M.Ed. (Management and Leadership) / After the election of the new democratic government in 1994, bold steps were taken to transform the South African education dispensation, seeking for an appropriate approach to address the educational imbalances of the past. Transformational leadership emerged as the key focus in restricting the educational system. A qualitative research design was employed to answer the research question which would be integrated with the aim of the study in a logical way. The aim of the study was to explore leadership styles practiced by the principals in a changing educational system. Data was generated by means of interview to provide rich descriptions and explanations of how principals experience transformation in this particular context. The literature review revealed that principals as transformational leaders have an important role to play in setting the tone to provide direction, executing their tasks as leaders and managers and building democratic schools. To keep up and cope effectively with constant and rapid transformation, principals are also urged to demonstrate positive, supporting leadership and professionalism, and to acquire new learning and thinking skills to manage change. By developing a better understanding of transformation, the principals will be able to give effective direction and empower their staff, guiding and supporting them in the process of accepting transformation. While leadership skills are essential for providing effective leadership, principals must also possess a sense of purpose and direction. The challenge is to develop leaders’ sensitivity and knowledge so that they will know when to be directive and when to act within a collaborative framework, or to delegate responsibility to others. The research findings indicate that principals do fulfill their new roles and responsibility as educational leaders.

Growing research in educational leadership and management shows that there are many factors that have an impact on the running of effective schools. Many people are now aware of the importance of the school management‟s role in guiding successful schools. This quantitative study was conducted in Gauteng where 100 school managers responded to a questionnaire which probed them about their conflict management and competence skills. The participants responded to a 40 item Likert scale instrument. Each of the items had five alternatives to choose from. The results demonstrate that many teachers were never trained in conflict management skills and that they also find it hard to resolve disputes in their schools. Furthermore, a majority of the participants attributed the dysfunctionality and lack of teacher commitment to the pervading unresolved conflicts in their schools. There was also consensus that intractable conflict adversely affects the culture of learning and teaching in schools. Among the recommendations highlighted at the end are to ensure that prospective school managers are empowered with conflict management skills before assuming their positions.

In 2003, Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) introduced policies on performance management in an endeavour to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools. With these policies, schools are supposed to be constantly audited, monitored, and supported by district officials. Within district offices, there are unit supervisors who are responsible to manage PMDS to inculcate a performance culture. This performance culture is subsequently cascaded down to schools to yield quality matric results and yet this remains to be seen. Furthermore, the study aimed to explore the experiences and perceptions of supervisors and officials on the PMDS management within districts. With an interpretive paradigm, the researcher was able to analyse data from interviews and questionnaires. The study revealed that PMDS is generally acknowledged and positively perceived albeit with significant challenges to its implementation in the GDE districts. / Educational Leadership and Management / M.Ed. (Education Management )

In 2003, Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) introduced policies on performance management in an endeavour to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools. With these policies, schools are supposed to be constantly audited, monitored, and supported by district officials. Within district offices, there are unit supervisors who are responsible to manage PMDS to inculcate a performance culture. This performance culture is subsequently cascaded down to schools to yield quality matric results and yet this remains to be seen. Furthermore, the study aimed to explore the experiences and perceptions of supervisors and officials on the PMDS management within districts. With an interpretive paradigm, the researcher was able to analyse data from interviews and questionnaires. The study revealed that PMDS is generally acknowledged and positively perceived albeit with significant challenges to its implementation in the GDE districts. / Educational Leadership and Management / M.Ed. (Education Management )

