A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies at the University of Zululand, 2017 / This qualitative study explored the roles of principals as instructional leaders. Several models of instructional leadership were briefly discussed, and a theoretical framework for the present study was outlined. Individual interviews were conducted with principals, deputy principals, heads of department and post-level 1 educators. Qualitative data were collected using interviews and questionnaires. Themes and sub-themes emerged from the study. It was found that the quality of the role of the principal posed a challenge to principals. The participants reported that principals were expected to manage the school in terms of day-to-day functionality, buildings and grounds maintenance, managing of finances and human resources, and many other matters. On the other hand, the principal was also expected to be an instructional leader, which involved setting clear goals, allocating resources to instruction, managing the curriculum, monitoring teaching and learning, and creating opportunities that were conducive to learning. It was found that most secondary school principals concentrated on management instead of instructional leadership.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Business and Executive Coaching Wits Business School, Johannesburg February 2017 / Self-awareness is the most critical attribute in the development of authentic leaders, as a leader’s true self is lived out in the workplace through their thoughts, actions and body language (Gardner, Avolio, Luthans, May, & Walumba, 2005). Specific coaching aimed at feedback interpretation and behavioural modelling is highly effective in developing self-awareness (Luthan & Suzanne, 2003). The focus of the research was to determine whether self-awareness is important for effective leaders and to explore the enhancers and obstacles in the development of self-awareness. A qualitative approach was followed, whereby 16 future leaders who were part of a leadership development programme, that included executive coaching, were interviewed through semi-structured interviews, and their responses thematically analysed, resulting in 14 themes related to self-awareness being identified. A key finding was that these future leaders embraced the traits of authentic leaders, focused on their people in particular, and confirmed that self-awareness is critical to effective leadership. Another key finding was that these future leaders developed skills to regulate their behaviour, as they became conscious of how their life’s journey and their thoughts and feelings shape their actions and behaviour in the workplace. The significant obstacles to self-awareness development identified were conditioned upbringing, processing and dealing with feedback, and feelings for introverts. The significant enhancers to self-awareness development identified were tough upbringing, self-determination, life’s set-backs, spouse and family, storytelling, coaching, reading, spirituality, and religion. The implications for those who experienced obstacles to self-awareness development are that they took longer to develop their self-awareness than others on the same programme. The implications for those who experienced enhancers to self-awareness development are that these future leaders developed their self-awareness before the programme, outside of the programme and after the leadership development programme. It is recommended that before an assessment is done on self-awareness and a self-awareness development intervention such as coaching is undertaken, a leader undergoes a readiness assessment to develop self-awareness. This readiness assessment should identify and deal with any potential obstacles, and harness existing enhancers to the development of self-awareness. A leader could discuss their 360-degree assessment as well as their readiness assessment with their coach. The trusting relationship between leader and coach could assist the leader process and deal with any negative feedback. The coach in turn can assist the leader to interpret these assessments and set goals to develop the leader’s self-awareness. This research provides young future leaders with a reference to reflect on their inner-selves and their impact on others through their self-awareness. / MT2017

The purpose of this study was to establish challenges associated with leadership and management in transforming township schools into learning organisations. The study examined the leadership and management styles that promote schools into learning organisations. Post apartheid South Africa heralded changes in society and the educational system as a whole. Both transition from the apartheid era and the advent of a democratic government in 1994 resulted in the restructuring of education in this country. School managers and leaders are faced with situations in which effective and efficient school management requires new demands and challenges. During the apartheid era educational managers were subjected to many forms of suppression, which favoured the previous government. The education system was characterized as being authoritarian, non-consultative and non-participatory. Educational leadership focused on technical and bureaucratic functions of the school, and greater emphasis was placed on vertical structures. Leadership and management in South Africa today calls for a different mindset. The challenge is for leaders to recreate schools as learning organisations that focus on results and accountability. Real transformation will depend upon the nature and quality of internal management and how principals execute, delegate, consult and participate with all stakeholders. Self-management is accomplished by an internal distribution of power within the school and in transformational leadership. School principals need to adopt a new paradigm of leadership in which leaders are intuitive and visionary. Democratic South Africa places emphasis on transformational leadership. The study recommends that principals need to align themselves with the values of the constitution of the country bearing in mind democracy, equality, human dignity, freedom and justice. The challenges and need for leadership and management are great if education is to be uplifted and transformed. One of the main findings of the research in the researched schools was that there was an understanding of transformational leadership and learning organisations. The study also showed that the understanding of these concepts help to translate school activities into better performance. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2012.

