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Middle managers’ leadership role with online curriculum delivery during the Covid-19 pandemic

  • Authors: Lutawan, Shalini
  • Date: 2021
  • Subjects: Education - Curricula , Education - Effect of technological innovations on , School management teams , School management and organization , Curriculum planning , Covid-19 Pandemic - Educational aspects - South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Masters (Thesis)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/486556 , uj:44260
  • Description: Abstract: In early 2020, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was recognized as the causative agent of ‘Coronavirus Disease 2019’ or COVID-19. This viral disease spread through respiratory droplets passed on from coughs or sneezes of infected persons. Thus, COVID-19 brought about massive shifts in education, affecting the functionality of education internationally. The delivery of education came to a complete halt when schools were closed under the lockdown level five regulations imposed by the government of South Africa from the 26th of March 2020. As the spread of the virus declined, the lockdown sanctions imposed varied between lockdown levels four, three, two and one during the period March 2020 to the current time. Schools, which operated within an advanced technological system were able to transition to online teaching and learning immediately. Ex-model C schools, geographically situated in affluent areas, where ideally placed for the adoption of an online platform of curriculum delivery, which allowed for both teachers and school leaders to work according to the “new normal”, without compromising the academic year. When children returned to school, a revised curriculum had to be implemented, and this required capacity building of teachers to cater for the changes in curriculum delivery. The instructional leadership role of middle managers changed once they had to embrace and implement online teaching and learning. This led to the question of how prepared were middle managers for this new role, and how did they manage teachers effectively to ensure the quality of education was not compromised? This study explores the instructional leadership role played by middle managers, also known as heads of departments, in assisting teachers when schools transferred to online learning... , M.Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management)
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School managers’ experiences of prioritising during Covid-19

  • Authors: Alli, Maymoona Sheik
  • Date: 2021
  • Subjects: School management and organization , COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- - Educational aspects
  • Language: English
  • Type: Masters (Thesis)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/486476 , uj:44250
  • Description: Abstract: For school managers, the COVID-19 pandemic presents a definitive and transformational challenge, for which new situations and demands arise on a daily basis and no pre-written instructions or clear guidance is available to guide their responses. This presents a dilemma to school managers who need to plan responses speedily in the face of both uncertainty and ever-changing situations. One of the greatest issues faced by managers during the COVID-19 pandemic is identifying methods for prioritisation of needs and activities they need to address and find solutions. This is vital for the smooth running of a school and made more pertinent during a crisis such as COVID-19. School managers also face the challenge of ‘contradictory’ needs pulling their actions towards opposite directions. They also had to adapt quickly as new challenges prevail on an ongoing basis. This study examined the prioritising experiences of school managers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the theoretical lens of Eisenhower’s Urgent/Important Matrix, the MCDA collective prioritising model as well as the three phases of risk preparedness, it undertook to understand the difficulties and successes which the managers achieved in dealing with increased demands during the pandemic and their (lack of) experiences regarding prioritising. Using qualitative research approach, descriptive phenomenological research design and purposive sampling, this study included school managers from six schools situated in different social-economic contexts. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with these school managers to discern the needs they perceived, how they responded to these needs, as well as any evidence regarding prioritisation when they responded to these needs. The finding suggests that the increase and multitude of the needs, exacerbated by the unpredictability of the situation and constant change of policy and regulation, had pushed almost all educational needs into the Eisenhower’s quadrant A (both urgent and important), which effectively nullifies the applicability and usefulness of Eisenhower’s Matrix. In addition, despite the expected advantage from collective prioritising from MCDA, decision-making practice during COVID-19 largely became more autocratic in the face of needing quicker decision-making. The three phases of risk preparedness also largely fall short of its applicability because the pandemic is iii new and renders anticipation and preparedness impossible. Overall, the study found that reactive, autocratic and lack of conscious prioritising marked the decisionmaking process of those school managers during COVID-19. , M.Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management)
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Teacher perceptions of the competence of the school management team to utilise authentic collaboration as an aspect of holistic leadership and its influence on their job satisfaction

