Chris van Wyk - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Chris van Wyk

South African Journal of Business Management

Tydens 'n simposium wat onlangs deur Peromnes Salary Surveys (Pty.) Ltd. onder die voorsitter... more Tydens 'n simposium wat onlangs deur Peromnes Salary Surveys (Pty.) Ltd. onder die voorsitterskap van dr. Dawie Gouws, professor-extraordinarius aan die UNISA Skool vir Bedryfsleiding, gehou is, is die twee referate wat hieronder gepubliseer word, deur dr. Chris van Wyk en mnr. Adam Jacobs, gelewer.

Journal of Communication

Managers at district education offices in South Africa should be able to apply a variety of commu... more Managers at district education offices in South Africa should be able to apply a variety of communication skills effectively in a range of management contexts for these district offices to be successful. This paper reports on a theoretical investigation into effective communication strategies and dimensions, as well as an empirical study of the perceptions of managers and staff at an educational district office regarding the effectiveness of the communication channels and strategies, as well as of the barriers to effective communication. The findings suggest that district managers may need training specifically with regard to the role and importance of communication and that the dissemination of proper feedback should be a consistent practice. While professional communication depends on both task and interpersonal orientation for its success, it is recommended that the latter should receive the greater emphasis in a people-oriented and pedagogical institution such as an education district office.

Developing Leaders for Real: Proven Approaches That Deliver Impact

Research Papers in Economics, 2021

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021

Journal of Psychology, 2016

This paper reports on the stress educators are experiencing in Middle and Secondary Schools in th... more This paper reports on the stress educators are experiencing in Middle and Secondary Schools in the Mafikeng Region, a district in South Africa. Data was collected by visiting all the schools from five clusters. A standardised questionnaire (ASSET) was used to determine the causes of stress in the lives of educators. A theoretical and quantitative investigation was done. A total number of 955 educators are employed in the secondary and middle schools in the five clusters. A questionnaire was distributed to each of these teachers. Nine factors contributing to teachers' stress were identified, with a cumulative variance of sixty-eight percent. These factors are: managerial practices, relationship with work, causes of stress, career opportunities, job dissatisfaction, work success, leadership and management, remuneration and communication. Results in this study suggest that there is a direct link between these factors and the stress levels experience. More specifically two factors causing stress that were not previously identified by other researchers namely, communication and career opportunities were recognised whilst it was found that ill-discipline is not regarded as a crucial factor in causing teacher stress. The recommendations made on suggested ways of preventing and managing teacher's stress concerned two main points namely, recogni sing teachers' professional status and attending to their personal and academic development.

This paper analyses the SA-SAMS school administration data that the Michael and Susan Dell Founda... more This paper analyses the SA-SAMS school administration data that the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation in partnership with the Department of Basic Education collects quarterly from schools in order to assess its usefulness for better understanding the school system. The disaggregated SA-SAMS data housed in the Data Driven Districts operational data store is typically provided in the form of data dashboards for analytical purposes to the education authorities. Although only non-random samples of the data are available in longitudinal form, the analysis shows that this can already be used to investigate important relationships and features of the education system. These include the relationship between performance in earlier grades and performance in matric, the relationship between performance, repetition and subsequent dropout, the choice between Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy, and the utility of using school-based assessments in investigating later educational outcomes. The S...

Journal of Psychology, 2016

The focus of this paper is to investigate the possibility of creating an action plan for the impl... more The focus of this paper is to investigate the possibility of creating an action plan for the implementation of stress management strategies in schools. The specific objectives are to describe the essence and nature of stress management in schools and to outline the features of an action plan for strategic management in schools. The authors used an evaluative and integrative literature review to investigate information that pertains to related concepts such as strategy formulation in education, the elements of strategies in education and imperatives of stress management in education. This paper’s findings point towards the necessity of introducing stress management strategies in schools. It is recommended that the Department and its officials accept responsibility for managing strategic issues proactively and reactively. At the same time a framework of structures and processes through which individuals can be engaged in conversations and dialogues about the strategic direction of the...

