat above step for all the scripts. Conceptual maps using different colours
were created for each script to identify emerged topics.
• After completing the list of topics, they were clustered/categorised into major
topics, unique topics and leftover topics.
• These lists of topics were cross-checked with the scripts to identify any new
categories of topics and/or topics that emerged from the scripts. Colour
coding was used to abbreviate the topics.
• Topics were then clustered into categories under the most descriptive
wording. A conceptual map was used to indicate the interrelationship(s)
between topics.
• The abbreviation for the different topics in each category was finalised and
alphabetised.
• A preliminary analysis was conducted for each category.
• Recoding of the data was done when needed to ensure refining of the data.

2.4.6 Literature control
56
A literature study was conducted for the following reasons (De Vos, 1998c:115;
Strydom, 1998b:180):
• conceptualisation of the research problem;
• informing the planning and executing of the study;
• to expose or clarify the relationships between concepts; and
• to suggest possible relationships.
The findings of the study were controlled against relevant literature in order to search
for broader meaning by comparing the results and the inferences drawn from the
data to theory.
Chapter Five describes Phase two that proposes mental health strategies grounded
in the findings of the study and controlled against literature. The mental health
strategies are founded in the research findings (Phase one) and supported by
literature.
2.4.7 Dissemination of findings
The findings of the study are published as a doctoral thesis within the regulations of
the university and in an accredited journal. However, it should be reminded that this
study forms part of the journey in looking for sustainable education transformation
models. Denzin and Lincoln (2001:xxxix) reiterate that the processes that “define the

57
practises of interpretation and representation are always on-going, emergent,
unpredictable, and unfinished”.
The thesis includes a narrative metaphor, The Story of Silence Truth. The narrative
metaphor created the opportunity for the researcher to insert her voice and
disposition into the written text. By doing so, the possibility was realised for the
researcher to explore insights from the unique situated position of being the
researcher in a particular context as explained by Hermes (1998:163).
Scientific rigour is needed to ensure credible research that is believable. The next
section will deal with the measures as applied by this study to ensure the
trustworthiness of the study.
2.5 MEASURES TO ENSURE TRUSTWORTHINESS
Guba’s model (Poggenpoel, 1998:348) to ensure validity and reliability in qualitative
research is well accepted in the qualitative research community, because it is
“comparatively well developed conceptually”. For audit tracking purposes the
aspects that are relevant to trustworthiness according to Guba’s model (Schurink,
Schurink & Poggenpoel, 1998:331; Poggenpoel, 1998:348 - 351) and adopted by
this study are hereby explained. Table 2.2 provides a summary of the measures to
ensure trustworthiness.

58
Table 2.2: Measures to ensure trustworthiness
MEASURES STRATEGIES ACTIONS
Truth value Credibility • Prolonged field experience
• Time sampling
• Reflexivity
• Triangulation
• Member checking
• Authority of the researcher
• Structural coherence
• Referential adequacy
Applicability Fitting/Transferable • Nominated sample
• Demographics of the respondents
• Triangulation
• Dense description of results with direct
quotations from participants
Consistency Dependability • Step-wise replication
• Code-recode during data analysis
• Dense description of research
methodology
• Triangulation
• Peer examination
• Dependability audit
Neutrality Confirmability • Confirmability audit
• Triangulation
• Reflexivity (field notes)

2.5.1 Truth value
59
According to Schurink, Schurink and Poggenpoel (1998:331) truth value is about
research confidence; “whether the researcher has established confidence in the truth
of findings for the subjects and the context in which the research was undertaken”.
Poggenpoel (1998:349) asserts truth value is generally obtained from the recognition
of human experiences as they are lived and perceived by participants.
Credibility is the strategy used to ensure truth value and is achieved through this
study by:
• Prolonged field experience
The researcher was appointed as a student counsellor at a Further Education and
Training institution and was sensitised for the context in which teaching, training and
learning took place. Prior to this appointment she was involved in education
research with regard to policy, planning, school reform initiatives and technical and
vocational training.
• Time sampling
The researcher was involved in a close relationship with the participants especially
during the transformation process as she was serving as chairperson and/or
secretary of tasks teams for the merged college.

• Reflexivity
60
The researcher took formal and informal notes from her involvement in counselling
and task team activities during the transformation process.
• Triangulation
Two different data collection instruments were used for triangulation namely,
interviews and naïve sketches. Field notes supported these activities.
• Member checking
Member checking was done on a regular basis with the study promoters and
independent coder. The researcher discussed the process and findings with
colleagues who had education expertise for peer group evaluation.
• Authority of the researcher
The researcher is well qualified in terms of her formal training and experience in a
variety of disciplines including mental health, education and research of which she
received institutional, national and international recognition.

• Structural coherence
61
The well-structured research method, interview techniques, management of data and
member checks and in-depth discussion of findings were used to eliminate
inconsistency. A control literature study was done to support the findings and/or
identify dissimilarities. In the case of dissimilarities, the information was further
unpacked in search for uniqueness. In Phase 2 the mental health strategies for
developing institutional effectiveness were grounded in the findings of the first phase
and controlled against literature.
• Referential adequacy
Referential adequacy is established by attaching the following documents:
o Appendixes
- example of letter of consent;
- example of the naïve sketch; and
- example of transcribed interviews.
o Participants’ direct quotations are used as evidence of the findings in Chapter
Three.
2.5.2 Applicability
With reference to Schurink, Schurink and Poggenpoel (1998:331) applicability is the
extent to which the findings can be used in other circumstances and situations or

62
with other groups; it is the ability to generalise the findings to other and even larger
populations. Applicability is a contentious topic in the qualitative research discourse.
Some researchers are of the opinion that the ability to generalise the findings of a
qualitative study is not the responsibility of the researcher, but rather of the person
who wants to transfer the findings to another context (Poggenpoel, 1998:349).
Applicability used by the qualitative researcher as typified by Guba (Poggenpoel,
1998:349), is “referring to fittingness, or transferability”, “when the findings fit into
contexts outside the study situation that are determined by the degree of similarity or
goodness of fit between the two contexts”.
Applicability can be achieved by employing fitting/transferable strategies such as the
following.
• Nominated sample
The selection criteria were defined for the study and care was taken to ensure that
the selected college adhere to the set criteria (see paragraph 2.4.3.1). Purposive
sampling was used to select the college according the selection criteria and to select
the participants for the interviews.
• Demographics of the participants
To ensure that alternative voices (Lincoln, 2001:115) could be heard, participants
coming from different age, gender and cultural groups were selected to participate in
the interviews.

• Triangulation
63
To oppose flaws that might be overseen by the purposive selection of the
participants for the interviews, the naïve sketches provided an opportunity to all staff
and learners to participate in the research. This was done through an open invitation
for participation distributed through institutional formal structures.
• Dense description of results
A dense description of results that includes direct quotations from the interviews and
naïve sketches is presented in the research study.
2.5.3 Consistency
Consistency of a study is achieved when the findings are found to be consistent if the
request for information were duplicated with the same participants or in an alike
situation (Schurink, Schurink & Poggenpoel, 1998:331). Consistency is well
acknowledged as a trustworthiness tool for the reliability and validity of quantitative
research. However, for the qualitative researcher consistency creates difficulties for
appropriateness because “If one assumes there are multiple realities, the notion of
reliability is no longer as relevant” (Poggenpoel, 1998:350).
Despite the question of relevancy, this study attempted to achieve consistency
through honouring a dependability audit consisting of the following elements.

64
• Step-wise replication of the research method
Care was taken to ensure a dense description of the research method for replication
purposes. This will enable researchers to duplicate the study or to use the research
findings with the necessary care.
• Dense description of research methodology
A dense description of the research design, findings and literature control study is
provided to offer a conceptual, analytical and interpretative framework for repeating
the research.
• Triangulation
Triangulation was achieved by using interviews and naïve sketches as data
collection methods. Field notes supported these methods.
• Peer examination
Peer examination that served as member checking were achieved by regular
discussions between the researcher and study promoters, the independent coder
and colleagues.

• Code-recode procedure
65
Recoding was done as suggested by Tesch’s model (Creswell, 1994:155-156,
Poggenpoel, 1998:343-344).and by the services rendered by the independent coder.
2.5.4 Neutrality
Schurink, Schurink and Poggenpoel (1998:331) state that neutrality is the level to
which the findings are an outcome of only the participants and circumstances of the
research and not of other prejudice, stimuli and perspectives. Neutrality can be
achieved by a confirmability audit, triangulation and reflexivity by the researcher
using field notes. Poggenpoel (1998:350) echoes the qualitative researcher’s
viewpoint on neutrality that the emphasis should be on the neutrality of the data and
not that much on the neutrality of the researcher. Confirmability should be the
condition for neutrality. Neutrality was achieved through the strategy of confirmability
by the following actions.
• Confirmability audit
Audiotape recordings were made of the interviews and checked against the
transcribed versions to confirm the accuracy of the transcriptions. Direct quotations
formed the transcribed versions and the naïve sketches were included in the study.

• Triangulation
66
Triangulation was achieved by using interviews and naïve sketches as data
collection methods.
• Reflexivity (field notes)
Field notes and observations were used to reflect important information and to record
events when conducting the study.
2.6 CONCLUSION
Chapter Two motivates the choice of the qualitative research paradigm that was
used by the study. In this chapter the underlying values, research design and
method employed by this study were explained and motivated. Strategies to ensure
trustworthiness were discussed to authenticate the study in terms of its validity and
reliability.
The next chapter will deal with the findings, followed by the narrative metaphor as a
creative translation that serves as a bridge for linking the results with the
recommended mental health strategies founded in the study’s findings.

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CHAPTER 3
LIVED EXPERIENCES OF INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
3.1 INTRODUCTION
In the previous two chapters the reader was introduced and orientated with regard to
Further Education and Training institutions, in particular the college sector, as well as
the research design and method as used by the study. Chapter Two pointed out that
the primarily aim of this research study was to reach a dense description of lived
experiences of institutional effectiveness during transformation, as well as the
formulation of mental health strategies for sustainable development initiatives.
In this chapter a dense description of the participants’ lived experiences of
institutional effectiveness during transformation is given. The findings are supported
by quotes from the interviews (transcriptions), naïve sketches and field notes. A
literature control study is conducted in search for comparisons and/or uniqueness.
For the sake of clarity, the reader will first be briefed on the study’s realisation and
analysis of the data, before a dense discussion of the emerged themes will be given.
3.2 REALISING OF THE SAMPLE
Necessary authorisation was given to conduct a study in the particular college as
described in the previous chapter. The college was selected by purposive sampling

68
that justified the selection criteria as set out in Chapter Two. The selected college
was a legitimate Further Education and Training institution and was targeted to
merge with other colleges to become a new college with multi-sites.
3.2.1 Interviews
The interview process was terminated when data saturation (Schurink, 1998d:304)
occurred and was confirmed by the independent coder. The descriptive guidelines
for the qualitative interview as set out by Kvale (1983:171-196) and Tesch’s
approach (Creswell, 1994:154-155) were used to ensure sound methodological
practice. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed word-for-word. The type
out version together with the naïve sketches and field notes constituted the data
material for subsequent analysis and interpretation in searching for meaning. This
enabled the researcher to gain insight in the participants’ real live experiences with
regard to institutional effectiveness. The saturation of information after the eleventh
interview did not necessitate further interviews.
Table 3.1 provides a profile of the participants involved in the interviews. From the
table it is observed that participants from different cultural groups, age groups and
institutional positions participated in the interviews.

Table 3.1: Profile of participants involved in the interviews
69
NON WHITE WHITE
MALE FEMALE MALE FEMALE
LECTURING STAFF* 2 1 2 2
NON-LECTURING STAFF 0 0 1 0
LEARNERS** 3 0 0 0
TOTAL PER SUBCATEGORY 5 1 3 2
TOTAL 11
Lecturing staff* was coming from the three academic faculties namely, theoretical engineering studies,
practical engineering studies and business studies, representing post levels 1 and 2.
Learners** were coming from two of the academic faculties namely, theoretical engineering studies
and business studies.
3.2.2 Naïve sketches
Nineteen (19) naïve sketches were completed and returned. It appeared from Table
3.2 that the returned naïve sketches included participants from different age groups
and cultural backgrounds.
A feature of Table 3.2 is that the majority of participants who did return the naïve
sketches were 50 years and older. Reasons may be that these people had the
emotional maturity, experience and social responsibility for completing and returning
the sketches: “The majority of teachers at this institution are not very young and have
been in the teaching profession for a long time. Most of them are dedicated and
enjoy their work in spite of small salaries and almost no possibility that the situation
will improve” (quote from a naïve sketch). According to Fouché (De Vos, 1998:152)

70
the openness of the questions and the responses might require in-depth thought from
the participants.
A further feature of Table 3.2 is that the staff component that responded had
Afrikaans as the mother language. This feature reflected the staff profile at the time
of the study, namely mainly white and Afrikaans-speaking (observation note).
Table 3.2: Profile of participants involved in the naïve sketches
AGE
CATEGORIES IN
YEARS
LECTURING
STAFF*
NON-
LECTURING
STAFF
25-
FEMALE MALE
26-35
36-49
50+
25-
26-35
36-49
50+
1(A***) 5(A***) 2(A***)
1(A***) 1(A***) 2(A***) 1(A***) 2(A***)
LEARNERS** 1(S***) 2(T***) 1(NS***)
TOTAL PER
SUBCATEGORY
1 3 2 5 2 1 1 4
TOTAL 19
Lecturing staff* was coming from the three academic faculties namely, theoretical engineering studies,
practical engineering studies and business studies, representing post levels one, two and three.
Learners** were coming from two of the academic faculties namely, theoretical engineering
studies and business studies.
(A***)=Afrikaans as home language, (NS***)=Northern Sotho as home language, (T***)=Tsonga as home
language, (S***)=Setswana as home language
In the next section the reader is briefed on the data analysis and interpretation.

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3.3 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
After the interviews were transcribed and the texts were checked for accuracy,
the approach of Tesch (Creswell, 1994:154-155) that consisted of eight steps
was used as a guideline for analysing the data that consisted of the
transcribed versions of the audiotape recordings and the naïve sketches.
These steps assisted the researcher to systematically analyse the
unstructured data collected by the interviews, naïve sketches and field notes.
A consensus discussion between the researcher and independent coder
followed after the independent coder also coded and analysed the data.
Analysis and interpretation of data go hand-in-hand. Data analysis may
precede data interpretation, or it may be done simultaneously when the
researcher look for meaning and connotations (De Vos & Fouché, 1998:203).
Interpretation is done in two ways:
• Searching for meaningful conclusions by interpreting the relations
within the study and its data.
• Searching for broader meaning by comparing the results and the
inferences drawn from the data to theory.
The emerged themes from analysing and interpreting the data will be
discussed in the following sections.

3.4 FINDINGS
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In this section the findings, themes that emerged during the analysing and
interpreting of the data are reflected and contextualised within the literature. The
reader is first briefed on the four themes that emerged. After the brief, the individual
themes are discussed in detail and supported by direct quotes from the scripts
(transcribed versions of the audiotape recordings and naïve sketches) as evidence.
References will be made to theory to find a broader meaning. Table 3.3 provides a
summary of the themes and categories that emerged from the data. Figure 3.1 at the
end of the chapter is a chart to enable the reader to conceptualise the major themes
that emerged from the data and to reflect its dynamic and interlinked nature. The
particular conceptual map positions mental health strategies that will be described in
Chapter Five as an integrated part within the context. It illustrates how the strategies
may influence the system partly, and in a holistic manner.
The four themes that emerged from the data are as follows:
• Theme 1: Multiple realities on a continuum of institutional effectiveness with
pockets of effectiveness.
Participants experienced multiple realities of institutional effectiveness. Institutional
effectiveness was experienced to be on a continuum ranging from ineffective to
effective varying in different degrees with “pockets” of effectiveness within time
dimensions.

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Table 3.3: Summary of themes and categories
THEMES CATEGORIES
1) Multiple realities on a
continuum of institutional
effectiveness with pockets
of effectiveness
2) Factors promoting
institutional effectiveness
3) Factors impeding
institutional effectiveness
4) The silence voice
Culture of teaching, training and learning as reflected by
Quality and Commitment, Relevant, Flexibility, Accommodating
learners with diverse backgrounds, Partnerships, Competitive
Edge and Well-equipped facilities.
Learner support and caring as reflected by Holistic learning,
and Being there, Skills to survive in life and Leadership
Training.
Staff support and caring as reflected by Acceptance of Cultural
diversity and Caring.
Inadequate management of transformation process as
reflected by Ignorance, Incorrect emphasis, Equity
questionable and Budget constraints.
Inadequate management of human capital (learners) as
reflected by Support, Leadership, Life skills, Study guidance,
Selection, Induction, Discipline, Inconsequence, Motivation,
Expectations, Enrolment, and Alignment.
Inadequate management of human capital (staff) as reflected
by Lack or purpose and meaning, Negative feelings, Lack of
interest in well-being, Staff not supported by management,
Lack of trained staff, Lack of training, and Lack of professional
recognition/professional abuse.
Inadequate management styles, systems and procedures as
reflected by Lack of procedures, Carelessness, Security,
Communication problems, Rigidity, and Problem solving.
Not listening, Preventing voices to be heard as reflected by
Manipulation, Creating fear, Telling people to be silent, and
Lack of feedback.

• Theme 2: Factors promoting institutional effectiveness are:
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o culture of teaching, training and learning;
o learner support and caring; and
o staff support and caring.
• Theme 3: Factors impeding institutional effectiveness are:
o inadequate management of the transformation process;
o inadequate management of human capital (staff and learners); and
o inadequate management styles, systems and procedures.
• Theme 4: The silence voice.
A central theme that emerged throughout the results was the presence of the silence
voice and/or the voice that could and/or should not be heard. This formed the core
theme of the study informing mental health strategies.
It should be noted that these themes were systemically interwoven with each other
and with the broader whole. Continuous interchange occurred with each other and
with the broader whole due to the dynamic, systematic and undulated nature of the
context in which it occurred.

75
The themes, evidence from the scripts (transcribed versions of the audiotape
recordings and the naïve sketches) and field notes and how it relates to theory will be
discussed separately.
3.4.1 Theme 1: Multiple realities on a continuum of institutional effectiveness
with pockets of effectiveness
Participants indicated multiple realities with regard to their experiences of institutional
effectiveness. These experiences varied from dissatisfactory to excellent, and
appeared to be incongruous as it varied between individual experiences and within
time dimensions: “Dit varieer…” (it varies); “…the effectiveness is definitely above-
average. Some aspects are however reason for concern”; “So I think the
effectiveness of this college also comes from the effectiveness of their departments,
certain departments…”; “…sekere dinge is redelik goed…” (certain things are fairly
good); “Daar sal nog baie aandag gegee moet word voordat al die afdelings se
effektiwiteit op standaard is” (A lot of attention should be given before all the
divisions’ effectiveness is on standard); “Al die strukture is daar, maar word nie altyd
geïmplementeer nie” (All the structures are there, but are not always implemented);
“Nie altyd ten volle effektief nie” (Not always fully effective); “…And I believe that if
that is where we are going that is the only medicine to get our college right. Investing
in student but through a certain programme or a system like this system…we are like
a tree, and a tree bears fruits and I think the fruits are the students. It is either the
fruit comes out to be nice and clean for example a banana. A banana would come
out to be nice and yellow and sweet. But if the tree which is baring the banana is not
right, the banana won’t come out right or the orange won’t come or the apple…”;

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“Effektief Verskaf opleiding” (Effective Provides training); “…EXCELLENT…”; “Very
good”; “WELL ORGANISED”; “PRAGTIGE instansie met baie potensiaal…”
(BEAUTIFUL institution with lot of potential); “excellent and quality education”; “As
ondergemiddeld” (As below average); “NIE BAIE GOED NIE” (NOT VERY GOOD);
“Nie bevredigend nie” (Not satisfactory); “50/50“; Effektiwiteit: Uit puntestelsel
1 - 7, 4 “ (Effectiveness: On point scale 1 - 7 4
).
These differences could be ascribed to the various departments within and across
the faculties: “…hang af van vak/area/persone betrokke” (depend on the
subject/area/persons involved). It appears that these differences can be ascribed to
the following:
o Management styles: “…wat nie so effektief bestuur word nie…” (not managed
effectively); “asook belangstelling aan bestuur se kant” (as well as interest
from management’s side).
o Subjects taught: “moeilikheidsvlak + hulpbronne beskikbaar + benutting”
(difficulty level + resources available + utilisation).
o Involvement of staff: “Sommige persone is drywers en ander is volgers” (some
persons are drivers and other are followers)
o Staff allocation: “aantal personeel” (number of personnel)
o Marketing activities: “…sekere departement/fakulteite nie bemark word
nie…”(certain departments/faculties not marketed).
o Tempo of functioning: “funksioneer op verskillende tempo’s + kriteria” (function
on different tempos + criteria).

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The heterogeneous nature of the sample (see Tables 3.1 and 3.2) might as well
contributed to the different realities experienced by the participants as they were
coming from:
o Staff and learners.
o Lecturing and non-lecturing staff.
o Differences in the seniority of the participants.
o Different cultural backgrounds.
o Different age and gender groups.
From a postmodernist viewpoint (Freedman & Combs, 1996:22) multiple realities
imply relativism; the exceptions interest more than rules, differences more than
similarity, because it is about examining meaning. At the same time there seems to
be pockets of experienced institutional effectiveness varying within and between the
different faculties of the college. Mouton (1996:5-6) refers to these pockets as
“stocks of knowledge” that have the following characteristics:
• Internal consistency that causes integration within a system of beliefs.
• It is collective in nature.
• It has a historical or traditional dimension as it has developed and changed
over time.
It appears from the findings that different worlds (pockets of excellence within a
continuum of effectiveness) exist within the bigger world of the college. Senge,
Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith (1999:13) state that profound changes in
how people think, what they believe, and how they see the world are tricky to reach
through conformity.

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Multiple realities thus signify different meanings that persons give to their
experiences. How the different experiences about institutional effectiveness had
come to be; how the experiences were constructed, and stories told and choices
made by the participants and their effects they had on the participants, needed to be
further explored to gain insight and understanding of the phenomena (Freedman &
Combs, 1996:35).
Further exploration in the following sections will be done according to factors
promoting and/or impeding institutional effectiveness to gain insight in the
experiences and meaning attached to these experiences.
3.4.2 Theme 2: Factors promoting institutional effectiveness
Responses indicative of institutional effectiveness that emerged when analysing the
data can be categorised under the following headings:
• a culture that is conducive for teaching, training and learning;
• learner support offered by the institution; and
• an informal network offering support for staff members.
In the next sections these headings will be described in more detail.

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• Culture of teaching, training and learning
The quotes give evidence that a climate conducive for teaching, training and learning
existed within the college: “…arbeids- en studentevrede op die oomblik. Dis goeie
klimaat vir opvoeding” (work and student peace at the moment. This is a good
climate for education); “…this is a very very nice institution and I think I think I am
very fortunate to be studying at such an institution…”; “The quality of education
provided here is of high standard”.
From this study’s findings it appears that the college has a positive image as created
by learner feedback “…the responses we get from the students…”: echoed
acknowledgement, appreciation and gratitude for the good work done at the college.
Quotes that maintain this statement are “…I recognise this institution as the best one
to me. There is no way that I can forget the good job that the campus has done for
me”; “…and I can just say…is Simply the Best!!!!”; “…come back and thank their
lecturers for all the courage and even the learning…”; “…studente praat met groot
agting van baie lektore…” (students talk with huge admiration of many of the
lecturers).
When unpacking the data on a second level, these positive lived experiences can be
ascribed to the following factors:

o Quality and commitment of staff
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The following quotes provide evidence of the quality and commitment of staff: “Baie
goeie mensemateriaal vorm die basis van die kollege” (very good human material
forms the basis of the college); “…the best lecturers that you can ever look for…”;
“…the commitment of staff in teaching and learning is of a high standard…they are
attending their lessons every day…and they are every day there…and…there are
classes when they are supposed to be there…”.
o Relevant training
The following quotes offer proof of the relevant training offered by the college:
“…they train student according to the needs of the companies…”; “…type of subjects
that makes it very easy and comfortable for them (learners) to cope”; “…almal
bevestig dat wat hulle hier geleer het baie relevant is in hulle werksomgewing…” (all
confirmed that what they learned here is very relevant in their working environment).
o Flexibility of training according to learners’ needs
The following quotes present evidence of the flexibility of training according to
learners’ needs: “…if you able to use your hand you can go to the workshops use
your hand and start a career, if you are able to use your brains but you were just
short of the correct subjects you can come here…”; “…individuele onderrigstudente.

