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Classroom executives who shape the leaders of tomorrowKey delivery agents in education. The most important partners in South Africa’s education renewal campaign. The biggest drivers of better education outcomes.
This is how President Jacob Zuma recently described the role of the school principal when he addressed a gathering of some of South Africa’s 25 000 school principals on the occasion of his first “national interaction with school principals”.
Some people still think of the school principal as a Mr Chips-like figure with a book tucked under the arm, a piece of chalk in one hand and a cane in the other. Someone who instils the fear of God, good values and the three R’s of a good education in his awe-struck charges.
Alas, that principal is long gone, a relic of the past.
In his or her place has risen an education executive with responsibilities ranging from academics, to management, finance, marketing, counselling and many more.
And he/she more often than not leads an entity that these days more closely resembles a corporation rather than merely a school.
At the top end of schools in South Africa – mostly private schools and former Model C schools – principals also have to deal with Education departments they complain are often hostile and unhelpful, while they have to battle to maintain standards.
Their counterparts at the lower end – mostly schools in previously disadvantaged communities – also have to possess many of the same range of skills while having to try against all odds to raise standards in their schools.
Lower-end principals often have the added responsibilities of dealing with hunger and malnutrition, health issues, crime and other social problems.
In high-end state and private schools, staff complements can range from 50 to 120, with between 300 and 1 200 learners, and with budgets ranging from around R13 million to R90m.
Facilities can include top-grade hostels, vast sports fields, housing complexes and estates of up to 1 600 hectares.
At the other end, the picture changes dramatically, with consistently inadequate budgets depending entirely on what the government allocates, and staff complements of around 12 to about 25 teaching anywhere from around 500 to 1 000 learners. At this end, facilities often are completely inadequate and run-down.
But regardless of at which end of the scale a school may be, the challenges facing principals are always huge, their stress levels high and their roles multifaceted.
Indeed, “multifaceted” is the word Mike Fennell, executive headmaster of King Edward VII School in Houghton, Johannesburg uses alongside the word “tough” to describe his job.
“Fifteen or 20 years ago, headmasters were focused on the academic side. Today we are councillors, financial managers, we need a legal background, able to deal with labour issues and we teach a bit when there is time,” says Fennell, himself a King Edward old boy who graduated at Rhodes University and has been the headmaster of the 107-year-old school for five years.
“We have to have a good understanding of transformation and employment equity and we deal with a huge diversity of cultures. In addition, I do a lot of fund-raising and marketing.
“These days, the head of a school has probably become more of a businessman than a headmaster, despite our core function being academic.
“Then you also have to stay abreast of all the latest changes in education. And although I try to spend as much time as possible in the school building, I often have to be somewhere else. It is not necessarily a whole lot of fun these days,” Fennell adds wryly.
The school has over 1 000 boys, 320 being boarders, and a staff complement of 150, with 68 being educators. The other 82 are administrative and ground staff.
The annual budget is around R30m, of which the state contributes only about R140 000 per annum plus the salaries of less than half the school’s teachers.
To assist him in running this educational enterprise, Fennell has four deputy principals and six directors responsible for bursaries, marketing, academics, cultural activities, facilities and sports. They meet once a week as an executive.
Among his administrative staff are a business manager, an estate manager, a bookkeeper, an accounting assistant, a fees administrator and an admissions officer.
Fennell’s working day starts at 6 a.m. and often continues until late at night.
He says the main pressures of his job are the long hours, many evening meetings, keeping his finger on the pulse of everything, staying close to his teaching staff, and trying to maintain a good relationship between the school and the Education department, despite what he terms “a lack of trust”.
At the foot of Table Mountain, Hammies van Niekerk, headmaster of Jan van Riebeeck High School, says the impossible is expected of school principals these days.
He views himself as a manager of his staff of 55, a curriculum leader, financial and administrative manager, marketer and resources manager, architect, builder and quantity surveyor, father to 650 learners, prosecutor, lawyer and judge, and interpreter of an “alien Education department and system”, among others.
With the Education department contributing only 2% towards the school’s budget and salaries of less than half the staff, Van Niekerk is also heavily involved in fund-raising.
“Because education and the business sector both are included in the field of responsibility of the school principal, the school is managed according to the demands of the moment. I try to stay as close as possible to a professional approach,” says this managing educator with four degrees, who loves the teaching profession and would do nothing else.
But Van Niekerk says the pressure on principals is extremely high, exerted particularly by parents and by the Education department and says the approximately 4 000 vacancies for principals are probably indicative thereof. That leaves very little time for teaching, although he remains involved in the teaching of values.
In Gauteng, Nondzwakazi Usiba manages a school that calls itself the number-one junior secondary school in Soweto, namely the Thubelihle Junior Secondary School.
Of her job she says, “I am more of a manager, running the school according to government policies”.
This, she says, involves being a manager and ensuring effective administration, attending to problems, implementing policies, overseeing and supporting staff, delegating responsibilities, monitoring staff attendance, supervision, and meeting deadlines.
Apart from her 15 teachers who cater for 501 learners, her help comes from the school management team consisting of the deputy head, heads of departments, district institutional development and support official, administration clerk and a personal secretary.
Despite the enormous pressures and workload, she still teaches life orientation herself.
Usiba, who is a graduate of Vista University and the Universities of Pretoria and Johannesburg, sums up major pressures as coming from teachers’ problems, parents, learners, the community and discipline in the school.
Major challenges are daily changes in the education system, social problems and environmental problems.
The school relies on government funding, own fund-raising and benefits from a twinning arrangement with a Norwegian school.
Deanne King is the headmistress at St Mary’s School, an independent Anglican school for girls and the oldest in Johannesburg, having been established in 1888.
