The Cambridge education system introduced after independence is mainly blamed for the high failure rate experienced in the Junior Secondary (Grade 10) and Senior Secondary (Grade 12) phases in Namibia. Although it is acknowledged that failure rate can be contributed to by many factors, the research wanted to establish whether the principal’s leadership can have any contribution to the academic achievement in a school. The researcher consulted different literature in an attempt to achieve the research objectives. The principal carries out a number of leadership job functions, hence, an instrument with the relevant job functions of a principal was selected to collect data. Three poorly performing schools were identified in the Omaheke Region. The research used questionnaires among teachers, inspectors and principals to collect data. The analysis shows that two principals were rated low in most leadership job functions. That implies that these principals are not engaged in instructional leadership, resulting in poor academic results. At the end recommendations and proposals for future research are highlighted. / Human Resource Management / M.Tech. (Human Resource Development )

Peace Corps Volunteer teachers have played a significant role in Namibia’s attempts to restructure education in line with its policy of education for all. While we have learned a great deal in recent years about how Peace Corps Volunteer Teachers have achieved their stated goals and objectives of teaching students and training serving teachers, we still know relatively little about the role they may have played in school management. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of Peace Corps volunteers work on the management and leadership of the schools they serve. The study focuses on the work of two volunteers based in a combined school in the Ondangwa West educational region of Namibia. The study adopts a qualitative approach and seeks to establish whether there has been an impact by Peace Corps volunteer’s work on the management and leadership of this school by focusing on (a) activities performed by Peace Corps volunteers; (b) the experiences of both management and staff in working with Peace Corps volunteers; (c) whether the presence of Peace Corps volunteers that served at the school influence the management and leadership of the school; (d) how the duties and activities performed by these volunteers were perceived by the students, teachers and community. The interview questions that were used to collect data from seven respondents were based on the literature from Peace Corps and the Ministry of Basic Education, Culture and Sport as well as education management and leadership literature. The findings indicate that volunteers that served at this school performed management and leadership related activities with the students, teachers and community and that these activities are having an effect on the management and leadership of the school.

Leadership has received much attention in both the business world and education. My thesis explores effective educational leadership through examining the management and leadership challenges that face principals in a multi-grade school. Schools in sparsely populated rural areas in Namibia have had to resort to multi-grade teaching to be able to be economically viable. Hard economic realities force people to move to bigger towns and cities. The constant demand for better schools, effective principals, qualified teachers and an improved service to the communities coupled with the demand for better working conditions and salaries for teachers drained the education budget even further. To keep in line with the four major policies of education namely equity, access, quality and democracy, the operation of smaller, rural multi-grade schools has become a necessity. The alternative – which is to close smaller schools and operate fewer, bigger schools at an affordable and reasonable cost - would deny rural communities access to schooling. This thesis is a case study of the leadership and management challenges of multigrade schooling in a single school. The goal was to understand how education managers and leaders perceived their role in making it possible for teachers and learners to cope with multi-grade teaching. I worked in the interpretive paradigm to be able to interpret the social and cultural context of a rural, multi-grade school in the Karas region. The methods included questionnaires, interviews and observation. One of the leadership models universally considered to be available to principals of multi-grade schools is instructional leadership. My study revealed that the concept was unknown to teaching staff, although there were indications that the model had been encountered. My findings also revealed that the communication between colleges of education and the regional education department staff was very limited. One of the major issues that arose was that principals were so occupied with teaching that important issues about training/evaluation and supervision of teachers, the ‘visibility’ of the principal, setting and implementation of the aims and goals of the school and regular communication with parents and community leaders were neglected. Probably the most significant finding was that head teachers are not trained in the management of a multi-grade school, hence most if not all of the head teachers run multi-grade schools like a single-graded school. The single most important problem was that the importance of multi-grade teaching had never been highlighted, particularly in light of new staffing norms, in spite of the fact that it was a phenomenon that was likely to be a permanent arrangement.