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Hy is nie `n groepstudent nie…” (individual training students. He is not a group
student…).
o Accommodating learners with diverse backgrounds
The subsequent quotes provide evidence of accommodating learners with diverse
backgrounds: “People with different attitudes, backgrounds, people with different
domestic problems, different cultures, whatever. We are at least in a position to work
that out…”.
o Partnerships and networking
The next two quotes provide evidence of the college’s partnerships and networking:
“…by the number of Partnerships we form with Industrial and Corporate
Companies…”; “…world’s leading companies like…and others which also puts up our
standards…”.
o Competitive edge
The next quote gives proof of the college’s competitive edge: “…this is also
challenging other companies to follow the same path which could gives us a more
better advantage in the FET field”.

o Well-equipped training facilities
82
Well-equipped training facilities are illustrated by the following citation: “…you get the
workshop area…eh…which one could be proud of…”.
Since 1994 effort and money are invested in South African schools to establish a
culture conducive for teaching and learning. The Sunday Times’ Top Schools Project
(Garson, 1998) is an example of such a project. In 1998 the criteria for the Sunday
Times Top Schools included academic achievement, school improvement, the ways
schools were preparing learners and staff for a changing South Africa and a
changing world, and if schools were creating opportunities and conditions to
maximise teaching, training and learning.
According to Hansen and Childs (1998:14-15) a school where people like to be is
characterised by “…a climate of support and encouragement, of warmth and
acceptance…”. The Paredes’s (1991:3) study indicated conditions for learner
learning as the most strongly related to learner achievement. Noddings (1999:583)
emphasises the vital role teaching, training and learning can play if learners
experience the learning situation as a place to which they can bring and find some
meaning. In such an environment schooling will no longer be experienced as a
required deed.

83
Another dimension of the college that was valued by the participants was learner
support that was offered by the college. This category that emerged from the data
will be described in more detail in the following section.
• Learner support
From the data it appears that learner support created a feeling amongst the learners
that the institution cared about their learners and was interested in their well-being:
“…they really cares about their students, they are really interested to see us being
leading top management company and successful in life”; “This student support
system I think it is one of the sport one of the departments, I think that’s a drive for
the college…”; “I think it really produces very good students in this case yes… I
highly rate it as a first class institution so far…”.
This study’s findings as described in this section emphasise the valuable role that
learner support plays in the holistic learning experience of learners, not only for
academic achievement, but as well for developing the learners to become successful
citizens.
From this study’s findings it appears that learner support that was formally introduced
in October 2000 at the college (observation note) contributes to a holistic learning
experience that was appreciated amongst staff and learners and contributes to
positive experiences in the following ways.

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o Creating opportunities for a holistic learning experience to be
successful
The next citations illustrate the creation of opportunities for a holistic learning
experience for learners to be successful: “…kan jy die mens in geheel as `n heel
mens maak…” (can you make the human in total a total human); “…wil hom
regmaak vir die arbeidsmark en sorg dat hy `n gebalanseerde mens by jou kan
uitstap…” (want to prepare him for the work market and take care that a balanced
person walks out from you); “…so ek wil haar leer om haarself te ken `n ‘life skill’ te
ontwikkel…haar menswees in die binnekant ook ontwikkel…” (I want to teach her to
know herself to develop a life skill…to develop her human being from the inside);
“…daai riglyn gee van gedissiplineerdheid, stiptelikheid en daai tipe van ding…” (that
guideline of discipline, punctuality and that type of thing); ”…give me the opportunity
to complete my practical training…”; “They would be here studying here and gaining
certain experience and then going from here to there where they want to go in the
first place with the extra knowledge…”; “…groot bydrae gelewer om hulle (learners)
te laat inburger in nuwe werksomgewing…” (huge contribution made in helping them
(learners) to settle in new working environment).
o “Being-there” for the learners
“Being-there” for the learners can be categorised in two sub groups namely, activities
that focus on academic support and activities that focus on emotional and/or physical
support.

Academic support:
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“…some lecturers asking us if you have problems or sort of how are things even
though we don’t go to them…”; “they will assist you willingly…”; “…actually advance
students with this cover of programmes for for starters…”; “…would go an extra mile
to be assistance to students…it is all about taking the guy out of his difficulties, lots of
it”; “…`n student wat werklik `n probleem het en daar is `n paar van jou vry periodes
wat jy hom kan help…” (a student that really has a problem and there is a number of
your free periods that you can help him); “…tussen daai en daai tyd kan jy kom vir
ekstra klasse en dan maak ek die deur oop vir `n ou” (between that and that time
can you come for extra classes and I open the door for that chap).
Emotional and/or physical support:
“Die basis is alreeds gelê by ondersteuningsdienste, want ons ken die probleme van
ons studente, ons weet wat hulle wil hê…” (The foundation is already laid by support
services, because we know the problems of our students, we know what they want);
“…have problems there’s always someone who is there to talk to cause so you do
not experience stress”; “always go to someone who is always there for you and if
when you are sick there is a sort of clinic for you…”; “…students get advices here
they get help they get a psychological help…”; “…working with students with lots of
problems and difficulties as much as it is…”.

o Financial support
86
The next quotation provides evidence of financial support: “Even though I had a
financial problem the management at this campus they make a point that I go on with
my studies…”.
o Skills to survive in life
The next two quotes provide evidence of the category “Skills to survive in life”: “…you
know helping them how to survive in the in the corporate world or in the industry or in
the world out of school and which will help them…”; “…trying to make out of them
(learners) responsible people…”.
o Leadership training
Leadership training offered by the college is well illustrated by the following citation:
“When it comes to the social responsibility of students I think student support has
taught me a little bit of on how to care and to be responsible of the people you
lead…the student support they always give me a wake up call to also put emphasis
and to contribute to the development of students that I lead. You know it gives me
challenge because that I knew something is going on about students and I needed
something, when we did something…”.

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Gaziel (1997:316) suggests on the ground of their research findings that effective
schools values should be first focused on academic achievement, second on school
improvement and teamwork and third on the creation of an orderly environment.
Kovacs (1998:10) reminds that against the backdrop of global competition one of the
strategies to prevent learner failure is learner support, assessment and curriculum
flexibility and articulation. According to Kovacs (1998:10) experience proves the
significance of one-to-one-orientated instruction and assistance; sufficient evaluation
of students’ strengths and weaknesses; a flexible curriculum; pathways and
articulation between different levels and career guidance.
Ensuring education quality and relevance will remain central issues into the 21 st
century according to Papadopoulos (1995:498). Papadopoulos (1995:498) argues
that it is important to satisfy young people’s needs by assisting them to cope with
their personal lives, to function effectively in modern technology and information
flooded societies as workers, parents, consumers, citizens and in their other different
social roles. Terhart (1998:440) argues that schools must not only teach but also
educate children and young people in a moral and ethical way.
From the data another category of support that emerged was that of an informal
support network amongst staff members. This category will receive attention in the
next section.

• Staff support and caring
88
A category that emerges from the data was the informal structure that staff created to
render mutual support through unconditional acceptance and spontaneous caring.
This informal network between staff members weaves a community of care that in
some manner counteracted negative life experiences with regard to institutional
effectiveness. From the study’s findings it appears that these informal groups were
present in the college and were glued together by the acceptance of cultural diversity
and an informal network of care.
o Acceptance of cultural diversity
Acceptance of cultural diversity is illustrated by the next quote: “…we could assure
the people in the other race group that we are really people of the same commitment
as the other people and who care about the other people and who really respected
other people and who liked to co-operate with the other people and for that reason I
see there is a real big move from the staff side to to accept the the transformation
process whereby they have to mix with the other race group”.
o Caring amongst staff members
The next citations give evidence of the caring amongs staff: “Daar heers `n
ontspannende atmosfeer tussen kollegas. Almal is vriendelik en ondersteunend…”
(There is a relaxed atmosphere between colleagues. All are friendly and supportive);

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“…wat vir my baie positief is, is `n onderlinge vertrouensverhouding met
kollegas…daai ‘caring’ waarvan ons gepraat het…” (what is very positive to me, is
the trust relationship between colleagues…that caring we talk about); “…en met hulp
van mekaar kan ons dit nogal regkry…” (and with help from each other we can
somehow get it right).
Lamude, Scudder and Furno-Lamude (1992:608) find that support groups serve as
useful means for reducing educators’ burn out. It appears that the staff members
succeeded in building a multicultural work environment to accept its particular
responsibility for realising particular common goals by giving support to each other
(Le Roux & Beckman, n.d.:43).
Informal networks in organisations play a very interesting, but influential role with
regard to organisational effectiveness. Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and
Smith (1999:16) recognise that the function of internal networkers or “community
builders” is real, but problematic to spell out because it fits in much more into the
informal institution’s social networks than it does to the hierarchy. Ironically, their
lack of hierarchical authority is what makes them effective. Hubbard (1999:28)
concurs by stating these informal network groups can be far more influential and
unified than their formal complements and can either promote or impede the
institution in reaching towards its goals and objectives.
When Gilmour (1998:37-38) reconceptualises school effectiveness, he includes four
areas that constitute a new view for effective schools. These four areas are based
on a drive to a holistic approach to school effectiveness, focal points for research and

90
change initiatives. These domains for institutional effectiveness, as developed by
West and Hopkins (Gilmour 1998:37-38), include the following areas as focal points
that serve as an integration between the promoting factors of institutional
effectiveness and assisting in identifying areas of concern that were partly addressed
by the participants as promoting factors.
• Student experiences that include:
o Self-awareness and self-esteem.
o An ability to form relationships and assume social responsibility.
o A concept of themselves as learners.
o Induction into a broad range of human experience.
o Citizenship.
• Student achievements as realised by:
o A wide range of opportunities according to the needs and interests of the
learners.
o Promoting realistic high levels of individual achievement.
o Reflecting the expectations of other role-players and stakeholders (for
example, employers).
• Educator school development as achieved by:
o A high level of professional mastery.
o Partnerships.
o A culture that promotes job satisfaction and motivation.
o An environment that respond to innovations and is empowering.

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• Community involvement as indicated by:
o Recording of strategies for working in partnerships.
o Using education market markers.
o Developing specific policies and programmes.
o Developing the school itself as a community.
When comparing the data with regard to factors promoting institutional effectiveness,
it can be concluded that the college was effective in the following areas, namely to
provide a meaningful learning experience by creating a conducive climate for
teaching, training and learning and to promote learner achievement through a learner
support system as described above. Form the staff side they were able to create an
informal network of caring and acceptance of cultural diversity.
When analysing the debates of the national assembly (Hansard, 16 March 1999:378)
it appears that these findings are inline with political aspirations for prospect schools
in future. It is clearly stated that the transformation of schools is much more than just
a movement towards a new system of education management. It has to do with
school excellence and classroom practice.
Other pockets of institutional effectiveness as identified by the description of lived
experiences support partnerships and the use of some education market markers.
The new skills development strategy offers Further Education and Training
institutions the opportunity to access training contracts to become more responsive

92
to industry’s needs (Hansard, 22 April 1998:983). It appears from the findings that
the college succeeded in doing that.
If the findings are compared to the other domains for institutional effectiveness, as
developed by West and Hopkins (Gilmour 1998:37-38) it seems that the college only
partly succeeded in the community involvement area. The college seems to be
unsuccessful in the area of educator and institutional development. Taylor, Diphofa,
Waghmarae, Vinjevold and Sedibe (1999:18) are of the opinion that a frequent
problem is that many schools load their development plans. This is done because
they cannot distinguish between development and maintenance plans.
Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith (1999:10), explicitly state that it is
important to look at both promoting and impeding factors. According to them
nourishing any profound change process requires a fundamental shift in thinking. An
understanding of the nature and catalysts of development processes are needed.
Additional to that it is imperative to appreciate the forces and challenges that impede
progress, and to work out strategies for dealing with these challenges effectively.
A dense description of lived experiences as supported by participants’ quotes as
evidence, is given in the next section of factors impeding institutional effectiveness.
3.4.3 Theme 3: Factors impeding institutional effectiveness
It appears that factors impeding institutional effectiveness centre around inadequate
management aspects such as inadequate management of the transformation

93
process and of human capital, as well as inadequate management styles, systems
and procedures. In this section inadequate management aspects will be discussed
in more detail and supported with quotes from the participants.
• Inadequate management of the transformation process
Participants indicated that the transformation process should be managed properly.
“Die effektiwiteit van hierdie oorgangsproses sal verskriklik goed bestuur moet word”
(The effectiveness of this cross over process must be managed extremely good).
Hubbard (1999:20) indicates the importance of the effective management of the
change process during acquisition to prevent negative affects on institutional human
capital. If managed poorly these changes can produce a multitude of negative
feelings that can affect employees’ perceptions towards the new institution,
procedures, culture and management.
From the data it appears that the drivers of the transformation process did not honour
the above-mentioned transformation leadership dimensions for institutional
effectiveness. The findings reflected participants’ feelings of uncertainty, frustration,
stress, fear and negativity: “Lektore is onder geweldige spanning agv onsekerhede
buite hulle eie beheer (samesmelting, regstellende aksie, verplasings, N4 - N6 wat uit
die FET band gaan verdwyn wat poste in gedrang bring” (Lecturers are under severe
stress because of uncertainties out of their own control (merging, affirmative action,
transfers, N4 - N6 what will disappear from the FET band with implications for posts);
“…al die dreigemente en vrese by party mense…” (all the threats and fears of some
people; “…so die mense is dalk alreeds onseker, hulle is dalk reeds negatief…” (so

94
the people are maybe already uncertain, they are maybe already negative); “Die
omstandighede is baie verwarrend met die ‘merging’, dit veroorsaak baie stres…”
(The circumstances are very confusing with the merging, it causes a lot of stress);
“…dit maak dit baie frustrerend” (it makes it very frustrating); “…en dan die ‘merging’,
wie gaan skei en wie nie, jy stres jou uit…” (and then the merging, who is going to
separated and who not, you stress yourself out).
When unpacking the data on a deeper level, it seems that ignorance, incorrect
emphasis, equity and budget constrains appeared to be problematic for the
participants.
o Ignorance
The next quotes offer evidence of ignorance: “…and so to make people aware what
they think about the college is not is not what is actually happening here. Because
most of the people think as if I don’t know that you are a failure or something…”;
“People think that that if you go to a college it means, it means that you cannot make
it at a university or technikon. It means that you cannot make it in life…”; ”…they
think that if you go there (college) you are doomed…”; “…if a person goes to a place
and then he does not succeed you always blames the institution…”.
o Incorrect emphasis
The following quote offers evidence of incorrect emphasis placed: “FET-instansies
doen lankal nie meer die werk waarvoor hulle oorspronklik daar daargestel was nie,

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naamlik die teoretiese opleiding van vakleerlinge” (FET institutions do not function
according to its original purpose, namely the theoretical training of apprentices).
o Equity
Equity seems to be questionable as illustrated by the following citations: “…the
process was very slow and when the equity was suppose to be done it has been
done with people who do not yet have the expected expertise, what about
qualifications so that they always feel inferior and they are always left behind in terms
of the transformation process. One could argue that as long one feels inferior in
terms of qualifications one will not come in and then take a role in the transformation
process…”; “…I am not yet satisfied with the practical application of the Employment
Equity Act in the true sense of it…from the previously disadvantaged group we are
still running short. Because whenever there is post, even when if it is a temporary
post is not make advertised, is not advertised internally here. You see people being
grabbed by hand and then being brought into the college still coming from the same
race group which really do not address what you call the legacy of the past.”
o Budget constraints
Budget constraints is illustrated by the following quote: “…as jy by die ‘budgets’ en
goed kom, daar’s nie genoeg geld nie…” (when you come to budgets and stuff, there
is not enough money).

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These findings are quite disturbing as it may indicate failure of the transformation
process. According to Carman (2002:52) and Hubbard (1999:27) trust is vital for
success during transformation processes and is either destroyed or built by decision-
taking practices and relationships. Trust according to Hubbard (1999:27) is one of
the key elements of the psychological contract between the institution and its
employees and serves as an agreement that neither party will take advantage of the
other.
According to the study’s findings it appears that college management could not
succeed in building trust among staff to create and sustain a climate for optimal
change. It appears that a climate of uncertainty, frustration, stress, fear and
negativity was instead created that signalled failure. Hubbard (1999:27) is of the
opinion that decisions affecting schooling can have a considerable effect on how an
educator is perceived by colleagues, students, parents, and the community. For that
reason people should be involved in decisions that affect them because the individual
will be held responsible. The effective leader should also build sound and long-term
relationships. Sound relationships are vital because they build trust, which creates
the “lubrication and lucidity for change. Trust is also the “emotional glue” according
to Hubbard (1999:27) that sustains the culture through changes that appear
intimidating and unfair. Before a leader can concentrate on improvement he or she
must be sensitive for the fragile balance between threat and challenge or else face
the risk of failure. Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith (1999:9) introduce
an answer to how this maybe achieved by moving the focus away from change and
recognising learning capabilities.

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In comparing the findings with theory, it seems that the leaders of the transformation
neglected to deal with institutional bereavement processes and were unsuccessful in
communicating and sharing new institutional values and goals as it will be explained
in the next paragraphs.
From observation notes it is identified that the drivers of the transformation process
neglected to deal with professional bereavement. At the time of the study,
celebrations were conducted to celebrate the “birth” of the new merged college. The
agenda of these celebrations excluded farewell rites of the “old” entity. According to
Nias (1993:150) abolishing the old entity without honouring the past may result in a
professional bereavement crisis with associated loss of meaning.
O’Brien (as quoted by Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith, 1999:13)
underlines how important it is that mutual values need to be established for profound
change to take place: “What people pressuring for management to ‘drive’ cultural
change don’t understand is: A value is only value when it is voluntarily chosen.”
Sukati (2000:131) accentuates the vital role played by transformational leadership for
school effectiveness. Identifying and articulating a vision, fostering the acceptance of
mutual goals, providing support, capacity building and culture building are some of
the dimensions critical to attend by leaders of transformation processes. None of the
participants referred to any institutional values, although a vision and mission and
institutional core values were identified for the merged college by the managing team
(observational note). A possible reason for the silence voice with regard to
institutional values maybe that it was not yet internalised by the participants.

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From the above it appears that the management of the transformation process was
not effectively done when analysing the meaning and associated feelings the
participants gave to the transformation process, namely uncertainty, frustration,
stress, fear and negativity. These subsist against the background of the lack of
shared institutional purpose and values, budget constraints and the way equity was
implemented (or not implemented). These may endanger institutional effectiveness
severely, and even oppose promoting factors as described in paragraph 3.4.2.
Carman (2002:6) called this type of reform bully-based reform. Bully-based reform
occurred in cases when the force seems to be top-down on the system from the
politicians, who at the same time allocate insufficient funds to support the
transformation. This has a negative impact on the efficacy of the educators, as well
as the feasibility of the idea. Prinsloo (2000:145) points out that transformation must
be applied with due regard to ability, objectivity, fairness, and then to the need to
redress the imbalances of the past.
The manner how the transformation process was managed seems not to be the only
impeding factor. In the next sections a dense description is given of the
management of the college’s human capital and the management styles, systems
and procedures that emerged as additional impeding factors. Words of advice by the
participants are echoed and the description is supported by participants’ quotes.

• Inadequate management of human capital: learners
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Although it appears from the previous sections that a climate conducive for teaching,
training and learning and learner support and informal network for staff support were
presented, these might not be enough to uphold institutional effectiveness. In this
section participants’ responses and theory are given to highlight shortcomings with
regard to the management of human capital that were impeding institutional
effectiveness.
In this section challenging areas were reverberated from participants with regard to
the management of learners. These areas might oppose the good work that was
done and might encourage learners’ failure. It seems that various aspects were
covered by the participants ranging from learner support, life and study skills, learner
expectations and motivation, learner discipline, to management systems and the
relevance and alignment of the training offered at the college.
Participants are of the opinion that learners should be recognised as the most critical
stakeholder of the college. A word of advice from one participant highlights the
importance of learners being the college most critical stakeholders: “…should not
ignore them. Because if they disappear, then our reason for being here also
disappear”; “…I feel very strongly that we should not ignore them or avoid them
(learners), but we should take care of them…”.

