Thesis (MPhil (Education))--St Augustine College of South Africa, 2006. / One of the fundamental aspects of my work as Religious Education Coordinator of an Independent Catholic School in South Africa is to ensure that the vision and distinctive character of the school in which I work is aligned to the vision for Catholic Schools as described by Church documents'and other leading authors on the subject. Every member of the teaching staff employed by the Independent Catholic School (The School), has to sign a contract in which is included the sentence: "The Teacher has an obligation to respect, promote and support the Catholic Ethos and the special character of the School". This obligation is based on the assumption that the daily practice of teachers is a critical element contributing to the ethos of The School. The Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, in its document The Catholic School (1977), states that: "By their witness and their behaviour teachers are of the first importance to impart a distinctive character to Catholic Schools" (#78). More recently, Me Laughlin states: "Every teacher, it has been argued, can and should make some sort of contribution to this distinctiveness [of the school] and this contribution should feature in their formal appraisal" (Mc Laughlin 1999: 73).

For the past thirty years, leadership theories have focused on the importance of the individual within the school organisation. The shared assumptions and beliefs of the individuals working in the same organisation shape the school’s organisational culture, and organisational culture is a salient factor which should be considered when understanding educational leadership. The focus of my study is to explore the relationship between organisational culture and leadership. In the same context, new approaches to the study of leadership have explored the issue of gender in leadership. Female leadership studies - the second focus of this study - seek not only to restore the place of the individual but also argue a place for women in educational leadership. Based in the interpretive paradigm, this is a case study of a Catholic all-girl secondary school called the Loreto Convent School of Pretoria. Historically, the Loreto schools have aimed at promoting and empowering girls’ education and female leadership. It was therefore an appropriate site in which to explore organisational culture and its relationship with leadership, particularly female leadership. I purposefully chose three of the school’s female leaders - the school’s principal, the High school Head of Department and the High school head girl - focusing on their perceptions and experiences of their leadership and the school’s culture. My research findings show that an understanding of the relationship between organisational culture and leadership cannot be complete without acknowledging the importance of the leader as an individual, with his/her personal background and values, taking into account gender as well as the multiple roles that the individual has in society. Furthermore, the ‘humane’ characteristic of educational leadership leads to an understanding that the leader is often confronted with conflicting situations where he/she is caught between personal/organisational values and the need to achieve the task. Finally, my findings show that contemporary leaders are now called upon to work and participate in the promotion of social justice in order to fight against society’s socio-economic inequality and improve the quality of education and life.