The action research journey of Morakabi Moletsane, Circuit Manager
Asking questions and allowing space for frustrations, enabled a constructive way of working together between circuit manager Morakabi Moletsane and his principals. ‘What was striking, was that the vast majority of solutions came from within the group of principals themselves.’
Morakabi Moletsane (Lets) is a Circuit Manager in the Fezile Dabi district in the Free State province. He volunteered in the Free State’s action research (AR) cohort that started in March 2018, assisting principals on the six dimensions of the inclusive education framework. From 2019, he started co-facilitating AR cohorts with VVOB.
Lets’ first circuit meeting within his action research trajectory was different before it even started. ‘I deviated from the norm of going through the agenda items’, he explains. ‘I had issued out an invitation with agenda items to all principals of the circuit.’ Lets facilitated the meeting by asking questions to the principals. ‘I started inviting them to write up their frustrations about areas where they would like support from me as a circuit manager.’
‘I was amazed by the range of challenges that they highlighted’, Lets continues. ‘Vacant positions, using acting staff for more permanent posts, disciplinary problems in primary school classes, shortage of work- and textbooks. One of them commented on the support of the circuit manager being too limited.’ Lets went further during this meeting, asking the principals how they would suggest to solve certain issues. ‘What was striking, was that the vast majority of solutions came from within the group of principals themselves.’
‘I moved from being an expert to being a practitioner’, Lets explains. ‘My focus was on assisting my principals on one of the six dimensions of the inclusive education framework, namely on the aspect of professional development. I was struck by the fact that principals are so much dependent on what their supervisors say, rather than being guided by the policy. They struggled to solve problems, didn’t trust their own professional judgement.’
Participant becomes facilitator
Lets encourages other education officials to embark on their own AR journey. Together with other volunteers from previous cohorts, he facilitated the second AR cohort in the Free State last year. This group of co-facilitators teams up again in 2020 to support a new generation of action researchers. Their trajectory runs parallel to the AR journey of the Free State Department of Education. These fresh groups will be the fifth and the sixth AR that VVOB supports in South Africa.
