Leadership and Governance
impact: Leadership and governance ability is enhanced at schools
Building Sustainable Catholic School Leadership
Seminars for the Building Sustainable Catholic School Leadership programme were delivered in each of the regions. The first seminar focused on presence, the second on shared leadership and the final seminar for the year focused on living the vision. The last seminar proved to be innovative and exciting. CIE entered into a partnership with SANParks with the aim of exploring connections and parallels between managing the school system and the experiences of another organization like SANParks, working in a completely different field of work. During the seminar SANParks demonstrated how they articulate their vision nationally, and how they implement it locally in the context of specific environments. During visits of groups of principals to Marakele, Kruger, Golden Gate (picture below) and Augrabies National Parks (the picture to the right), the SANParks management articulated their vision for the parks, and how they give life to that vision. Participants spent time observing and questioning SANParks employees at work to see if they understood the Vision and Mission of SANParks and lived it out. They also asked visitors to the parks about their experience. Their findings were then discussed in plenary and linked to their understanding of their schools.
Just over four hundred school visits have taken place and Regional Managers report that these have proved helpful, with participants reporting that they have grown as leaders. Mr September, the principal of Blauwskop RC School in the Northern Cape, and one of the participants in the course, highlighted its ‘in- service’ approach as its major strength, stating that it “helps to bring leadership closer to the coalface”. He also observed that the course had taught him that “by being present to the people with whom (he) interact(s) on a daily basis he can sense the tension building up with regard to certain issues and then diffuse them”.
