Making all the flashy stuff work: the role of the principal in ICT integration

The pervasiveness of new technologies and their rapid spread around the globe belie the fact that educational leaders still struggle with how to integrate information and communication technologies (ICT) in schools. This article describes the form of these struggles for a small group of Australian principals. Their stories emerged from a set of five longitudinal case studies of ICT integration in a range of Government schools in the state of New South Wales. During the three years over which the study was conducted, the difficulties associated with leading the integration of educational technologies in schools were common and recurring themes that emerged in interviews with principals. These cases reveal the local variations and specificities of ICT integration through a range of issues including infrastructure development, human resource development, curriculum design, pedagogical practices and futures oriented planning. In describing these issues, many of the effects of ICT integration in schools are discussed. One such effect is the requirement for principals to develop the skills of new knowledge workers, in particular they require access to knowledge and support that is sufficiently flexible to deal with immediate and practical problems.     

Agency and Structure: Principals’ Ability to Bring about Sustainable Improvement in Underperforming Schools in South Africa

This article reports on a study of which the purpose was to understand the role of principals in changing underperforming schools towards sustainable improvement in one circuit area of North-West, South Africa. School principals play a crucial role in guiding schools towards sustainable improvement by shaping a vision of academic success for all learners. Managing teaching is one of the core modules in South Africa’s new national qualification for school principals, and that being the case, principals should play a central role in effecting the educational transformation of all learners. The quality of principals’ leadership is the key factor driving the transformational turnaround and improvement required in schools. They perform a highly complex and dynamic role in enhancing and sustaining school improvement. It was the goal of this qualitative study to explore cultural, structural, and agential challenges faced by principals in their effort to provide for change and improvement in their schools. Six schools were purposefully selected to participate in the study and semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from the principals. The study established that paying attention to cultural, structural and agential factors in schools increases their ability to sustain learner improvement.     

Teachers’ Attitudes Towards the Integration of Disabled Children into Regular Schools

Regular and resource teachers from New South Wales government and nongovernment schools were surveyed to elicit their attitudes towards the integration of individual disabled chldren, the support services currently provided and the skills considered essential for teachers of mainstreamed atypical students. Differences among sub‐groups of teachers and between teachers and principals who had completed the same questionnaire in a previous study were also examined. Results indicate that teachers’ attitudes to the integration of individual disabled children reflect lack of confidence both in their own instructional skills and in the quality of support personnel currently provided to them. They are positive about integrating only those children whose disabling characteristics are not likely to require extra instructional or management skills on the part of the teacher. However, teachers’ attitudes may be significantly modified by their pre‐service training and the nature of their subsequent professional experience. Examination of the skills needed by mainstreaming staff reveals that, while general competence is considered essential, neither regular nor resource teachers seem aware of the need for a structured approach to curriculum objectives. The finding that principals’ attitudes arc consistently more positive than those expressed by teachers suggests a somewhat unrealistic perception by the former of teachers’ current anxieties about integration. Implications of these findings for policy and practice are discussed.     

Managing teacher retention in a rural school district in South Africa

Retaining quality teachers is a global challenge for schools, particularly those in rural districts. A nation-wide study conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) found that 55 % of teachers in South Africa would leave teaching if they could. Resignation was found to be one of the three largest causes of attrition (Hall et al. Potential attrition in education: the impact of job satisfaction, morale, workload and HIV/AIDS. Report presented to the ELRC by the Human Sciences Research Council and the Medical Research Council of South Africa, Cape Town: HSRC Press, 2005). This paper reports findings of a qualitative multi-case study of 15 schools in Moretele, part of a rural district—Bojanala—in the North-West province of South Africa. The aim of the study was to determine factors that influence teacher retention and the teacher retention strategies used by principals. The study also ascertained principals’ perceptions of their effectiveness in managing teacher retention. Data were collected through individual and focus group interviews of purposefully selected school principals. Findings suggest that rural schools have unique challenges that tend to militate against teacher retention. Reported barriers to teacher retention relate to the policy and procedures framework, working conditions in schools, socio-economic push–pull factors, teachers’ personal circumstances, and the role ambiguity of principals. The key recommendation made is that the staffing function as an aspect of Human Resource Management should be decentralized. School Governing Bodies must be empowered to make teacher-retention decisions and facilitate related activities of school principals.     

