Abstract
M.Ed. (Educational Management)
Previous research in the area of school leadership indicates that current models of management are falling short of equipping school leaders with the skills required to meet the demands of 21st century schools. Nowhere in the world is this more evident than in South Africa, where transformation of the education system since democracy in 1994, has been slow - eroded by weak management, bureaucratic management structures and policy overload. Nowadays, effective, intelligent leaders are those who respond to challenges utilising different intelligences. For these reasons, this study draws on leadership intelligence (LQ) theory and proposes that a holistic understanding of intelligence, known as leadership intelligence (LQ), can be a useful theoretical approach to effective school leadership in a South African school context. LQ refers to how leaders need to make logical decisions (IQ), manage their own and their team’s emotions (EQ) and express their desires and passions (SQ); focusing on the balance between these three intelligences. “How can a leadership intelligence (LQ) development course empower the leadership team of a township school to lead more intelligently?” is the fundamental question in this study. To illustrate this, I employed a participatory action research (PAR) design to explore the perceived changes in the LQ of a school management team (SMT) in a township school. In attending a three-week long LQ intervention, and using a LQ questionnaire (LIQ) as a pre- and post-intervention technique, the SMT as research collaborators, wrote about their learning in journals before finally devising action plans. In using inductive reasoning, I explored the participant’s journals and action plans, by looking for patterns then allocating codes before eventually identifying common themes. What emerged as a result of the thematic analysis, were three predominate themes of autonomy, empathy, and communication. These prevailing themes were then discussed, illuminating some of the challenges facing school leadership in township schools and was evidence of their growing LQ. The findings point to the impact of hierarchical structures and autocracy prevalent in schools as obstacles to the participants who are working towards accessing their LQ skills. Furthermore, while the results of this study have shed light on the fields of school leadership in a South African township school and leadership intelligence (LQ), the PAR approach has also contributed to research in school leadership development in South Africa as a suggested avenue for future research...