Assessment of Needs and Capacity of District Office Professional Staff

7. To provide an opportunity for dialogue and sharing among schools and district-based
staff in order to note gaps in support, note areas of responsibilities that are not
currently undertaken and create a foundation for mutual understanding, collaboration
and performance enhancement.
APPROACH
At the centre of the approach was a Capacity and Needs Assessment Questionnaire
booklet that was used as the basis for collecting information from the designated District
Staff members. The structure and content of the booklet will be reviewed in section 3 of
this report. It is on the basis of the information generated through this booklet that the
key findings of the report are identified and presented.
But, in addition to the booklet, service information was taken from existing documents,
from Departmental Officials in the Provincial Office, from District Managers and from key
representatives from a sample of schools in each District. Workshops were conducted in
each District with school officials (SMT, SGB) in order to assess school needs and
priorities for soliciting District Office support. Both sets of information constitute the core
of this report.
ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT
The remainder of the report is organized into 9 sections. Each section is intended to
serve a particular purpose in the presentation of the information. The sub-sections below
identify each of the key components of the report, and briefly summarize the rationale,
intent and information presented in each.
THE CONTEXT IN EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The capacity and performance of professional staff in District Offices are set within the
overall context of the Department, and its structures, policies and processes. The
information provided on profile and the capacity and needs of professional staff must
therefore be presented in full view of the context in which professional development is
undertaken. Understanding this context is critical to the study since, among other
things; it roots policy in the lessons of history, it clarifies challenges that may affect
training outcomes and it takes cognizance of the effect of context on the design of a
programme of professional development for District professional staff.
METHODOLOGY
The section on methodology seeks to explain the rationale and the processes used to
collect and summarize the capacity assessment data. It seeks to establish the basis
upon which the information collected can be interpreted, and to highlight the
advantages and disadvantage of the procedures used.
STAFFING PROFILES
This is the first deliverable of the project, to present the profiles of professional staff in
District Offices. This aspect of the study is descriptive in nature. It seeks to convey
an overall understanding of the characteristics of the group of personnel who are
assigned to professional roles in District Offices. The profile of staff will address
factors such as age, gender, disability, level of education, career routes to current
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