The teaching of financial management principles to school leaders in disadvantaged schools

The objective of this study was to find out how a course in School Financial Management should be designed and presented in order to bring about an improvement in the practice of school financial management in disadvantaged schools in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study was conducted in the interpretive and critical theory paradigms, and employed a qualitative empirical approach. The focus of the research was two cohorts of school leaders taking part in the Advanced Certificate in Education: School Management and Leadership programme at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth. The researcher presented a course in Financial Management to both of these cohorts, and employed an action research method in her research, introducing the insights and lessons learned from teaching the first cohort in the design and teaching of the second cohort. Data were collected in various ways, including written assignments of students, class discussions, personal interviews and document analyses. More data were collected during school visits at which the researcher observed the level of financial practice at schools, and could also, from the one-to-one interactions with the students, identify the issues that were still problematic to them. Another aspect of the data gathering process was the detailed analysis of the section on Financial Management in the ACE study material provided by the Department of Education. This enabled the researcher to compare her study material and teaching approach to that of the Department’s study material, so as to ascertain which content and methods of teaching were best suited to bringing about an improvement in practice. The study’s main findings were that designers of such programmes in Financial Management should focus on basic Accounting principles and avoid an overload of content of issues which are “good to know”, but do not contribute to the understanding of Accounting principles necessary for the drawing up of financial statements. The method of teaching should predominantly be an interactive approach based on adult learning principles, with enough time for students to complete certain assignments and activities with feedback by the lecturer. The role v of mentors and of the lecturer visiting schools was emphasised as one of the key ways to assist participants in implementing what they had learned. The most important recommendations emanating from the study were the suggestion that the Department of Education should play a bigger formational role in providing feedback to schools on the financial statements submitted to the Department by these schools, the rethinking of the Department of Education’s module on Financial Management in the ACE for School Principals, and the development of a follow-up course in which all the additional aspects of School Financial Management could be include