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This section deals in particular with the participants’ experiences with regard to the
institution’s inability to adapt to its environmental changes in dealing with its most
critical stakeholder, the learner.
o Learner support
It appears that more attention should be given to the student support division in order
to address the students’ needs: “…I am worried from my side on the student support
side. It would seem that although a lot is done, but it will seem that the office itself is
not given the necessary support by the management of the institution”; “…that as
time goes on with the new CEO the support service will get a position which it
deserve…it is an essential service because there is no one in on earth who can be
educated if he is not happy…“; “We really do need the support services because that
is the place wherever where whenever we have problems we can go in and then be
helped immediately”; “…ons sê ons hef op maar op grondvlak dan doen ons niks…”
(we say we uplift but on grass root level we do nothing); “So they (learners) must be
looked after. What I mean by say ‘look after’ I mean not actually spoilt. But at the
same time I say ‘spoilt’ as they should be spoilt by giving them hell of knowledge and
ideas about what they are doing. They must must have them, keep them on a track.
Because you see students are like a train which is on a track. So to make sure that,
that train is is is ok or it is right…”.

o Leadership
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The quest for leadership is illustrated by the following citations: “…it is also
developing good leadership structures for our students...we are also grooming
champions which I call the leaders of tomorrow…”; “So we should I think have
programmes for the SRC…”.
o Life skills
Students should be given skills to survive in the world of work and everyday life:
“They (learners) do get opportunities, but they are not getting in a position to hold
onto these opportunities because they do not have the knowledge how to hold onto
this opportunities…”; “…but it is also important not only to enrol but to groom…to
enrol students which are to groom so it is also important not only to compete in
numbers, but to compete in quality…”; “When I say groom I mean giving the
students, and giving them the correct knowledge or education, prepare them for the
field in which they are in or going to be in the future. You know grooming them for
their employees, for the future and for not only grooming them for the workplace, but
also grooming them for them to believe in themselves…”; “Die student wat sukkel
met `n geskeide pa of `n geskeide ma of die student wat sukkel met `n babatjie…dit
bied die instansie nie” (The student who struggles with a divorced father or a
divorced mother or the student who struggles with a baby…that the institution does
not offer).

o Study guidance
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Study guidance before commencement of studies was regarded as essential:
“…meer hulp aan studente gegee word voor aanvang van hulle kursus.
Studiemetodes ensovoorts” (more assistance for students prior course
commencement. Study methods etcetera.).
o Selection of learners
Selection and placement of students in particular study courses deserved more
attention: “…moet ons ons keuring beter doen…” (must do our selection better); “Die
een ou sit sy tyd en mors en die ander ou het dit wel nodig” (The one chap sits and
wastes his time and the other chap needs it).
o Induction courses
Introduction of induction course prior to the commencement of studies to promote
successful learning: “…en daarom sê ek ook `n beginkursus…omtrent twee weke
induksie vat...” (and therefore I also say a commencement course…apparently two
weeks an induction take.)
o Learners’ discipline
Dealing of learners with discipline problems was a great area of concern: “…I still
have a serious problem concerning the discipline in the college of the learners…the

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rules are there…learners do not adhere to rules and nothing is happening to them…”;
“…playing dice during day time, during college hours, in the college ground…”;
“looking at the way in which the learners are abusing drugs of different sorts…”; “The
question of absenteeism of learners is a very serious problem which drags the results
of this campus down”.
o Inconsistency
Inconsistency in dealing with learners was problematic: ”…nie konsekwent wees nie,
oor studentesake wil ek amper …oor dieselfde boeg gooi…” (inconsistency, student
affairs seems to be the same tune).
o Learner motivation
It appears from the data that learner motivation was influenced by various factors
including weariness and unrealistic prospects: “…werk ook saans as kelners by
restaurante en is dan gewoon nie in staat om die volgende dag te konsentreer nie.”
(work during nights as waiters at restaurants and are not able to concentrate the next
day); “…wat nie op skool bevredigend vorder nie, en word dikwels aangeraai om
‘Tech’ toe te kom…” (unsatisfactory progress on school level and then recommended
to come to ‘Tech’), “…die vraag wat ek my afvra is ek effektief as `n ou nie wil leer
nie…al probeer ek wat kan ek nie effektief wees nie, want hy wil nie” (…the question
that I ask myself can I be effective if a chap doesn’t want to learn…it doesn’t matter
what I do, I cannot be effective, because he doesn’t want to).

o Learner expectations
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Learner expectations seem to be problematic: “…en al sy hoop sit op die N6-
sertifikaat. Baie min besef dat hulle in die meeste gevalle NOOIT by `n NTD sal
uitkom nie…” (put their hope on the N6 certificate. Most of them do not take
cognisance that they will NEVER achieve a NTD).
o Enrolment
The enrolment system appears to be unsatisfactory: “Baie kan verbeter word met
inskrywing van studente” (A lot can be improved with the enrolment of students);
“…inskrywings…`n mens staan in toue toue toue…” (enrolment, a person stands in
queues queues queues).
o Relevance of learning
Another category that emerges is the tendency of teaching and training to become no
longer practical orientated and relevant: “…wat glad en geheel nie praktykgerig is
nie” (not focussed on practice); “Because the training can be good, but irrelevant
from the needs of companies, which may leave many of our students at home after
completing their training”; “…dit glad nie inpas met die privaatsektor is nie…ons doen
donkie-afrigting…” (it is not in pace with the private sector…we do donkey training);
“Die studente kan hulle nie altyd self help nie, want jy’s gedruk vir sillabus, so jy’s
gedruk vir tyd…(The students cannot always help themselves, because you are
pressed by syllabi, so you are pressured by time); “Dokumente word nou gedoen wat

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nou nie eintlik meer van waarde is nie…” (Documents are at present done that have
no more value).
o Alignment of courses
According to Carman (2002:222) the alignment of the curriculum is a significant
requirement for success. From the data it appears that alignment needed urgent
attention: “Praktiese opleiding is `n baie groot leemte want hulle gaan saam met
akademiese opleiding” (Practical training is very much lacking because they go
together with academic training); “Onderling is daar geen samewerking nie, nie
tussen die lektore en vakke nie” (Mutual there is no co-operation, not between the
lecturers and the subjects).
These findings indicate the need for following a holistic approach to learner
development. This need is in line with literature (Fevre, Rees and Gorard, 1999;
Perkins, n.d.; Wagner, 1993) that emphasises educators must consider the
competencies needed by learners to become active citizens. This implies that school
transform initiatives should redefine the purpose of teaching, training and learning.
Wagner (1993:24) is of the opinion that systemic change should not be impulsive
reaction to outsiders, but a systemic reflection that is based on the needs of global
citizenship, knowledge, and learners’ needs and concerns. Butt (1994:26) reflects
that advantageous features of education and training need to include multi-skilling,
recognition of prior learning and the need for mobility within the system. Fevre, Rees
and Gorard (1999:117) unambiguously state that policies aimed at investing in
human capital that are ignoring insights from the social theories are doomed to fail.

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AFETISA (2001:3), in a document of concern to its Gauteng members about the
reorganisation of Further Education and Training, advocates developing and
ensuring learner support services in Further Education and Training institutions as a
key activity to be accorded its fair place in their institutions. From the learner side,
the South African Colleges Student Association was established in 1997 to give a
voice to college learners and to attempt national recognition of the technical college
sector by the Department of Education” (Bot, 1997:15).
Perkins (n.d.:26) is of the opinion that education institutions’ effectiveness is related
to the institution’s sensitivity in meeting the psycho-educational needs of learners
coming from diverse socio-economic settings. South African youth is faced with a
variety of problems and barriers that they need to overcome in order to complete
their schooling. These include unsuitably qualified educators, English as the (only)
medium of instruction, need for guidance, social problems, cultural barriers, lack of
opportunities, limited job opportunities, and financial problems (Van Zyl, 1997:237-
255). Carman (2002:168) accentuates that learners seek to satisfy basic needs in
order to self-actualise that is difficult in the conventional education system. An
effective institution is the kind of school where learners are offered the opportunity to
break the “vicious cycle of failure”. Institutions cannot be effective if they are not
sensitive and offer learner support in various areas. Fashola and Slavin (1998:377)
emphasise the importance of school plans that make provisions for at risk learners.
Special challenges that the college sector has to deal with are the misconceptions
and self-fulfilling prophecies of academic failure regarding technical training.

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Historical reasons as well created mistrust of non-white learners regarding technical
and vocational training in South Africa “…often technical schools, and also technical
colleges, are seen as ‘a proper place’ to send ‘problem children’ or a child who has
either a learning or discipline problem…Previously there was a seemingly negative
attitude which the black young person had…” (Human Sciences Research Council,
1996:8). Vocational preparation in the international arena is regarded with low status
and image that are transferred to the Further Education and Training curriculum
(Halliday, 1999:53).
Wallis (1999:80-81) accentuates the role played by well designed and presented
courses to produce a specially made skill portfolio to meet the needs of the world of
work. Riddle (1999:216) suggests education reform requires a multidisciplinary
approach involving the inputs from economists, educationists and politici. Education
reform initiatives should be sensitive towards the complexity of relationships inside
and outside the school (Riddell, 1998; Gewirtz, 1998). Stephens (1990) states that
different factors of political, economic and demographic origin combine together to
create a climate conducive for change and teaching, training and learning.
A word of warning by Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith (1999:14)
stresses that transformation also refers to the ability the institution has to adapt to the
changes in its environment. Change means different things to different people. It
may refer to external changes in technology, customers, competitors, market
structure, or the social and political environment. It may also refer to internal change,
for example, how the organisation adapts to changes in the environment. The

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ageless question that needs to be answered is if the internal changes will keep track
with the external changes.
All of these aspects are closely linked and have an undulated effect on the broader
context. For example, the issue of learner discipline and enrolment as the case with
the other mentioned aspects are interwoven into the broader context guided by the
purpose of education. Sonn (1999:10) states that discipline is not only about
controlling unwanted behaviour. Discipline should be regarded in the broader
context of the school and aspects such as the purpose of education, leadership and
management should be taken into consideration.
From the findings it appears that although the basis for student support is well
acknowledged and appreciated, a lot still needs to be done in order to promote
institutional effectiveness. An integrated approach that is aimed at promoting holistic
learning is vital for success.
In the next section attention will be given to the inadequate management of staff and
how they experience it.
• Inadequate management of human capital: staff
A further category that emerged was the inadequate management of the staff and the
influence that inadequate management styles, systems and procedures had on the
staff. It is disheartening to observe the meanings that participants gave to
management practises ranging from loosing their meaning and interest in the

109
workplace to feelings of dissatisfaction, negativity, stagnation, lost of productivity,
mistrust, frustration, desperation, conflict, anger and infringement of their human
rights. These signals of unfair treatment may result in institutional dysfunction and
loss of integration within the newly merged college, causing serious harm to
institutional relationship by putting the institution’s integrity in dispute.
The participants’ experiences are given under the following emerged categories.
o Lack of purpose and meaning
Lack of purpose and meaning is illustrated by the following: “…as daar `n `n `n meer
openlikheid is, meer `n defnitiewe doel agter my werksaamhede dat ek weet
waarvoor ek werk en hoekom doen ek dit…” (if there is more openness, a more
definitive purpose for my work so that I know for what I am working and why I am
doing it); “…want jy voel nie meer lus om te wil nie…” (you don’t want to will any
longer).
o Dissatisfaction, negativity, lack of co-operation, lost of interest, stagnation and
lost of productivity
The next citations provide evidence of this category: “…ek dink dit kan nogal `n
redelike faktor wees van ongelukkighede onder personeel” (I think it can be
somehow a reasonable factor of staff dissatisfaction); “…want jy weet gelukkige
werkers lewer gelukkiger produksie en as jou werkers gelukkig is dan dink ek jy het
kwaliteit werkers ook” (because you know satisfied workers render satisfactory

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production and when your workers are happy then I think you have quality workers);
“Baie keer dan geniet jy jouself, want jy’s in die onderwys…En dan weer jy’s `n
donkie…en moet net nie inisiatief vat nie…” (Lots of times you enjoy yourself,
because you are in the education. And then you are a donkey again, and must not
take initiative); “…en dan begin jy gedagtes kry om op `n ander plek te gaan werk en
en dis nie lekker nie”; (and then you get thoughts to work for another place and and
that is not nice); “Dis nie meer daai op en wakker lopery nie, jy weet daai gereelde
vriendelikheid en goed nie…“ (It is no more lively walk around, you know that regular
friendliness and stuff); “…wat jou begin krap waar dit nie moet krap nie, dit maak jou
negatief en dan meen ek dan raak die werksomstandighede nie meer lekker nie” (it
starts to scratch where it is not supposed to scratch, it makes one negative and then I
mean the work environment is becoming not nice anymore); “…laat `n ou nie lekker
voel nie…dit maak `n ou negatief…`n ou moet positief bly…maar hoe? (it let a chap
feel not nice…it makes a chap negative…a chap should stay positive…but how?);
“As hulle nie hulle koppe geswaai word om nou positief te raak nie en hulle
samewerking kry nie, dan gaan jy nie jou junior lektore ook nie kan swaai nie en dat
hulle ‘flippen’ opgewonde kan wees en `n bietjie ‘smile’ op die gesig hê…” (If they
cannot change their heads to become now positive and give their co-operation, then
you won’t be able to change your junior lecturers and that they can become flipping
excited and a smile on the face); “…die groot frustrasie, word negatief. Jy stel nie
meer belang in jou werk nie…jy stagneer net” (the huge frustration, become
negative. You loose interest in your work…you just stagnate); “…nou wil die ouens
nie meer deurnag sit en merk nie, hy sal nou net werksure werk…”; (now the chaps
are not willing to mark through the night, he will only work during work hours); “…sou
jy dit gekanselleer het om die kollega te help…” (you will have cancelled it to help

111
your colleague); “Dit het begin nou `n lelike negatiewe ding raak…” (It has become
now an ugly negative thing); “Jy kan nie, mense kan nie van jou verwag om te
stagneer nie en jy het die wil om verder te gaan, maar jy kan nie regtig nie…” (You
cannot, persons cannot expect from you to get stagnated and you have the will to
carry on, but really you cannot).
o Frustration, desperation, mistrust, conflict, anger, infringement of human rights
The next recordings provide evidence of this category: “Jy raak gefrustreerd, en dan
uit desperaatheid…” (You become frustrated and then out of desperation); “…so `n
bietjie ligte woorde gehad…maar ek was baie ongeskik met hom” (so we had a bit of
light words…but I was very discourteous with him); “…dit kort nie baklei nie, wat bo
en al totaal onnodig is en jy is op daai stadium as gevolg van die frustrasie waarmee
jy moet saamlewe…” (it needs no fighting; that is unnecessary and you are on that
point due to the frustration that you have to live with); “…jy word gekrap deur die
bestuur en dit maak konflik…” (you are scratched by management and that makes
conflict); “…daar is altyd oorlog aan die gang…Gewoonlik die ou wat eerste by die
kantoor uitkom wen. Die ou wat tweede kom, jy kom en kry maar net jou vonnis…”
(war is always occurring there. Usually the chap that get to the office first wins. The
chap that comes second, you come and just get your sentence); “Ek is `n ‘fighter’, ek
sal aanhou en aanhou totdat ek kry…so jy maak of breek `n plek” (I am a fighter, I
will keep on and keep on until I get…so you make or break a place); “…hoekom wil jy
vanmore weer baklei…” (why do you want to fight again this morning); “So jy word
die heeltyd met die wortel gelok en dan sodra jy die wortel hap word dit uit jou mond
gehaal en word daar vir jou gesê so hou jou bek, sit op jou tak, maar intussen tyd is

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die wortel vir jou belowe en hap jy en sodra jy gehap dan word jy geskop en dit
veroorsaak wantroue ook…” (So you are attracted by the carrot and if you bite then
the carrot is taken from your mouth and you are told to keep your mouth shut and to
sit on your branch, but in the mean time the carrot is promised to you and when you
bite and when you have bite into it, then you are kicked and that causes mistrust
also); “Ek dink ons is nie mense regtig nie…ons weet nie wat is ons wetlik reg nie…”
(I don’t think that we are really humans, we don’t know our legal rights); “…daar word
apart as sulks met `n lektor gepraat nie…daar word direk aangeval…” (there is no
separate talks with a lecturer, you are attack directly).
When analysing the data on a second level, it appears that the following factors
played an important role in the experiences of the participants when it came to the
management of the staff.
o Lack of interest in the well-being of staff
The next quotes provide proof of this category: “…human resource section there
were somehow an ignorance…looking after the interest of employees”; “…if I have to
suggest the support service is one of the most essential service which we all need
staff members and learners, contractors and non-contractors”; “Motiveringsnorme
word swak/verkeerd en in die meeste gevalle glad nie gebruik nie” (Motivation norms
being used poorly/wrongly or in most cases not even used); “…ons kry nie meer
geleentheid as om as `n personeel as as `n korps…” (we do not have the opportunity
to as a staff as a corps); “…hulle dit wil wegvat, mag dit daar bly, want dit hou die
ouens nog positief …ek voel so `n eindjaarfunksie is …om dankie te sê…” (they want

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to take it away, may it stay, because it keeps the chaps positive…I feel that such an
end of the year function is…to say thank you).
o Lack of co-ordination and co-operation between departments
The next quote provides evidence of this category: “…I don’t believe that triple S
Student Support Service is the only person to carry the burden. I believe that
everybody is suppose to put an end on pulling the burden. Because the students
benefit all of us and they get benefits as well as from all of us”.
o Staff are not supported by management
This category is illustrated by the following quote: “Even though poor staff members
go and report to the ma…to their leaderships in writing the disciplinary form, filling
them in …but not enough is done…”.
o Lack of trained staff
The next quotes provide evidence of this category: “Van die probleme ontstaan as
gevolg van die feit dat daar nie genoegsame bekwame opgeleide personeel is nie”
(Of the problems occur due to the fact that there are insufficient trained personnel);
“Personeel is ook gereeld besig om hulle eie werk en die van `n kollega te doen
aangesien dié op verlof is…plaas addisionele druk op die persoon…sekere sake kry
dan nie sou gou aandag…minder tyd te spandeer om oplossings vir probleme te
vind” (Personnel often busy to do their own work and of a colleague because (s)he is

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on leave…place additional pressure on the person…certain issues does not get
immediate attention…lesser time spent to find solutions for problems); “So hulle is
die ouers in daai sisteem, en dan word jy aangestel waar dit nie noodwendig die
regte ou vir die job is nie…” (so they are the parents in that system and you are
appointed no matter if it is really the right chap for the job).
o Lack of training
Lack of training is well illustrated by the following: “Die besigheidsingesteldheid van
SENIOR Bestuur moet benut/afwentel na laer vlakke…” (The business orientation of
SENIOR Management should be used/spiralled down to the lower levels); “…to our
management, I feel that it is time that they give young ones a fair opportunity. They
must put young personnel staff on training…”; “let them share their experience with
the young generation. Send them on courses, and give them time to face new
challenges”; “Staff handling the Public need better training”; “…die onderwyser moet
dan ook opgelei word om studente in spesifieke ekskursies in te stuur…” (the
educator must be trained also to steer the students in specific excursions);
“Meetings (all aspects) need some attention”.
o Lack of professional recognition and or professional abuse
The next citations provide evidence of this category: “…want hulle begin ons nie
meer professioneel hanteer nie…ons word soos studente gehanteer…” (they start
handling us not professionally anymore, we are handled like students); “Voorstelle
van P1-lektore word dikwels afgeskiet en dan later as voorstelle van senior personeel

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aanvaar” (Suggestions from P1 lecturers often get shot down and later get accepted
as coming from senior staff); “Lyk asof senior personeel bedreigd voel indien P1-
lektore iets goeds doen” (Seems that senior staff feel threatened when P1 lecturers
do something good); “Toerusting van senior personeel word altyd opgegradeer en
dan kry P1 personeel hulle ou goed” (Equipment of senior staff are always upgraded
and then P1 staff received their old stuff); “…lektore vir senior personeel moet vra
om `n oproep vir hulle te maak. Daar kan geen privaatheid van gesprekke oor die
telefoon gemaak word nie” (lecturers must ask senior staff to make a call on their
behalf. There is no privacy of telephonic discussions); “..word dopgehou asof hulle
(P1-lektore) nooit werk nie” (being watched as if they (P1 lecturers) never work);
“Waarom die diskriminasie?” (refer to the use of telephones and implementation of
rules between departments) (Why the discrimination?); “Dan werk dan is so iets ook
nie effektief nie as jy nie na daardie persoon teruggaan nie en sê dankie vir die
wenk…” (Then it work then is not so effective if you do not go back to that person
and say thank you for the tip); “Gee erkenning aan mekaar se talente, dis `n bate vir
die kollege” (Give recognition for each other’s talents, it is an college asset).
From the literature (Bohmer & Mentz, 1994; Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth &
Smith, 1999; Talbert, 1992) review it appears that emphasis is placed on building
capacity among staff to create and sustain transformation processes. The reader will
be briefed on some of these viewpoints. Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and
Smith (1999:15) state that in thoughtful change there is learning. The organisation
does not just embark on something new; it first builds its capacity for doing things in a
new way, and by doing so, ensures that capacity is built for sustainable development.
This concurs with the findings of national and international studies by Talbert

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(1992:15) and Bohmer and Mentz (1994:98) on schools striving for excellence and/or
“healthy” schools. These schools’ characteristics mirror a culture that supports and
promotes professional growth and innovation portraying a sense of solidarity
amongst the staff.
Another viewpoint is that of Taylor, Diphofa, Waghmarae, Vinjevold and Sedibe
(1999:19). These authors argue the vital role played by democratic governing styles
through embracing motivation and values that enable staff to react to a diverse and
changing environments. The institution as reflected by its motivation and values
acknowledges the growing multiplicity of the student and parent populations and
stands for equality in matters of ethnicity, culture, class and gender. Such
institutions are devoted to democratic forms of governance. In the field of
economics, it is watchful for the difficulties of the information age and the need for
workers to be responsible, intelligent, and flexible in adapting to changing, and
competing circumstances.
According to Taylor, Diphofa, Waghmarae, Vinjevold and Sedibe (1999:19)
institutional purpose is related to institutional culture that has a profound influence on
institutional functioning and relationship. An institution has a specific quality, defined
by the degree to which its workers feel dedicated to a joint vision, and the worth of
their relationships with one another in working towards achieving that common goal.
For any institution to be effective, it needs a vision and sense of teamwork amongst
its workers.
A study by Mosogo and Van der Westhuizen (1997:201) confirmed studies that
authoritarian modes and individualistic approaches to school management are

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entrenched behaviour patterns also in South Africa. Educators’ contribution
deprivation is present across the full range of management activities. Educators’
human rights were infringed for many years when looking at the international history
of educator’s rights. Educators were very much subject to the “employment at will”
doctrine that provided no protection against unfair labour practices (UEA Online). De
Groof, Legotlo, Malherbe and Potgieter (n.d.:15) accentuate that education must give
effect to human rights and first of all education must ensure that human rights are
upheld in all its structures, institutions and processes. These authors are of the
opinion that education must first get its own house in order.
Van Zyl and Pieterson (1999:77) found in their study that the following factors relate
to high levels of stress under educators: an atmosphere of inadequate autonomy,
inadequate recognition and limited opportunities to be innovative. It should be
remembered that colleges provide teaching and training for adult learners too, that
brings with it higher demands in coping with learner resistance and educator burnout
and associated stress as indicated by the research study’s findings by Lamude,
Scudder and Furno-Lamude (1992:608).
Unfair labour practices can have negative implications for transformation processes
by having the opposite effect of the desired outcome “Callous or unfair
treatment…can send shockwaves through the entire group in a very negative manner
by turning those not directly affected against the acquirer” (Hubbard, 1999:29).
Carman (2002:167-168) is of the opinion that the way staff is treated will eventually
transfer to the lecturing room. It is therefore essential for any institution to treat their
staff with the necessary respect, keep their well-being at heart and give them the

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recognition they deserve. The unhappiness of staff created by a lack of support and
interest in their well-being will eventually transfer to their learners as featured in their
learner relationship. Staff must be cared for and looked after by finding a balance
between productivity and humanity. According to Carman (2002:167-168) education
psychology teaches us that educators will find that same balance in working with
their learners. Education leaders have to model for their staff the conduct that is
needed for an effective institution.
Jaques as cited by Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith (1999:390)
presents another reason for negative life experiences with regard to institutional
effectiveness: “…many organizations, people flail and flounder because they do not
have clearly defined boundaries for their job, authority, and their careers”. Therefore
the value and dignity of people performing at every level of the institution are not
recognised. Selaledi’s (1999:270) research findings indicated that the following
elements create an atmosphere for educator professional growth and development:
administrative responsibility, classroom autonomy, structures promoting collegial
teamwork and feedback that seems to be absent in this study as suggested by its
findings.
In the South African education context the abdication of responsibilities is debated in
the senate’s proceedings as reflected by the following quotes: “They (headmasters)
absolute lack the leadership qualities, they lack the required personal skills and in
many cases they lack the administrative ability, but even worse, they lack motivation.
They are unable to motivate their staff…”; “There are people who will do anything in
life to abdicate their responsibilities…”; “Apartheid has come and gone but that

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school has found another crutch to lean on. They found another reason not to do
anything” (Hansard, 8 June 1995:1580).
Destroying the professional integrity of staff and staff initiative may be injurious to the
institution on medium to long term by putting it on a self-destroying path. Carman
(2002:21) is of the opinion that what he calls ”recognition density” is a powerful tool to
keep the institution in line with its vision and mission. According to Carman
(2002:21) people can be motivated by any number of incentives such as money,
respect, enhanced authority, and recognition. Effective schools have people who are
self-starters and take the initiative. These types of people can be regarded as assets
in the organisation and serve as internal motivators. Without recognition the
institution cannot align itself around its goals and vision.
Against this background, it is astonishing how the college staff managed to take care
and support their learners in the absence of perceived management support for
themselves. It might as well be that the experiences of lack of support accentuated
how important support and care are for success. This in itself maybe the reason why
some lecturers take the decision to take care of their learners, they “decided to
believe in a child who could not get that type of support from anyone else? Literally
hundreds of children would feel loved and valued and possibly begin to experience
success…” (Carman, 2000:23).
Mutual support amongst the staff seems to play an important role to keep caring
intact as described in the previous section. However, it is questionable how long
student support on this level could be maintained and sustained. It appears that it is

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only a matter of time before the lack of management support to the staff will become
detrimental to the learners. Above data suggests negative experiences, staff
questioning the meaning and purpose for their being at the college and the absence
of management role models for caring and productivity. Over time these may be
detrimental to the rendering of support and sustaining a climate conducive for
teaching, training and learning.
From the findings it appears that not only the management of human capital is an
area of great concern, but as well as inadequate management styles, systems and
procedures that signalled institutional dysfunction.
• Inadequate management styles, systems and procedures
From the responses it appears that not only the management of staff, but
management styles, systems and procedures were taxing areas for many of the
participants: “…veral wanneer dit kom by by sekere aspekte van die bestuur…”
(especially when it comes to certain aspects of the management); “transparency is
daar nie…” (no transparency); “…daar `n gebrek is aan die bestuur van basiese
dinge, die koördinasie …” (there is a lack of management of basic stuff, the co-
ordination); “…daar gaan geld en tyd en goeie mense verlore omdat daar nie goeie
bestuur is…” (there is loss of money and time and good people because there is not
good management); “…swak bestuur of deur die attitudes and houdings en die
negatiwiteit deur dit miskien net deur dit reg te stel…” (poor management or through
the attitudes and the negativity and through just maybe correct it); “…die hand of die
leiding moet geneem word…deur die bestuur van die instansie om sulke stelsel te

