Abstract
South African schools undertake school self-evaluation (SSE) annually. Stakeholders are required to evaluate their current practices in order to identify areas in their school that could improve learning outcomes. Subsequently, a school improvement plan (SIP) is drawn up and submitted to the school district. However, schools often experienced challenges with the SSE process which resulted in the non-submission or the late submission of the SIP. This study explored how the SSE process was led and managed by principals in rural schools in the Bahananwa circuit of the Limpopo Province. The study was situated in an interpretivist worldview and employed a qualitative approach using a multiple case study design. Data collection ensued primarily through semi-structured, face-to-face interviews and was complemented with document analysis. The sample comprised nine participants including the principal, a teacher on the School Development Team (SDT) and a School Governing Body (SGB) member in each of three schools. Qualitative content analysis was applied to analyse the data...
M.Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management)