South African schools during the era of apartheid were characterized by hierarchical and bureaucratic management structures that, for the most part, stifled the leadership potential of all those within the organization. With the onset of democracy in South Africa in 1994, there has been a radical shift in education policy and legislation which propagates making schools democratic organizations in which distributed leadership practices and collaboration is the norm. Within the distributed leadership framework, leadership is not synonymous with the work of those in formal management positions but rather the work of leadership involves multiple individuals. As such there is now a platform for the definitive engagement in the promotion of teacher leadership in South African schools. However, despite this enabling policy framework, teacher leadership practices are not embedded in the culture of many South African schools. This could be attributed to teacher leadership being its infancy stage in South Africa and the notion of teacher leadership not being valued. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

Teacher leadership is a relatively new concept in the South African educational research context. It is in line with the expectation of the Department of Education which envisage that schools be managed effectively, professionally and democratically. The issues of democracy and the empowerment of ordinary teachers with leadership skills are postulated in the South African Schools’ Act of (1996) and the Task Team Report on Education Management and Development, 1996. The purpose of the study is to explore how teacher leadership is enacted in a rural secondary school in the deep rural area of Msinga in the Umzinyathi District in KwaZulu-Natal and to find out the enhancing factors and the barriers to this enactment. The research design followed a qualitative approach. A case study methodology was adopted with the case being a school and three teacher leaders as the units of analysis. Data were collected through questionnaires, focus group interviews, school and participant observation as well as a self-reflective journaling process. The research was informed by distributed leadership theory. The findings revealed that in the case study school even though there are challenges like the lack of parental support, the school is conducive to the enactment of teacher leadership. All teacher leaders were found to be free to pursue their respective leadership initiatives. They were involved in leadership in the classroom and beyond (Grant, 2008) which involve zone 1, zone 2, zone 3 and zone 4. TL 1’s activities were centered around organizing academic and non-academic events in the school, which indicated the teacher operating in the zone of the school (z 3). TL 2’s leadership roles were found to be mainly within the classroom as well as in the zone of a teacher’s activities involving continuing to teach and improve one’s own teaching (z 1). TL 3’s main area of operation was found to be in extra-mural activities, wherein his activities were found to be involving the children in the zone of the teacher’s dealing with the children (z 2). The enactment of teacher leadership in a case study school was helped mainly by the School Management Team’s willingness to offer a space for each and every individual teacher to exhibit his / her capabilities. Moreover, there was a sufficient space for all teachers to be part of a decision-making process. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the enactment of teacher leadership within an urban primary school. My focus was to look at the factors that enhanced or hindered this enactment. The research took the form of a case study which was conducted within the qualitative research paradigm. The study took place in an urban primary school in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. The participants included three post level one educators. Data were collected by means of a multi method approach with techniques that included an observation schedule, semi- structured interviews, a focus group interview and self reflective journaling. Data were continuously analyzed throughout the research process using thematic content analysis and Grant’s (2008) model of teacher leadership. Findings from the research proved that the enactment of teacher leadership is still in its infancy at the case study school. Due to the fact that the school is still hierarchically controlled by an autocratic principal, the School Management Team (SMT) does not see the need to create the space for teachers to enact leadership. Teacher leadership is therefore restricted to the classroom and to teachers working with other teachers in curriculum and extra curriculum activities. Very little teacher leadership was evident in the area of whole school development neither in the case study school nor from the school leading into the community. Barriers to teacher leadership included the autocratic leadership style of the principal, work overload, time constraints, lack of leadership opportunities created by the SMT and a culture of favoritism by the principal. Despite these many barriers, the aspiring teacher leaders showed high motivational levels to participate in leadership roles provided that the leadership at the school created the space for teachers to become leaders. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

The value of schools as systems for encouraging positive adaptation and development has gained recognition in resilience research. As key role players in the school environment, teachers play a central role in fostering resilience among learners. Further, the context of the school environment provides understanding into the many systems in which learners are situated which encourage or hinder the development of resilience strategies. Learners in South Africa face many barriers in attempting to access education. These challenges are especially prevalent in rural areas, where poverty, unemployment and poor health add an extra burden on learners and teachers. Despite this, there are learners who are able to achieve academic success. They are in essence resilient. This study aimed to understand the perceptions of teachers of the factors which influence learner success in South Africa from a strengths perspective. A qualitative approach and purposive sampling were employed to conduct two focus groups with teachers from two rural high schools in KwaZulu-Natal. The Participlan method was used to conduct the focus groups as it allowed the groups’ control over organising main themes and ideas. Data was analysed using thematic analysis and concepts from resilience theory and the Bio-ecological Systems Theory were used to organise and understand the findings. The results indicated that the teachers have a contextual view of the factors influencing learner success and they underemphasise the role of the individual. The key role of the teacher and the school as a site for fostering resilience was also evident. Suggestions for further research include exploring the effectiveness of reactive strategies developed by the participants and encouraging the development of characteristics found in resilient schools. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