  • Authors: Ismail, Fatema
  • Date: 2021
  • Subjects: School management and organization , Teacher-principal relationships , Educational leadership
  • Language: English
  • Type: Masters (Thesis)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/473666 , uj:42668
  • Description: Abstract: Attempts to advance the standard of teaching and learning in South African schools has resulted in the development of various legislative mandates advocating collaborative forms of school leadership. As a result, the school management team is left limited in their application. They are expected to raise student outcomes and pressure is consecutively thrust upon teachers to deliver academic excellence. Due to this and hierarchical bureaucratic systems in schools, collaboration is often viewed as a luxury rather than a priority. It is somewhat practiced in a contrived way instead of in an authentic collaborative manner steering towards a more holistic approach to school leadership. This quantitative study investigates the competence of school management teams in their use of authentic collaboration as an aspect of holistic leadership, via the perceptions of teachers. Analysis of data acquired from a sample of 700 teachers indicated indecisiveness of the teachers in this regard. The Structural Equation Model displayed a positive and direct relationship between the teachers’ perceptions of the competence of the school management team in using authentic collaboration to influence aspects of increased job satisfaction, indicating that as the use of authentic collaboration increases at schools, so too will the job satisfaction in teachers. However, aspects that hinder job satisfaction should be kept to a minimum as they influence the association of the two constructs. The school management team should therefore be cognisant of the potential use of authentic collaboration in schools to power efficacy, teacher retention, and teamwork in attaining the fundamental aim of education. , M.Ed. (Education)
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The impact of leadership style on teachers' motivational needs in rural schools

  • Authors: Van Damme, Arno Nicolaas
  • Date: 2021
  • Subjects: Educational leadership , School management and organization , Motivation in education , Rural schools
  • Language: English
  • Type: Masters (Thesis)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/486114 , uj:44208
  • Description: Abstract: In this study, the impact of principals’ leadership styles on teachers’ motivational needs in rural schools was investigated. Teacher motivation is seen as a driving force for the success of a school, teaching, and learning. It is a core task of the principal and leadership in the school to ensure that teachers are motivated to achieve excellence in their school. The manner in which a principal leads can have an effect on how motivated teachers at the school are. Previous research has focussed mainly on single leadership styles, while a comparison between leadership styles and the effect on teacher motivation have not gained much attention. Literature about leadership, success at schools, motivation, and the relationship between the two concepts have been utilised to conceptualise these concepts. This study was done from a positivist perspective and a path-goal framework. A quantitative research approach was followed with a quantitative survey design. A demographic questionnaire, a leadership style questionnaire and motivational questionnaire were utilised. Targeted sampling was used, and data were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings in this study show discrepancies, as the results in this study were not statistically significant; yet a very large amount of the variance seen in teacher motivation could be explained by principals’ leadership styles, while a strong negative relationship was found between the two variables under investigation. These findings contradict and correspond with findings of previous research studies in the same area of interest. Accordingly, further investigation into this area of research is necessitated. Yet, doing this study also made contributions, as it was found that a strong, negative relationship exists between principals’ leadership styles and teacher motivation, while 41.4% of the variance in teacher motivation depends on the principal’s leadership style. , M.Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management)
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Teachers’ and middle managers’ experiences of principals’ instructional leadership: Towards improving curriculum delivery in schools

