Improving teachers' practice in poorly performing primary schools: The trial of the GPLMS intervention in Gauteng

This article examines a multi-pronged intervention of teacher support and pressure designed to promote new teacher practices and better learner results in Gauteng's poorly performing primary schools. It develops a conceptual framework to analyse the Gauteng Primary Language and Mathematics Strategy's (GPLMS) conceptualisation of teacher learning and change and how various stakeholders perceive the GPLMS support and accountability components. The research reveals that, with its mutually aligned quality supportive learning material, its lesson plans and coaching, the GPLMS appears to be a well-conceived and well-calibrated intervention for improving learners' results through a successful fusion of teacher support and pressure. While some teachers are expected to react positively to the GPLMS, others are likely to reject it for several reasons, such as the way it was introduced, its standardised lesson plan approach, the fast-paced Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS)-aligned lesson plans and the inevitable uneven quality of coaches. The challenge for the GPLMS leadership is to go beyond a one size fits all' approach and address the problematic conceptual issues.