Abstract:

In contemporary school leadership in South Africa, there is a competing tension between the demands of academic excellence and inclusion. In many schools in South Africa, the quality of education provision is measured by academic achievement. These results often determine the school's status within the community and have become the markers of ‘excellence’. Competition between schools is fed by the media which reports on top-performing schools. Schools are under pressure not to be labelled as ‘underperforming’, with performance measured primarily by academic achievement. When schools and teachers are focused on academic outcomes as measured by standardised assessments, the inclusion of learners who may need additional support to meet these outcomes is often seen as an additional stressor.

Principals are faced with the unenviable task of navigating the contradictions and tensions associated with an agenda for inclusion and an agenda for excellence, that co-exist simultaneously, where the motives that inform each agenda are divergent. This paradox poses several challenges and possible constraints for school leaders. Do they find a way to pursue excellence, while still staying true to the ideals of inclusion? Or do they foreground one at the expense of the other? This paper describes an action research study from South Africa that explores the utility of using Change Laboratory interventions with school principals in addressing the vexing dilemma of this tension.

Navigating an agenda of excellence together with an agenda for inclusion cannot be seen as a simple problem to overcome, instead, it must be considered against the historical backdrop and manifested complexities that exist within a school. Complexities are identified as particularly vexing, as the origins of these new challenges are compounded by a multitude of complex factors that are non-linear in nature, and difficult to define. Considering this backdrop, twenty secondary school principals participated in a series of Change Laboratory interventions.

There is a growing literature on the utilization of Change Laboratories (CL) as an approach to managing complex value-based problems in schools. The Change laboratory intervention method builds on the foundational ideas of Cultural Historical Activity Theory and is proposed for promoting learning and innovation in workplaces and for triggering expansive learning. The Change Laboratory interactions are aided by researcher-interventionists to assist the participants, in this case, school principals, to re-design their work activity by creating new models, applicable tools, and work practices.

From the initial CL sessions, the principals identified leadership strategies to advance inclusive practices while simultaneously navigating the demands for academic excellence. These newly devised strategies/models were then piloted by the principals in their unique contextual school settings. In the proceeding CL sessions, and following the steps of expansive learning, the principals evaluate the effectiveness of these new strategies and create new models for future implementation.

Keywords:

Change Laboratory, Cultural Historical Activity Theory, Expansive Learning, Inclusive Education.