Headteachers' and teachers' perceptions of the role collegial teams in enhancing continuous instructional improvement: a case study of two high schools in Swaziland

Abstract

This study set out to establish and record headteachers’ and teachers’ perceptions of the role of collegial teams in enhancing continuous instructional improvement. The concept collegial teams is based on the collegial model. The model advocates that for instructional improvement, teachers ought to work together as colleagues. The study began by investigating whether the participants had the basic understanding of collegial teams in the first place. It then established whether the teams exist in the selected schools. It proceeded to find out how these teams operate and whether they play any role in enhancing continuous instructional improvement. Furthermore, the study solicited respondents’ perceptions of the obstacles that hinder the operation of the teams. Lastly, the study made effort to obtain respondents’ recommendations on how best to improve the operation of the teams. This study has found that headteachers and teachers perceive collegial teams as playing a very significant role in enhancing continuous instructional improvement. The degree of the role was found to hinge on the headteacher’s attitude and support of the teams. These two elements in turn determined the degree of the teachers’ empowerment by the headteacher. Empowerment in this study is synonymous with treating teachers as professionals. Where empowerment prevailed, professional interaction arid collaboration tended to prevail also. The latter seem to result in the deepening of subject content and increasing diversification of teaching strategies as teachers work together zmd share ideas. The ultimate result of teachers’ working as colleagues was noticeable improvement in students’ performance. However, contextual factors tended to affect some teams negatively more than others apparently depending on each team’s ‘mastery’ of group dynamics. Finally, among others, two key recommendations were made; in school A, working on the master time- table in order to accommodate peer evaluation was recommended. In school B, it was recommended that teamwork be built on the good elements of the teacher assessment form over which teachers have no control.