Leadership, stakeholders and learner performance in four Western Cape schools

This paper explores some micro-level governance and political economy determinants of performance over time in four schools in low-income areas in the Cape Town metropolitan area. The findings are consistent with a pattern evident in many parts of the world – the reality of dysfunction beneath the surface of seemingly well-organised bureaucratic processes. They are also consistent with broader research, which points to the weakness – in the specific Western Cape demographic profile, which is the focus – of constructive input from school governing bodies, communities or other non-governmental actors. As a way forward, the paper proposes pragmatism and incrementalism – relatively modest tweaks capable of achieving seemingly small (but potentially far-reaching in their consequences) improvements in the functioning at school level of both hierarchical and horizontal systems of governance.