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implementeer” (the hand or the lead must be taken by the institution’s management
to implement such a system); “…bestuur besig is om te doen, hulle wil
ongelukkigheid hê, hulle wil hê dinge moet nie lekker loop met die lektore nie…”
(management busy doing, they want unhappiness, they want things not to run
smoothly for the lecturers).
The experiences of the participants can be summarised under the following emerged
categories indicating various awkward areas. It appears that these caused lived
experiences of institutional ineffectiveness resulting in feelings of frustration, stress
and anger.
o Lack of procedures
The lack of procedures is illustrated by the following quotes: “There are many policies
but very few procedures and house rules for conducting matters…”; “…with the new
CEO…there is going to be a real move, a real shift of paradise whereby it seemed
that the man is very much committed and did not disadvantage anybody, but to see
that policies are implemented at the college”.
o Carelessness
Carelessness is illustrated by the next citations: “…that shows that people do not
actually recorded down what they are suppose to do and make follow ups of what
they are suppose to do…”; “not enough is not being done in taking actions in
wherever….”; “…it could be four weeks before any action is taken”; “Telephone

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manners of telephonists leaves much to be desirable”; “Handling of clients
sometimes wanting”.
o Security
The problem with security is illustrated by the following quotes: “Sekuriteit is baie
swak en heelwat ongewenste besoekers beweeg deur die hoofhek” (Security is very
poor and many unwanted visitors move through the main gate); “…die sekuriteit by
die hek. Ek weet nie hoekom betaal hulle die mense daar nie” (the security at the
gate. I don’t know why they pay the people there).
o Communication problems
The next citations provide evidence of this category: “…information is kept by a
person and is not available to others…”; “…multiple requests for the same info…”;
“Kommunikasie is dikwels nie bevredigend nie.” (Communication is often
unsatisfactory).
o Rigidity
Rigidity seems to be problematic as follows: “Reёls kan nie rigied wees vir alle
instansies nie want markte verskil baie en funksionaliteit word benadeel…” (Rules
cannot be rigid for all institutions, because markets do differ a lot and functionality are
impeded); “Die “Fet”-wet” belemmer ook die ontwikkeling vir die kollege omdat die
fokus op ‘skoolidees’ moet wees!” (The FET Act hinders the development for the

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college because the focus must be on school ideas!); “…mense van die vyftigerjare,
hulle het baie rigied grootgeword...dis asof die ou mense terugtrek en sê dis too fast
too fast…jy mag nie vorentoe gaan nie, want dan is jy slimmer as hulle…” (…people
of the years fifty, they grew up very rigid…it is if the old people pull back and say too
fast too fast…you are not allowed to move forward, because then you are cleverer
than they…).
o Problem solving (internal)
The next citations provide evidence of this category: “…besluitneming, nie
konsekwent wees nie…“ (inconsequent decision-taking); “Die effektiefste oplossing
word ook nie altyd aanvaar nie en daar word van langdradige prosesse gebruik
gemaak om sake op te los” (The most effective solution most often is not accepted
and tedious processes are used to find solutions for issues); “Daar is nie tyd om oor
probleme te praat nie” (There is no time to speak about problems).
o Problem solving (external Department of Education)
The category is illustrated by the following quotes: “…word gerem deur
veralgemeende besluite vir kollegas vanaf die Dept v (Departement van)
Onderwys…” (slowed down by generalising of decisions for colleagues by the
Department of Education); “…maar die GDO (Gauteng Departement van Onderwys)
belemmer heelwat! Baie besluite word deur hulle gehanteer en antw kom net nie!”
(but the GDE (Gauteng Department of Education) hampers a lot. Many decisions
being handled by them and answers just do not come).

o Inadequate management systems
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Inadequate management systems seem to be problematic as illustrated by the
following recordings: “REKENAARSTELSEL ONVRIENDELIK EN STADIG.
FINANSIЁ LE STELSEL BAIE ONGEBRUIKSVRIENDELIK” (COMPUTER SYSTEM
UNFRIENDLY AND SLOW. FINANCIAL SYSTEM NOT VERY USER FRIENDLY);
“…daar is baie plek vir verbetering vir veral stelsels…” (there is many place for
improvement especially the systems); “Hoekom vorms…hoekom gebruik ons `n
mens nie direk die rekenaar nie?…dis nie vir my baie slim nie. Hier is hoeveel
rekenaars wat hier rondstaan…” (Why forms, why don’t we not use the computer
direct?…that’s not for me very clever. There are so much computers standing
around); “Daar’s honderde en honderde papier waarmee daar gewerk moet
word…jy mors tyd en papiere raak weg en papiere lê op almal se lessenare en
niemand weet wat gaan daar aan nie…” (There are hundreds and hundreds of paper
that you have to work with, and you waste time and papers get lost and papers lie on
everybody’s desks and nobody knows what is happening there).
o Inadequate management styles
The next quotes provide prove of this category: “Oopdeur-beleid word verkondig
maar ondeursigtige en outokratiese bestuurstyle word gevolg” (Open door policy is
voiced but management styles that are autocratic and not transparent are followed);
“…die hiërargiese sisteem…daar is heeltemal te veel seniors heeltemal te veel…”
(the hierarchical system, there are too many seniors, too many); “…daar’s te veel

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koningsposte en goed, sodra hulle daarvan ontslae raak dan kan dit beter gaan met
almal…” (there are too many kings’ posts and stuff, when they get rid of them then it
will get better for everybody).
The report of the task team on education management development (Department of
Education, 1996:66) highlights the importance of effective management structures.
The task team indicates that great care should be taken to make certain that
institutional structures are functional. These structures should be properly planned
and supported by hierarchical levels that are purposeful to the required tasks.
The credibility of an institution that gives technical and technological training is
questioned against the background of the above quotes. Collins (2001:13-14) is of
the opinion that the use of correct technology is vital for effective education
institutions as they lead the way in preparing the employee market for tomorrow.
This finding is in line with the finding of Taylor, Diphofa, Waghmarae, Vinjevold and
Sedibe (1999:31). They find that communication seems to be a huge problem in the
education system. According to these authors only one in five documents reached
its intended target signalling high levels of inefficiency within the education system.
Interesting to note that documents seem to get lost between the principal’s office and
the staff room, and not that many between the departmental offices and principals’
offices.
Poor communication styles result in the downfall of many institutions according to
Hubbard (1999:39). Communication is regarded as the keystone of managing

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expectations. The management can have the most stylish transformation plan but if
its objective is not communicated to the workers the positive effect can be lost.
In the study done by O’Connor and Clarke (1990:49) it was found that educators in
Australia experienced high levels of work stress that was related to the daily hassles
of coping with the amount of work, issues with the schools’ organisation and the
employing system’s matters. Peel and McCary III (1997:705) states that education
reform has proved to be a very tough task for educators especially in the light of
preparing learners for life in the 21 st century. We have to find and converse new
ways of undertaking schooling: “We must not blow an uncertain trumpet”.
From the above descriptions the assumption can be made that the management
systems and procedures signify institutional dysfunction. Characteristics of a strict
conservative style of education as described by Smith (1995:5) are to some extent
internalised in the college’s management style as follows:
• Management attempt to shape, control and evaluate the behaviour and
attitudes of their staff in accordance with a firm set of standards.
• They emphasise obedience, respect for authority, work, tradition and
preservation of order.
• Verbal give-and-take between the management and staff is discouraged.
• Management is in charge, make most of the decisions and issue the orders.
• Questioning of management’s authority is discouraged.
• Punishment is acceptable as means to enforce rules and standards.
• Management is lacking praise and often demonstrate aloofness.

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Steyn (1998:131) points out that the principal’s new role in decentralised school
management is based on a form of power that is facilitative in nature. Changing the
management style in the light of above can be most tricky, especially against the
historical background of colonialism and apartheid.
A profound question asked by Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith
(1999:13-14) as informed by Argyris from Harvard is “ …why then do people in
organisations continue cling to the belief that only the top can drive change?” A
possible answer to this question according to these experts may be that in itself this
belief allows workers to continue to hold the management responsible for whether or
not change happens. On the one hand this belief might be disempowering, but on
the other hand it offers a handy plan to maintain the status quo.
Lacking from the participants’ life stories about institutional effectiveness is the
motion for taking co-responsibility for “fixing” their situation. Education that is based
on democratic principles will enable people to make wiser choices, because they
know that they will have to answer for those choices they made (Rambiyana, Kok &
Myburgh, 1996:193).
Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith (1999:9) used Argyris from Harvard
as an similar example “(Argylis)…has shown how management efforts to improve
internal communications-like employee surveys, focus groups, and ‘360 feedback-
can give people anonymous ways ‘to tell management what is wrong’ without
assuming any responsibility for improving matters”. The opinion survey thereby
cleverly support the belief that management is the cause of problems and only

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management has the ability to deal with them. A reason for lacking self-responsibility
maybe the “silence voice” that might be hushed as explained in the next section.
Within the education scenario Reiger and Rees (1993:20) as far back as 1993
proclaim that educators want responsibility that will increase the effectiveness of an
institution. Educators want greater self management in education to increase their
effectiveness in the organisation. Motivational values and effectiveness depends
considerably on the level to which educators are given responsibility in their place of
work.
It should be remembered that contextual factors limit educators’ efficacy that relates
to teaching effectiveness. “Teacher efficacy is defined as a belief that any teacher is
severely limited by external or contextual factors…Teacher efficacy has been
significantly related to teaching effectiveness and has been negatively affected by
teacher stress” (Paese & Zinkgraf, 1991:308). The study by McKinney, Sexton and
Meyerson (1999:484) confirms previous findings that educators’ efficacy beliefs are
key factors to take cognisance of when initiating and sustaining education change.
When considering the findings against Carman’s (2002:138) leadership position the
findings of this study may point to the absence of capacity-based leadership in the
college. College managers seemed not to be sensitive for needs of their staff as
such. These types of managers and managing styles cannot be described as
capacity-based leaders/leadership styles because they don’t value capacity building
and relationship. Capacity leadership is about stimulating productivity through
relationships by building capacity among staff. Managers tend to focus on shortages

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or weaknesses and use critical feedback approaches to push average staff to higher
levels. Capacity-based leaders are outcomes related, but sensitive to the needs of
their workers.
Against the backdrop of a lack of co-responsibility in a conservative authoritative and
dysfunctional college management structure, the next theme that emerged from the
data may provides possible reasons for staff not asserting themselves.
3.4.4 Theme 4: The silence voice
In this context “silence voice” means hushing the articulation of opinions, and/or
feelings and and/or thoughts, and/or infringing the right to be heard. The silence
voice is a central theme that emerged throughout the data and forms the cornerstone
of the mental health strategies that will be discussed in Chapter Five: “…one could
not even argue it…”; “…dit sal nie genoem word nie…”(it must not be mentioned);
“…en nou begin hulle daardie eie seggenskap weg te vat…” (and now they started
to take that own voice away); “…`n SRC-ou het meer sê as ek, `n lektor, en toe sê
hulle hulle wil dit nie indirek so sê nie maar ja…” (a SRC chap has got more say
than me being a lecturer and then they say they don’t want to say it indirectly but
yes); “…en ek hoef nie `n woord te sê nie…” (and I don’t have to say a word);
“Hoekom moet jy stilbly as `n sisteem nie reg hardloop nie?” (Why have you to keep
quiet it a system is not running right?); “…wanneer hulle voor bestuur kom kan hulle
nie praat nie…” (when they get in front of management they cannot talk).

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Interesting categories that emerges from the data were the manner how
voices were hushed in the following manners:
• not listening;
• preventing voices to be heard through manipulation, creating fear and
telling people to be silent; and
• lack of feedback.
The next sections will support these categories with citations.
o Not listening
From the responses it appears that the participants felt that on verbal and non-
verbal level they were not heard: “…hoor hulle nie wat `n mens sê nie” (they
do not listen to what a person says); “Daar word nie geluister nie (No
listening); “…bestuur moet ook net baie kere net luister wat die lektore
verlang…” (management must also often just listen what the lecturers need);
“…kan ek jou gedragskode sien dat jy nie eintlik wil hoor wat ek vir jou te sê
het nie…” (I can see through you code of conduct that you do not really want
to hear that I want to say to you); “Ek meen as `n ou na iemand toe kom as
iets hom pla al voel jy dis gering, luister…” (I mean if a chap goes to
somebody if something is bothering him although you feel it is little, listen).

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o Preventing voices to be heard through
Manipulation: “…just to immediately take a student from the college after qualifying
for N6 without acquired the experience outside that student will always feel like a
student even if he is now an employee and will never ever challenge any anything
even if he is feeling dissatisfied…”; “…en weet net genoeg, weet wat jy moet weet
EN baie keer sê hulle ook vir jou dis reg en ek voel dis verkeerd…” (and just know
enough, know what you have to know AND often they say to you that is right and I
feel that is wrong),
Creating fear: “…en dan wil niemand daaroor praat nie, want dan is hulle so bang…”
(nobody wants to talk it over, because they are then so afraid); “Die ander wil nie
ondersteun nie want hulle is bang, want hulle kan hulle pos verloor, of hulle kan
drama kry of iets” (The others do not want to support because they are afraid,
because they can lose their post, or they get drama or something); “…is ek nie `n ou
wat stilbly nie en ek sê my sê, maar my kanse is goed dat hulle vir my kan sê raait
ons wil nie baie met jou dinge hier te doen hê nie gaan….toe of…toe of of hhhh ons
het nie meer jou dienste nodig nie…jy sien `n ou soos ek moet eintlik heeltemal
stilbly…” (I am not a chap that keeps quiet, I say my say, but my changes are good
that they can say to me raait we do not want to be involved with your things here, go
to… or to… or hhhhwe don’t need your services any longer…you see a chap like me
must shut up), and

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Telling people to be silent: “…word daar vir jou gesê so hou jou bek…” (you are told
to keep your mouth shut).
o Lack of feedback
An interesting category that emerges is that it appears that two way communication
was not honoured: “…dan hoor ek nooit as dit opgelos is nie” (I don’t hear if it is
resolved); “Niemand het nog ooit terugvoer gegee nie” (Nobody has ever given
feedback).
It appears that although voices were hushed, it was only a matter of time before it
would explode: “And it doesn’t mean when people are quiet that people are happy.
Quiet means people are bottled up and one day they are going to explode”; “hulle
praat nie meer saggies oor goed nie, hulle sê sommer goed…” (they don’t talk softly
over stuff, they just say things); “…dit maak `n ding dat `n ding begin bars…en ek
voel net daardie tipe van woorde en dit het ek nog nie hier gevind nie…” (it makes
that a thing a thing starts to burst and I feel that that type of words I did not find it
here yet).
An startling category that emerges from the data was that the interviews served as a
platform for the silence voice to be heard: “…it was helping me, to what can I say, to
waste out some of the things I have wanted to discuss…it is helpful because I know
that some one out there is going to consider what I say…”; “Ek wil vir jou baie dankie
sê. Dis `n plesier net solank ons êrens kom” (I want to thank you very much. It is a
pleasure if we just get somewhere).

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A unique experience was the response given by one participant for inviting him and
letting him participate in the research. It appears that the interview served as
instrument for installing confidence and trust in him: “…Thank you for giving me this
opportunity…for confidence and trust in me…”.
Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith (1999:9) accentuate that joint
commitment to change develops only with communal willingness to build mutual
aspirations. People start discussing ”undiscussable” subjects only when they
develop the reflection and investigative skills that allow them to talk openly about
difficult, conflictive issues without raising defensiveness. People start acknowledging
and managing interdependencies and deeper reasons of problems only as they
acquired the skills of systems thinking. It appears from the data that staff did not
have shared aspirations and values (see previous sections), nor the skills to start
discussing the “undiscussable” as explained in this section.
Welch and Welch (2005:25) calls the ”…lack of candor the biggest dirty little secret in
business. What a huge problem it is. Lack of candor basically blocks smart ideas,
fast action, and good people contributing all the stuff they’ve got. It’s a killer.” He
continues by describing the lack of candour to be not spiteful dishonesty, but the
unwillingness of people to articulate with openness. They do not converse clearly or
put forth ideas on the table to promote discussion. They just keep silent and withhold
any commentary or criticism. It appears that they keep silent in order to make people
feel better or to avoid conflict.

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An interesting feature of candour is that it can cause institutional discomfort and a
great risk for a person who exercises candour is to be “killed”. “It is true that candor
comments definitely freak people out at first. In fact, the more polite or bureaucratic
or formal your organization, the more your candor will scare and upset people, and,
yes, it could kill you…That’s a risk, and only you can decide if you’re willing to take it”
(Welch & Welch, 2005:33). It appears from the data that this seems to be true for the
participants. Some of them indicated that they were quite aware of the
consequences if they dare to speak up, so they voiced their decision not to take the
risk “to be killed”.
Freedom of expression that amongst other include the right of speech is the most
fundamental rights incorporated by the South African Bill of Rights (Constitution of
the Republic of South Africa No 108 of 1996, paragraph 16 (1)(b):9). Wood
(n.d.:233-234) highlights some of the human rights issues that are found to be
problematic within in the education context of which the freedom of expression
appears to be one. International and national case law (Wood, n.d.:233-234) indicate
that courts were by and large divided and indecisive as to the political rights and
personal freedoms of educators. The educators, while also being civil servants, were
forbidden from acting unfavourably on their administration in any way. In recent
times, not as long ago as in 1993, basic conditions of service for South African
educators in the former Department of Education and Training stipulated “You may
not adversely criticize the administration…” (Wood, n.d.:234).
Since 1994 with the new South African political dispensation, human rights and the
protection of exercising these rights are formulated. The Constitution of South Africa

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protects the right of speech. The Open Democracy Bills protects the “whistle-
blowers” from “criminal or civil action and any form of disciplinary action” (Wood,
n.d.:234). It is understandable against this background that educators for historical
reasons will not exercise with comfort their right of freedom of speech and education
bureaucrats will attempt to limit staff to exercise their rights to freedom of expression.
In the case of educators who begin to exercise these human rights, they may
become a thorny issue for education management to deal with.
These silence voices pose a challenge to the proposed mental health strategies.
Facilitating candour on an individual level is very risky and opposed by the system’s
management. On the other hand is the lack of candour very detrimental to personnel
well-being and institutional mental health.
3.5 CONCLUSION
This chapter gives a dense description of the life experiences of institutional
effectiveness. The reader is first briefed on the realisation of the sample. Reference
is made to theory to make meaningful conclusions about the findings within a broader
context and within the education context.
The major themes that emerged from the data are:
• Theme 1: Multiple realities on a continuum of institutional effectiveness with
pockets of effectiveness.
• Theme 2: Factors promoting institutional effectiveness are:
o a culture of teaching, training and learning;

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o learner support and caring; and
o staff support and caring.
• Theme 3: Factors impeding institutional effectiveness are:
o inadequate management of the transformation process;
o inadequate management of human capital (staff and learners); and
o inadequate management styles, systems and procedures.
• Theme 4: The silence voice as a central theme.
From the findings it appears that management of the transformation process, human
capital, management styles, systems and procedures constituted negative life
experiences about institutional effectiveness. From the literature control study these
experiences and the meanings attached to them by the participants put a survival
threat to the institution as signalled by theory.
These negative experiences seemed to be counteracted at the time of the study by a
climate that is conducive to teaching, training and learning, as well as an informal
network of support consisting of acceptance of cultural diversity and caring. On the
medium- to long-term it is questionable if the status quo could be maintained and
sustained by the silence voice. The data suggest that tension is building up in the
system and it may “explode”.
A conceptual map (see Figure 3.1) is included to enable the reader to conceptualise
the interrelationship of institutional effectiveness and factors promoting and impeding
effectiveness and to position mental health strategies against this context. Figure 3.1
serves as a gestalt of the findings as described in this chapter. As illustrated by the

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figure against the transformation process, institutional effectiveness is experienced
on a continuum ranging from ineffectiveness to effectiveness with pockets of
effectiveness in between. Institutional ineffectiveness created by the impeding
factors (inadequate management of the transformation process and of human capital,
as well as inadequate management styles, systems and procedures) has a negative
impact on human capital resulting in the lost of trust. On the other hand, institutional
effectiveness created by the promoting factors (culture of teaching, training and
learning, and human capital support) has a positive impact on human capital
resulting in caring. The silence voice is central to the different themes, as
participants are not allowed to voice. Mental health strategies having understanding,
meaning, mutual goals and shared values as keystones are aimed to give a voice to
participants in order to enforce the promoting factors and to create resilience by
transforming the negative energy created by the impeding factors.
In the next chapters attention will be given to mental health strategies that are aimed
to:
• preserve and strengthen the promoting factors;
• create resilience to deal with the impeding factors; and
• rechannel destructive energy building up in the system.
An eclectic approach will be used to strategise mental health on intrapersonal and
systemic levels.

NEGATIVE IMPACT
ON HUMAN CAPITAL
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Figure 3.1: Gestalt of multiple realities of institutional effectiveness
IMPEDING FACTORS
Inadequate management of
transformation and human capital, as
well as inadequate management styles,
systems and procedures.
INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS CONTINUUM WITH POCKETS OF EFFECTIVENESS
RESILIENCE
TRANSFORM NEGATIVE ENERGY
MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGIES
INTRAPERSONAL AND SYSTEMIC LEVELS
UNDERSTANDING,
MEANING, MUTUAL
GOALS & SHARED
VALUES
ENFORCING
PROMOTING FACTORS
• Culture of teaching, training &
learning.
• Human capital support.
POSITIVE IMPACT ON
HUMAN CAPITAL

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In order to facilitate understanding and meaning and to bridge the findings with the
recommended strategies, the next chapter will serve as a narrative metaphor in the
form of the story of Silence Truth.

4.1 INTRODUCTION
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CHAPTER 4
THE STORY OF SILENCE TRUTH
We do not really mean, we do not really mean,
That what we are going to say is true.
Because a story is a story, and you may tell it as your imagination and your being and
your environment dictate; and if your story grows wings and becomes the property of
others, you may not hold it back. One day it will return to you, enriched by new
details and with a new voice.
(Mandela, 2002:7)
Chapter Four takes on the challenge of creative translation. The chapter is the
construction of a story like composition in the form of a narrative metaphor. The
story’s content is derived from the lived experiences of institutional effectiveness by
the participants (findings) and theory, as well as the researcher’s experiences when
conducting the study.
Symbolic expressions, like metaphors of which the story of Silence Truth is an
example, play important roles in language and thought because it contributes to the
construction of meaning (Ortony, 1993:2). The story of Silence Truth is a narrative
metaphor about the college sector’s history in South Africa and educators and
learners’ lived experiences of institutional effectiveness during education
transformation in South Africa. The metaphor as used in this chapter is a

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construction of multiple realities that can be regarded as “…advantage in educational
contexts…” and “…a necessary future of them” (Ortony,1993:6).
The story of Silence Truth can serve as an important tool to facilitate understanding
and meaning, as well as to bridge the past with the present. New acquired
knowledge brought about by using the story of Silence Truth to generate new
metaphors can enrich the future with strategies to facilitate mental health in
educational institutions within a social context. The manner how the story of Silence
Truth can be used as a facilitating and fun tool will be explained in the next chapter.
Epston and White (1992:80) define a story as a “…unit of meaning that provides a
frame for lived experience. It is through these stories that lived experiences are
interpreted. We enter into our stories, we are entered into stories by others, and we
live our lives through these stories”. Stories give us the sense that our lives are
changing and can serve as the medium to release us to become truly authentic
beings that we really are meant to be (Epston & White, 1992:81).
Stories are divine spiritual means that assist us to give meaning to frames of lived
experiences, because “Stories construct beginnings and endings; they impose
beginnings and endings on the flow of experience” (Epston & White, 1992:80).
Stories therefore assist us to value our lived experiences.
The researcher journeyed a spiritual sacred path when structuring the story of
Silence Truth. The story’s units emerged from the participants’ real life experiences
and the literature control, as well as the researcher’s experiences sharing their world

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with them. The researcher was astonished with feelings of energy, abundance, and
sacredness when constructing the story that enabled understanding and meaning for
experiences. These feelings emerged from the researcher’s experience of a
relationship between the participants and the researcher. The relationship as
experienced by the researcher was characterised by respect, appreciation and
dignity.
4.2 THE STORY OF SILENCE TRUTH
Silence Truth was created many years ago, in the previous millennium by the higher
powers. She was sent to earth with a very special assignment. She was so proud
that she was created to help the human beings on earth by giving them the
knowledge and resources to create a better world. The human beings on earth
discovered technology and how it could assist them in adding quality to their lives.
The human beings she served were not aware of her real name, so they called her
“Technical College”.
She thrived on earth and she became known for the marvellous job she was doing.
The higher powers decided to acknowledge the good work she was doing. So they
added another dimension to her task on Planet Earth namely, that of business skills
for the human beings she served. The human beings accepted gladly the new skills
she was offering them and they changed her name to “College”. She enjoyed
serving the human beings and more human beings became acquainted with her.
They described her as being excellent, simply as the best, the beautiful one.