Gender in Primary and Secondary Education: a handbook for policymakers and other stakeholders by Ramya Subrahmanian,London: Commonwealth Secretariat, 2007

Abstract

According to the literature on school effectiveness and school improvement and the role of the school principal in this regard, the lack of time management skills and abilities among school principals can be regarded as one of the main factors that lead to principal inefficiency and ineffectiveness in the school context. But, how do male and female principals compare in terms of time management and how does gender influence one's decision-making skills in relation to time management? It is clear from the literature that no research has been conducted locally with regard to possible differences in the time management skills and abilities of male and female principals and on the problems that they experience in this regard. This article, based on an empirical study of the perceived differences between male and female principals’ time management skills and abilities in selected Gauteng schools, gives an indication of how both male and female principals rate themselves in terms of their own time management skills and abilities. The findings show that male principals have less effective time management skills and abilities as compared to their female counterparts. In the end, the study would recommend that both male and female principals should set their own priorities and devote sufficient time to these priorities so as to enable them to manage their time more effectively and efficiently in the school context.     

Perceptions of the principal’s role in democratic school governance in South Africa

This article explores governors’ perceptions of the role played by school principals in the democratic governance of secondary schools in South Africa. The South African Schools Act No. 84 of 1996 has mandated that all public schools in South Africa must have democratically elected school governing bodies, comprised of the principal (in his or her official capacity), educators, non‐teaching staff, parents and learners, but the latter is applicable only in secondary schools. This reform is intended to foster tolerance, rational discussion and collective decision‐making. In the light of this reform an empirical study investigated the role of the principal in the school governing body (SGB), particularly in promoting parent and learner participation in SGBs. The findings highlighted the important functions that principals fulfil with regard to the functioning of the SGB. Principals are viewed by governors as playing a positive role in SGBs. Governors referred to principals as ‘the finger on the pulse of what is happening at school’; they are resource persons for other members of the SGBs and ‘the engines’ of the schools. Governors viewed the principal as in charge of the professional management of the school, ensuring that all duties are carried out adequately, setting the tone in SGB meetings, and responsible for interpreting education policies and ensuring that they are well implemented. Furthermore, principals have the responsibility of ensuring the maximum participation of both parent and learner governors in SGBs meetings. Principals can also contribute greatly to school governance issues, since they are usually at an advantage in terms of their familiarity with official regulations, provincial directives and knowledge of educational reform measures. The findings highlighted persistent power struggles in rural schools that may arise when principals overplay their roles as this creates tension among SGB members. However, principals enabled implementation of democratic values such as tolerance, rational discussion and collective decision‐making in schools through their leadership roles.     

Staff perceptions of professional development and empowerment as long-term leadership tasks of school principals in South African schools: an exploratory study

This article reports on the perceptions of school staff of professional development and empowerment as part of the long-term leadership task of principals. The long-term leadership model was used as a theoretical framework to quantitatively determine the perceptions of 118 teachers and education managers in approximately 100 schools throughout South Africa. The findings indicated how principals perform, and indicated those aspects in need of attention in improving the quality of leadership relating to professional development and empowerment. A further finding was that there was a positive, and statistically significant, relationship between the respondents’ sense of empowerment and their perceptions of professional development.     

When Identity and Leadership Intersect: The Experiences of Six Female Principals in South Africa

While literature on the interplay between educational leadership and context abounds, the attention granted to the experiences of female principals has, to a large extent, treated the construction of women as a homogeneous entity. Consequently, very little, certainly within the South African context, is known about how women in leadership positions construct and enact their leadership identities. Drawing on the experiences of six female principals at public schools, this article investigates the extent to which conceptions of gender give shape to the formation of leadership identity. To this end, the focus of the article is to explore the complex intersections of constructions of identity in relation to female principals; and how these constructions hold particular implications for conceptions of gendered leadership in South African schools.     

Democratic school leadership reforms in Kenya: cultural and historical challenges

In this article we discuss students’, teachers’ and school principals’ perceptions of democratic school leadership reforms in Kenya. The article is based on a study that was conducted in two phases. In phase one (conducted between September and December 2007), interviews were undertaken with 12 school principals in which understandings of democratic school leadership were explored. These data were then used to develop a rationale for selecting the case schools. The second phase (conducted between January and April 2008) was an in‐depth case study of two schools. The findings reveal that school principals have made efforts to inculcate democratic school leadership by involving teachers in decision making on school matters. The principals also allow students to participate in matters such as election of prefects and holding class and house meetings. However, most teachers and principals do not support what they referred to as ‘full democracy’ for students and instead prefer what they called ‘partial democracy’ based on historical and cultural factors.     