  • Authors: Chabalala, Grace
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: School management and organization
  • Language: English
  • Type: Masters (Thesis)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/446037 , uj:39044
  • Description: Abstract: This study was designed to explore teachers’ and middle managers’ experiences of principals’ instructional leadership towards improving curriculum delivery in schools. Literature on instructional leadership indicates how failing schools can be turned around to become successful if principals consider instructional leadership to be their main role within schools. The researcher argues that it is the responsibility of principals to ensure that learners’ results are improved through support, provided by the principals to capacitate the teachers and middle managers who deliver the curriculum. This study utilised three domains of instructional leadership as its framework. The researcher employed a qualitative approach to the exploration of teachers’ and middle managers’ experiences of principals’ instructional leadership. The researcher purposefully selected four teachers and four middle managers for this study. Six semi-structured individual interviews and one focus group interview were utilised to collect data for the purposes of this study. Data was analysed through thematic content analysis, whereby the processes of coding, categorising and classifying were applied... , M.Ed. (Education Leadership Management)
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Principals’ perspectives on managing learner discipline in Secondary Schools

  • Authors: Adeoye, Ayodeji Michael
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: School management and organization , School discipline , Developmental psychology
  • Language: English
  • Type: Masters (Thesis)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/446222 , uj:39067
  • Description: Abstract: This study explores principals’ perspectives on managing learner discipline in secondary schools. The study was located in a qualitative approach and employed a generic qualitative design. A literature study was undertaken to tap into the existing knowledge base on discipline, indiscipline and the causes and effects of indiscipline. Data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews with five secondary school principals. Qualitative content analysis was employed to analyse the data and subsequently three themes and various sub-themes emerged from the study. Findings indicate that learner discipline in secondary schools is in a poor state and is deteriorating. The study further revealed strategies that principals currently use to manage learner discipline. These include positive discipline and prevention, discipline structures in school, stakeholder involvement and the school’s code of conduct. Various challenges that principals face in managing learner discipline in schools were identified, which are inadequate parental involvement, ineffective parental skills in fostering discipline and insufficient support from the Department of Education... , M.Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management)
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Protective factors towards teacher resilience in a privately-funded independent school

  • Authors: Boatsi, Tenneson
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Teachers - Job stress , School management and organization , Stress management , Burn out (Psychology)
  • Language: English
  • Type: Masters (Thesis)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/286569 , uj:31010
  • Description: M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) , Abstract: The study was aimed at understanding and exploring how teachers adapt and cope with stressors in a privately-funded independent school. Much research has been done on teacher stress and its effects on delivering of quality education. Various studies conducted have found that workload, low salary, frequent changes of curriculum and students’ unruly behaviour are the sources of stress (Denhere & Chireshe, 2005). Furthermore, the sources of stress in private schools in Turkey were revealed to be inadequate resources, lack of encouragement and constant supervision from school administrators, low social status of the profession, indiscipline among students, as well as high expectations from parents (Aydin & Kaya, 2016). The effects of teacher stress cannot be underestimated as it may manifest in physiological conditions such as headaches, sleep disturbances and depression (Dunham & Varma, 1998), anxiety and alcoholism (Kaur, 2011) and lack of professional commitment (Champoux, 2000). After considering the prevalence of teacher stress and its effect on teachers delivering quality teaching and learning, the importance of deepening our understanding on how teachers resiliently adapt and cope with stressors becomes apparent in reducing teacher attrition. The theoretical conceptual framework for the study was fundamentally based on a post-modern interpretivist paradigm using the epistemology and ontology of social constructionism (Gergen, 2009). A qualitative generic design was deemed appropriate for the study. The data for this study was collected by means of semi-structured interviews and an incomplete sentences activity. These instruments were used to elicit teachers’ views on how they adapt and cope with stressors and what protective resilience factors support them. An inductive content analysis was used in analysing the data. The themes that emerged during data analysis pointed out protective factors enabling teacher resilience, as well as other factors that constrain or reduce teacher resilience. Those factors that enable teachers to adapt and cope with stressors include: commitment to learners, professional development and freedom,..
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Resistance to school mergers in a rural region in the Limpopo Province : the perspectives of traditional leaders, principals and parents