Data supplied by the Natal Education Department indicated that women are unequally represented in the promotional hierarchies in schools. While 78 percent of the incumbents in post level one positions are women, only 16,3 percent of post level six positions are held by women. From a review of selected literature a list of possible barriers to the advancement of women was drawn up. These barriers fell into two broad categories - internal barriers, relating to psychological factors; and external barriers, which related to institutional, societal and organizational structures. A questionnaire was designed to educe some conclusions regarding the aspirations of selected women teachers and their perceptions regarding possible barriers to the advancement of women educators. \ The most commonly cited obstacle was found to be a concern to prevent role overload, which could result from attempting to fulfil simultaneously the demands of family and career. The second most frequently mentioned barrier related to the structure of the educational organization. Many respondents perceived women teachers as avoiding vertical career movement as it decreased their contact with the pupils. Many respondents appeared to have internalized the socletal norms concerning the position and role of women as they could forsee no obstacles to their reaching their promotional potential, apart from a personal choice to limit their horizons. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, Durban, 1989.

In education women outnumber men as teachers, but the top positions are almost entirely dominated by men. Shakeshaft (1987:20), using data collected for education systems in the United States of America noted that in 1984-5, only 3,0 percent of the district superintendents were women, although 50,1 percent of all secondary school teachers and 83,5 percent of all elementary school teachers were women. According to Blampied (1989), the data obtained from the 1987 statistical returns from government schools under the Natal Education Department indicated that the number of women in education administration was disproportionately lower than the number of men in congruent positions. It was decided that the situation deserved to be tested in schools administered by the KwaZulu Department of Education and Culture. According to the survey of secondary schools administered by the KwaZulu Department of Education and Culture, in respect of the 230 Junior Secondary schools in the sample, 86,5 percent of the school principals were male and the incidence of male principals was even greater in high schools (Thurlow 1993:32). The study of selected literature led to the finding of possible barriers to the career advancement of women educators. The barriers were classified into two broad categories - internal barriers, relating to psychological factors; and external barriers, which related to institutional, societal and organizational structures. A questionnaire was designed to attempt to ascertain if any congruency could be identified between the barriers perceived by other researchers and those which according to the respondents existed in schools administered by the KwaZulu Department of Education and Culture. The most commonly cited obstacle to the upward mobility of women was discrimination against them. There were suggestions that women were generally valued less than men. Women were treated as inferior in law, politics, religion and education as well as in society generally. Other barriers to promotion which were frequently alluded to related to the perception that some women were not interested in vertical career mobility but preferred to remain in the classroom rather than seek a position which would distance them from teaching. The evidence also suggested that although the larger proportion of the respondents were keen to receive a promotion, they thought they would not be promoted because they considered the allocation of promotions to be unfair. It was however noted that women educators who have made some progress on the promotional ladder perceived fewer obstacles to their advancement than unpromoted respondents. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, 1994.

The present research explores teachers’ perceptions of participative decision-making (PDM) in a public high school in Durban, South Africa. PDM is also termed as participative management. This study attempts to investigate level one educators’ experiences of participation in decision-making. Hence, it is a qualitative exploration of the nature of their participation in decision issues and how they perceive the school’s actions with regard to participative decision-making. For the purpose of this study, semi-structured interviews were administered on ten level one educators within the school setting. Five themes were identified through the use of thematic analysis. These themes are as follow: collective activity, shared influence, expression of individual perspectives, the acknowledgement of educators’ input, and the implementation of cooperative governance. The integration of educators’ experiences in the literature on PDM, generated an in-depth understanding of participants’ perceptions. In essence, the findings of this research suggest that level one educators are not meaningfully engaging in decision-making in the school environment. In conjunction with this assertion, the school lacks a comprehensive framework to engender effective participative decision-making, as well as, significant involvement of level one educators. Essentially, the present research provides insight into the experiences of educators in a public high school and therefore, contributes to the body of knowledge on participative management. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.