School leadership in Namibia over past centuries was characterized by ‘top down’ administration and typically proceeded without participation of those involved other than the principals who were the sole decision makers. The notion of school leadership through teamwork (team leadership) in Namibia was formalized after the advent of democracy in 1990 and the subsequent reorganization of the education system. The notion of team leadership is embedded in theories that stress participation, teamwork and distributed leadership. It is against this background that this study sought to investigate the current understandings of school leadership and application of team leadership among principals in selected schools in the Ohangwena region in Namibia. The study is an interpretive case study of two secondary schools in the above‐mentioned region in Namibia. The research utilized three quantitative data gathering techniques, namely semi‐structured interviews, observation and document analysis. The research participants were two principals, two teachers and two school board members from each research school. The main findings of this study revealed that the notion of participation of all stakeholders in education is seen as a fundamental aspect of the current leadership thinking. However, the respondents’ vision of leadership is limited and quite traditional in many ways. There is emphasis on the need to control, monitor, and delegate rather than team leadership. Furthermore, where consultation is mentioned it seems the respondents think of the passing down of information – a cascade model ‐ as consultation, a view that is narrow and inaccurate in terms of contemporary leadership theories. While there was an appreciation of the benefits derived from team leadership, challenges facing such leadership pervaded responses. These included lack of understanding of government policies such as ETSIP and NSPIs, resistance to change and implementation of policy. The study recommends that leadership and management programs and teacher leadership development programs be established in Namibia. Finally, the study recommends further research to include Learner Representative Council and Heads of Department. These stakeholders in education may provide new insights into the current school leadership thinking.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how instructional leadership manifests itself and can be strengthened in a Namibian rural school. As a teacher, head of department and later an education officer, I have long held the view that committed school leadership is essential for the school’s instructional and academic success. Equally, I have always been aware of the impact of the past segregation and the unequal education provided by the colonial government in South Africa and South West Africa/Namibia. The inferior education provided to Africans posed a serious challenge to the leadership and management of schools, as would be principals were not adequately trained to provide the necessary “ingredients” relevant for instructional success. Given this background, I attempted, using a case study of one secondary school, to investigate how instructional leadership is manifesting itself and could be strengthened in a rural school in the Omusati region of Namibia. Research questions that framed the study were: firstly, how does the leadership approach in the school promote teaching and learning; secondly, what is the role of external players in enhancing instructional leadership and thirdly, what are the strengthening and inhibiting factors of instructional leadership. The population of the study was composed of an Inspector of Education, a school principal, a head of department (HOD) and four teachers from a secondary school, located in the Omusati region in Namibia. Data were collected through interviews, document analysis and observation. With regard to data analysis, I first immersed myself in the data. I developed themes that formed the basis of my discussion with my research questions in mind. The analysis revealed that instructional leadership is strongly evidenced at the case study school. However, it emerged that despite the existence of strong instructional leadership at the school, as with all other organisations, there are several challenges that limit the effective implementation of the teaching and learning programme. These challenges vary from indiscipline, poor time management, to lack of teaching and learning resources. Participants also provided a number of possible solutions to the problems identified, including that the principal should be a good role model for the staff and that an enabling environment for both teaching and learning should be created. The study also strongly suggested that participative leadership and management is a cornerstone to the academic success of the school.

Most schools that serve learners who come from disadvantaged areas and backgrounds face unusually difficult challenges. These schools experience poor performance and disciplinary problems, and teachers lack motivation and commitment. This study explores the role of leadership and management in the schooling of at-risk learners at Pandu Primary School. This school accommodates learners mostly from Hafo, a township characterised by poverty with a high crime rate. However, in spite of these factors school inspectors and advisory teachers perceive the school to be successful. The school uses an abundance of energy and unusually high levels of human effort in a very focused way to improve the teaching and learning standard. The study found the co-existence of apparently conflicting management and leadership approaches in managing and leading the school. Strict control used in the school to make teachers work hard is an element of classical organisational theory, with its emphasis on span of control or number of workers supervised. Policies with strict rules are in place to create a calm atmosphere and serve as directives for teachers and learners. On the other hand, constructivist approaches – such as instructional leadership, transformational leadership, collegial model of management and open systems – are also clearly evident in the findings. Instructional leadership is evident in the emphasis on improvement of classroom practice. Elements of transformational leadership are seen in that the principal motivates the teachers and serves as a role model. The school also has some features of the collegial model of management, and can be described as an open system. Thus, by drawing on management and leadership approaches informed by different traditions and philosophies, the school succeeds against severe odds.

Learner leadership is a worldwide issue in educational leadership and management. In preindependent Namibia secondary schools had the prefect system and the SRCs as learner leadership bodies which had little influence on schools’ decisions because they lacked credibility. In 2001 the Learners’ Representative Council (LRC) was legitimized as a learner leadership body in secondary schools through the Education Act 16 of 2001. However, recent research suggests that even these bodies are not functioning effectively for a variety of reasons. This prompted me to undertake research to develop an understanding of learners’ participation in leadership in a senior secondary school in Namibia. I used a qualitative case study, in an interpretive paradigm, in an attempt to achieve my research goal. The following questions guided the study: How is leadership understood by members of the organization? How learner leadership is understood? How are learners involved in leadership in the school? What potential exists for increased learners’ participation? What factors inhibit learners’ participation in leadership in the school? A population comprising of the school board chairperson, the principal, three heads of department, the superintendent, three teachers and five learners was composed from a senior secondary school in Namibia. Data were collected through focus groups, interviews, document analysis and observation and analyzed thematically for reflective discussion. The findings revealed that the LRC is functioning but providing little opportunity for learner leadership development. The most significant challenge relates to traditional and outdated views of leadership on the parts of teachers and education managers. Hence, in addition to a number of practical recommendations, the study recommends a change of mindset towards children so that opportunities are provided to contribute to their growth and development.