  • Authors: Mkhabele, Ntiyiso Norman
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Educational leadership , Schools - Centralization , School management and organization
  • Language: English
  • Type: Masters (Thesis)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/286529 , uj:31005
  • Description: M.Ed. , Abstract: To address huge infrastructure backlogs together with a decrease in student enrolments in rural regions, the Department of Education (DoE) proposed the merger of small schools. However, the proposed school mergers were contested by local communities who engaged in protest marches. Furthermore, traditional leaders were at the forefront of the opposition to mergers. Thus, this study investigated the perspectives of traditional leaders, principals and parents regarding their resistance towards school mergers in the Vhembe region of the Limpopo Province. The study was conducted within a qualitative research approach. Data were collected through face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with traditional leaders, parents and principals. Consequently, the most important finding of this study is that a merger is precipitated by poor consultation with stakeholders namely, teachers, learners, parents and traditional leaders. Another significant finding was that stakeholders do not trust the Department of Education to provide reliable transport for learners to travel to schools in neighbouring villages. Furthermore, a cause of the resistance to mergers is because schools are regarded as symbols of community identity and heritage. The study led to the recommendation that the Department of Education must convene meetings with stakeholders to provide them with information before the merger process starts. Furthermore, the school district should ensure that reliable transport will be provided if learners have to travel great distances as a result of a school merger.
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Principal's management of corporate partnerships development in South African township schools

  • Authors: Mhlontlo, Mnyamezele Joseph
  • Date: 2017
  • Subjects: Blacks - Education - South Africa - Administration , Blacks - Education - Political aspects - South Africa , School management and organization
  • Language: English
  • Type: Masters (Thesis)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/411901 , uj:34634
  • Description: Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore the management of corporate partnership development by township principals. To meet the needs for South African township schools, historically confronted with significant shortages of financial, physical and human resources, it is often necessary for school managers to be inventive and search for new opportunities. Thus, they strive to develop partnerships with corporate entities, in order to pave the way for effective teaching and learning in their schools. Therefore, it is essential for school principals to manage their relationships with corporate partners effectively. The aim of this research is to respond to the question: “How do principals manage corporate partnership development in township schools?” The research method applied is qualitative, which seeks to engage participants’ world-view in terms of realms of human understanding, such as the knowledge they possess, emotional states of mind, views and thoughts. The research approach is case study. Five principals and deputy principals (giving a total of 10 participants) were selected from two secondary and three primary schools in the same area in Kokosi Township. The selected schools are officially collaborating with corporate organizations (business entities) in achieving the purpose of teaching and learning. The overarching finding indicates that school principals did not manage corporate partnerships in the same manner, at least in part because of the absence of a formal guiding document on managing corporate partnership development from the Gauteng Department of Education. Included in the recommendations was an acknowledgement of the need to establish a comprehensive policy on how school principals can manage corporate partnership development. , M.A. (Education Leadership and Management)
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School management practices in establishing township school-community partnerships

  • Authors: Ngobeni, Stanley Taren
  • Date: 2017
  • Subjects: School management and organization , School management teams
  • Language: English
  • Type: Doctoral (Thesis)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/267965 , uj:28436
  • Description: Abstract: School-community partnerships play a critical part in successful schools, frequently providing support and resources to meet staff- and learner needs that go beyond the school’s walls. Therefore, schools are inseparably part of the communities they serve and can be more successful and productive working with community organisations than if functioning separately. The purpose of the study is to explore school management practices in establishing and maintaining school-community partnerships and to further analyse the use of school-community partnerships by school management teams and community partners as an improvement strategy in striving for quality education in township secondary schools in the Johannesburg Central District. The study employs a concurrent triangulation mixed methods design (QUAN + QUAL) to investigate the partnerships between 100 school management team (SMT) members from 16 selected township secondary schools and their respective community partners to better comprehend each participant‘s views and lived experiences of the partnerships. The systems theory, partnership theory, highly effective community schools model and Tuckman’s collaborative development model function as theoretical frameworks to understand how school management practices are implemented. Quantitative results and qualitative findings found that the majority of participants had a positive understanding of how SMT members establish and maintain school-community partnerships. Participants expressed positive perceptions and experiences of partnerships. They also indicated an understanding of quality education. The participants further described and expressed positive strategies for establishing and maintaining partnerships. Despite some challenges associated with the partnerships, participants indicated some benefits of partnerships such as the provision of much-needed resources; intellectual-, emotional- and career development; improved quality education and academic performance; and better curriculum delivery. The participants expressed willingness to attend a professional development course on partnerships. The study concludes that school management practices in establishing and maintaining partnerships are critical for providing much-needed human- and material resources, especially to the poorly resourced township secondary schools. Schools managers and leaders need to develop a plan that incorporates community... , Ph.D.
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Managing and facilitating racial integration in public secondary schools

