Leadership trends of principals towards the provision of quality teaching in underperforming secondary schools in the King Cetshwayo district
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Date
2021
Authors
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Publisher
University of Zululand
Abstract
Principals' leadership styles are a major factor contributing to good performance of
their schools. The aim of this study was to investigate principals’ leadership trends
towards the provision of quality teaching in underperforming secondary schools in King
Cetshwayo District. The study followed a mixed methods design. In 2015, 138 of the
204 high schools in the district were categorised as underperforming. For the
quantitative study, 14 of the underperforming schools with a total of 227 teachers were
selected for analysis using simple random sampling. The study sample consisted of
all the 227 teachers. Of the 227 distributed questionnaires 183 were successfully
returned, giving a response rate of 81%. Purposive sampling was used to select four
principals, four Heads of Departments and two teachers for the interviews. The study's
findings revealed that a principal’s leadership style plays a vital role towards good
learner outcomes. Furthermore, results showed that schools where principals
delegated duties, encouraged teamwork, held staff development programmes and
supervised teachers and learners constantly exhibited great learner academic
improvement. It was established that those schools that operated effectively followed
leadership styles that encouraged power-sharing while there was no power-sharing in
most underperforming schools. Based on the findings, the leadership style used by
principals running successful schools was transformational. The study therefore
recommends this leadership style for South African schools.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education in the department of Education Foundation and Management at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2021.
Keywords
Leadership, transformation, performance, organisation, underperforming