Abstract
In the context of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS, 2016), South African results on literacy levels are shocking, compared to the rest of the world. South African education system remains under siege. Teachers as literacy leaders are expected to lead the way to better results by ensuring that literacy academic performance in schools improve. Distributed leadership practices of literacy teachers become an important approach to navigate during their teaching and learning. The aim of this study is to establish how distributed leadership of Grade 3 literacy teachers can improve academic performance of Grade 3 learners. This qualitative study outlines the distributed leadership practices that teachers engage in in order to improve academic performance, as well as challenges faced in an effort to improve academic performance. During this study, I sought to explore experiences of Grade 3 literacy teachers in practising distributed leadership towards academic performance. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data. The data were analysed using qualitative coding and categorised and analysed to identify themes. The study found that when all stakeholders work in collaboration to share ideas, skills and expertise and create networks, the academic performance of learners will improve. Furthermore, the implementation of curriculum and creative strategies is threatened by various challenges. Hence, I recommend that the Department of Education looks at the working conditions of teachers, professional development, professional learning communities as well as the principal and SMTs’ leadership style. It is hoped that this study would highlight distributed leadership practices of Grade 3 literacy teachers towards academic performance.
Keywords: Academic performance, distributed leadership, literacy learner, literacy teacher.