Abstract
Abstract : Change is an on-going process which is deemed necessary and is a significant part of educational practice. Principals are therefore required as instructional leaders to be the driving force in ensuring that change, more especially curriculum changes are successfully facilitated. In the process of facilitating curriculum changes, the principal as the instructional leader is responsible for the provision and management of different curriculum activities associated with strategies, programmes and planning. The South African education system, like some other countries across the world has gone through several curriculum changes over the last two decades and principals now more than ever are expected to play a crucial role in the management of curriculum change programmes along with the overall provision of quality education. It thus becomes imperative for school principals to give prominence to their role as instructional leaders by emphasising best curriculum practices and staying focused on the development and maintenance of quality education. Despite this essential role of principals as instructional leaders, research is limited on how principals understand their role and how these understandings in turn impact on the effective facilitation of curriculum changes. The aim of this study was to research this gap and directly explore how principals perceive and carry out their role as instructional leaders in facilitating curriculum changes. Furthermore, in South Africa, based on numerous reports highlighting poor learner performance in schools, we question whether or not principals are equipped with the necessary instructional leadership skills and expertise required to lead and facilitate curriculum changes in schools. The study was informed by literature related to a theoretical frame of reference on instructional leadership, the features of instructional leadership that impact on the role of the principal in facilitating curriculum changes and selected models of instructional leadership...
Ph.D. (Educational Leadership and Management)