Submitted in accordance with the partial requirements for the degree of Master of Education at the University of the Witwatersrand February 2016 / This study sought to explore successful instructional leadership practices in challenging circumstances. One township secondary school located in QwaQwa, Free State province, was used as the case study. The purpose of this study was to understand how the school has managed to consistently produce meritorious academic performances over the years despite facing multiple deprivations such as poverty, high crime rates and dilapidated learning infrastructure, among others. To better understand the instructional leadership approach, the study identified three key characteristics of successful instructional leaders and used them to form the basis for understanding whether the identified school principal applied them in responding to their learners‘ socio-economic challenges. This study was located within qualitative methodological approach with interpretivism as the research paradigm. The main data source was the in-depth interviews. The participants included the principal, head of department and two senior teachers. The study found the following to be key to the school‘s consistent plausible academic performance: (a) the main focus of the school was on ensuring the availability and efficient use of the instructional materials (b) the school principal took professional development of his academic staff seriously (c) there was a strong focus on managing teaching and learning (d) goal setting was seen as a driver towards achieving the academic goals of the school and (e) the effective use of the school‘s allocated instructional time was of great importance. / MT2017

Thesis (DTech. in Public Management)

This study examines how well the Mgwalana Traditional Authority (MTA) is performing its role of governing and developing its area and the municipal area of Nkonkobe in the Province of the Eastern Cape. The Chief of the MTA is one of the 2400 traditional leaders in South Africa who are responsible for giving leadership and development services to approximately 16 million people living in the rural areas. This study tries to find answers to two research questions: 1) What role does the Mgwalana traditional council play in governance and development? 2) Has the South African government managed to add traditional leadership to the local government structures? The study shows that the MTA is finding it difficult to do much socio-economic development because the Nkonkobe Local Municipality considers governance and development as its own role, and the traditional leadership is supposed to join only in customary and cultural activities. The research concludes that these two bodies could move out of the cross-road if they were to follow the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act, 2003 (Act 41 of 2003), and if the municipality were to work with local stakeholders, including the MTA, to achieve the goals for local government laid down in section 152 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.

South African schools especially those situated in previously disadvantaged communities, are faced with a myriad of challenges that school leaders have to deal with on a daily basis. School leaders are inter alia required to improve the running and functioning of their schools. A prerequisite for good schools is strong leadership. Transformational leadership seemed an appropriate focus for this research study, in which an action research approach was followed to deal with issues that impact negatively on the functioning of schools. The aim was to explore the potential benefits of this approach in terms of improving school functioning. A qualitative approach was adopted, as the experiences of the school leaders regarding action research as a tool to enhance the functioning of their schools were described. The aim was also to describe not only school leaders‟ experiences of action research, but also to interpret these so as to make recommendations based on the findings of the qualitative investigation, as to how best action research can be used as a tool for helping school leaders address issues that impinge on school functioning. This study was informed by phenomenology, and an interpretive as well as a critical paradigm. Multiple data gathering, such as field notes, observation and interviews were employed. In line with the qualitative approach, purposive sampling was used. The results of the research study appear to suggest that the benefits of an action research approach in improving school functioning relate to the transformation of the school climate, and that school leaders experience personal as well as professional transformation. This study recommends that action research as a model be incorporated into preparation programmes as well as professional development programmes for school leaders.