Thesis (Ph.D. (Public Administration)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / The New Public Management (NPM) movement brought about by the changes that occurred after the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994. The changes impact on how the three spheres of government; that is, National, Provincial and Local ought to operate when rendering services to the public. These imperatives inspired this research project. Furthermore, quality service is expected to meet acceptable service standards as promulgated in the Act of Parliament. One of them being the Batho Pele White Paper (White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service, 1997). Public Administration is governed by principles and values as enshrined in Chapter 10 of the Constitution, Section 195(1). These legislations and related regulations bring competitive public value approach in the running of local municipalities. Locals municipalities are considered drivers of service delivery in the local government sphere, one may call it the engine or heart of Public Administration. This study, therefore, seeks to highlight leadership challenges in South African municipalities from an organisational culture and leadership perspective, with the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality as a research site. This study is guided by the following research questions: Why is service delivery remaining a challenge amidst the existence of regulatory and institutional frameworks in South African municipalities? How can leadership be used to influence change in the municipalities? In South Africa, the local government has undergone numerous reforms, yet elements of bureaucracy are still highly prevalent. Bureaucratic structures like municipalities require leaders and employees with specific behaviours in a particular manner and according to a specific rule. Bureaucracy by its nature limits leaders from being flexible in making decisions that are suitable to address specific issues in different situations while at the same time being compliant with the legislation that governs them. Municipalities are then faced with a challenge of not having flexible and innovative leadership that is willing to boldly take calculated risks to address the challenges of service delivery within the legal framework. This leadership challenge makes it difficult to embed culture change in the public sector. This study posits that there is a need for a culture change to outgrow the outdated bureaucracies in an effort to allow for flexibility, innovation in leadership to ease the tension between these bureaucracies and have the desire to provide quality service while being compliant with the legislation. This research argues that organisational culture is tied to leadership traits when attempting to address service delivery challenges in South African municipalities. A responsive and accountable culture should model the values and principles of the Constitution without fear or favour, and make realistic cost-effective and visible change that will address the imbalances of apartheid municipal system of government. This research has it that leadership influences culture and supports and operationalises it. As much as it acknowledges other theories of leadership in the context of the current diverse challenges that municipalities confront, this study perceives that the contingency theory stands out. The contingency theory allows innovation and flexibility for different situations. It is not rigid and allows for the internal and external adaptation of culture that is effective and suitable for different situations. One size does not fit all in the application of the contingency theory leadership approach. Municipalities and organisations need leadership that is open to change, encourage and support innovation for its competitiveness and survival. For the success of culture change, leaders of organisations need to change their leadership practices, behaviour, decision making, communicate, and create a conducive environment for new ideas, constructive criticism, responsive and accountable. Kanyane (2014:89) reminds us that “the need to improve performance was underpinned by the State’s acceptance of the municipal service delivery challenges that to access descent municipal services was no longer a privilege to be enjoyed by a few.” Leaders are agents and catalyst of change. As Schein,2004: 20 puts it, “Leadership and change are two sides of a coin, the one cannot exist without the other.” Further, leaders must walk the talk if they want to lead. Should they fail to manage the sub-cultures in the organisations they lead, those sub-cultures will end up managing the overall organisational culture. Municipalities and organisations need leaders who are keen to introduce effective culture change that is results-oriented. The stability of effective culture change comes through feedback from the environment and not from the leader because the recipient of service shall have experienced it (Kuppler & Schein, 2016 / National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) and South African Humanities Deans’ Association (SAHUDA)

This study investigated the leadership challenges encountered by nurse unit managers and factors enhancing leadership in their units. Currently in South Africa’s private hospitals, nurse unit managers face challenges such as financial management, cultural diversity, new roles and technology. The aim of the study was to develop a support strategy for unit managers to achieve success in their leadership role. This study was conducted at a private hospital in Gauteng Province, South Africa. A qualitative research approach was followed. Data were gathered using semi structured individual interviews with a purposive sample of six operational unit managers with one and more years working experience as unit managers. Qualitative open coding for data analysis methods and presentation were employed. Three themes emerged from the findings namely, factors influencing the leadership role of the unit manager, the challenges encountered by unit managers in their leadership role and the needs of unit managers. The factors influencing the leadership and management roles were related to the challenges encountered by nurse unit managers in running their units. The findings indicate that a key need required of the unit manager is support and direction from executive management. From the needs expressed by the nurse unit managers, ideas were formulated by the researcher to support the development of a strategy to support the unit managers in their leadership role. The strategy includes eight key elements and is presented in the section that follows. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)