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Then, one day she became aware that she was not the only “College” on Planet
Earth. She belonged to a very big family and had a lot of family members, even with
different names than her like, “Technical School” and “Secondary School”. She also
discovered that some of her family members were not as happy as she was. Some
of them were complaining about managing and marketing issues and that the human
beings they served were not involved as her own. They were burdened in their
tasks, as they were not allocated the resources that she had. Even the human
beings they served were becoming increasingly unhappy about the whole situation
and they became violent.
Silence Truth and the rest of her family tried to make sense out of the confusion. So
they decided to arrange a meeting with the higher powers. The higher powers
explained to them that the human beings created the chaos through colonialism and
apartheid. They promised Silence Truth and her family members that they would
make a plan in order to address the problem.
The higher powers argued and debated how they could address the sad situation.
As they promised Silence Truth and her family members, they came up with a
solution. They decided to send “Education Transformation” to Planet Earth. Silence
Truth and her family members were very excited about the higher powers’ idea.
They arranged festivals to celebrate Education Transformation coming to Planet
Earth.

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Education Transformation decided to transform Silence Truth and her family
members by merging them to become one. So “Merged College” was created and
Silence Truth’s name was changed to “Campus”. As some time went by, Silence
Truth discovered that Education Transformation was not really fulfilling her hopes
and dreams. In fact, she felt that she was no longer thriving and she became aware
of nasty things happening inside her and with the human beings she served.
She felt that she was becoming ill and that she could no longer serve the human
beings entrusted to her care in the same way as she did before. It felt that if she was
stagnated. In human language she was suffering from major depression and
suffered from feelings of confusion, frustration, stress, aggression, hopelessness,
and meaninglessness. She became unmotivated, paralysed and silent and she felt
that she did not want to “will” any longer. Education Transformation took her identity
away and she grieved about her lost.
Some of the higher powers became aware that things were not working out the way
they planned it to be. It appeared that Silence Truth was becoming ineffective just
like her other brothers and sisters before Education Transformation was sent to
Planet Earth. Even some of the human beings were complaining that it was no
longer nice to be with her, and some of them were thinking of going away. Others
even started to fight with each other. They started to mistrust her. Some of them
were questioning themselves if they were still human beings because it seemed that
she was no longer interested in their well-being. For some it felt that she no longer
recognised them as being her partners.

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So the higher powers decided to come to earth themselves to explore and gain an
understanding about what was happening to Silence Truth and the human beings
she served. They decided to send one of them to Planet Earth in the form of a
human being, a wise woman, who they called “Query”. Query joined Silence Truth
and the human beings she served for a while, before commencing her assignment.
Query soon discovered that Silence Truth was thread together just like the case of a
spider web. Silence Truth was made out of very fragile fibre networks. Query called
the tiny threads “caring” and the bigger ones that formed strings to enforce these
networks she called “climate conducive for teaching, training and learning”. Query
tried to heal some of the hurts of Silence Truth and the human beings she served,
while staying with them. Query supported and encouraged them to keep up the good
work they were doing. By doing so she helped them to enforce Silence Truth’s
fragile networks.
At a later stage, she explained to them that she had a special assignment to
complete. She had to explore and describe their lived experiences of effectiveness
to try to understand what happened to them and what was causing their pain.
Silence Truth and the human beings she served welcomed Query and were keen to
assist Query with her special assignment.
Query with the assistance of Silence Truth and the human beings she served
discovered the following secrets:
o Silence Truth still had pockets of excellence.

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o Silence Truth’s effectiveness was promoted by a culture of teaching, training and
learning and support/caring among the human beings she served.
o Silence Truth’s effectiveness was impeded by the way in which the human beings
she served were managed, as well as the ways in which the transformation
process was managed, and inadequate management styles, systems and
procedures.
It appeared that Education Transformation made a big mistake. He gave all his
attention to developing Silence Truth and her family but in such a way that nothing
was left to maintain them through the transformation period. Because he was in such
a hurry to get things right, he neglected to build capacity and relationships. He forgot
to share his aspirations and values with them. In his rush he even forget to bring
along the magic glue that was called “trust” to sustain Silence Truth and the human
beings she served.
This left Silence Truth and the human beings she served with feelings of uncertainty,
frustration, stress and fear. They became negative. It appeared that Education
Transformation turned out to be a real BULLY! No wonder that Silence Truth and the
human beings she served was flailing and floundering around. They started to blame
Education Transformation and held him responsible for everything that went wrong.
They declined any motions for taking responsibility to fix things themselves.
But there was a very dirty secret waiting to be discovered that was really the top top
top secret. The top secret was that nobody was allowed to voice thoughts, feelings
and/or opinions. Candour was severely punished. The human beings were afraid

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that they would be sent away, or even killed. It felt for Silence Truth that she could
burst or explode due to all the destructive energy building up in her system and that
she had to carry inside her body. Query soon discovered that she would also be
punished if she cracked the top secret. She made a spiritual decision that she would
honour her special assignment, although she was quite aware that she had to make
sacrifices in the process.
However, Query, Silence Truth and the human beings she served were not aware
that Query had to make the ultimate sacrifice when she cracked the top secret.
Query was killed for doing so. Silence Truth and the human beings she served were
shocked and traumatised by that event.
But, our story had a joyful ending. Although Query was hurt by the ultimate sacrifice
she had to make, she was not killed. She was transformed because she belonged to
the higher powers. Query, Silence Truth and the human beings she served rejoiced.
Query continued her assignment by suggesting healing remedies to the higher
powers to enable Silence Truth to continue her work on Planet Earth as it was meant
to be. These remedies were aimed at assisting Silence Truth to grow much more
stronger networks and to deal effectively with factors that were impeding her
functioning. She and the human beings she served found new ways of dealing with
the destructive energies and even managed to transform them to positive forms of
energy to enable them to bounce back at the forces that tried to harm them.
The healing remedies assisted Silence Truth to grow stronger and stronger and then
one day she rediscovered her voice. As Silence Truth started to speak again, a

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miraculous happening took place. The dark cloud of silence that unfolded her broke
into a million pieces and she was filled with energy that enable her to find a new
meaning and purpose for her being on Planet Earth. Silence Truth and the human
beings she served, started to enjoy life on Planet Earth again. They sang with an
open heart their unique song of empathy and appreciation as they danced the dance
of the authentic beings. Their loving presence filled the universe, because they were
part of the universe, they were the universe.
The human beings that Silence Truth served thanked Query for assisting them to
waste out their thoughts, to discuss the undiscussable with the higher forces and for
installing feelings of confidence and trust in them. As time went by, Silence Truth
and the human beings she served became truly the authentic beings that they really
were meant to be. And as Silence Truth continued her journey on Planet Earth, her
name was changed to “Sustainable Development”.
Maybe this is real, maybe this is not
maybe this is just a story, maybe this is not
maybe this is true, maybe this is not
But does it really matters?
Why don’t you make it yours
so it can grow wings
and you can discover the old old truth in yourself?
And let it free, set it free
because it is meant to be shared
and soon it will return to you
enriching your life with purpose, meaning and joy.
ARE YOU READY TO MAKE THE SACRIFICE?

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Thank you for reading and listening to our story. We do trust that
o the higher powers will be with you;
o you will rediscover the old old truth in yourself;
o you become the authentic being that you are meant to be; and
o your journey on Planet Earth will be purposeful, meaningful and joyful.
Signed by
Query, Query, Silence Silence Truth Truth and and the the human human beings beings she she served.
served.
4.3 CAST OF PLAY
For clarity purposes the cast of play as used by the story of Silence Truth will by
explained in this section.
• Silence Truth
Silence Truth is a symbolic name given to indicate the Further Education and
Training institution, namely a college covered by silence as it was transformed from a
technical college to a merged institution.

• The human beings she served
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In the context of the story the human being she (Silence Truth) served indicate the
staff and learners of the Further Education and Training institution.
• Higher powers
Higher powers as used by this story are the politicians, academics and/or other role
players involved in education policy formulation and planning.
• Query
Query is the name given in the story to the researcher who investigated the lived
experiences of institutional effectiveness during transformation of a Further
Education and Training institution, namely a college.
4.4 CONCLUSION
West (1998:247) proclaims that in conditions of frightening change “…telling new
stories and creating more of the self in the process…is a socially situated act…”.
This chapter briefs the reader on the value of stories used as metaphors in the
construction of meaning.
The story of Silence Truth constructed as a story, a narrative metaphor that can be
used to stimulate generative metaphors in social contexts. The next chapter will

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exemplify how the story of Silence Truth can be used as a mental health strategy
implementation tool to enable people and systems to create new stories in the
conditions of frightening change. The story of Silence Truth can be used to create
understanding and to construct meaning to bridge the past, present and future to
become authentic.

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CHAPTER 5
MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING INSTITUTIONAL
5.1 INTRODUCTION
EFFECTIVENESS
Now I am real. I am not just a name.
I have a heart and a voice and a life story.
(Cooper & Sawaf, 1997:XX)
In the previous chapters the reader was introduced to the background and research
methodology, as well as a dense description was given of the life experiences of
constructed a symbolic bridge to assist the reader to link the findings with the
strategies as proposed by this to make meaningful conclusions about the findings
within a broader context and chapter institutional effectiveness during transformation.
A literature control study was conducted with special reference to education and
training settings. Chapter Four.
The major themes that emerged from the data were:
• Theme 1: Multiple realities on a continuum of institutional effectiveness with
pockets of effectiveness.

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• Theme 2: Factors promoting institutional effectiveness are:
o a culture of teaching, training and learning;
o learner support and caring; and
o staff support and caring.
• Theme 3: Factors impeding institutional effectiveness are:
o inadequate management of the transformation process;
o inadequate management of human capital (staff and learners); and
o inadequate management styles, systems and procedures.
• Theme 4: The silence voice.
From the findings it appears that the lack of candour, management of the
transformation process, human capital, management styles, systems and
procedures constituted negative life experiences. From the literature control study
these experiences and their meanings attached to them by the participants, put a
survival threat to the institution and are detrimental to the well-being of individuals
and the institution.
Masters (1999) highlights that education research should be driven by a clear
purpose and a sense of duty to go further than simply describing and understanding
education practice. Chapter Five’s proposed mental health strategies are taking up
Master’s “duty” by going further than describing” participants’ experiences of
institutional effectiveness during transformation. The proposed mental health

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strategies are about social and emotional intelligence to assist staff to play the life
politics game to deal with their resistance to change in order to survive and to
become authentic. Wildemeersch, Jansen, Vandenabeele and Jans (1998:263)
define life politics as the “…consequences of the way in which we, as human beings,
have the power to transform ourselves and our environment…we have to consider
self-actualisation in the context of global interdependence”.
The proposed mental health strategies that will be discussed in this chapter will be
underpinned by ways to facilitate candour and resilience within the institution by
capacitating individuals to become authentic beings to form an emphatic network of
care and support. According to Goleman (1998:206) persons that are capacitated
cultivate and maintain informal networks, are able to work with others in synergy
towards shared goals and can create and sustain relationships. Promoting mental
health in education and training institutions is essential to the well-being of the
individuals and of the system as a whole. From the literature indications are found
that proof the vital role played by mental health in school settings to examining root
causes, designing ways to improve the school climate, and building positive
relationships within the school environment (Squires & Kranyik, 1996:30).
West (1998:247) proclaims that in conditions of frightening change articulating new
stories and creating more of the self in the process is a socially situated deed. The
story of Silence Truth, a narrative metaphor that was created by the construction of
multiple realities in the previous chapter, will be used as an example how rhetoric

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can be used within a social context in a non-threatening way to
• stimulate candour within the education environment; and
• create understanding and meaning to promote resilience.
According to Rutter (1995:85) resilience may be promoted when focus is placed on
the interaction between people and their experiences and their cognitive processing
thereof, or ways of thinking about their experiences and their concept of themselves
as individuals. The next sections will deal with the strategies to encourage people to
process their experiences in a meaningful way.
5.2 RATIONALE FOR MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGIES
Collins (2001:11) found in their study of great companies that mergers are not the
answer for turning ineffective institutions into effective ones. Mergers play almost no
role in creating a transformation from good to noble; two mediocrities merged
together never make one noble institution.
Stonier (1994:6) indicates that research shows that there are a number of reasons
why people resist change such as:
• Reluctance to be confronted with new positions.
• People have not the capacity to be open to new experiences.
• Tendency to avoid pain, uncertainty and chaos associated with change.
• Fear of the unknown.
• Personal identity is locked into the pattern of the past and/or status quo.

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From the findings as described in Chapter Three, it appears that these may be true
for the college under study.
Senge (Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth & Smith, 1999:33) highlights the vital
role played by people from a systemic point of view in making or breaking institutions.
Organisations are products of the ways people in them think and interact and change
of institutions cannot occur without voluntary change of its people:
• To change organisations for the better, one must give people the opportunity
to change the ways they think and interact.
• No person, and/or increased training, and/or command-and-control
management approaches can train or command other people to alter their
attitudes, beliefs, skills, capabilities, perceptions or level of commitment.
Vilakazi (1995:2) states that effective schools indicate a shift in thinking to whole
school development that includes acknowledgement of the role of the educators.
There should be a new understanding to realise that educators are members of a
social system that have significant power.
Senge (Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth & Smith, 1999:33) states that changes
to make institutions better can only be achieved by changing the way people conduct
their work. People should be given the chance to take part in these actions so that
they will develop a lasting capability for change. In return the institution will get much
greater levels of diversity, commitment, innovation, and talent. However, Senge
(Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth & Smith, 1999:33) stresses that this cannot be

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achieved without the involvement, commitment and blessings of managers that direct
a top-down approach initiative.
When taking a bottom-up approach, spiritual revolution may induce change by
creating conditions facilitating change once a critical mass is realised. De Villiers
(1999:20) is of the opinion that in the previous centuries man created the Industrial
Revolution to prevent his body from dying from hunger, now he creates for him a
Spiritual Revolution because he is dying spiritually. Collins (2001:85) highlights the
vital role people’s choices play when dealing with difficulties in life, also in their
working environment. He continues by stating that a valuable lesson he learnt was
from Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was a prisoner for eight years in the height of the
Vietnam War: “What separates people, Stockdale taught me, is not the presence or
absence of difficulty, but how they deal with the inevitable difficulties of life” (Collins,
2001:85).
It appears from the literature that negative experiences and the meaning attached to
them as indicated by this study, may dissolve in certain “right” institutional conditions.
Collins (2001:11) observed through their research findings that noble institutions
gave slight attention to managing change, motivating people, or creating alignment.
Under the right conditions, the problems of commitment, alignment, motivation, and
change largely disappear.
The question that surfaces is what are the “right conditions”? In this study it
appeared that the “right conditions” might be the promoting factors of institutional
effectiveness and an informal network of support that assembled feelings of

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acceptance and caring. Although it appears that institutional candour was prohibited,
promoting candour in a non-threatening way and the acceptance thereof may prevent
destructive energy from building up in the system.
The proposed mental health strategies therefore should focus on stimulating candour
and strengthening these informal networks to promote resilience. This may be
achieved by assisting staff to identify and/or create understanding and give meaning
to their life experiences, and to create (new) goals that are driven by (new) values
that are “…just behaviors-specific, nitty-gritty, and so descriptive they leave little to
the imagination”. These values served as “marching orders (for people) because
they are the how of the mission, the means to the end-winning” (Welch & Welch,
2005:17).
When rephrasing the above statement, the proposed mental health strategies are
about creating understanding and meaning, as well as (new) individual and
institutional purpose(s)/goals/values by confronting people’s thoughts, feelings and
behaviour. Most probably the strategies will induce and install (new) mutual and
individual values to drive behaviour, promote resilience and transform destructive
energy through stimulating and honouring candour. The challenges are to:
• create understanding and meaning for establishing resilience; and
• align individual and institutional goals (purpose of being).
The psychological theories underpinning the mental health strategies draw heavily on
the humanistic outlook and the principles of existential therapy in searching for
meaning. A humanistic outlook represents a phenomenological standpoint “…which

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stresses the importance of our perceptions of ourselves and of our world in
understanding personality; this worldview emphasizes that, for each individual, reality
is what the individual perceives…stresses a person’s capacity for personal growth,
freedom to choose one’s own destiny, and positive qualities” (Halonen & Santrock,
1996:547). Existential therapy aims at directing and probing clients’ view of the world
by establishing “deep and binding relationship” and “…allowing clients to see that
they share in the difficulties and experiences that arise in trying to deal with the
freedom that is part of being human…Existential therapists try to make their patients
aware of the importance of free choice and the fact that they have the ultimate
responsibility for making their own choices about their lives” (Feldman, 1996:585).
Against this background some of the change axioms as defined by Carman
(2002:12-14) are mindful and can be successful used when formulating mental health
strategies in education and training settings. In conclusion they are adopted by this
study as follows:
• Creating (new) individual and/or shared institutional values
Carman (2002:12-14) is of the opinion that weakness can be managed so the
strengths can be free to develop and become so powerful they make the
weaknesses beside the point. Strategies for achieving this are:
o Honour the past by identifying the strengths and start building on them (what
are we good at, especially proud of, or what makes this college a special
place for learners?)
o Challenge the present (Why do we do this?)

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o Envision the future, but allow changes to take place naturally over time.
According to Carman (2002:12-14) it is essential to be tolerant enough to allow the
vision to arise from the core beliefs.
• Enforcing the value of acceptance and caring
It is helpful to build the college by strengthening the family, the “us” concept, to build
a culture where people feel valued and have a sense of belonging. This axiom is
therefore aimed at increasing the level of intimacy, social and emotional intelligence.
• Enforcing a cultural climate conducive for teaching, training and learning
During institutional transitional periods, and the associated negative experiences,
people can loose their reason for being at the workplace (Hubbard, 1999:25-26).
Therefore, people need to be re-orientated with regard to cultural values for
achieving the institutional goals.
• Self-evaluation
People are invited to monitor their and institutional effectiveness against individual
and group goals on an ongoing basis. Wasley, Hampel and Clark (1997:694)
research study’s findings indicate that faculty’s ability to engage in rigorous self-
analysis directly related to institutional transform efforts for achieving effectiveness in
terms of learner performance.

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5.3 AIM OF MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGIES
Against these change axioms the proposed mental health strategies are aimed to
• stimulate candour;
• preserve and enforce the promoting factors;
• promote resilience to deal with the impeding factors on intrapersonal and
systemic levels; and
• transform destructive energy building up in the system.
Figure 5.1 presents a conceptual map and diagrammatic explanation of the mental
health strategies underlying the proposed strategies resulting from this study. The
aims of the strategies are to empower individual staff members, to create candour
and to build a network of support. The network of support is driven by
understanding, meaning and mutual goals, shared values and the respect for
candour. Through this support network resilience is created that redirect destructive
energy created by the negative experiences of bully like reform initiatives. Individual
staff members have a choice to join the network so that a critical mass can be formed
over time.
Conway and Calzi (1995/1996:46), informed by their consulting research activities,
caution against too fast too impulsive capacitating as it may result in perplexity about
roles and responsibilities and redirect the energies necessary to effect solution. They
accentuate that any restructuring attempt must uphold a primary focus on enhancing

BULLY LIKE
REFORM
INITIATIVES
REDIRECT
DESTRUCTIVE
ENERGY
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Figure 5.1: Gestalt of mental health strategies
NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES
↕
DESTRUCTIVE ENERGY
REDIRECT
DESTRUCTIVE
ENERGY
NETWORK OF SUPPORT
UNDERSTANDING
MEANING
MUTUAL GOALS
SHARED VALUES
RESPECTING CANDOUR
REDIRECT
DESTRUCTIVE
ENERGY
NETWORK CONSISTS
OF CAPACITATED
STAFF MEMBERS
REDIRECT
DESTRUCTIVE
ENERGY

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the teaching/learning process. Although Zigarelli (1996:103) stresses that no
evidence was found that educators’ capacitating are related to learner performance,
it has to be kept in mind that this study is not focussed on learner performance per
se, but on creating mental health strategies to create and sustain personal and
institutional well-being during education transformation.
In wrapping up the mental health strategies’ intentions are comparable to Carman’s
(2002:12) “axioms” that “mitigate the damaging effects of the bully, while shaping the
institution for positive change.” According to Carman (2002:23) this can be achieved
by establishing a workplace that is participatory, pleasurable, and rewarding with the
aim of creating work satisfaction that inspire hard work, strong relationships, and
higher academic achievement. He highlights the essential role humour play within
the workplace.
5.4 THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS UNDERPINNING PROPOSED MENTAL
HEALTH STRATEGIES
An eclectic approach will be used to strategise mental health on an intrapersonal and
a systemic level. It needs to be noted that capacitating individuals and the system
are enforcing each other. The strategies’ success is dependent on the interaction
between these two rudiments. The definition of a system as defined by Napier and
Gershenfeld (1993:295) is applicable to this study: “A system (is) a set of interrelated
elements or units that respond in a predictable manner and where the nature of the
interaction is consistent over time. Thus, a change at any point will eventually have
an impact on the total system and upon its various subparts”. In this study the
“elements”/”units” are regarded to be individual staff members. Therefore,

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capacitating the staff members will impact on the system and vice versa. Steyn
(1999:206) points out that education transformation actions cannot bring about
effective change if they do not focus on the people in the system that are regarded as
the cornerstones to effective development and quality.
The proposed strategies use small group activities as socially situated acts for
inducing action and therefore change within the system as a whole, but also within
individual staff members “…the predictable consequences of a particular action will
yield an array of alternatives from which an effective response can be chosen” (Steyn
1999:301). The exercises grouped as Appendix F are designed in such a way that it
can be used individually, but also as small group activities.
In the light of above described system theory, the researcher is confident that the
mental health strategies that are proposed in this chapter, as informed by the findings
of this study (Chapter Three), will capacitate staff in education and training settings
on grassroots levels. The researcher trust that through the implementation of the
proposed strategies, staff will be able to bounce back at negative life experiences
(resilience) within their working environment and to transform destructive energy
building up in a system during transformation, as well as on a individual level to
become authentic.
Over the last two decades a large number national and international research and
literature are dealing with effective leadership and management styles, practices and
systems in general and specific with regard to education and training settings
(Carman, 2002; Cheng: 1993; Collins, 2001; Commonwealth Secretariat, 1993; De