MCom (Human Resource Management) / Department of Human Resource Management and Labour Relations / The study investigated the relationship between leadership styles and organisational commitment in two selected higher education institutions in South Africa. Transformation is a topical issue in the South African higher education institutions. The slow progress in attempts to transform the sector can be attributed to leadership styles and commitment. The study employed a quantitative research design and made use of a self-administered questionnaire to gather data. The Multifactor-Leadership and Organisational Commitment questionnaires were used for data collection. The researcher used stratified sampling by grouping employees from each institution into academic and non-academic strata. In this study, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, multiple regression analysis were performed. The study indicated that transformational leadership and transactional leadership styles are significantly correlated with some of the organisational commitment constructs. The results further revealed that transformational leadership style explained the variance on organisational commitment better than transactional and laissez faire. Therefore, the study concludes that there is no one size fit all and recommended that each institution should diagnose its own situation for better pictorial view of what will work for that organisation. It is further recommended that leaders in higher education institutions should embrace more of transformational leadership as it has potential of transforming these institutions.

The present study commences with an exposition of the problem statement with reference to the influence that school principals' perceptions have on outcomes based education and the implementation there off. A study of the relevant literature in connection to outcomes based education as well as "tutor leadership" is conducted. This literature study will show the change that outcomes based education has on the role and tasks of educators and principals. The qualitative research method as well as a detailed background of the study will be described. An analysis of data accumulated during focus group interviews and semi-structured interviews lead to the compilation of definitive categories and sub-categories in the research. Finally a specific conclusion is reached regarding the influence that school principals' perceptions have on outcomes based education and certain recommendations are made for further research. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Education Management)

The motive for conducting this study was to determine the extent in which aspects of transformational leadership identified during literature study are practiced in the sampled primary schools in Limpopo. The study was divided into seven interlinked chapters. Chapter one introduced the investigation. Chapter two presented the definition and description of the notion transformational leadership and its five constituting elements, namely shared vision, commitment, motivation, job satisfaction and participative decision-making. A transformational leadership model was also presented in chapter two. Chapter three focused on the primary education systems of Republic of South Africa and the three selected Southern African Development Community member states, namely Malawi, Lesotho and Namibia. The discussion focused on the structure, organization, objectives and the challenges facing each SADC member state. Chapter three further identified the challenges facing primary schools in Limpopo and compared these to the challenges of the three selected SADC member states. The details of the research design and methodology were presented in chapter four. The empirical study took a two-pronged approach. Phase one of the empirical study was conducted through the administration of questionnaires to sampled principals and educators. In the second phase, sampled principals, educators and circuit managers were interviewed. The empirical study was intended to give answers to the following research questions:  To what extent are primary school principals as leaders involved in: • initiating visions that are shared and owned by other role players? • making sure that educators remain committed to their profession? • ensuring that educators are kept motivated? • ensuring that educators remain satisfied in their profession?  To what extent do principals involve other role players in the decision-making processes? iv In addition to that, the following research hypothesis was tested: • There is a significant relationship (in terms of descriptive statistics) between identified leadership emphasis in Limpopo primary schools and the key features of transformational leadership. And conversely the null hypothesis tested was: • There is no significant relationship (in terms of descriptive statistics) between identified leadership emphasis in Limpopo primary schools and the key features of transformational leadership. In phase one, data was quantitatively collected through questionnaires (principals and educators). Data was further gathered through semi-structured interviews and observation in phase two. To give a clear and a logical presentation of the data analysis and interpretation, both quantitative and qualitative data were presented separately in chapters five and six. This study produced the following findings: The majority of primary school principals do: • involve other role players in the development of their school visions. • ensure that educators are committed to their responsibilities. • ensure that educators remain motivated. • ensure that educators are job satisfied. • create opportunities wherein role players are involved in decision-making processes. The views of respondents from the survey data (both principals and educators) indicated that there is a significant relationship (in terms of descriptive statistics) between identified leadership emphasis in Limpopo primary schools and the key features of transformational leadership. Based on the findings above, the conclusion deduced was that the majority of primary school principals exhibit transformational leadership attributes. / Education Studies / D. Ed. (Education Managment)