Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

4. Case study and analysis
Emmanuel Innocents Edoun and Valdenisa Norris
The essence <strong>of</strong> knowledge management at school level is to share knowledge through
exchanges/interactions between various groups <strong>of</strong> people at different levels within <strong>the</strong> school
environment. The aim <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> case study is to address <strong>the</strong> close connection that knowledge
management has with schools as a learning organisation. This connection is based on <strong>the</strong> willingness
and ability <strong>of</strong> members <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> organisation to learn and share in order to re-evaulate existing practices
and improve it if <strong>the</strong>re is a need. The purpose <strong>of</strong> knowledge management should not only focus on
gaining more knowledge, but to be able to create, transfer and apply knowledge with <strong>the</strong> aim to
improve and achieve better outcomes.
In a school context <strong>the</strong>re are different role players known as partners in education e.g. learners,
educators, parents and educational districts etc. It fur<strong>the</strong>r deals with knowledge management in <strong>the</strong>
internal and external location <strong>of</strong> schools. Internal context <strong>of</strong> knowledge management for school
consists <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> continuous interaction with <strong>the</strong> school environment, <strong>the</strong> integration into <strong>the</strong> school’s
cultural network and all individual experiences within <strong>the</strong> school. External locations will involve
networking with o<strong>the</strong>r schools, districts and/or o<strong>the</strong>r national or international educational institutions in
order for schools to acquire knowledge from <strong>the</strong>se sources. (Friehs,2003).
Schools use SWOT analysis as a tool for assessment in order to provide adequate information to
<strong>the</strong> school governing bodies, school managers, teachers and staff involved in <strong>the</strong> analysis <strong>of</strong> what is
effective and less effective in <strong>the</strong> schools systems and procedures, in preparation for a plan. In fact a
SWOT can be used for any planning or analysis activity which could impact future finance, planning
and management decisions. It can enable <strong>the</strong> school governing bodies and school managers to carry
out a more comprehensive analysis with <strong>the</strong> focus on <strong>the</strong> strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats <strong>of</strong> an organisation.
With <strong>the</strong> above aim in mind, strengths are related to factors that are likely to have a positive effect on
achieving <strong>the</strong> school’s objectives. Weaknesses on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand are factors that are likely to have a
negative effect on achieving <strong>the</strong> school’s objectives. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors
that are easily monitored within <strong>the</strong> organisation. The information is usually shared amongst staff or
learners so that appropriate strategies can be considered to improve or advert <strong>the</strong> situation at hand.
Whereas opportunities as external factors have a positive effect on achieving or exceeding <strong>the</strong>
school’s objectives, or goals not previously considered. Threats are ano<strong>the</strong>r external factors and
conditions that have a negative effect on achieving <strong>the</strong> school’s objectives, or making <strong>the</strong> objective
redundant or un-achievable.
This SWOT analysis is a contributor that helps <strong>the</strong> leadership <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> school to learn from
achievements and mistakes so that policies and processes are put in place to evaluate and guide
learners, educators and parents on performance. For instance in a case concerning a school in
Gauteng, South Africa <strong>the</strong> findings revealed after Grade 1-6 learners participated in an Annual
National Assessment(ANA) written in November 2009 will be explained. The findings fur<strong>the</strong>r revealed
that <strong>the</strong> Ma<strong>the</strong>matics and English levels <strong>of</strong> learner within <strong>the</strong> intermediate phase grade 4-6 was
extremely low. These scores are benchmarked at local, provincial and national levels. Although
learners in <strong>the</strong>se grades average score was 5% higher than <strong>the</strong>ir provincial average and 2% higher
than <strong>the</strong> national average it was felt that this a matter <strong>of</strong> concern. For literacy and numeracy in <strong>the</strong>
foundation phase, grade 1-3 learners, <strong>the</strong> average scores was 15% higher than <strong>the</strong> national average.
The school leader, school governing body and educators teaching Ma<strong>the</strong>matics and English decided
to put systems in place to look at <strong>the</strong> gap in performance between learners in grade 3 and learners in
grade 4. Educator intervention strategies included meetings with <strong>the</strong> Ma<strong>the</strong>matics and English
educators. During <strong>the</strong>se meetings educators looked at <strong>the</strong> ma<strong>the</strong>matical concepts and language
structures that learners are expected to achieve at a certain stage in <strong>the</strong> different grades. A diagnostic
analysis <strong>of</strong> every question for every grade ANA question papers was done and a report was compiled
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir findings. After compiling <strong>the</strong>ir report <strong>the</strong> group <strong>of</strong> educators requested a meeting with <strong>the</strong>
School Assessment Team (SAT).
At <strong>the</strong> first meeting with <strong>the</strong> SAT, teachers looked at <strong>the</strong> learning programmes, assessment
standards and <strong>the</strong> foundation <strong>of</strong> learning policy from <strong>the</strong> Department <strong>of</strong> Education. Numerous meeting
and discussions took place which involved sharing <strong>of</strong> ideas, good practices on certain aspects <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
specific learning areas. By tapping into everyone’s experience, an intervention plan was devised
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