Abstract
Novice teachers face many challenges during their early teaching years in schools. Such
challenges can lead to their attrition. Some of the challenges faced by novice teachers can be
alleviated through leadership support, particularly from departmental heads. However,
departmental heads also experience challenges in their roles, which prevent them from fully
supporting novice teachers. This study aims to establish the experiences encountered by
departmental heads in supporting novice teachers’ job retention in South Africa’s public
primary schools. This study is significant because it addresses the existing research gap on
departmental heads' experiences on novice teacher job retention. The study was guided by the
interpretivist research paradigm and a qualitative research approach, which allowed
participants to share their understandings, beliefs and experiences with novice teachers. The
study employed an interpretive phenomenology research design. Phenomenology research
design enabled me, to gather rich insights from participants’ perceptions and thoughts
regarding the phenomenon. Ten participants (departmental heads) were purposively selected
from five public primary schools. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were used to gather
data from participants, which was analysed and interpreted using the thematic analysis
technique. The credibility of the study was heightened by adhering to ethical considerations
and trustworthiness measures, expected when conducting research involving living beings.
Findings from the study revealed that novice teachers face many challenges when they
commence their teaching careers. The findings further demonstrated that departmental heads
implemented various support strategies and leadership styles to support novice teachers in the
workplace. However the findings further revealed that departmental heads encountered some
challenges in their endeavours of supporting novice teachers.This study recommends that
schools implement appropriate strategies that can help to support and retain novice teachers.
Furthermore, schools should develop relevant professional development programmes that are
aimed at empowering departmental heads to successfully lead and guide novice teachers.