Poor Physical Science performance in South African schools is due to ineffective Physical Science teaching. Quality Physical Science teaching stems from quality Physical Science subject advisory services. Traditionally interventions to raise teaching standards were done by inspectors who established if schools functioned according to set rules rather that supporting teaching staff. School inspection was considered a fault finding mission with punitive objectives; hence principals and teachers were negatively disposed to it. The Department of Basic Education since has re-interpreted intervention from checking compliance to support and development of school personnel. This task is allocated to units in district offices in provincial Departments of Education and district staff members’ responsibilities are linked to responsibilities of principals and teachers. The subject advisory unit focuses on curriculum matters in each school subject; thus Physical Science subject advisors support Physical Science teachers with content, pedagogical content knowledge, assessment and Interventions for improved results. This study investigated the role of Physical Science subject advisors in enhancing the quality of Physical Science teaching. Requirements for employment of a subject advisor (qualifications, work experience, interest, attitude and competence), challenges and solutions were explored by a mixed method study. A Physical Science provincial DCES, Physical Science subject advisors, principals, Physical Science teachers in four districts and four PLC support groups were purposefully sampled to explore perceptions of the subject advisor’s role in improving Physical Science teaching. Quantitative data collected by document analysis and questionnaires and qualitative data collected by individual and focus group interviews were analysed. Findings showed that the Physical Science subject advisors possessed minimum qualifications and experience; however, the school subject (Physics and Chemistry combined) does not match the specialization in tertiary institutions (divided into Physics and Chemistry). Thus, some subject advisors may major in one of two parts. Further, certain school content is not included in the university syllabus. This may limit advisors’ content knowledge, the core of content support in Physical Science. This influences support offered to Physical Science teachers and requires advisors’ professional development which is not currently offered by the Department of Basic Education. Recommendations based on the findings include immediate and long term solutions to improve effective subject advisory. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

The researcher investigated the management and implementation of the Common Tasks for Assessment Instrument as a tool for assessing Grade 9 learners in public schools. The objectives were to investigate: * what the CTA Instrument entails for teaching and learning * its positive and negative aspects * training and development of the school management teams (SMTs) and Grade 9 educators in preparation for the implementation * the management of its implementation * learner performance Four schools, comprising two urban and two township schools from the former Transvaal Education Department and the House of Delegates, respectively, were involved in this qualitative study. Grade 9 educators, SMT members and district officials were interviewed in this exploratory case study. The study indicates that: * The CTA Instrument entails a large amount of work for little marks. * Educators identified a few positive and a large number of negative aspects of the Instrument. * Training and development for SMTs and Grade 9 educators were inadequate. * Management styles and models, and leadership styles and models varied. The quality of management practices differed from one school to another. * On the whole, although implementation was satisfactory it was fraught with numerous problems largely relating to management's lack of effective support, their inadequate training and poor assessment competence, insufficient guidance for instruction, limited resources, learner apathy, staff instability, and absenteeism, amongst other problems. * Although some of the learners performed very well, this should not distract attention from the majority who performed badly. Factors such as poor socio- economic backgrounds, learners' negative attitudes, their insufficient participation and poor commitment to their studies, amongst others, affected their involvement and the overall results. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Education Management)

This thesis is a study of a leadership model for the effective management of Further Education and Training (FET) colleges in the Gauteng Province. This research was triggered by the need for quality and sound leadership skills highly needed in FET colleges. The vision of FET colleges lies at the heart of the integration of the country's education and training system. Leadership is the distinguishing factor in bringing about organisational transformation. A key contemporary issue in the development of a high quality education service relates to the new thinking about how best to pursue quality and excellence in FET colleges. Leadership, strategic planning and the need for alternative models of management lead, inevitably, towards a reconsideration of both staff competencies and continuing staff and organisational development. This research seeks to assist those who have the responsibility of leading and managing the further conceptualisation and implementation of further education and training. A qualitative research was conducted, in which a newly merged college in Pretoria was chosen as a case study for this research. The following constituted the broad aims of this study:  To examine the leadership strategies that should be employed for effective management of FET colleges;  To investigate the vision and mission development and implementation and the organisational structures established;  To determine the opportunities and challenges offered by the new large and multi-sited college; and  To investigate a leadership model for the effective management of FET colleges. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with the leadership of the college ranging from the senior managers, campus managers, middle managers to educators. Analysis of documents and observation notes was also done to supply more data about FET leadership. Data were analysed and interpreted by identifying themes and categories that would shed more light into the effective leadership of the college. The following recommendations were made:  A new approach to the leadership of the college should be adopted;  The leadership of the college should be more accountable and responsive to community needs;  More financial support should be allocated to FET colleges; and  More focus should be given to learner support. / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (Education Management)

This study sought to analyse the influence of principal leadership on the performance of selected schools in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. The problems addressed in the research were what leadership and leadership styles in the school context entail, concept of school performance, attributes of leadership as perceived by principals and how these attributes impact on school performance and establish whether school performance is dependent upon principal leadership and his/her leadership style. It was a qualitative study. Stakeholders of the schools were interviewed and observations were made. The relationship between leadership and leadership style, in general, and school performance were investigated. The research established that unless principals were well equipped with knowledge and skills in management and leadership, they would not be able to improve school performance. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)