Exploring teachers’ perceptions of distributed leadership practices in selected secondary schools within Gauteng Province
- Authors: Kwinda, Azwifarwi Aaron
- Date: 2013-05-06
- Subjects: School management and organization , Educational leadership , High school teachers , Teacher-principal relationships
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: http://ujcontent.uj.ac.za8080/10210/369403 , uj:7526 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/8382
- Description: M.Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management) , The field of school leadership is currently preoccupied with the new idea of distributed leadership. Harris (2009:3) also writes that it is irrefutable that distributed leadership has become the idea of the moment. It is against this backdrop that this study aimed to explore the perceptions of teachers regarding the practice of distributed leadership in their respective schools. What propelled this research were the changes that are taking place in South African education system since 1994. This study explores the practice of distributed leadership in schools from a teacherbased perspective, rather than from the educational theorists and legislators’ point of view. The schools under study are the three secondary schools located within Johannesburg North District 10 in Gauteng Province. The research design followed a qualitative approach. Three secondary schools were sampled, and the data were collected through interviewing the teachers of different post levels (including principals), as individuals and in pairs. Documents containing minutes of the planning sessions and the first staff meeting were also used to triangulate the data. These documents showed how roles and responsibilities are allocated to each teacher in those three sampled secondary schools. The findings revealed that there are both benefits, and inevitable and inherent threats to the implementation of distributed leadership in the three schools. The benefits are that distributing leadership can raise school’s collective capacities, empower staff, and can encourage collaborative school cultures and decisionmaking; and all these can make the school effective because there is coperformance, collective agency and conjoint effort in running the schools’ affairs. However, there is inherent threat posed by the school’s hierarchical structure and the policy climate within which schools operate. These barriers cannot simply be underestimated or ignored, and it is naïve to assume that they would simply fall away to accommodate and support distributed leadership in schools.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Kwinda, Azwifarwi Aaron
- Date: 2013-05-06
- Subjects: School management and organization , Educational leadership , High school teachers , Teacher-principal relationships
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: http://ujcontent.uj.ac.za8080/10210/369403 , uj:7526 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/8382
- Description: M.Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management) , The field of school leadership is currently preoccupied with the new idea of distributed leadership. Harris (2009:3) also writes that it is irrefutable that distributed leadership has become the idea of the moment. It is against this backdrop that this study aimed to explore the perceptions of teachers regarding the practice of distributed leadership in their respective schools. What propelled this research were the changes that are taking place in South African education system since 1994. This study explores the practice of distributed leadership in schools from a teacherbased perspective, rather than from the educational theorists and legislators’ point of view. The schools under study are the three secondary schools located within Johannesburg North District 10 in Gauteng Province. The research design followed a qualitative approach. Three secondary schools were sampled, and the data were collected through interviewing the teachers of different post levels (including principals), as individuals and in pairs. Documents containing minutes of the planning sessions and the first staff meeting were also used to triangulate the data. These documents showed how roles and responsibilities are allocated to each teacher in those three sampled secondary schools. The findings revealed that there are both benefits, and inevitable and inherent threats to the implementation of distributed leadership in the three schools. The benefits are that distributing leadership can raise school’s collective capacities, empower staff, and can encourage collaborative school cultures and decisionmaking; and all these can make the school effective because there is coperformance, collective agency and conjoint effort in running the schools’ affairs. However, there is inherent threat posed by the school’s hierarchical structure and the policy climate within which schools operate. These barriers cannot simply be underestimated or ignored, and it is naïve to assume that they would simply fall away to accommodate and support distributed leadership in schools.
- Full Text:
The perceptions of teachers of the impact of school principal leaderships’ on school effectiveness in two schools in Namibia
- Authors: Shalyefu, Taloshili Taarah
- Date: 2012-06-07
- Subjects: School principals , Educational leadership , School management and organization , Teacher-principal relationships
- Type: Mini-Dissertation
- Identifier: uj:8658 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/5013
- Description: M.Ed. , This study investigated the perceptions of teachers with regards to the leadership styles of the principals of two Namibian schools, and the impact of those styles on the effectiveness of the schools. This study reviewed some approaches such as situational and transformational theories that formed part of theoretical framework. This was done to provide the context and to understand what contributes to making school leaders more effective. The three common leadership styles, namely the authoritative style, the laissez-faire style, and the democratic style, were studied in order to establish the leadership style that dominates in these two schools situated in the northern part of Namibia. A total of fourteen teachers were purposively selected. Research data was obtained through semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis. The information collected provided answers to the following four main research questions: (1) To what extend do school principals in Namibia recognise that no one leadership style is right or wrong? (2) How do teachers perceive the leadership style of their principals? (3) To what extent do teachers recognise that whatever approach the principal adopts will have consequences with regards to the effectiveness of their own practice? (4) Is there a relationship between the leadership style adopted by the school principals and school effectiveness? The data was analysed from the transcribed verbatim of interviews. Interview transcriptions were analysed by finding themes, patterns and categories that fell under the main four research questions. Triangulation was done in order to find out whether the information collected with interviews, observation and document analysis were collaborating or not. The main findings of this study are that the two principals that were investigated both leaned towards a more collaborative and democratic leadership style by involving teachers and other stakeholders in education, particularly parents. The other finding of this study was that the leadership strategies that school leaders employ and the way things are done in school has a direct influence on the teaching and learning process. The study recommends, among other things, that school principals should provide balanced leadership and spend significant time in direct supervision of instruction and staff development activities.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Shalyefu, Taloshili Taarah
- Date: 2012-06-07
- Subjects: School principals , Educational leadership , School management and organization , Teacher-principal relationships
- Type: Mini-Dissertation
- Identifier: uj:8658 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/5013
- Description: M.Ed. , This study investigated the perceptions of teachers with regards to the leadership styles of the principals of two Namibian schools, and the impact of those styles on the effectiveness of the schools. This study reviewed some approaches such as situational and transformational theories that formed part of theoretical framework. This was done to provide the context and to understand what contributes to making school leaders more effective. The three common leadership styles, namely the authoritative style, the laissez-faire style, and the democratic style, were studied in order to establish the leadership style that dominates in these two schools situated in the northern part of Namibia. A total of fourteen teachers were purposively selected. Research data was obtained through semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis. The information collected provided answers to the following four main research questions: (1) To what extend do school principals in Namibia recognise that no one leadership style is right or wrong? (2) How do teachers perceive the leadership style of their principals? (3) To what extent do teachers recognise that whatever approach the principal adopts will have consequences with regards to the effectiveness of their own practice? (4) Is there a relationship between the leadership style adopted by the school principals and school effectiveness? The data was analysed from the transcribed verbatim of interviews. Interview transcriptions were analysed by finding themes, patterns and categories that fell under the main four research questions. Triangulation was done in order to find out whether the information collected with interviews, observation and document analysis were collaborating or not. The main findings of this study are that the two principals that were investigated both leaned towards a more collaborative and democratic leadership style by involving teachers and other stakeholders in education, particularly parents. The other finding of this study was that the leadership strategies that school leaders employ and the way things are done in school has a direct influence on the teaching and learning process. The study recommends, among other things, that school principals should provide balanced leadership and spend significant time in direct supervision of instruction and staff development activities.
- Full Text:
- «
- ‹
- 1
- ›
- »