Although the school is a Section 21 company, she runs her school “on business principles” and says much of her job is that of a business executive.
“But,” she says, “a school is not a business... the relationships are different, far more personal and fragile.”
Even so, she is assisted by a personal assistant, a deputy head, an executive committee representing six different areas of school activities, a business manager and a school board in managing a large budget, overseeing pupil enrolment, communication and interaction with parents, supervising staff, providing guidance and support for pupils, and managing facilities among others.
The school’s source of income is its fees. St Mary’s has 70 teachers and 1 000 pupils. Tuition fees for the senior school currently ranges from R54 450 to R62 550.
Among the major challenges of her job, she counts a declining staff pool, the economic climate, immigration, the parenting role the school must assume, remaining a relevant school in a changing and diverse society, maintaining the values and Anglican ethos of the school, and living up to international academic standards.
When it comes to running a school such as the prestigious Hilton College, with its 1 640-hectare estate situated in the green hills of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, the term “headmaster” takes on an entirely new meaning.
“The job is extremely multifaceted. Being an all-boarding school, with boys here 24/7, changes the job description enormously,” says headmaster, David Lovatt. “I essentially fulfil the role of CEO with responsibility for all operational matters and report to a policy-setting board.”
Although he still views himself as an educator, like so many other headmasters he is personally no longer able to spend time in the classroom teaching.
“If I had to list my day-to-day responsibilities, it would be a list of about 400 things,” he says.
“But it is really ensuring that the day-to-day running of the school is adhered to. A large part of my job is dealing with issues and problems, human resources issues.”
“I have six directors as senior management who take care of academics, administration, activities, student affairs, development and transformation, and marketing. We also have a bursar and heads of academic departments, while the housemasters are also senior management. The estate is managed by an estate manager.”
“But first and foremost, I have to ensure that our academic programme runs smoothly. I have a deputy head who focuses primarily on that. One of my other functions is marketing the school and ensuring full enrolment,” says Lovatt.
The “business” that Lovatt runs has a budget of around R80m to R90m, which is sourced mainly from school fees and an endowment trust fund, while another major contributor is the Old Boys’ network.
The school employs some 70 academic staff, 50 administrative and support staff, 60 to 70 sub-contractors, houses 550 boarders in seven boarding houses, maintains about 40 residential properties, operates what Lovatt calls a “huge” outreach programme, and has a wildlife conservatory, farm and forest on its vast estate.
In Bloemfontein, Johan Volsteedt, head of the equally well-known 150-year-old Grey College, shares many similar challenges and responsibilities, even though his school is a state one.
It has 51 teaching staff and 1 200 boys, 350 of whom are housed in three boarding houses.
Among other things, the school boasts a new gymnasium with a fully equipped weight-training section and a qualified kineticist, an IT centre, music complex, museum and superb sporting fields and facilities.
Among state schools, Grey College is the biggest property owner with its 60-hectare estate.
Volsteedt presides over a budget of around R30m, most of it coming from school fees, a small portion from the government, some from fund-raising and the balance from the letting of school facilities.
Assisting him with managing the school are two deputy headmasters, seven department heads, a financial manager, an extramural manager and various other staff.
Although he still considers himself to be a teacher, neither he can find time to teach any longer. But he is a great believer in walking around his school, visiting sports fields and classrooms in order to stay in touch with all that goes on.
Dealing with business leaders outside the school, dealing with staff and learners, planning and budgeting, dealing with an often uncooperative Education department while trying to keep standards high, and running the Grey Absa Academy for less privileged township children are the kind of issues that fill his working day from 6.45 a.m. until late.
In Cape Town, Ken Ball, headmaster of South Africa’s oldest surviving school, the 180-year-old South African College School (popularly known as SACS) ponders the role of today’s headmaster and says it all changed along with the democratic changes in South Africa.
Gone is the autocratic headmaster who focused on teaching and relied on the Department of Public Works to come and change light bulbs.
In its place is a manager who, in the case of SACS, runs an institution with a R13-million budget, and employs 71 staff members teaching 730 boys.
A major challenge is to keep school fees as low as possible – at present, R21 500 per annum per boy – while making ends meet and with the state contributing only R127 per boy per annum.
Of the 51 teachers, 31 are employed and paid by the school’s governing body.
With financial issues being so critical to maintaining good standards and facilities, projects worth millions of rands have to be carried by carefully planned strategies for fund-raising.
Staff meetings, meetings with other principals, dealing with the governing body and parents, and budget planning are only some of the daily issues.
Despite the demands and pressures, like most of his colleagues, Leon Erasmus, senior deputy headmaster at Rondebosch Boys’ High School, still calls his job an “extremely rewarding experience” and an “awesome responsibility”.
“A headmaster’s role today includes being an educationist, disciplinarian, financial manager, psychologist, parent, motivational speaker and leader,” says Erasmus.
His daily job is to ensure that everything runs smoothly, presenting his teachers with the best possible platform to do their job. In this, he leans heavily on his school management team and all other role-players.
Major challenges are in the areas of technology, budgeting, standards and discipline, and the role of parents. The annual budget of the school is around R17m, most of it coming from school fees.
Most of the state school principals spoken to, emphasised the meagre financial contribution made by the government, and stress that they generate the major part of their income from fund-raising, the letting of assets and donations from a wide range of sources.
In this regard, all the high-end principals also emphasise the importance of their Old Boys’ and Old Girls’ networks and their school governing bodies.
All were concerned that the government’s proposed capping of the amount schools may pay out of their own for additional teachers will further hamper their ability to provide quality education.
Most principals also complained that the Education department puts unwarranted pressure on them instead of supporting successful schools in maintaining their high educational standards.
Stef Terblanche