  • Authors: Naidoo, Shantha
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: School management and organization , School integration , Education, Secondary , Multicultural education , Assimilation (Sociology) , School management teams
  • Language: English
  • Type: Doctoral (Thesis)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/232423 , uj:23706
  • Description: Ph.D. , Abstract: Since 1994 desegregation in schools has resulted in school management and governance structures adopting diverse ways of responding to the racially diverse learner population. However, researchers are doubtful as to whether such attempts at proving an equitable and quality education for learners with racially diverse backgrounds, interests and abilities are successful. It is in this context that this research was carried out, with the purpose of investigating the effectiveness of school management and governance structures in managing and facilitating racial integration in public secondary schools. A sequential explanatory mixed method approach involving three phases was used. Phase 1 was quantitative in nature and gathered data from racially diverse Grade 10 learners, educators, members of the school management team (SMT) and school governing body (SGB) in racially mixed schools in the province of Gauteng, South Africa. Purposeful sampling was used to select four schools from Johannesburg Districts (South and Central) within the categories of former departments of education, namely House of Assembly (HoA), House of Delegates (HoD), House of Representatives (HoR), and Department of Education and Training (DET). Although a large number of questionnaires were handed out to the different participants only 336 learner questionnaires were completed and some educator questionnaires were not returned or were incomplete, leaving 88 completed, including those from members of the SMT and SGB. The data was analysed using SPSS 22.0 software for descriptive statistics and factor analysis. Phase 2 was qualitative in nature and focused on obtaining an in-depth view of the issues that had arisen from the quantitative phase by conducting individual interviews with eight learners from racially diverse backgrounds and four focus groups with10 participants in each group, comprising members of the SMT and SGB as well as educators combined. Quantitative results indicated that SMT and SGB were effectively managing racial integration in the previously White, Indian and Coloured schools, whereas in Black schools there was no need for racial integration because there was only one race group. The qualitative results showed that racial integration was not evident in these schools but rather there was heightened racial conflict and racial incidences prevalent in former White, Indian and Coloured schools. The qualitative findings were: that policies were not in line with the country’s Constitution, which advocates racial equality and social justice, and this has a negative impact on effective racial integration at school level; a curriculum that does not accommodate the diverse needs of learners from racially diverse backgrounds, especially in respect of the language of teaching and learning; the dynamics of conflicting interrelationships both amongst learners themselves as well as their educators manifested through name-calling, labelling and stereotypical behaviour on a daily basis; and the need for capacity building of educators to equip them with the necessary knowledge, values, attitudes and skills to manage racial...
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Menseverhoudinge as bestuursopgawe op skoolvlak.