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Groof, Heystek, Malherbe & Squelch, 2000; Haasbroek, 2000; Kraak & Hall, 1999;
Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth & Smith, 1999; Sukati, 2000; Taylor & Vinjevold,
1999; Welch & Welch, 2005). Leadership and/or management styles and practices
aimed at promoting institutional effectiveness are well researched. Although this
study acknowledges and endorses the fundamental role of leadership and/or
management styles and practices, the purpose of this study is not to duplicate theory.
Instead, this study aims at proposing mental health strategies grounded in its findings
to assist individuals and systems when dealing with negative life experiences such as
caused by bureaucracy within education and training settings during transformation
processes. These strategies most probably will develop and/or sharpen mental
health coping skills on intrapersonal and systemic levels to deal with management
styles and practices causing negative experiences with regard to institutional
effectiveness during education transformation processes.
Maybe some readers will think that this standpoint is not viable in lieu of
management theories. This belief is well grounded in theory, for example by Senge,
Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith (1999:14) who states that one merely has no
plan for escaping the cultural addiction to the legend of the hero-leader.
However, the researcher believes strongly that “you need not to be the victim of your
circumstances, but the creator of your own destiny”. To become the creator of your
own destiny, also within your working environment, it is important to:
• understand and give meaning to your life experiences;
• make informed decisions based on understanding; and

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• drive and manage your behaviour by individual and shared institutional values
to achieve personal and institutional goals.
Understanding creates knowledge that enables a person to rewrite his/her life script
by confronting intrapersonal and/or systemic and/or institutional beliefs and/or values.
Meaning gives a person reason(s) for being, also in a working environment.
In the literature (Collins, 2001:11; Freedman & Combs, 1996:11-12; Hill, 1976:11;
Weis, 2003:122-133; Yanna, 1996:9; Zukav & Francis, 2001:32) compliance is found
for becoming “a creator of your own destiny” by exercising authentic power. Being
authentic enables a person to confront the leadership myth namely, that one is the
“victim” of one’s working circumstances and leadership dictates one’s
happiness/fulfilment even in the work situation. Collins (2001:11) takes the position
that immensity is not a function of circumstance, but a matter of conscious choice.
Freedman and Combs (1996:11-12), narrative therapists, declare that they learnt
valuable lessons in their practice through the work done by the psychoanalytic
expert, Erickson. Some of these lessons are that there are multiple possible realities
and that people can re-author their lives. According to Yanna (1996:9) “You hold the
remote control to the channels of energy what create both your attitude and your
results in life”. Weis (2003:133) echoed Freedman and Combs’ (1996:11-12)
account about their lessons that they learnt that you are able to change your future
and there are tools for doing so. It is a matter of choice. If you choose not to, then
you’ve become an active catalyst for your own deadly destination. People are
sufferers of their own deeds, but they can choose to stop being sufferers at any time
whenever they wish (Weiss, 2003:122). Hill (1976:11) strongly believes that all

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people live the life that they choose: “…It is logical that by giving every person the
complete control over his thinking the Creator intended this to be a priceless asset,
and it is precisely that, because the mind is the one and only means by which an
individual may plan his own life and live it as he chooses”. Zukav and Francis
(2001:32) echo Hill’s (1976:11) viewpoint that people create and use authentic power
as part of their spiritual journey: “We are awakening to ourselves as the creators of
our experiences, and our responsibility for what we create”.
Changing the victim role is not only an individual undertaking, but is applicable to
social systems such as education and training institutions. Vilikazi (1995:3) states
that changing social systems like schools the emphasis should be on capacity
building with regard to decision-taking practices. The main goal should be to perk up
the institution’s capacity to create its own destiny through creating and supporting
decision taking structures at all levels of the school.
Ambrose (1996:25) is of the opinion that for schools to endure and flourish in
changing times, educators must overcome serious organisational and contextual
barriers that inhibit innovation in the schools. Ambrose (1996:25) continues by
saying creative strategies are needed to stimulate creative thought and action. This
seems to be true too for the South African education and training institutions as
indicated by this study’s findings.
Creative strategies to discover alternative multiple realities to facilitate understanding,
meaning and alternative decision-taking are not thorny abstract schemes. In fact,
Welch and Welch (2005:165) regard a strategy as ”a living, breathing, totally dynamic

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game. It’s fun-and fast. And it’s alive”. According to these authors strategies are not
complex, because “In real life, strategy is actually very straightforward. You pick a
general direction and implement like hell.”.
Welch and Welch (2005:172) are of the opinion that people have to make strategies
real to become winners and “To do that, you need to debate, grapple with, wallow in,
and finally answer questions”. For successful implementation of strategies people
have to understand what they are doing, who are involved, how it is to be
implemented and the time line.
Continuous assessment is necessary to ensure successful implementation and
achieving the desired outcomes. Morrice and Patterson (1995:28) are of the opinion
that accountability methods are needed to trace effectiveness and set direction for
the rendering of education services. Traditionally accountability measures were
quantitative in nature. Currently there appears to be shift by including more
qualitative methods aimed at self-assessment. Winter, Newton and Kirkpatrick
(1998:399) conclude their research paper by saying that at a time when schools are
focused by reform initiatives to improve learner outcomes, it is significant for both
principals and educators to bond work values with school performance. Educators
need to investigate seriously their normative frameworks that are underpinned by
values, beliefs, and commitments.
In striving for personal and institutional autonomy, it is essential that the goals and
objectives as formulated by the self and the different faculties form the basis of

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assessment activities (Vroeijenstijn, 1990:34). BESA (1998:2) defines self-
assessment as a “process of reviewing in a systematic way” the following:
• What have been achieved?
• What are the opportunities for further improvement?
• The linkages between what is done and the results that need to be achieved.
The different proposed strategies, as well as techniques to approach and implement
these strategies will be discussed separately under the following headings:
• Strategy for enforcing promoting factors for institutional effectiveness.
• Strategy for searching meaning.
• Strategy for letting go of the past.
• Strategy for becoming authentic.
Strategies will be discussed under the following headings:
• Synopsis of applicable findings.
• Theory underpinning applicable strategy.
• Aim of strategy.
• Proposed techniques for implementation.
Please note that the strategies inform each other as they are focussed on creating
understanding and meaning by stimulating candour and promoting resilience for the
individual and/or the system as a whole. Dawes (1991:335) accentuates the
important role people play in contributing to problems through the meanings people
give without acknowledging the roles they play and the blame they place on the
politicians, the system, the corporations, and the media. Johnson, Snyder, Anderson
and Johnson (1993:15) highlight the interdependence between various factors such

170
as the school system and its clients, and of work and professional development,
relationship of work culture when assessing school outcomes.
Although only four strategies are described in this chapter that are grounded in the
study’s findings, the findings are so rich that a careful analysis of the data will result
in many more strategies to be developed for addressing the sad situation.
Addressing all the problematic areas as identified by this study will not be possible for
logistical reasons. The focus of this study is on mental health strategies. The
researcher regarded these four strategies as core aspects forming the basis of a
mental health plan.
For clarity purposes the use of the key concepts used in this chapter will be
explained in more detail.
o Candour
Candour means the quality of being open and honest and not afraid of articulation
(adapted from Pearsall, 1999:203).
o Knowledge
The study adopts Hart’s (2001:35) definition of knowledge. “Knowledge involves the
development of systems of information instead of discrete pieces. Gaining
knowledge means constructing patterns of information and implies the basic ability to
use information” (Hart, 2001:35).

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“The way we know affects both what we know and ultimately who we are, our state of
being and well-being. Our style of knowing may invite us to meet the world as a
problem to be solved, as beauty to behold, or as a concept to categorize” (Hart,
2001:65).
o Understanding
Hart’s (2001:87) definition for understanding is used by this study. “The word
‘understanding’ means literally ‘standing among’. This implies crossing boundaries
inherent in ‘standing apart from’ and moves toward intimacy and empathy. This
opens the door to a richer perception that transforms information and, along with it,
the self who is perceiving” (Hart, 2001:87).
o Meaning
“The meaning of meaning…is to set the pace of being. Meaning must not coincide
with Being, meaning must be ahead of being. Meanings…are not transmitted by
tradition…Individual meanings are unique, pertaining to a concrete, specific situation
experience by a unique person…Meanings are not transmitted by anything, they
have to be found, discovered, un-covered, either by oneself or with the help…”
(Havenga Coetzer, 2003:62-63).

o Resilience
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Resilience is the ability to withstand and/or recover from difficult conditions “to
bounce back after being emotional bent, stressed or compressed” (adapted from
Pearsall, 1999:1218).
o Values
“Values can be defined as universal meanings” (Havenga Coetzer, 2003:62) that
serve as drivers for behaviour (adapted from Pearsall, 1999:1584).
Most of the strategies include small group activities as proposed implementation
techniques for the strategies. Informal small groups such as support and/or interest
groups that assemble during breaks or after college hours can be used to facilitate
candour and resilience, and it can be fun. Elskie (2004:3) is of the opinion that
informal groups are created spontaneously from relationships such as when
educators share similar problems, responsibilities, interests and passions.
Tofte (1995:478) suggests social gatherings with the aims of getting people together
and to know each other can make the transformation process a joyful experience.
Napier and Gershenfeld (1993:320) are of the opinion that because small group
activities are interactive elements of human systems, they have the power to inhibit
system breakdown by recognising the nature of the multifaceted relationships in their
system and acting with a consciousness of consequences. By asking hard

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questions, participants can get a true understanding of the multifaceted system in
which they are caught up and learn to interfere in a positive manner.
Roux and Kotzè (2002:146) regard questions as “generative actions”, because “they
generate new possibilities as the seemingly impossible invites us to extent our
possibilities”. Questions are powerful facilitating tools to invite candour “…when we
dare to live…between what we know and what we do not know, between what can
be said and what is not yet said. The more we expand the territory of the possible or
the said, the larger the territory of the impossible becomes, or the more remains to be
said” (Roux & Kotzè, 2002:146). The researcher developed lists of questions that
maybe used to direct small group discussions and/or other small group activities.
These exercises with questions can be used by a person independently for authentic
capacitating. These lists are grouped as exercises at the end of the theses (see
Appendix F: List of exercises for individual and group capacity building activities).
The strategies will now be discussed under its headings as explained.
5.4.1 Strategy for enforcing promoting factors for institutional effectiveness
• Synopsis of applicable findings.
The culture of teaching, training and learning, learner support, as well as the informal
network of support resulted in feelings of appreciation, gratitude, as well as
acceptance and caring. These are present in the presence of negative experiences
with regard to management styles, practices and systems, the way human capital
(learners and staff) is managed and the lack of candour.

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These findings concur with the study of Mwamwenda (1995:86). It was founded in
the study that the positive relationship existing between educators, as well as people
and activities that had a direct bearing on the work, related to job satisfaction
amongst educators.
Hubbard (1999:28-29) warns about the power situated within informal networks that
can either strengthen or result in the total break down of an institution. Word of
mouth can spread very quickly via the existing informal information channels with the
outcome of “a mass psychological revolt against the perpetrator” creating many of
the problems. Thus it is vital that the informal networks should be functional by
adding value to personal and institutional well-being. In this case the findings
implicated that the informal networks “glue” the institution together through a network
of support creating feelings of acceptance and care. If one agrees with the notion
stated by Meyer (1998b) that reality is socially constructed, it has to be
acknowledged that cultural, social and psychological factors should be regarded as
just as genuine as physical objects. Therefore strengthening factors that cannot be
perceived by the senses is just as essential than focusing on and changing the
physical realities in the working environment.
• Theory underpinning applicable strategy
According to theory, certain widespread misconceptions are present with regard to
human capital such as the following.

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Welch and Welch (2005:117) confront the misconception that companies comprise of
everything except human beings “…companies are not buildings, machines, or
technologies. They are people.” Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith
(1999:13) acknowledge the contribution made by thoughtful executives that they are
aware that many top management initiatives are not effective and they often make
matters worse. A common misconception is that effective leaders are occupying
hierarchical institutional posts. However, Collins (2001:37) declares that effective
leaders are all around us and can be found in situations where unexpected results
exist but where no individual claims the credit. These appear to be applicable on the
school setting as well. According to Meier (1998:359) “Good schools are filled with
particulars – including particular human beings. And it is these human beings that lie
at their heart, that explain their surprising successes. In fact, it is these particulars
that inspire the passions of those involved and draw upon the best in each”.
Indications for strengthening supportive networks and the positive effects it has on
institutional effectiveness are well grounded in theory. These support networks
assist people with self-motivation, self-discipline directing their behaviour because
they share values and have mutual goals. Carman (2002:52-53) states that it is
much more productive use of time to use the strengths of the high performers to set
the performance standard, rather than to work with mediocrity. High performance is
very much linked to common goals, shared values and support. Collins (2001:88-98)
argues that investing time and energy to motivate people is a waste of effort. If you
have the right people, they will be self-motivated. The key to success is to not de-
motivate people. Newman (1998:294) argues the important role of shared values in

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education transformation. Changing educators requires discussions about the values
underpinning everyday decisions educators and administrators make.
Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith (1999:104) emphasise that the
stronger the thoughtful change processes, the greater the need for coaching,
guidance, and support. If the help available to people is insufficient, the
effectiveness of the change initiative suffers and learning capabilities fall short to
develop. Morrice and Patterson (1995:28) proclaim that working partnerships is one
of the effective moves towards learning through communicating, interacting,
experiencing, choosing and reflecting.
Collins (2001:13) underlines the essential role of self-discipline for great
performance. According to the author all institutions have culture while some have
discipline. However, few institutions have a “culture of discipline.” In cases of
disciplined people and disciplined thought, hierarchy and bureaucracy are not
needed. Disciplined action, do not require excessive controls. The combination of a
culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, results in the “magical alchemy
of great performance”.
Formal introduced mentorship programmes may not be successful. Employment
equity legislation in South Africa demands from institutions specific mentorship
programmes to transfer skills. Wingrove (2002:10) is of the opinion that in this formal
mentorship relationship a mentor and the protégé can get stuck in multicultural views
because cultural orientation may be unfamiliar or unacceptable or not appropriate in
the evolving Africanised business environment.

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A softer and more acceptable approach is promoting informal mentorship relations.
Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith (1999:129) use the example of Mike
Rowe to explain the vital role of informal advisers directing each other in a working
environment by establishing a culture of self-direction and team building. Senge,
Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith (1999:129) use another example of O’Brien
to point out the value of mentorship on an informal level for promoting growth and
candour. “A mentor relationship involves two people - who may or may not report to
one another - who pay special attention to each other’s development. Often, an elder
will foster the growth of a younger person, but the great mentoring relationships are
reciprocal. Either way, it’s an extraordinarily valuable asset”. Senge, Kleiner,
Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith (1999:129) stress that if twenty percent of the people
engaged in mentoring relationships, it will raise the thought and quality of discussion
among the other eighty percent. The twenty percent will assist in creating a culture
of thinking about more essentials.
Lemmer (1996:114-115) is of the opinion that mentors are informal in nature referring
to practical everyday wisdom that comes from years of experience that provides
assistance for personal development within the working environment. In the South
African education and training context Dreyer (1998:111) lists a number of benefits
provided by a mentorship encapsulating personal and professional development and
network development.
Therefore, informal networks can give support and hope, as well as create and
sustain institutional candour by creating a pressure valve for dealing with unfair

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practices. The informal networks can assist individuals by assisting them with
understanding and meaning, as well as in assisting them with alterative possibilities.
According to Collins (2001:250) the ideal is to strengthen freedom of choice and
reducing blame.
Collins (2001:85, 88-89) identified key points for institutional survival, effectiveness
and greatness, emphasising the vital role played by candour and dealing with
unfairness of everyday life. Amongst other these include:
o Dealing with the realities of life by tackling the fierce facts of present realities,
because life can be unfair sometimes to one’s advantage, sometimes to one’s
disadvantage. What differentiates people is how they cope with the predictable
difficulties of life.
o Creating candour by being honest and diligent to determine the truth of your
situation, the right decisions often become self-evident.
o Establishing a culture conducive to candour. A basic task for an institution to
become noble is to create a culture wherein people have the opportunity to be
heard and, ultimately, for the truth to be heard.
o Believing in oneself (the Stockdale Paradox) by retaining self-confidence and
not giving up hope by having absolute faith that one can and will prevail in the
end, while at the same time meet the most fiercest facts of one’s current
reality.

• Aim of strategy
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The study aims at promoting a culture for teaching, training and learning, as well as
strengthening systemic informal networks to manage weaknesses so the strengths
can be free to develop and become so powerful they make the weaknesses
irrelevant as suggested by Carman (2002:13). (New) individual and mutual
institutional goals underpin by shared values can achieve this aspiration.
• Proposed techniques
Proposed ideas for enforcing promoting factors for institutional effectiveness are
small group activities such as small group discussions, and informal mentorship
activities. These activities will assist in building a climate of truth and trust as a
supportive atmosphere is created for voices to be heard. Collins (2001:88-89)
suggests that a climate where the truth is heard involves four basic practices namely,
the following.
• Lead with questions, not answers.
• Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion.
• Conduct autopsies, without blame.
• Build red flag mechanisms that turn information into information that cannot be
ignored.

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Exercise 1 (see Appendix F) is an example of questions that can be asked during
small group activities, mentorship, as well as in a person’s personal capacity to
facilitate candour. This exercise will assist staff members to identify their goals,
mutual institutional goals and shared values.
Participating in small group activities by directing the group discussion by using
Exercise 1 (see Appendix F) can contribute in the establishing of informal mentorship
relationship activities to facilitate support and career growth. Informal mentorship
can be offered for solutions if indicated as such by questions 12, 14 and 15 of
Exercise 1 (see Appendix F).
5.4.2 Strategy for searching meaning
• Synopsis of applicable finding
Participants revealed that the management of human capital of staff resulted in
negative lived experiences and associated meanings ranging from loosing their
meaning and interest in the workplace to feelings of dissatisfaction, negativity,
stagnation, lost of productivity, mistrust, frustration, desperation, conflict, anger and
infringement of their human rights. Wessels and Kotzè (2002:131) state that persons
are disempowered by and fall victim to change. This takes place especially in
institutions with a hierarchical management structure where the “victims’ voices do
not matter”. This seems to be true for this case.

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• Theory underpinning applicable strategy
Wessels and Kotzè (2002: 129) argues that the lonely voice should be heard as it is
a requirement for making sense out of the environment and for adjustment and
flexibility. Nias (1993:148) states that link to purpose and meaning are changes that
interrupt the patterns of relationship upon which individuals or groups depend. These
changes threaten their capability to experience life as meaningful, despite the
rationality of these changes.
Nias (1993:144) argues that the lonely voice is not only common to the South African
education and training context. She uses the example of English “schools, as
organizations, often see to discourage the development….of a common vocabulary
with agreed meanings…consensus is based upon individual ideas which has not
been modified through the contact with others’ perspectives, it soon breaks down,
deepening practitioners’ sense that they have little to gain from talking to one
another”.
The lonely voice should be heard to make transformation processes successful.
When “victims” of transformation processes are empowered by allowing them to
voice, resilience is promoted. One off the most powerful tools to develop rhetoric and
resilience in the workplace is through stories. Wessels and Kotzè (2002:126-127)
are of the opinion that stories offer meaningful means to understand people’s
workplace experiences, and how it affects their lives. If change fits in well with their
career, workplace and preferred life stories, meaning and congruence follow.

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According to Hudson and McLean (1995:49) life is about authoring one’s life memoir.
They explain it as an “autobiography unfolding, a never-finished sculpture, a life in
progress with chapters of external achievement and accomplishment followed by
periods of internal rearrangement and renewal”. The momentary destinations people
reach are not as significant than their ability to manage and enjoy the journey itself.
• Aim of strategy
The aim of this strategy is to enable people to search for understanding and meaning
by structuring and restructuring their stories of institutional effectiveness during
transformation processes. The challenge of this strategy is to find a technique to
implement the strategy on a non-threatening manner to enable the lonely voice to be
heard.
• Proposed technique for implementation
The creative use of Silence Truth’s story can become a valuable tool for unlocking
meaning and resilience. The Story of Silence Truth (Chapter Four) used as a
narrative metaphor together with the associated Exercise 2 (see Appendix F) can
stimulate the creation of new metaphors or “generative metaphors”. Schön
(1993:138) argues that problem situations are arbitrated by the “stories” people tell
about bothersome situations. In these stories people usually depict what is wrong
and what needs to be put right. People can dictate the figures of speech, elaborate
its hypothesis and investigate their suitability in the present situation.

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Schön (1993:158-160) continues by saying that the cognitive work of restructuring
draws upon the richness of qualities and relations that are to be found in the concrete
situation to form new descriptions. The associated Exercise 2 (see Appendix F)
facilitates these processes of frame restructuring and metaphor generating as directly
related processes. Participants may bring to the situation dissimilar and conflicting
perceptions and descriptions of their concrete situation. In the context of a particular
concrete situation, the participants have to work at the restructuring of their original
descriptions by regrouping, reordering, and renaming essentials and relations. They
have to select new qualities and relations from their observation of the concrete
situations. Being involved in the process assist them to implant a new, coordinated
description. Schön (1993:160) calls the cognitive work that is common to the
integration of conflicting frames and generating metaphors, as well as the shared
process involved “frame restructuring and frame coordination”.
The generative metaphor can be used by persons in an individual manner to re-
author their work-related stories, as well as part of small group activities when the
exercise is used in a group setting. By structuring and restructuring the story of
Silence Truth and by generating new stories, participants are empowered by
understanding enabling them to discover meaning in their own situation and to find
possible alternative solutions for problematic situations.
What precious is when using narrative metaphors like suggested in the case of
Silence Truth’ story to construct people’s stories, is that people can develop their
selfconcept, give account for themselves of themselves and find and live alternative

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stories. Freedman and Combs (1996:16) argue that people can start reside in and
live out their alternative stories with the results of solving their problems, they can live
out new self-images, new possibilities for relationships and the best of all a new
future. By telling their own stories, people give themselves an identity.
Narratives can be used with success in education and training settings as explained
by Hopkins (1994:3). According to this author the narrative suggestion relies on a set
of meanings that will facilitate educators to view experience more understandingly as
a source of learning in the living world of people. It will assist them to open
themselves with ease, control and order, as well as to human diversity. Educators
and learners can benefit by using narratives to make sense of teaching, training and
learning. According to Hopkins (1994:xvii) it enables them to find meaning to lives,
as well as in aiding life experience to give meaning to schooling. Narratives have
great power to reduce confused and messy experiences.
5.4.3 Strategy for letting go of the past
• Synopsis of applicable finding
From the findings of the study it is observed that people express their losses by
referring to the nice place that existed before the merged college was installed.
Participants articulated feelings and forms of behaviour such as lack of purpose and
lost of interest, negativity, stagnation, lost of productivity, frustration, desperation,
anger and conflict. These may indicate “symptoms” of “systemic depression”.
According to the DSM-IV (1994:327) the criteria for a major depressive episode

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include amongst other lost of interest or pleasure, psychomotor retardation, and loss
of energy. It appears that the staff struggled to come to terms with what was lost and
belonged to the past.
• Theory underpinning applicable strategy
According to Nias (1993:149) grief is created when a person is dealing with
conflicting desires. On the one hand people try to stick on to that which is lost and by
doing so conventional meanings are kept. In order to break away from it, they have
to construct new meanings so life can get a renewed purpose. People deal
differently with their losses, they may try to deny it, forget it, and/or refuse to give
outward expression to their sense of loss. If people are not assisted in dealing with
their lost on a constructive manner, it may prohibits the continuation of a new life by
stopping or directing into uncreative channels energy which is needed for the
creating of new (“fresh”) meaning.
Nias (1993:150) continues to explain that especially in the case of educators
professional bereavement is very difficult as they are socialised into a personal
respect and occupational need for control. Educators are therefore very susceptible
to the threat of meaninglessness, with its associated chaos. She states that this
crisis can be resolved by a reintegration of meaning whereby neither the past nor the
lost are denied, but new meaning is redefined in terms of the present and the future.

