The impact of external monitoring on teachers’ work and teachers’ identities in high schools.

Abstract

The South African education system aims to provide quality education to all learners. There are various methods used to ensure that teachers comply with department-set education standards in education, one of which is external monitoring. The purpose of external monitoring is to provide support and professional development to underperforming schools, enabling them to reduce learner underperformance. In the process, teachers become the centre of external monitoring. This study explores how external monitoring impacts teachers’ work and identities. The study focuses on six grade 12 teachers’ perspectives of external monitoring. This qualitative study was conducted in three high schools. These schools were purposively selected because they were underperforming schools. Data was generated from six participants using semi-structured interviews, collages, and a focus group. A conceptual framework represents the associations between accountability, teacher autonomy and teacher identities. The generated data was analysed using deductive data analysis. The data generated demonstrated that external monitoring is a two-sided phenomenon. External monitoring is a tool used by the Department of Basic Education that aims to provide support and development to underperforming schools and subjects. However, not all teachers see it as a tool that is there to support. Rather, teachers feel exposed and encounter limited teacher autonomy. Themes that emerged from the data were: teachers’ reasons for underperformance, insufficient time for curriculum coverage, teachers’ perception of external monitoring and teachers’ emotional responses to external monitoring. The findings show that most teachers find external monitoring offers limited support for teachers. Rather, external monitoring of teachers increases teacher accountability but decreases teachers’ autonomy. This, in turn, impacts teachers’ identities.