  • Authors: Van der Merwe, David Frank
  • Date: 2015-11-12
  • Subjects: Teacher-principal relationships , School personnel management , School management and organization
  • Type: Thesis
  • Identifier: uj:14550 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/15083
  • Description: M.Ed. (Education Management) , Human relations as a management strategy considers the principal as a staff specialist charged with the caring for, and maintaining of, the human side of the school. The principal's aim as a human relations manager must be to get along with teachers, be sympathetic to their problems, and tend to their idiosyncrasies to gain their co-operation. The principal plays a vital role in the establishment of interpersonal relationships in the management of the school. The increasing requirements in respect of human relations responsibilities may result in greater pressures being placed on school principals. The principal should strive to execute his management of human relations in such a way that relationships of trust, understanding and authority will be established. Principals must go beyond merely speaking about what the school could be. They must establish relations that enable colleagues to experience some of those possibilities.
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Skoolbeleid as bestuursinstrument

Enkele korrektiewe in skoolbestuur

  • Authors: Van Schalkwyk, Frederik George
  • Date: 2015-10-14
  • Subjects: School management and organization
  • Type: Thesis
  • Identifier: uj:14320 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/14778
  • Description: M.Ed. (Education Management) , As a managerial leader the principal 􀀆s responsible for a comprehensive SPt of tasks. It is, therefore, not possible for one person to punctually and timorously give attention to all the pertinent matters which may arise. This dilemma has given rise to mechanisms of identification, design and description which would ultimately lead to a refined school management system ...
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Die bestuur van verhoudings in die topstruktuur van die skool

  • Authors: Uys, Christiaan Petrus
  • Date: 2015-09-22
  • Subjects: School management and organization , School principals
  • Type: Thesis
  • Identifier: uj:14155 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/14599
  • Description: M.Ed. , Realization of the aims of the school requires, inter alia, meaningful and purposeful co-operation between the members of the top management of the school. Purposeful cooperation between these members implies the establishment of relationships that will realize and facilitate mutual consultation, sharing of responsibilities and effective management ...
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Die funksie van die skoolhoof by die effektiewe gebruik van media in primêre skole

  • Authors: Meintjes, Georg Phillipus
  • Date: 2015-09-22
  • Subjects: Media programs (Education) , School principals , School management and organization
  • Type: Thesis
  • Identifier: uj:14159 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/14602
  • Description: M.Ed. , The ultimate aim of this study is to reveal the influence which the principal exerts, by means of his management style and more specifically his management by objectives, on the effective use of media in the primary school. Firstly media are reviewed in a didactic-pedagogical perspective on the basis of the four didactical fundamentals games (play), conversation, example and assignment. An inter-relationship exists between the four didactical fundamentals, and they must be seen as a unit from which the teaching method can be deducted ...
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Oorredende kommunikasie as bestuursinstrument van die skoolhoof

  • Authors: Kamper, Gerrit Dirk
  • Date: 2015-09-22
  • Subjects: School management and organization , School principals , Persuasion (Rhetoric)
  • Type: Thesis
  • Identifier: uj:14152 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/14596
  • Description: M.Ed. , It became apparent in this study that persuasive communication can play an important part in managerial communication. Persuasive communication implies that appeals are made to reason (logos) and emotion (pathos) to change a given attitude for the benefit of the organization and the individual. This can only be achieved if the trustworthiness (ethos) of the persuader can be relied upon. Persuasion is not a coercive measure - the persuadee is led to change his attitude on his own initiative ...
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Skoolvernuwing : 'n bestuurstaak van die skoolhoof

  • Authors: Botha, Jacobus Lodewikes
  • Date: 2015-09-22
  • Subjects: School principals , Educational innovations , School management and organization
  • Type: Thesis
  • Identifier: uj:14143 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/14587
  • Description: M.Ed. , The inability of the school to react or adapt swiftly to changes in society, poses the challenge to the principal, as the organizer and leader of his school, to develop built-in managerial mechanism(s) which will guarantee the constant self-renewal of the school. The following aspects of the problem, which also constitutes the aims of the investigation, were analyzed by means of a study of selected literature, from which some logical conclusions were drawn ...
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The role of a mission statement in the management of secondary schools

Personeelontwikkeling as bestuurstaak van die skoolhoof

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