Abstract
The aim of the study is to determine the role of school leadership in supporting teachers to teach in culturally diverse classroom settings. After South Africa obtained democracy, most Black parents enrolled their children in Historically White Schools (HWS), Coloured Schools, and Indian Schools which had better facilities than the Black Schools. This resulted in greater classroom diversity in terms of culture, race, and language. This classroom diversity also posed new challenges for teachers and school leadership as classrooms had a diverse school population. Teachers were equally challenged by classroom diversity, as many argued that they were not sufficiently prepared to teach learners from diverse cultural backgrounds. The study is framed in the transformative leadership theoretical framework and employs a qualitative research approach, using open-ended questions. The study made use of purposive sampling, which included teachers and school leaders from the Umlazi school district in Durban in the Kwa-Zulu Natal province of South Africa. The study revealed that participants had a rudimentary understanding of the concept of cultural diversity. The study further revealed that teachers were not provided with any structured training to teach learners in classes that are culturally diverse.
Keywords: Supporting; culturally diverse classes; leadership’s role