• Aim of strategy
186
It is important that people share their experiences with each other to enable them to
identify a “common loss” in preparation to find a “common goal” as they construct
new meanings which will give life renewed purpose. The aim of this strategy is to
assist staff to deal with their professional lost and to find new meaning as redefined
by the present and future.
• Proposed techniques for implementation
Exercise 3 (see Appendix F) is a composition of questions to enable education and
training institutions to deal with their losses during a merging process, and to find
new meaning for the present and future. When assisting people to acknowledge the
good and the bad of the past, they are given the opportunity to voice their
bereavement. Rituals are very powerful tools to assist people to deal with their grief
and to make peace with the past.
By recognising and acknowledging professional losses and accepting grief as a
natural process, staff can be assisted in letting go of the past and reaching out to the
future that redefines their purpose in a new context. For example a symbolic funeral
of the past that acknowledged the good and the bad through a funeral letter can be
incorporated in the celebrations of a new entity. These rituals assist people to
connect the past, present and future in a constructive manner.

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The story of Silence Truth and the generative metaphors, as well as the answers to
Exercise 3’s questions (see Appendix F) and their associated meaning can be used
as guidelines for a script/sketch of a play/drama. Willis (1999:107) is of the opinion
that sketching stories of significant moments of practice carries dramatic qualities
that vibrantly brings out the structure of the lived experience. Taylor (2000:1) argues
that drama praxis can help people transform, act, and reflect upon the human
condition. This process attained aesthetic understanding as functional and
communication skills are developed and social habits refined (Taylor, 2000:4). The
value of story drama and storying is that drama praxis has the splendid capacity of
allowing people to face up to their own behaviours in action and scrutinise such
behaviours from a variety of perspectives (Taylor, 2000:71).
5.4.4 Strategy for becoming authentic
• Synopsis of applicable findings
In this particular situation the central theme that emerged from the data is that voices
were hushed by example through manipulation and threats of punishment. These
practices appear to endanger the emotional well-being of staff and of the institution
by creating fear. This was done through strict conservative education management
styles that were lacking effective transformation leadership qualities in an
environment featured by dysfunctional systems and procedures. This is further
assented by a subcategory that emerged from the data that signalled professional
abuse practices denying professional integrity and recognition. The strategy for
becoming authentic encapsulates all the other strategies. Together with the other

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strategies that stimulate candour and promote resilience, a strategy that promotes
authentic capacity can be very risky for the person.
The strategy to become authentic in itself entails questioning authority (Hart,
2001:131). This strategy may increase the risk of professional and emotional
abusive practices and does not necessarily improve institutional effectiveness.
Bovens (1998:198) states that research does not indicate any relationship between
voice and institutional performance. According to the author (Hart, 2001:131-132) no
obvious relationship between voice and institutional performance could be
recognised. This seems to become a catch-22 dilemma. The solution for this
predicament is to be found in developing authentic capacity that is the “…capacity for
ethical and intelligent choices and wise action…to overcome the intimidation of
authority in order to dialogue and dance with it” (Hart, 2001:132).
Questioning authority in education and training institutions may open further debate,
criticism and resistance on all levels. Even the debates on the national assembly
contested that a lack of authority in South African schools can signal the entrance
into a state of emergency in education (Hansard, 2 June 1998:3581). Seedat and
Nell (1992:191) are of the opinion that in bureaucratic institutions, managerial
personnel increase their own authority by intensifying their subordinates’ uncertainty.
For this reason programmes aimed at promoting emotionality and empathy is usually
met with resistance. This happens from the perceived danger it poses to well-
rehearsed internal scripts of authority, power and emotionality.

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Niehaus, Myburgh and Kok (1996:110) accentuate that the extent to which educators
succeed in “holding their own professionally and personally” (coping strategies) is
vital for their teaching and training, and their overall well-being and the well-being of
their learners. Fitz-enz (2000:xiii) states that fulfilling work is its own reward for a
person, no other forms of compensation can match up against it. The most
significant issue is how fulfilled people are in their work. According to Fitz-enz
(2000:xiii) no reward can restore the soul of a person who has spent his or her life in
“mindless toil”. Fitz-enz (2000:xiii) argues that not even a modicum of economic
comfort can prevail over the bitterness of such an experience.
Against this background the strategy for becoming authentic is a very risky
undertaking. This strategy implies that individuals have to make ultimate choices for
living out their decisions and to pay the ultimate price for the choices they make,
even so in their working environment.
• Theory underpinning applicable strategy
From the literature it appears that people are most willing to let their voices be heard.
Wagner (1993:26) states that everybody longed for the request to become more
involved and to have a voice. Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith
(1999:205) argue that most managers and employees have the wish and capacity to
put their ideas into actions. People get frustrated when their liberty to act and speak
out is muffled.

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This study’s findings indicated a working environment infringing the psychological
safety of a person. This can result in further destructive behaviour and the creation
of a false working self and eventual total emptiness of the self: “If you don’t fulfil your
own joy with your work-life plan, one day you’ll wake up in a special kind of hell,
where everyone is happy but you” (Welch & Welch, 2005:334). One way how people
can fulfil themselves is by exercising free choice. People satisfy themselves only in
free decisions when they hug and realise the richness of their own beings and take
responsibility for it (Du Toit, 2001:17). Du Toit’s (2001:17) view is concurred by
Collins (2001:24) who suggests optimal institutional culture is to be built around
liberty and responsibility. However, Bovens (1998:132) argues that responsibility
does not always bring joy. Responsibility is accompanied with stress, anxiety, and a
certain amount of self-sacrifice. In Vandermere’s (2005:166) narrative metaphor
about reaching human potential, sacrifices form an integral part of ensuing a
meaningful life. This may imply that the spiritual journey one chooses to undertake
may be featured by psychological killings in looking for meaning: “And they know that
without that (sacrifice) which the name stood for, they would have accomplish
nothing, even their own names would have no meaning as life would indeed have no
meaning.”
Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth and Smith (1999:245-246) are of the opinion
that without psychological safety people will not be able to negotiate and commit
themselves. People do not have the self-assurance in themselves and others to
confer difficult issues that may not have simple answers. In spite of how they are
expressed, anxiety and fear affect people’s enthusiasm and willingness to commit to
any transformational initiative. The fundamental boundaries that people are colliding

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with are the capacity for openness, the level of psychological safety and trust.
Enhanced learning capabilities and psychological safety are the two basic providers
for developing the capacity for openness.
Emotional safety encourages frankness and risk-taking. Fear is blocking emotional
energy that is needed for becoming authentic “…what holds us back from engaging
in authentic dialogue is fear: fear of revealing our true feelings, or exposing our own
vulnerabilities or putting ourselves at risk…”, because fear signifies the emotional
state of not feeling emotional safe “Se comes from the Latin, meaning without, cure
means fear. Secure means without fear, not afraid to express ideas, not afraid to ask
questions” (Cooper & Sawaf, 1997:79).
Cooper and Sawaf (1997:78-83) suggest in order to overcome fear a person needs
to address fear on different levels, namely by authentic communication, congruency
and honesty, as well as forgiveness that needs a strong, inner sense of alike human
worth and emotional fitness.
Authentic persons not only want to make their voice heard, they make their voice
heard, also in cases of disagreement that require boldness. Cooper and Sawaf
(1997:78) define courageous speech as authentic speech when you ”…want to give
voice to heartfelt ideas and perspectives, and to have our voice heard by the powers
that be…To look a leader in the eye and credibly deliver a sharply differing opinion or
question…”.

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Authentic communication is also about listening with one’s ears, mind and heart:
“…listening is a matter of paying deep, genuine attention, with eyes open and seeing,
mind open and learning, heart open and feeling” (Cooper & Sawaf, 1997:78). De
Klerk (1998:22) argues that emphatic listening is a difficult skill for educators because
they are so familiar to lecturing or speaking to others that they often lose the ability to
be good listeners. They are used to recommend their own spectacles or
perspectives for everyone with whom they interrelate. Few educators develop and
apply the skills of emphatic listening.
The above cannot be achieved when people are not honest towards themselves,
being true to themselves. They need to recognise and identify their true emotional
feelings. They need to express it in an honest and congruent manner towards
themselves and to others. They need to value the feelings of others, need to value
congruency and they need to speak up when it’s not present (Cooper & Sawaf,
1997:81-83).
Another fundamental of authentic capacity is the ability to forgive. Forgiveness is
about choices people make to either release or to obstruct emotional energy from
flowing, to stay the victim of their circumstances or to become the creator of their own
destiny. Cooper and Sawaf (1997:79) are of the opinion that through forgiveness
people are able to change suffering caused by their mistakes and from being hurt by
others into new forms of energy to enable them to move forward. Forgiveness
depends on choice, and partly on compassion.

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According Du Toit (2001:27) free choice is one of the key elements of self-
transcendence. Self-transcendence “means to be able to surpass one’s limitations
and perceptions about one’s self-to live for a purpose higher than oneself. It is desire
within a person, to give more of himself to others” (Du Toit, 2001:49). People can
only give themselves if they have developed empathy from their own lived
experiences: “The best way that we can do is to interpret the experience of others;
that is the expressions of their experience as they go about the business of
interpreting it for themselves…And to interpret the expressions (and thus the
interpretations of others), we have to rely upon our own lives’ experience and
imagination…’empathy’ is a critical factor in the interpretation or understanding of the
experiences of others” (White, 1992:78-79). According to Hart (2001:89) empathy is
one of the key elements needed to shape one’s understanding “The heart of
understanding is cultivated through empathy, appreciation, openness,
accommodation, service, listening, and loving presence”.
Hart (2001:146) is of the opinion that a relationship with the self and others will flow
natural from a process where awareness and toleration for the self and others are
treasured. The degree of openness to experience awareness includes people’s own
immediate sphere of perception and appreciation for others. An open heart,
awareness of suffering, and deep compassion follow from awareness and
appreciation. As people tolerate their own actions and openly and truthfully observe
themselves they grow a tolerance for others.
Therefore, transformation is very much linked to the choices people make. True
transformation should originate within themselves, depending on the choices and

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actions they exercise and/or not exercise, their decisions and the sacrifices they are
willing to make. True transformation gives the impression that it is a contradictory
process that entails exercising free choice and the making of sacrifices (to sacrifice
being the victim of circumstances). “Transformation is a movement toward increasing
wholeness that simultaneously pushes toward diversity and uniqueness, becoming
more uniquely who they are, and toward unity, recognising how much they have in
common with the universe and even recognition that we they are the universe. In
this way, self-actualisation and self-transcendence do not contradict one another;
instead they form part of the same process” (Hart, 2001:150). However, the person
should be prepared to take pain that is intrinsically part of the life package for living a
meaningful life and growth. A person, who is not willing to risk pain, has to go
without the many things in life that makes life alive, meaningful and significant (Scott
Peck, 1978:142).
This seems to be true for the working self in an education and training setting as well.
Taylor, Diphofa, Waghmarae, Vinjevold and Sedibe (1999:22) state that the
progressive plan sees professionalism amongst educators as fundamental to
achieving its vision. That implies that educators must have the knowledge and
confidence to make decisions about their learners and their needs that can be called
occupational autonomy. Autonomy requires wisdom that steer an authentic life by
continuously asking “…who we are and who we are becoming. Wisdom seeks self-
knowledge through the heart of understanding turned inward. This unfolding
revelation is a movement toward an authentic life” (Hart, 2001:126). Although
programme 2 of the education department’s corporate plan for 2000 to 2004 is
named “school effectiveness and teacher professionalism” (Department of

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Education,n.d.:12-16) no references are to be found to enhance professional
autonomy other than enforcing existing bureaucratic practices.
When scrutinising the literature on education autonomy it seems that tension exists
between professional autonomy and institutional autonomy. De Groof (2000:206)
assigns this tension to conflicting and one-sided definitions given to the phenomenon
by different education role players and stakeholders. De Groof (2000:206) continues
by pointing out that they are separate ideas, although aspects of the same reality that
should be underpinned by co-responsibility.
Institutional and professional autonomy within education and training settings and
personal autonomy can be regarded as extremities that may incapacitate and create
tension for the development of autonomy for education and training institutions and
individuals. This can be ascribed to historical reasons because the extremely
centralised and authoritarian nature of education administration and control in South
Africa has not promoted educator empowerment. The apartheid system of education
has served to disempower educators by preventing them form having a voice in basic
aspects of education (Steyn & Squelch, 1997:5). This seems not only applicable for
South Africa. Pryor (1998:225) points out the absence of a culture of critical
reflective practises amongst educators in Ghana, West Africa that he attributes to the
lack of professional development activities.
International research findings indicated that a balance should be sought between an
institution’s ability to preserve its distinctive character and to avoid abusive practices
aimed at securing its vision and mission. Injustices may occur in the treatment of

196
staff and learners. Educators may feel that their personal rights are better protected
by institutions that have limited autonomy (Glenn, 2000:180).
The accent on protecting individual rights more than collective rights is well in line
with international education change trends such as in Eastern Germany “The ‘new’
system emphasises individual responsibility, self-actualization, selectivity, and
competitiveness whereas collectivity, unitarianism, subordination, security and caring
that were strong underpinnings of the old system are de-emphasized” (Weiler,
Mintrop & Fuhrmann, 1996:105).
Mungazi and Walker (1997:170) conclude their arguments by stating that the idea of
education reform is an underpinning necessity of national development when it is
directed toward the development of the individual as a result of education innovation.
These embrace the concepts of self and freedom of choice.
In conclusion, external transformation processes can be successful once internal
transformation processes within the person are realised. In education and training
settings this seems to be proper for staff and learners. If staff becomes authentic,
then it can ripple through to their learners: “The educator’s role includes helping to
find the song that sings in the students and helping him to or her learn to sing it.”
(Hart, 2001:127). If educators cannot find their own songs and learn how to sing it,
how can the educators assist the learners in finding their songs?

• Aim of strategy
197
The aim for the strategy for becoming authentic, or not, is well captured by one’s
answer to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s(1981:ix) existential question “If it were not for our
inner knowledge that we are on this earth plane for a relatively short time, then why
should we strive for perfection, for love and peace, if it were not for the desire to
leave this place a little bit better, a little bit more human than when we entered it?”
(Kübler-Ross 1981:ix).
This strategy and the associated aim are dependent purely on individual choices
people take and the sacrifices they are prepared to make in their own time and
space. This belongs to the soul and cannot be forced by others or by external
factors.
• Proposed techniques for implementation
The use of narratives can be very valuable in becoming authentic as people through
narratives have the opportunity to construct and live out their new life stories to
become the owners of their life stories and the creators of their own destinies.
Narratives can add value to education and training settings in assisting educators
and learners to become creative thinkers and to become authentic social
accountable beings.
In comparing the findings it seems that South African and America have a lot in
common when relating to narratives within the school context: “Opportunities for

198
narrative are systemically suppressed in the name of discipline and order. So the
materials of schooling are prevented from delivering narrative meanings; this they
often are not learned; they pass out of the conscious as waste material, undigested
and unintegrated” (Hopkins, 1994:xvii).
The story of Silence Truth can be used as a guide in assisting people to understand
the candour phenomenon, and sacrifices that need to be made in becoming
authentic. Exercises 4 - 6 (see Appendix F) create reflective opportunities to unlock
authentic capacity. These exercises can be used independently and/or in mentorship
and/or small group discussions.
In summarising this chapter on proposed mental health strategies the reader is
referred to Table 5.1 that gives a summary of the proposed mental health strategies,
their aims and techniques for implementation.
5.5 CONCLUSION
Chapter Five deals with mental health strategies to capacitate individuals and
education and training institutions to become authentic. In this chapter the
approaches and strategies are justified in the study’s findings and theory. The
strategies are:
• The strategy for enforcing promoting factors for institutional effectiveness.
• The strategy for searching meaning.
• The strategy for letting go of the past.
• The strategy for becoming authentic.

Table 5.1: Summary of proposed mental health strategies
FINDINGS
The culture of teaching,
training and learning, learner
support and the informal
network of support resulted
in feelings of appreciation,
gratitude, acceptance and
caring.
Inadequate management of
human capital (staff) resulted
in negative lived experiences
and associated meanings.
STRATEGIES
Enforcing promoting factors
for institutional effectiveness.
Searching for (new)
meaning.
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RATIONALE
To manage the weaknesses
so the strengths can develop
and become powerful.
Create conditions for the
lonely voice to be heard.
AIMS
To make weaknesses
irrelevant and to create new
individual and shared
institutional goals
underpinned by shared
values.
To gain understanding and
meaning by structuring and
restructuring stories of
institutional effectiveness
during transformation.
PROPOSED TECHNIQUES
FOR IMPLEMENTATION
• Small group activities
and discussions
(Exercise 1 of Appendix
F).
• Informal mentorship
activities (Exercise 1,
questions 12, 14 and 15
of Appendix F).
The use of narrative and
generative metaphors as part
of self-reflection, small group
activities and discussions
(Exercise 2 of Appendix F).

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Table 5.1: Summary of proposed mental health strategies (continued)
FINDINGS
The lack of dealing with the
past and what was lost
create feelings of depression.
Voices were hushed and
endangered psychological
safety.
STRATEGIES
RATIONALE
Letting go of the past Create conditions for grief
and redirecting energy,
finding new meaning
redefined in the present and
future.
Becoming authentic. Create candour by becoming
authentic.
AIMS
To identify a common loss
and a common goal by
constructing new meaning.
To be prepared to make
individual choices and
sacrifices.
PROPOSED TECHNIQUES
FOR IMPLEMENTATION
• Self and/or group
reflection exercises
(Exercise 3 of Appendix
F).
• Rituals (symbolic funeral)
• Play/Drama (Chapter
Four: The story of
Silence Truth).
The use of narrative and
generative metaphors
(Chapter Four: The story of
Silence Truth and Exercises
4 - 6 of Appendix F).

201
The story of Silence Truth as reflected in Chapter Four, is used as an example of
how narrative metaphors can be used as a tool to facilitate candour and resilience by
promoting understanding and meaning. Chapter Five illustrates how the story of
Silence Truth can be used to create ”generative metaphors” to give fresh meaning
and to bridge the past, present and future in a meaningful way. The chapter includes
exercises with generative questions that can be used independently and/or in
mentorship, and/or in small group activities to generate new possibilities/alternatives
in seemingly impossible circumstances for individuals and/or systems to escape
from.
This chapter on mental health strategies is concluded by Collins’ words (2001:210)
“For, in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is meaningful life. And it
is very difficult to have a meaningful life without a meaningful work. Perhaps, then,
you might gain that rare tranquillity that comes from knowing that you’ve had a hand
in creating something of intrinsic excellence that makes a contribution. Indeed, you
might even gain the deepest of all satisfactions: knowing that your short time here on
this earth has been well spent, and that it mattered”.
The next chapter will summarise and assess the study in meeting its desired
outcomes.

6.1 INTRODUCTION
202
CHAPTER 6
ASSESSMENT AND CONCLUSION
The previous chapter briefs the reader on proposed mental health strategies that are
grounded in this research’s findings and theory. The story of Silence Truth
illustrates how narrative metaphors can be used to generate metaphors for
promoting candour and resilience to reach understanding and to find fresh meaning
during frightening transformation. Chapter Five includes exercises that can be
associated with the story of Silence Truth to be used for stimulating candour on
individual level, and/or mentorship and/or small group discussions.
In this last chapter the reader is given a summary of the study, limitations of the study
are discussed and recommendations made. In the summary attention will be given
to the research problem, objectives, and the research method that were followed by
this study. The findings and conclusions will be discussed against this background to
ascertain if the study fulfilled its intention.
The chapter reflects the richness of the study through its qualitative nature. It goes
beyond its duty by not only describing lived experiences, but as well suggesting
mental health strategies and by unlocking further research and development areas
as revealed by its findings.

6.2 RESEARCH SUMMARY
203
Chapter One takes the reader on a journey to conceptualise the study within the
South African context. The reader is briefed on the political need for education
reform of the college sector based on ideological beliefs, historical background
featured by apartheid and colonialism and the present claims of colleges’
ineffectiveness. The journey takes the reader on a quick tour within the South
African context including references to international trends.
Chapter One highlights the lack of relevant education research as it applies to the
college sector. It further stresses the negligence of recognising human capital within
education and training institutions as pivotal elements for sustainable transformation
when striving for institutional effectiveness. The objectives of the study were to:
• explore and describe lived experiences of institutional effectiveness during
transformation; and
• recommend mental health strategies for personal and systemic growth to
develop sustainable institutional effectiveness in the college sector.
As indicated in Chapter Two, this study employed the qualitative research paradigm
to explore and describe the experiences of institutional effectiveness during
transformation. Mental health strategies were proposed that are grounded in the
findings and theory to facilitate personal and systemic growth for sustainable
development.

204
The objectives of this study favoured the qualitative research paradigm as the study
wished to explore, understand and describe real life experiences of institutional
effectiveness during transformation of a college in its natural setting. A dense
description of the participants’ experiences of institutional effectiveness during
transformation was reached. Chapter Three gives a dense description of the
emerged themes and their associated categories that were during a literature control
study compared with theory for comparison and dissimilarities in searching for
broader meaning and for specific reference to education and training.
Real life experiences of institutional effectiveness told and/or untold during
transformation enhance insight and understanding to create new meaning. Mental
health strategies can promote candour, built resilience, promote individual and
systemic well-being for self-reliance, to cultivate a self-help ethic and add value to
human life by assisting people in becoming authentic.
Chapter Four contains the very precious story of Silence Truth, a narrative metaphor
constructed from the participants’ real life experiences, theory, and the researcher’s
experiences when conducting the study, thus a real life story. The story of Silence
Truth can be used as a mental health strategy implementation tool to enable people
and systems to create new stories in the conditions of frightening transformation.
Chapter Five includes proposed mental health strategies and suggestions how the
story of Silence Truth, a narrative metaphor, can be used to create understanding,
find meaning and to bridge the past, present and future, as well as to become
authentic.

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The research study added value to education transformation as it significantly
contributed to the future construction of sustainable development activities. The
study assists in answering the “why?” question, why transformation in particular
situations work or does not work, and what factors/circumstances promote and/or
impede institutional effectiveness during transformation. Through the proposed
mental health strategies this research took up the duty to go beyond simply
describing and understanding education practice.
6.3 FINDINGS
The study’s richness as result of its qualitative nature elicits much more than the
original desired outcomes intended. Therefore the research findings can make a
valuable contribution to the education discourse in general and further education
research. The research goals together with the applicable summary of the research
findings will be discussed in the next section to justify that the findings met the
desired research outcomes as contemplated by the first two chapters.
6.3.1 Research outcome: explore and describe lived experiences of
institutional effectiveness during transformation
Institutional effectiveness is defined as the ability of an institution to meet its desire
outcomes (Pearsall, 1999:456). The education discourse signals that people
measured institutional effectiveness differently (McCaffray, 1998:138, Legotlo & Teu,
1998:8). Therefore it was expected that participants’ responses indicated multiple
realities. Institutional effectiveness was experienced to be on a continuum ranging

206
from ineffective to effective varying in different degrees with “pockets” of
effectiveness within time dimensions. The study met this desired outcome as it
succeeded in identifying multiple realities of institutional effectiveness and could
authenticate the differences of experience grounded in its findings.
This study justified this research outcome as it succeeded in identifying factors
promoting and impeding institutional effectiveness. The study goes beyond the
original stated outcome by identifying the affects these factors had on human capital.
The factors can be summarised as follows:
• Multiple realities on a continuum of institutional effectiveness with pockets of
effectiveness
• Factors promoting institutional effectiveness were:
o a culture of teaching, training and learning;
o learner support and caring; and
o staff support and caring.
• Factors impeding institutional effectiveness were:
o inadequate management of the transformation process;
o inadequate management of human capital (staff and learners); and
o inadequate management styles, systems and procedures.

