In South Africa, as the myriad of ‘apartheid holy cows’ are buried, so the opportunity for reconstruction takes on an unprecedented challenge. The renewal of South Africa's dishevelled education system is central to the country's renaissance. Against this backdrop, this article briefly describes some current positions on systems thinking and educational psychology service delivery in the South African context. Derived mainly from a formative evaluation of a Cape Town-based teacher in-service project which focuses on whole school development, three substantive issues related to school organization development are raised. They are the issue of effecting a paradigm shift from a positivistic to a systemic worldview; the issue of the relationship between power and organization development, and the issue of sustainability of organization development. These issues are discussed with particular reference to the challenges that they present to educational psychologists as school organization development consultants in South Africa's education reconstruction process.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
African National Congress Education Department (ANC) (1994). A policy framework for education and training.Braamfontein: ANC.
2.
BanathyB.H. (1992). A systems view of education. Concepts and principles for effective practice.New Jersey: Educational Technology Publications.
3.
BrownellA.J.J.De JagerA.C.MadlalaC.F.M. (1987). Applying first-world psychological models and techniques in a third-world context. School Psychology, 8, 34–47.
4.
BurdenR.L. (1993). Trends and developments in educational psychology: an international perspective.London: International School Psychology Association publication on behalf of UNESCo..
5.
BurdenR.L. (1974). Educational psychology in and for a changing world. Paper presented at the Psychology and Societal Transformation Conference, University of the Western Cape, Bellville.
6.
BurdenR.L.GreenH.PattersenJ. (1983). Even trainees can do it! Applying educational psychology in secondary schools. Association of Educational Psychologists Journal, 5, 10.
7.
BurkeJ.P.EllisonG.C. (1985). School psychologists' participation in organisation development: prerequisite considerations. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 16, 521–528.
8.
Centre for Education Policy Development (CEPD) (1974). Implementation plan for Education and Training.Braamfontein: ANC.
9.
ChristensonS.AberyB.WeinbergR.A. (1986). An alternative model for the delivery of psychological services in the school community. In ElliotS.N.WittJ.C. (Eds), The delivery of psychological services in schools (pp. 349–391). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
10.
CummingsT.G. (Ed.) (1980). Systems theory for organisation development.New York: John Wiley.
11.
DalinP.RustV.D. (1983). Can schools learn?Windsor, Berks.: Nfer-Nelson.
12.
DavidoffS.KaplanA.LazarusS. (1994). Organisation development: an argument for South African schools. Teacher In-service Project: Unpublished working paper.
13.
De JongT. (1994). Composite evaluation report on the TIacher In-service Project: 1 November 1993 to 31 October 1994. Cape Town: Unpublished report.
14.
De JongT.van der HoornS. (1993). Facilitating the transition to democratic living in South Africa: an educational psychology approach. School Psychology International, 14, 227–238.
15.
DonaldD. (1984). Key issues in the development of applied educational psychology in the contemporary South African context. South African Journal of Psychology, 14, 29–33.
16.
DonaldD.HlongwaneM. (1989). Issues in the integration of traditional African healing and western counselling in psychological practice: three case studies. School Psychology, 10, 243–249.
17.
DoveyK.De JongT. (1990). Developing people. A guide for educational, business and community organisations.East London: ISIDA.
18.
DowlingE.OsborneE. (Eds) (1985). The family and the school.London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
19.
EngelbrechtP. (1994). Challenges for educational psychology. Paper presented at the Psychology and Societal Transformation Conference, University of the Western Cape, Bellville.
20.
LazarusS.DonaldD. (1994). The development of education support services in South Africa: basic principles and a proposed model. In De JongT. A. (Eds.), Education support services in South Africa: policy proposals (pp. 5–23). Bellville: Education Policy Unit, University of Western Cape.
21.
MoollaN.DuncanB.RaaffJ. (1993). A report of a systems analysis conducted at a local primary school. University of Cape Town: Unpublished research and service delivery report.
22.
National Education Policy Investigation (NEPI) (1992). Teacher Education Report.Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
23.
NicholsS.L.BurdenR. (1989). Developing a consultancy approach within a Psychological Service. Education and Child Psychology, 6, 59–63.
24.
PattonM.Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (2nd ed). Newbury Park, Ca: Sage.
25.
PetriM.BurkhardtG. (1992). CaMaPe. An organisational and educational systems approach to secondary school development.Andover, Massachusetts: The Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast and Islands.
26.
PlasJ. (1986). Systems psychology in schools.New York: Pergamon Press.
27.
SchmuckR.A. (1982). Organisation development in the schools. In ReynoldsC.GutkinT. (Eds.), The handbook of school psychology (pp. 829–857). New York: John Wiley.
28.
SharrattP. (1994). Whither educational psychology in the New South Africa? Paper presented at the Psychology and Societal Transformation Conference, University of the Western Cape, Bellville.
29.
TingstromD.H.LittleS.G.StewartK.J. (1990). School consultation from a social psychological perspective: a review. Psychology in the Schools, 27, 41–50.
30.
Van der HoornS. (1994). Integrating the ivory tower with the people's realities: educational psychologists as researcher-pracitioners in service of the public good. Paper presented at the Phenomenography, Philosophy and Practice Conference, Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology.
31.
Van der HoornS.AdamsJ. (1994). Educational psychology and the transformation of education support services in South Africa. In De JongT. A. (Eds.), Education support services in South Africa: policy proposals (pp. 96–115). Bellville: Education Policy Unit, University of Western Cape.
