Emerging trends of teachers' resistance to classroom visitation, monitoring and support practices carried out by district education officials

This study examines the emerging trends of teachers’ resistance to classroom visitation, monitoring and support practices carried out by district education officials in the Elliotdale Circuit secondary schools of the Dutywa Education District, South Africa. A qualitative approach as well as a case study design were adopted. A purposive sampling strategy was used to select a sample size of twenty-two (22) participants which comprised five (5) principals, twelve (12) teachers, two (2) subject advisors from the District Education Office and three (3) teacher union members from the teacher union office in the Elliotdale Circuit. Permission to conduct the study was sought from the provincial and district education offices. Audiotape recording was used to collect data through face-to-face in-depth individual interviews. Data were analysed thematically. Findings were that there were frequent and unannounced district officials' classroom visitation and monitoring in schools, district and provincial officials displayed some bossy behaviours in schools, there were cases of teachers being victimised and harassed by departmental officials, some teachers were lazy to teach and also expressed fear of been called failures, the existence of teacher unions significantly influenced teacher resistance to classroom visitations and there was fear of change and the unknown experienced by some teachers. Recommendations made were that: The District Education Office should work hand in hand with the Elliotdale Circuit to organize change management, curriculum and pedagogical content knowledge workshops for teachers, school heads and provincial and district education officials to equip them with knowledge on sources and nature of resistance to change in schools and how to ensure classroom visitation and school monitoring are solely based on teacher support and development and so should be devoid of victimization, harassment, witch-hunting and fault-finding.