The primary purpose of this research was to investigate the understanding and implementation of democratic leadership and management in schools by school managers and other members of the school community in leadership and management roles as advocated by the policy of Education for all. The study also aimed at identifying any gaps in the understanding and practice of the participants in order to enhance democratic leadership and management in schools. Qualitative research using the interpretive approach was the methodology employed in order to fulfill the intention of the study, namely to investigate the participants` experiences and understanding of democratic education leadership and management. The case study method was appropriate to understand the meanings the participants attached to their practice in their natural setting. Data were collected by using semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and observation. The sample for the study consisted of ten participants: the principal, the head of department, two School Board members, two senior teachers, two Learner Representative Council members and two class captains. The findings suggest that the participants understood and practised democratic ELM in terms of broader participation, open communication, delegation for empowerment, learning organisation, shared decision-making, shared leadership and teamwork. However, the data suggest areas of concern in the participants` understanding and implementation of the policy which could be strengthened to entrench the policy. The study recommends that education policy makers, education managers, school managers, teachers, parents and learners all work towards improving democratic ELM in schools. In order to achieve this objective, policy makers are urged to avoid ambiguity to enable all implementers to fully understand policies. Education managers could ensure school-wide training on the policy while school managers and other stakeholders should engage in self-reflection and introspection and be more proactive towards improving their own understanding and practice.

The Namibian education system has undergone a policy shift from a top-down leadership practice or head-centred leadership to a more shared form of leadership in schools. Existing policy documents call for teacher participation in school level decision-making structures and processes as teachers often are involved in other activities and have been through life experiences which equip them with leadership skills. These policies clearly stipulate that school principals cannot lead and manage the schools alone, but should involve teachers and other stakeholders in leadership activities. This study explored teacher leadership in a rural primary school in the Otjozondjupa region of Namibia. The study explored the understanding of the concept teacher leadership, the practice of teacher leadership and the enhancing factors as well as barriers to teacher leadership practice. A qualitative interpretative case study was conducted. Interviews, document analysis, focus group interviews, a questionnaire and observation were employed to produce data with regard to teacher leadership practices in the case study school. The data were analysed thematically using Grant’s (2008) model of teacher leadership. Findings revealed that the concept of teacher leadership was understood as teachers leading both within and beyond the classroom. Teacher leadership was practiced across the fours zones of teacher leadership (after Grant, 2008), but to varying degrees. It could be categorized as emergent teacher leadership (after Muijs and Harris, 2005) within a formal distributed leadership framework (MacBeath, 2005). Teacher leadership in the case study school was enhanced by collaboration among staff and involvement of teachers in school level decision-making. However, barriers to teacher leadership at the case study school included holding on to power by the principal, teachers’ negative attitudes towards teacher leadership, a lack of incentives, a lack of time due to a heavy work load and a lack of professional development.

The Namibian education system is at the crossroads as a result of the demands of the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP), a programme initiated by the Government to address shortcomings in the education and training sector. ETSIP requires that school principals play a much more significant role to realize the goal of quality education, which is one of the major goals of education reform. In view of the ever-increasing responsibilities of the principals for ensuring the quality of education, the need for management development has become more apparent. Although management development for principals in the African context is a recent phenomenon, it has been a subject of extensive research over the years in many developed countries. The findings of these studies suggest that it has the potential to improve the quality of school leadership and ultimately lead to school improvement. In Namibia, literature suggests that little has been done to determine the needs of school principals with regards to their management development. This study therefore seeks to address that need. The study is situated in the interpretive research paradigm whose central purpose is to interpret and understand the phenomenon through the perceptions and experience of the participants. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The findings generally suggest that principals perceive management development as vehicle to empowerment and capacity building. The findings further suggest that principals would prefer management programmes that are more experienced-based and offer opportunities for reflection. The findings also brought to light the aspect of monitoring and support as a critical element in the success of management development programmes. As far as the management development needs of school principals are concerned, the findings highlighted the following needs: the need to be trained on how to manage change which include the new curriculum and policies, training in information communication and technology and training in the management of human and financial resources which include instructional leadership and budgeting.