The nature and incidence of barriers to learning among Grade Three learners in Tshwane

Abstract

A questionnaire designed to investigate the epidemiology of barriers to learning was given to the parents of 800 Grade 3 learners from 11 schools in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng Province, South Africa. This article reports on only the frequency and nature of problems as experienced by the 634 learners whose families completed the questionnaire. A differentiation was made between developmental problems noted in the pre-school stage and learning barriers identified after Grade 1 entry. Results show that 50.5 per cent of Foundation Phase learners experienced barriers described as moderate to severe difficulties or disabilities, with a fairly even gender distribution. The most commonly experienced difficulty in pre-school is concentration. While concentration and task completion are the most frequently experienced barrier in formal schooling. Attention Deficit Disorder (inattentive type) is the most frequently diagnosed disorder.     

Redesigning the role of deputy heads in Norwegian schools – tensions between control and autonomy?

A substantial body of research emphasises school leadership as a major influence on quality improvement in schools. Although numerous studies have identified the importance of the principal, fewer studies have examined the middle management level within schools, the deputy heads and assistant principals. Influenced by international trends, local education authorities in Norway have reorganised a traditional administrative deputy head role into a new role with expanded leadership responsibility for teacher staff and for performing instructional leadership. The primary objective of the present qualitative study is to provide additional insight into how deputy heads make sense of increased responsibility and power distribution as members of the leadership team and as leaders of the teachers in lower secondary schools. Drawing on focus group interviews and observations, the findings show that the reorganisation may open for a change from traditional administrative roles towards becoming learning-focused leaders. However, the findings also indicate that the shift can produce tensions between autonomy and control for the new leader role in the middle.     

How inclusive education is understood by principals of independent schools

Inclusive education has become a practice that has been adopted by many schools across the globe and most usually in first-world countries. As a whole-school system, it occurs less frequently in developing countries including South Africa which unlike many developing countries has a sound infrastructure and many excellent schools in both the state and the independent sectors. Education White Paper 6: Special education: Building an inclusive education and training system was published in 2001 with the express intention of developing an inclusive education system in South Africa. Some South African independent schools have successfully implemented valuable forms of inclusion in their schools and this is the phenomenon that was studied. This study reveals various aspects of the inclusive process including the pivotal role that principals play in the transformation process of which inclusive education is the harbinger. It also analyses why principals choose to embrace a paradigm that on the surface is uncomfortable and not an easy option. We used narrative research as methodology for this qualitative research. The basic tenet was that inclusion leads to belonging and excellence in education. The major findings were that inclusion to most principals was about taking action, humanity and emotion. The principals also described inclusion as personal and pragmatic. The implications for action are of interest not only to principals, but to anyone who is seriously interested in innovative and more humane forms of anti-oppressive education.     

Education for all: Experiences of principals at rural secondary schools in Mpumalanga province

Abstract

This article deals with the challenges in the implementation of education for all as experienced by principals in rural secondary schools in Mpumalanga. Interventions which have been implemented on national and provincial level to improve teaching and learning are not equally successful in schools countrywide. The central phenomenon of interest involved the determination of the management and leadership views of rural secondary school principals concerning their ability to ensure Education for All. A theoretical grounding of the situation was developed through a literature review. Interviews were conducted with principals in rural Mpumalanga to collect empirical data for the research. Two main aspects that emerged from the study, was the impact that change, tradition and culture have on teaching and learning in the rural secondary schools in Mpumalanga.     

Perceptions of leadership effectiveness in schools for children who are blind or have low vision in Nigeria

This study used the standard-based essential behavioural leadership qualities (EBLQ) method of leadership assessment, to determine leadership effectiveness of the principals of the schools for children who are blind and have low vision in Nigeria, from the perspective of the teachers of these schools. The four-stage method of leadership assessment of the EBLQ method was used to analyze data (N = 271) collected through availability sampling, to determine leadership effectiveness of the principals relative to levels of essentiality of EBLQ items. Findings show a pattern of incongruence between rankings of essentialities and effectiveness of the principals on the EBLQ items. The principals were perceived most effective in having ‘excellent educational qualifications’ which was ranked fourth as essential for leadership effectiveness. The principals were also rated twentieth on ‘timely payment of salary’, which was ranked most essential for leadership effectiveness. Overall effectiveness of the principals, however, was described as exemplary. This study is expected to contribute to much-needed studies on leadership in the schools for the blind in Nigeria, as well as provide a coaching effect for the principals of these schools.     

