South African Democratic Teachers Union provincial secretary Nomarashiya Caluza on Monday graduated with her Master’s degree in Education from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
In 2019, she graduated with her Honours Degree in Education Management, Law and Systems at the University of the North West. She also holds an Advanced Diploma in Industrial Relations from UKZN.
Caluza's research looked at a case study of a school where a partnership between the school and a teacher union partnership led to a marked improvement in matric results.
Speaking on her research, she says the partnership was formed to drive an intervention to improve a school which was dismally under-performing in Grade 12.
"The school was sinking in all respects. School performance was low, relations among teachers had reached a state of paralysis, relations between teachers and learners were poor and relations between the school, community and department officials were strained," explained Caluza.
She said through this partnership, the school used in the case study improved in the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations from a pass rate of 0% to 56% in the first year of the partnership and from 56% to 100% in the second year.
Her study also found that refocusing the commitment of teachers is key to improving school performance. The incapacity of principals and parents hinders the success of the partnership. The study further established the centrality of the principal in the formation of the school-teacher union partnership and its success in improving the school.
Caluza says all schools and learners deserve quality education regardless of their location.
"There must be resources to aid the delivery of quality education in all schools," she said.
Caluza argued that schools should know the challenges they face, which result in poor performance.
"There is a need for stakeholders, especially teacher unions, parents, and the officials of the department, to work together in finding solutions that can improve schools. School leadership and management is central to school improvement. Hence the need for continuous school leadership development. The teacher is central for the success of any learner."
Caluza also managed to strike a balance between studying and her many leadership roles.
Offering advice to other scholars, she said perseverance and working together a your supervisor is key.
“Stick to the time-frames and attend to your chapter revisions timeously. Decide on a title that you love so that you’ll love your study,” Caluza said.
IOL