School principals perceived and desired leadership development pathways: evidence from one district of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Year: 2020
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The quality of school reforms and learner performance are integrally linked to school principals‟ \nleadership development, which elicits both anxiety and concern, as evidenced by studies on \neducational improvements which emphasise the impact of school leadership on learner \nperformance. Thus, how best to prepare school principals as school leaders and determine their \nleadership development pathways are concerns that continue to be on the education agenda of \nmany countries. \nUsing the context of one school district in South Africa, this qualitative study explores school \nprincipals‟ leadership development, looking at their understanding, experiences and conceptions \nof desired leadership development, and drawing on the perspective of practice context. \nThe study applied a complementarity of framework made up of three theories, Vygotsky‟s \n(1978) sociocultural theory focusing on the concepts of Zone of Proximal Development and \nmore knowledgeable other, Knowles‟ (1980) Theory of Adult Learning and Assets-Based \nTheory by Kretzmann and McKnight (1993). \nThe study was positioned within the interpretivist paradigm, adopting a qualitative approach and \na case study design. The data generation methods were semi-structured individual interviews and \nfocus group interviews. \nMajor findings revealed that firstly, school principals‟ understanding of leadership development \ninvolves training and supporting them in relevant, not just generic, leadership skills and \nknowledge. Secondly, targeting the school principals‟ development training should include \nprogrammes that aim to meet individual and unique needs. Thirdly, their desired leadership \ndevelopment included individualised leadership training, and leadership training using inputs \nfrom the experiences of the school principals. \nThe study concludes by highlighting on the lessons learnt, including: \n1. Leadership development of school principals needs to be contextually problematised and \nunderstood. \n2. School leaders desire to take responsibilities for their own learning; setting the objectives and \ndetermining what to take away from the learning. \n3. Varying approaches to school leadership development provisions including on-site training \nare desirable to school principals. \n4. While school leaders‟ desired areas of leadership development conform to what is commonly \noutlined in the literature, what is at variance is not the “what”, which is the subject of their \nleadership development, but the “how” – the processes of providing the leadership \ndevelopment.
Author: Nnenna Fidelia. Ezeonwuachusi
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3158047038