The Systems Theory Conceptualised and Pasted to Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Though the Systems Theory had been successfully and variedly applied in different world settings, however, it is hardly conceptualised and related to the core bussiness of the schooling system: quality teaching and learning. In this article, I used it to adress such litrature gap and contribute  some knowledge on its interactive components' functionalism in order to accelerate upwardly the learner results. Such knowledge was a culmination of the voices of those in the field of teaching. To make sense of how the systems as sub-systems and supra-systems are interconected in schools as organisational structures, I utilised the qualitative inquiry. Data generated and analysed, revealed that the Systems Theory survives in the schooling system through its key features namely interdependance, relationships and interactions among its components as well as feedback, adaptibility and flexibility to the environmental contexts where adaptation makes the school human structures to cope with the unexpected atrocities. The lesson learned is that each part affects the functioning of the whole. For example, if one grade educator is on leave, it takes time for learners to adapt to the teaching philosophy of the other one. Further, though the Systems Theory in this article appeared to be applied successfully with its voluminous enabling interconnected factors, however, it was discovered that it's not free from some systems' roadblocks.  Through the principle of adaptibility, some systems' constraints had a strength to turn some teaching and learning threats into opportunities. At its finality, data also showed that to make Systems Theory a reality, its sub-systems in the school and supra-systems in the environment where the school is situated, are to function as collective twins for making the school a centre of excellence. So, in the South African school contexts, the Systems Theory links the schools' functioning to its interconnected parts.