Encouragement as an aspect of transparent feedback : implications for the management of teacher competence

M.Ed.It is clear from Table 4.1 that respondents regard educational managers as being fairly competent during their feedback. From the data on Table 4.1 and its discussions, the following important findings were made: Educational managers do encourage their teachers to use creative teaching techniques - Table 4.1 ranking 1 with a mean score of 3,71. - Educational managers do ensure that teachers' achievements are announced to all relevant stakeholders - this is evident by this question ranking 2 in Table 4.1 with a mean score of 2,90. - Educational managers do encourage their teachers to appraise themselves before the actual feedback process - Table 4.1 ranking 3 in Table 4.1 with a mean score of 2,81. - Educational• managers do also use workshops to familiarise teachers with the appraisal process - Table 4.1 ranking 4 with a mean score of 2,76. From the above information, it is interesting to note that workshops on familiarising teachers with the appraisal process was attended to even though literature indicates that this factor is least attended to, refer to Chapter 2. Encouragement as an aspect of transparent feedback would therefore mean that both the educational manager and the teacher being appraised know what is expected of them. The educational manager should have learnt the behavioural skills to motivate, cherish, inspire, reassure and confidence building, such as the nodding of the head, as a sign of reassuring good responses from the teacher; smiling, as a means of inspiring; leaning forward towards the teacher, as a way of motivating him to come up with suggestions. Teachers do need encouragement where least expected, such as during appraisal feedback where teachers have a negative attitude about its implementation. 5.2.2 Validity and Reliability Validity of the research contents were proved by several experts who judged the relevancy of each item of the questionnaire. Reliability was tested by a procedure which involved a principal component analysis and a principal factor analysis which were performed using the BMDP 4M program. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire served as a basis for evaluating feedback competence of the educational manager. 5.2.3 Statistical analysis No statistical differences were found regarding - gender and - post level and their feedback competence (see table 4.1