207
• The silence voice that was a central theme and was identified as the core
theme for the study in formulating the mental health strategies.
6.3.2 Research outcome: recommend mental health strategies for personal
and systemic growth to develop sustainable institutional effectiveness
in the college sector
Due to the success in reaching the first outcome and the richness of the study, the
research study was well situated to formulate mental health strategies grounded in its
findings and in theory.
The study succeeded to formulate the following mental health strategies.
• A strategy for enforcing promoting factors for institutional effectiveness.
• A strategy for searching meaning.
• A strategy for letting go of the past.
• A strategy for becoming authentic.
Each strategy is discussed in Chapter Five under the following headings.
• Synopsis of applicable findings.
• Theory underpinning applicable strategy.
• Aim of strategy.
• Proposed techniques for implementation.
A valuable contribution the study made was the construction of a narrative metaphor
that may serve as a facilitation tool to generate new metaphors for implementing the

208
above strategies. As the narrative metaphor is constructed from real life experiences
and informed by theory it is much trustworthy and commendable as an
implementation tool.
6.4 LIMITATIONS
Although the study succeeded in going beyond the stated outcomes, it needs to be
noted that certain limitations of the study could have influenced the engagement and
openness of the participants towards the study.
Purposive selection was used to select the institution and the participants. Selection
of participants for the interviews was done on grounds of culture diversity and
institutional position. Although as a whole the sample included participants from both
genders, different age groups, white and non-white race groups, staff and non-staff
and learner components, this was not the case per subcategory.
The proposed mental health strategies only do partially justice to the richness of the
findings. Logistical reasons and the study’s focal points commanded attention to a
small part of the study. Much is still to be said about the bigger picture and its related
parts for example learner support, dysfunctional systems and procedures,
professional versus institutional autonomy, transformation leadership qualities,
curriculum development and alignment of courses.

6.5 RECOMMENDATIONS
209
The following recommendations are based on furthering the research and developing
activities initiated by this study.
• Quantitative surveys such as questionnaires that include open-ended
questions based on the findings of the study can be used to further explore the
lived experiences of various participants and institutions during transformation.
The findings of this study can inform the development of questionnaire(s) to be
used in quantitative surveys in a much more a feasible manner.
• The exercises that are included in Chapter Five need to be piloted and refined
for general use. Further development activities are needed to workshop these
ideas.
• The results can inform the development of personality and organisational
assessment tools to determine the transformation status. These assessment
tools can be used as diagnostic instruments to facilitate sustainable
transformation. Knowledge gained by these instruments can inform policy
makers and implementers of transformation with crucial information needed to
drive the process forward.
• The study revealed the lived experiences of institutional effectiveness during
transformation in a number of its dimensions. Further research is much

210
needed to explore these dimensions in much more depth to reach a richer
understanding of the phenomenon.
6.6 CONCLUSION
Despite the limitations of the study, the study succeeded in going beyond its desired
outcomes. It opens a world of understanding of lived experiences of institutional
effectiveness during education transformation in a number of its dimensions. It
further reveals opportunities to facilitate sustainable development through enhancing
insight in the living realities of human capital during transformation of Further
Education and Training institutions in South Africa. The study proposed mental
health strategies to create and maintain the mental health well-being of individuals
and the system during transformation.
The study serves as a key to unlock opportunities for further research and
development activities. The proposed mental health strategies as informed by this
study aim at assisting individuals within education systems to become authentic, to
make them real by giving them a name, a heart, a voice, a sense of responsibility, a
life story and the skill to re-author their life script if and whenever they choose to do
so.
From this study it is clear that no external driven transformation can be effective, if it
is not complemented with internal driven transformation. Internal driven
transformation should be aimed at confronting and dealing with fear by finding and
exercising one’s authentic voice.

211
In conclusion the essence of the study is reflected by the words of Tobin Hart
(2001:172) “Transformation…endows us with the force of creation and communion.
In education, and in life in general, we activate the power of transformation simply by
making a choice to open ourselves to the depths” of becoming what we are meant to
be, to dance the dance of the authentic beings with a song in our hearts and on our
lips while embracing the universe.

212
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Appendix Appendix AA
A
Example Example Example of of invitation invitation letter letter ffor
f for
or
participation: participation: naïve naïve sketch
sketch

Geagte Kollega
237
UITNODIGING TOT DEELNAME IN NAVORSING
Ek is tans besig met die graad D.Ed aan die Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit. Die tema van
my studie handel oor die bevordering van die effektiwiteit van Verdere Onderwys en
Opleiding instansies vanuit `n psigo-opvoedkundige perspektief. Die Kollegeraad en
Kampushoof het skriftelike toestemming verleen dat die studie gedoen kan word en dat
personeel en studente betrek mag word by die ondersoek. Deelname is voorwaardelik
naamlik dat die anonimiteit van die persone beskerm
word, deelname nie met kollege-aktiwiteite inmeng nie, en dat die koste van die navorsing vir
my rekening is.
Kwalitatiewe navorsingsmetodiek word in hierdie studie aangewend wat bestaan uit vraelyste
(narratiewe sketse) en onderhoude met van die personeel en studente. Vir
kontroledoeleindes sal onderhoude op oudioband opgeneem en getranskribeer word,
waarna die inligting deur `n onafhanklike kenner geverifieer sal word.
Ek nooi u uit om aan die ondersoek deel te neem. Ek onderneem om u naam te beskerm
deur anonimiteit te verseker. Dit sal gedoen word deur u naam nie bekend te maak nie en
die oudiobande te vernietig nadat die navorsing voltooi is. Alhoewel u nie u naam op die
vraelyste hoef aan te bring nie, word biografiese inligting van u verlang. Die inligting word vir
kontroledoeleindes gebruik om te verseker dat personeel van verskillende posvlakke en
kulturele agtergronde die geleentheid kry om aan die navorsing deel te neem.
U is ter enige tyd welkom indien u dit sou verkies om u deelname te staak. U word verseker
dat u onder geen verpligting staan om aan hierdie projek deel te neem nie.
Indien u dit sou verkies is u welkom om myself en/of my promotors, professor Chris Myburgh
en/of professor Marie Poggenpoel, te kontak indien u enige vrae of u gevoelens aangaande
die studie wil bespreek.
Na suksesvolle voltooiing van die studie sal `n kopie van die proefskrif aan die Kollegeraad
en Kampushoof oorhandig word en die resultate sal op aanvraag aan u beskikbaar gestel
word.
U deelname aan hierdie studie word hoog op prys gestel. Ek vertrou dat u insig met
betrekking tot die bevordering van Verdere Onderwys en Opleiding Instansies deur u
deelname bevorder sal word. Deelname aan die studie is aksieleer deurdat u van selfassessering
gebruik moet maak.
U samewerking word baie waardeer en ek vertrou dat u deelname `n verrykende ervaring vir
u sal wees. Die vraelyste sal aan u oorhandig word deur u afdelingshoofde waarna u die
voltooide vraelyste in die gemerkte houer by die Student Support Centre kan plaas. Ek sal
dit waardeer indien die vraelyste voor of op Maandag, 30 Junie 2003, ingehandig kan word.
Connie Haasbroek 10 Junie 2003

238
Appendix Appendix B
B
Example Example of of naïve naïve sketch
sketch

239
GESLAG/GENDER ……………… OUDERDOM/AGE……………………………
HUISTAAL/HOME LANGUAGE …………………………………..
POSVLAK/POST LEVEL ………… FAKULTEIT/FACULTY …………………..
HOE ERVAAR U DIE EFFEKTIWITEIT VAN HIERDIE INSTANSIE?/HOW DO YOU
EXPERIENCE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THIS INSTITUTION?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
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MOTIVEER ASSEBLIEF U ANTWOORD/PLEASE MOTIVATE YOUR ANSWER
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BAIE DANKIE/THANK YOU!
PLAAS ASSEBLIEF DIE VOLTOOIDE VORM IN DIE GEMERKTE HOUER BY
STUDENT SUPPORT CENTRE VOOR OF OP 30 JUNIE 2003/PLEASE PLACE THE
COMPLETED FORM IN THE MARKED BOX AT THE STUDENT SUPPORT
CENTRE BEFORE OR ON 30 JUNE 2003.

240
Appendix Appendix C
C
Exa Example Exa mple of invitation and letter of of of consent:
consent:
qualitative qualitative interview
interview

Geagte Kollega
241
VERSOEK OM TOESTEMMING VIR NAVORSING
Soos aan u verduidelik is ek tans besig met die graad D.Ed aan die Randse Afrikaanse
Universiteit. Die tema van my studie handel oor die bevordering van die effektiwiteit van
Verdere Onderwys en Opleiding instansies vanuit `n psigo-opvoedkundige perspektief. Die
Kollegeraad en Kampushoof het skriftelike toestemming verleen dat die studie gedoen kan
word en dat personeel en studente betrek mag word by die ondersoek.
Kwalitatiewe navorsingsmetodiek word in hierdie studie aangewend wat bestaan uit vraelyste
(narratiewe sketse) en onderhoude met personeel en studente. Vir kontroledoeleindes sal
onderhoude op oudioband opgeneem en getranskribeer word, waarna die inligting deur `n
onafhanklike kenner geverifieer sal word.
Ek nooi u uit om aan die ondersoek deel te neem. Ek onderneem om u naam te beskerm deur
anonimiteit te verseker. Dit sal gedoen word deur u naam nie bekend te maak nie en die
oudiobande te vernietig nadat die navorsing voltooi is. Alhoewel u nie u naam op die
vraelyste hoef aan te bring nie, word biografiese inligting van u verlang. Die inligting word
vir kontroledoeleindes gebruik om te verseker dat personeel van verskillende posvlakke en
kulturele agtergrond die geleentheid kry om aan die navorsing deel te neem.
U gee hiermee u ingeligte toestemming tot deelname aan hierdie studie. U is ter enige tyd
welkom indien u dit sou verkies om u deelname te staak. U word verseker dat u onder geen
verpligting staan om aan hierdie projek deel te neem nie.
Indien u dit sou verkies is u welkom om my promotors, professor Chris Myburgh en/of
professor Marie Poggenpoel te kontak indien u gevoelens aangaande die studie of die
onderhoud met `n kundige wil bespreek.
Na suksesvolle voltooiing van die studie sal die resultate op aanvraag aan u beskikbaar gestel
word.
U deelname aan hierdie studie word hoog op prys gestel. Ek vertrou dat u insig met
betrekking tot die bevordering van Verdere Onderwys en Opleiding Instansies deur u
deelname bevorder sal word. Deelname aan die studie is aksieleer deurdat u van selfassessering
gebruik moet maak. Ek vertrou dat u deelname `n verrykende ervaring vir u sal
wees.
Geteken te Centurion op hierdie ………..…dag van …….…………………….. 2003.
…………………………….. ………………………………
DEELNEMER NAVORSER

242
Appendix Appendix D
D
Example Example of of transcribed transcribed transcribed interview
interview

243
TRANSCRIBED INTERVIEW
I: Hoe ervaar jy die effektiwiteit van hierdie instansie?
P: As jy nou praat van die instansie bedoel jy in geheel of
rondom die studentesake spesifiek?…Kom ek sê vir jou as in
geheel, hhh dink ek daar is tekortkominge, hhhh veral
wanneer dit kom by by sekere aspekte van die
bestuur…(I:mm)…kommunikasie hhh georiënteer…hhhhhh
beslis…(I:mm)… sal ek ek sê defnitiewe besluitneming, nie
konsekwent wees nie.
Hhh oor studentesake wil ek amper onder die hhhh oor
dieselfde boeg gooi…Daar is nie konsekwensie nie en dan
dink ek ook nie daar is `n redelike openlikheid
‘transparency’ hhh is daar nie, is daar nie heeltemal nie
…ek dink dit het nogal `n redelike invloed op `nnn op `nnn
personeel, dat almal nie altyd weet wanneer wat gebeur,
hoekom dit gebeur nie. Hmmm en ek dink dit kan nogal `n
redelike faktor wees van ongelukkighede onder personeel.
I: Ongelukkighede?
P: Hmmm dat ek nie weet waar ek staan nie, dat ek nie weet
wat van my verwag word nie. Hhmmm ek moet `n ding
doen maar ek sien nie die doel agter die ding nie. Hhmmm
so ek ek dink dat as daar `n `n `n meer `n openlikheid is,
meer `n definitiewe doel agter my werksaamhede dat ek

244
weet waarvoor ek werk en hoekom doen ek dit dan, dan dink
ek kan `n mens meer effektief wees en ek wil amper sê
gelukkiger…Want jy weet gelukkige werkers lewer gelukkiger
produksie en as jou werkers gelukkig is dan dink ek jy het
kwaliteitwerkers ook.
I: Hoe sien jy kwaliteitwerkers?
P: Aaaa …ek wil dit nogal sê, `n ou wat vir my kwaliteit werk
gee het nie nodig om agter gestaan te word nie…(I:mm)…en
jy gee jou beste en jy gee nie net jou beste. Ek dink jy gee jou
alles, jou alles en jou beste vir die doel waarvoor jy hier
is…(I:mm)…nie tydgebonde nie, maar ek wil amper sê
kwaliteitgebonde…
I: Kwaliteits?
P: Werk…jy sorg dat alles wat jy vir jou student kan gee. Jy is
nie tevrede met min van `n student nie, jy haal die meeste
uit jou studente uit. Jy gee ook vir hom die meeste en ek
dink jy jy jy werk nie net vir `n hoë gemiddeld of hhhh
uitslag teen die einde van die jaar nie, ek dink jy sien die
persoon as geheel…hhmmmm want wil hom regmaak vir die
arbeidsmark en sorg dat hy `n gebalanseerde mens by jou
kan uitstap…Ek dink dit vorm vir my nogal alles deel van `n
kwaliteit…
I: Jy het twee konsepte genoem, `n totale mens, hoe sien jy dit?

P: Hmmmm
I: Wat is `n totale mens?
245
P: Weet jy ek dink baie keer as jy `n student by hhmmm…Kom
ons vat `n student…as `n student by ons sien inkom dan
kom hy in as as `n kind en ek wil hom hier oplei nie net
akademies nie. Kom ons vat `n sekretaresse, sy moet nie net
hier vir my akademies goed kan tik en vinnig kan tik en 60
woorde per minuut kan tik nie, maar sy moet ook die etiek
van menswees hhmmm ken. So ek wil haar leer om haarself
te ken `n ‘life skill’ te ontwikkel, waarmee bitter min van ons
studente hierby mee inkom ek wil vir haar, ek wil amper vir
haar haar…menswees in die binnekant ook ontwikkel. Ek
wil vir haar dat sy emosioneel sterk kan wees binne in
haarself en dat sy mense reg kan hanteer en dat sy `n goeie
waarde, jy weet `n waardestelsel oor haarself kan hê, oor die
lewe kan hê en met die mense met wie sy in aanraking kom
en dit saam met haar akademiese eeehhhh agtergrond kan
ek `n gebalanseerde jong mens uitstuur…Ddddit vat meer as
net `n sosio jy weet sosioemosionele ontwikkeling, maar ek
dink dit vat ook ontwikkeling in…hhmmmm ek wil nie sê
geestelik nie maar ek dink tog `n mens kan `n mens deur
geestelik sterk te maak, kan jy die mens in geheel as `n heel
mens maak…

246
I: Baie dankie vir jou bydrae, is daar nog aspekte wat jy dink
wat belangrik is rondom die effektiwiteit van hierdie
instansie wat jy graag sal wil deel?
P: …Nee ek dink nie…Ek dink as `n mens daai paar goed kan
aanspreek dan kan `n mens `n redelike span span laat
trek…(I:mm)…Ek dink wat ons reeds bereik het wat wwwwat
wat vir my baie positief is is `n onderlinge
vertrouensverhouding hmmmm met kollegas…hhmmm…
(I:mm)...daai ‘caring’ waarvan ons gepraat het en dit dink
ek het al redelik baie posgevat by ons. Dit werk uitstekend
dat daar `n onderlinge-‘caring’ gevoel onder mekaar is en
wanneer `n probleem sou opduik dan hmmmm ervaar die
mense nie die probleem as as `n probleem nie, hulle ervaar
dit eerder as hhmmmm wat sal `n mens nou sê as `n ding
wat wat…(I:mm)…`n geleentheid wat ek moet reg hanteer
en met hulp van mekaar kan ons dit nogal regkry…Dit dink
ek het nogal posgevat en dit werk by ons …
I: Ek is nou baie nuuskierig om te vra oor waar kom die
‘caring ‘vandaan? Hoe het dit begin?
P: Hhmmm…dit het begin deur `n spontane gebedsgroep wat
ons in die oggende besluit het. (I:mm) Dit is totaal en al
vrywillig…dit het begin met `n behoefte wat ons gehad het
hhmmmm dat ons kry nie meer geleentheid as …(I:mm)…om
as `n personeel as as `n korps hhmmm die aangesig van die
Here te roep nie eeee en ek dit is nodig vir my…(I:mm)…is dit

247
die fondament van elke instansie en eeee dit het begin as `n
spontane groep met…`n klein groepie en die groepie het net
begin ontwikkel en hy het gegroei met wonderlike resultate,
baie wonderlik, waar ons nie net die die instansie se
behoefte aanspreek nie, maar ons spreek ook persoonlike
behoefte, kollega se behoefte aan of hy nou in die groep is of
hy nie in die groep is nie…en…daar in daai groep het `n
mens `n geborgenheid beginne voel en die mense het gevoel
maar ek kan met `n stukkie seer daarna toe kom met `n
kind se probleem…of `n probleem in my klassituasie of of `n
eeee `n probleem buite die werksverband en dit is
aangespreek daar het…met wonderlike resultate, baie
wonderlike antwoorde op gebed het daar plaasgevind en ek
dink daar het `n gevoel ontstaan van ek gee om so by so dat
mense wat nie in die groep is nie al kom vra het sal julle vir
my intree en ek dink daar…(I:mm)…dit het daar ontstaan
in `n gevoel van, maar, daar is `n groep wat na ‘caring’ kyk
en `n mens sal graag wil hê dat `n hele instansie so iets sou
wou wou doen jy weet, (I:mm)…maar dis vrywillig jy sien…
I: Baie dankie.

248
Appendix Appendix E
E
Letter Letter of of consent
consent

249

250
Appendix Appendix Appendix F
F
List List of of exercises exercises for for individual individual and and group group
group
capacity capacity building building activities
activities

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
251
EXERCISE 1: DISCOVER MY AND/OR OUR PURPOSE
What is the reason for me/us being here at the college?
Why have I/we decided on this career path?
Why have I/we decided to apply for this post(s)?
How are my/our students doing academically?
How are my/our students doing emotionally?
How are my/our students doing when measuring against the national
average?
How are my/our students doing when measuring them against successful
work placement?
What can I/we do to assist my/our students on academic level?
What can I/we do to assist my/our students on emotional level?
What is making me/us ticking in my/our working environment?
What can I/we do to bring fun to my/our working environment?
How am I/we doing in relation to my work when comparing me/us against
my colleagues?
How does my work situation affect my personal and family life?
How are my colleagues doing work related?
What can I/we do to support my/our colleagues with their work?
What can I do/we do to support/our colleagues in general?
Are my values the same or different than that of my colleagues? Please
explain.
Are my work related goals the same or different than that of my
colleagues? Please explain. Why? How?
What have I/we learnt through participating in this exercise?
Looking at my/our answers, should I/we take hard decisions and/or change
our behaviour? Please explain. Why? How?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION AND FOR SHARING YOUR
EXPERIENCES WITH US IN IDENTIFYING GOALS AND VALUES!

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EXERCISE 2: DISCOVER MEANING
Read the story of Silence Truth without discussing it.
Within small group discussions and/or on your own, answer the
following questions. You may share your own interpretations of
the story with each other and/or yourself.
What did you experience when reading the story?
What did you like and/or dislike about the story?
What puzzled you?
What stroked you?
Who were the main characters of the story and could you
identify with them with regard to your own environment? If so
and if not so, how? why?
What were the different stages/phases of the story?
What were the primary thoughts, feelings and actions of the
different characters during the various phases of the story?
Can you construct your own story for your own situation?
Can the group construct a group story incorporating group
members’ different stories into one new story?
do you feel about your story and the group’s story?
Can you identify with your group’s story? How? Why?
Are the new stories different? How? Why?
What have you learnt through participating in this exercise?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION AND FOR
SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH US!

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EXERCISE 3: TO SAY GOODBYE
Before the merger, the college was
• good at?
• proud of?
Before the merger, the college was
• not good at?
• ashamed of?
Why was the college a nice place to be at?
Why was the college not a nice/bad place to be at?
What have I/we learnt from our past experiences?
What can I/we take from our past experiences to guide me/us
in the future?
Let me/we say thank you to my/our past, and the good and the
bad, it brought me/us (symbolic rituals can be used with great
success during this item).
How do I/we the see the future for the new college?
What do I/we want it to be based on our past experiences?
Where do I/we want it to go based on our past experiences?
Why am I/we are here today?
How can I/we use today to link our past experiences with a new
future and to make our institutional dreams come true?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION AND FOR
SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH US IN
BUILDING A NEW FUTURE TOGETHER!

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EXERCISE 4: MY LIFE STORY
Please allow yourself some quiet time in a quiet place where you find yourself safe
and comfortable.
Breathe in fresh air through your nose, keep it for three counts and breathe out
air filled with all the hurts, anxiety and stress you may have experienced
recently.
Read through the questions listed in Exercise 5.
Repeat step 2.
Close your eyes and let your mind take you on your own journey leading you
through your lived experiences. Do not stop the thoughts coming to your mind,
give it free space to come and go as it wish.
Write down and/or draw and/or paint your journey.
Make it real by giving it form(s) and colour(s) and a name.
Look at your writing and/picture. What story is it telling you? What is this story
about? What thoughts and feelings does it unlock in you?
Give your story a special name that has a special meaning to you.
Would you like to change your story’s outcome? What would you like the last
chapter to look like?
What have you learnt from your story about yourself, about people, about life?
What does it mean to you?
What can you use from your story to guide you in future?
What would you like the subsequent chapters to look like?
Make it real by giving it form(s) and colour(s) and a name. Does it look different
from the previous one?
What must you do to enable you to change your life’s story to make your life on
earth meaningful and joyful?
What emotional and/or other prices do you have to pay to change your life’s
story? It is worth it?
Would you like to change the name of your story? Feel free to do so.
Repeat step 2.
With your eyes still closed thank your past and the present, and the good and the
bad, it brought you.
With your eyes still closed feel the power in yourself to create new meaning in
yourself and to become what you are meant to be.
Know that your Creator has given you all you need to live a purposeful driven life.
You can repeat this exercise as often as you wish.
THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH YOURSELF IN
CREATING YOUR OWN DESTINY

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EXERCISE 5: WHO AM I?
Who are you?
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
What are you ashamed of?
What are you proud of?
What are you the best in?
What are you passions in life?
What makes you ticking?
What makes you secure?
What drives your economic engine?
What drives your social engine?
What are your fears?
What are your stress levels?
What does your body tells you about your stress levels and
yourself?
Who is your mentor to assist you with your life’s journey?
Are you a life mentor to somebody else? Who? Why? How?
How do you feel about your past, the present and the future?
Why?
Give yourself a form(s), colour(s) and a name. Is that what you
want yourself to look like, be like?
If you are not satisfied, give yourself new form(s), colour(s) and
a name. What do you have to change in yourself to become the
new you?
Why are you here today, who and where were you yesterday and
who and where to you want to be tomorrow?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO YOUR
OWN DEVELOPMENT!

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EXERCISE 6: BECOMING AUTHENTIC
What is your purpose on earth?
What are your offering, your gift you bring to the world?
What do you love and care for?
What do you hate and avoid?
How do you express yourself – your thoughts, your feelings?
Can you say “no” and stand by it?
Can you say “yes” for life and all it entails?
Are you able to receive love and care without feeling guilty?
Do you still need to forgive yourself or some one else?
Have you forgiven, but not yet set that person free?
Are you a truth seeker?
If you find the truth, can you give voice to it?
Can you confront lies, even if it can “kill” you?
Can you make and stand by your decisions out of your own free
will? Or are you a puppet on a string?
Do you take care of yourself by making time for yourself,
exercise, follow a healthy diet, relax and rest?
Do you make enough time for yourself, loved ones and work
without feeling guilty that you are stealing time?
Is your life meaningful?
Do you live to work, or do you work to live?
What are your unique qualities?
What difference(s) do you make?
USE THIS INFORMATION AS ROAD MARKERS ON YOUR
JOURNEY FOR BECOMING AUTHENTIC