The aim of the study was to track learners as a group or cohort over a specified period of time. ... more The aim of the study was to track learners as a group or cohort over a specified period of time. This longitudinal data cohort analysis was to determine how successful learners progressed through the Western Cape public education system and how many eventually dropped out of this system. The Central Education Management Information System (CEMIS) datasets from 2007-2014 were used to create a longitudinal dataset of individual learners. The study shows the importance of unit-level records. With the availability of unit-level learner records key questions can be answered such as: “What is the profile of the learners who dropped out of the system, or what is the profile of the learners who progressed without any repetition?” When individual learner-unit records are available one can track learners as a group or cohort over a specified period of time. Longitudinal cohort tracking provides a more complete picture and true reflection of the education system about the progress (dropout and...

One needs good quality data on current enrolment, dropout and repetition in order to evaluate the... more One needs good quality data on current enrolment, dropout and repetition in order to evaluate the possible implications of different repetition and dropout decisions by school authorities, learners and parents for enrolment numbers and for the composition of classes in 2021. We obtained learner level data from LURITS, a relative recent way of organising and managing enrolment data that has superseded the Annual National Census of Schools. Though far from perfect, this data give good information about the extremely high levels of repetition. High repetition leads to many learners being over-aged and to dropout being quite common in secondary school. Assessing various alternative scenarios about learners returning to school, repetition and dropout, we conclude that the most likely outcome for 2021 is that considerably more learners would be promoted to grades 11 and 12 in particular, with implications for allocations of classrooms, books and teachers, with a decline of repetition in G...

Background: Cerebral palsy is a leading cause of disability in children. Primary motor impairment... more Background: Cerebral palsy is a leading cause of disability in children. Primary motor impairments often mean children must receive physiotherapeutic treatment to prevent secondary musculoskeletal problems, and maintain functional mobility and quality of life. Whole body vibration (WBV) has become increasingly used within this population for neurorehabilitation. It has been shown to have positive effects on relevant outcomes for these children: motor function, mobility, strength, balance, bone mineral density (BMD) and spasticity. Yet the evidence remains lacking; previous systematic reviews have been inconclusive as to the effects of WBV. New, recently published trials warrant consolidation of evidence. Objective: The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the evidence from randomized controlled trials about the effects of WBV on various outcomes in children with CP, and determine whether WBV with physiotherapy is more effective than standard physiotherapy alone. Methods: A systematic search of six online databases was performed on 15/03/18, using preselected search terms ‘cerebral palsy’ and ‘whole body vibration’. Appropriate medical subject heading (MeSH) terms were used for PubMed, MEDLINE and Cochrane Library. Unique search strings were developed for SCOPUS, CINAHL and PEDro. Trials meeting eligibility criteria were assessed by the author using the Cochrane Collaboration’s risk of bias tool for methodological quality before undergoing the data collection and analysis process. Results: Twelve randomized controlled trials encompassing 298 children were ultimately selected for inclusion. Methodological assessment revealed two moderate quality studies, five of poor quality and five of acceptable quality. Critical analysis of the studies revealed substantial heterogeneity in some aspects, yet there was moderate evidence indicating WBV improves strength and muscle mass, posture and spasticity, as well as low quality evidence suggesting WBV improves balance, BMD, gait and motor function. Conclusion: WBV can be effective in improving critical outcomes for children with CP. It should be considered an addition to physiotherapeutic neurorehabilitation, as it is more effective than physiotherapy alone. More rigorous studies with larger samples are needed to elaborate on effects in certain CP sub-populations and specific WBV settings