Seeing wholes: The concept of systems thinking and its implementation in school leadership

Systems thinking (ST) is an approach advocating thinking about any given issue as a whole, emphasising the interrelationships between its components rather than the components themselves. This article aims to link ST and school leadership, claiming that ST may enable school principals to develop highly performing schools that can cope successfully with current challenges, which are more complex than ever before in today’s era of accountability and high expectations. The article presents the concept of ST – its definition, components, history and applications. Thereafter, its connection to education and its contribution to school management are described. The article concludes by discussing practical processes including screening for ST-skilled principal candidates and developing ST skills among prospective and currently performing school principals, pinpointing three opportunities for skills acquisition: during preparatory programmes; during their first years on the job, supported by veteran school principals as mentors; and throughout their entire career. Such opportunities may not only provide school principals with ST skills but also improve their functioning throughout the aforementioned stages of professional development.     

The principal's role in restoring a learning culture in township secondary schools

Abstract

The establishment of a learning culture in schools is important for education to take place. The erosion of the learning culture which often culminated in the poor academic performance of Grade 12 learners in township secondary schools has been a cause for concern for many years. The Department of Education's countless efforts to rectify the situation have been to no avail. This article endeavours to establish the contribution that school principals can make towards resolving the problem. As manager and instructional leader of the school, the principal is in a suitable position to address this problem, and it is also his or her primary responsibility to lead and guide the school towards the attainment of good academic performance. The article discusses the principals' role in restoring a learning culture in township secondary schools. It discusses the management strategies or functions that principals can employ to restore a positive school culture. The management strategies were obtained by means of an interview from the principals of effective secondary schools. The literature study and the views of the principals obtained by means of a questionnaire confirm the effectiveness of the strategies in restoring a learning culture.     

Aligning professional development,school self-evaluation and principals’ performance standards: a UAE case study

The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) has introduced professional development (PD) plans and professional standards for school administrators. This was initiated to galvanise the ongoing school reforms. In addition, the Irtiqaa Framework, a school self-evaluation programme that contributes to the broad agenda of school reforms and changes, is currently implemented in public schools throughout the entire Emirate of Abu Dhabi. This study explores school administrators’ experiences of the PD offered in their schools, querying how aligned they are with the school self-evaluation and principal’s performance standards. The research employed a qualitative case-study approach. Semi-structured interviews were used as tools for data collection and they were conceptualised within the framework of the administrators’ performance standards and school-self-evaluation-Irtiqaa documents provided by ADEC. Researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 school administrators, including principals, vice principals, and academic principals that represent six cycle-1 public schools. Findings and recommendations presented highlight the areas of improvement needed for more effective professional development that is not only in synchrony with school demands in times of change, but also in alignment with professional requirements that enhance effective school self-evaluation.     

Leading the Multiethnic School: Research Evidence on Successful Practice

This article reports findings from a study of principals in five multiethnic schools in England. Findings are presented in terms of the major priorities or values held by the principals, the strategies they instituted to bring their priorities to life, and some of the challenges they continue to face in this endeavor. The principals involved believed that they could make a difference in their schools and were proactive, but at the same time, realistic about what could be achieved. They distinguished themselves by aggressively tackling disadvantages related to ethnicity, racism, culture, and poverty.     

Health risks with teachers' computer use: some New Zealand observations

With the increased use of computers, and particularly with the increasing use of the Internet in schools, health and education professionals have suggested the need for teachers and students to be ergonomically conscious when using computers. A project was conducted in 1999 to investigate the extent of awareness of health risks associated with computer use in schools of principals, teachers, and administrators of all the primary and secondary schools in Otago and Southland, New Zealand. Results in this study show that although a high proportion of the respondents were aware of these issues, few people took any active preventive measures or participated in any professional development to reduce these health risks. It was also found that nearly two thirds of the school administrators, more than half of the teachers, and nearly 30% of the principals in this study had experienced some kind of health problems related to computer use. Strategies to deal with these issues such as the need for professional development are also discussed in this article.     

Managing teaching and learning in South African schools

This paper examines the significance of leadership and management in enhancing classroom practice and improving learner outcomes in two provinces of South Africa. It is increasingly recognised, internationally and in South Africa, that managing teaching and learning is one of the most important activities for principals and other school leaders. Managing teaching and learning is one of the core modules in South Africa's new national qualification for school principals. Drawing on case studies of eight schools, mostly in disadvantaged contexts, the paper shows that managing teaching and learning are often inadequate, and largely fails to compensate for the social and educational problems facing learners and their communities.