Strategic Planning as a Change Management Intervention in the Eastern Cape Education Department

Abstract

Transformation is at the heart of policies adopted in South Africa in 1994 after the demise of apartheid. The White Paper on Education and Training (1995) became the blue print for transformation for the education sector. At a provincial level the Provincial Growth and Development Plan (PGDP) (2004 – 2014), which sets out the vision of sustainable growth and human development, espoused the transformative goal. In these policy frameworks education and training was not only seen as a means to address the social ills of the past but also a means to provide the country with the competitive edge necessary to sustain itself in a world that is fast evolving into a knowledge economy. In its response to these imperatives the Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDoE) adopted its own Transformation Agenda (2005) with the strategic intent of providing quality education in the province. More than a decade after the White Paper, and more than 5 years after the adoption of both the PGDP and Transformation Agenda the Department continues to be in the limelight, often for the wrong reasons: poor learning outcomes, backlogs on school infrastructure, poor audit findings and perceptions of rampant corruption. Some analysts as well as management of the Department have suggested that the root cause of the Department’s woes can be traced to poor planning. While there is anecdotal evidence that seems to suggest that this may be true, there has not been any research that assessed the validity of this claim. The current study is an attempt to address this gap. In pursuing this objective, assessing the planning frameworks used in the public sector in the country became inevitable. The study reveals that strategic planning as a function has not been accorded a significant status in the Department, despite the fact that the Presidency has elevated this function to play a leading role in guiding the decision making processes and improving effectiveness in service delivery. The overall approach to planning in government needs to be re-evaluated to take into account the complex nature of the purpose of the Department which requires an integrated approach to strategic planning across all state and non-state institutions. Furthermore, the complex nature of the political terrain in the Province has resulted in leadership instability that in turn impacts negatively on the Department’s long term strategic thrust. This study confirms the assertion that strategic planning models that are influenced by managerialism have limited value in the South African public sector as demonstrated by the case of the Eastern Cape Department of Education. The complexity of the purpose of public sector institutions, their political contexts, and the resources envelop needed to implement a strategy are all factors that not only distinguish the public sector from private sector but also affect the applicability of managerialism-type of strategic planning. Going forward, while strengthening systems that support strategic planning will be vital for the Department, there is also a need to explore planning models that appreciates the unique circumstance of public sector institutions such as the Eastern Cape Department of Education