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2019

An almost unnoticed problem in the South African education system is the high rate of grade repet... more An almost unnoticed problem in the South African education system is the high rate of grade repetition. In this report, a combination of household and administrative datasets is used to identify patterns in learner repetition and dropout in South African schooling and the costs associated with these issues. According to the most conservative estimate, the number of learners in public schools repeating in grades 1 to 12 could have been 1 180 000. In monetary terms, this implies that the cost of having repeaters in the public education system was at least R20 billion (in 2018 prices), absorbing 8% of the total national budget allocated to basic education in 2018/2019. At least a half of these repetition costs is attributed to the high prevalence of repetition in the secondary school phase, with the largest number of repeaters located in grade 10 (at least 1 in every 5 grade 10 learners repeat). Despite the promulgation of repetition policy that limits the number of times learners can repeat a school phase, repetition trends in the past decade display a strong inertia, especially in higher grades. To monitor these trends better, and to track the implementation of these policies, significant improvements will need to be made to the quality of reporting on repeaters and dropout in EMIS data. While repetition is a problem, it is merely a symptom of a weakly functioning education system. The repetition debate is thus secondary to the need to address the quality of the education provided in our schools, and particularly in the foundation phase. Quality improvements will also make it easier to implement sensible policies on repetition and to provide remediation and support where these are needed. Moreover, by freeing resources currently needed to deal with repetition, improved education quality would also make remediation more feasible. Acknowledgment: This paper was produced as a study for the DG Murray Trust and funded by this trust. FOREWORD The DG Murray Trust (DGMT), a philanthropic organisation that focuses its support strongly on human development, has expressed concern about school dropout and is actively involved in interventions to prevent such dropout. Against this background, DGMT requested Resep to investigate this issue and highlight the costs of repetition, as repetition at earlier grades largely acts as a precursor to drop out from the school system. It is the combination of repetition and dropout rather than inadequate demand for education that stops many from continuing to higher levels of education. This study aims to contribute to an understanding of the cost of repetition and dropout in terms of their impact on the affected individuals and on society, and their wider impact on productivity, social mobility, and fiscal costs. Data for this study were made available by the Department of Basic Education and the Northern Cape Provincial Department of Education. The researchers wish to thank them for making the data available and hope that this study would be of benefit to them and indeed the full education system.

Journal of Social Sciences, 2012

The notion of school based management was firmly entrenched in South Africa with the Schools Act ... more The notion of school based management was firmly entrenched in South Africa with the Schools Act of 1996. This act also provides substance to the functioning of school management and leadership structures such as School Governing Bodies (SGBs) and School Management Teams (SMTs). More specifically, in so far a s this article is concerned, the focus is on the amended provision of section 16 of the Schools Act where it is stated that, amongst other functions, the School Management Team must accept responsibility for the implementation of its policies. We are reporting on a study in which the perceptions of School Management Team members in Delareyville with regard to the role and functioning of School Management Teams in policy formulation and implementation are explored. More specifically, the research question that was investigated can be asked as, what is the role of School Management Teams (SMTs) in formulating and implementing school policies?. The study was interpretive in orientation and utilised qualitative data gathering techniques. Findings suggested that there is a good understanding about the central and even critical place of policies in school management and about the fact that policies have an important role to play as directives or guidelines for the day-today operations of a school. It was further found that, in the South African situation where school based management is used widely, school policies are consistently seen as decision-making and problem solving instruments. It was also established that, although School Governing BodiesSGBs were officially designated in the new educational dispensation to play t he most important role in school policy issues, in practise SMTs have become a more important policy making and implementation body.

African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2020

This paper reports on an investigation into management in Mathematics classrooms. Classroom manag... more This paper reports on an investigation into management in Mathematics classrooms. Classroom management is contextualised in terms of the managerial actions required to manage classrooms effectively and the extent to which effective classroom management responds to contextual challenges. Relevant literature is reviewed, and theoretical perspectives with investigative value for classroom management are examined. Data was collected using individual semi-structured interviews with four Mathematics department heads and with five teachers per school, for the four focus group interviews. The interviews were audio-taped, transcribed and the data analysed using a process of abductive data analysis as suggested by McMillan and Schumacher (2010; Research in education: Evidence-based inquiry, 4th ed., Pearson Education). The participants in this study supported the use of different overlapping management styles. Teachers apply these styles by introducing useful and suitable management actions in their classroom practice. It was found that organising group work and motivating learners are actions that encompass the majority of functions related to the management of teaching and learning in Mathematics classrooms. Contextual influences like teachers' professional competencies, curriculum implementation, the maintenance of facilities and the availability of resources and learning materials were highlighted as factors that both support and constrain the effectiveness of classroom management.

South African Journal of Business Management

Journal of Communication

Developing Leaders for Real: Proven Approaches That Deliver Impact

Research Papers in Economics, 2021

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021

Journal of Psychology, 2016

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2019

Journal of Social Sciences, 2012

African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2020