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.

Organizations globally are challenged with a very volatile, fast changing environment. It is only those organizations that develop the capacity to change timeously that will survive in this millennium. (Meyer & Botha, 2000, p.23) Organizational development (OD) is a planned change approach aimed at changing behaviour and enhancing organizational effectiveness. Central to such an approach is continuous business process improvement. OD rests on the foundation of values and assumptions about people and organizations, and it is imperative that organizations adopt systematic methodologies in introducing business improvement interventions. The study introduced an OD approach to one of the rural primary schools in the Omusati region of Namibia, with the purpose of examining if it would bring change in the school. My goal was to explore participants' experience and perception of the OD process and to investigate the possible short term outcome of such an intervention. The case study involved 16 staff members made up of a principal, one head of department and 14 teachers. Data was gathered through formal interviews with the principal, head of department and three teachers, through a focus group interview with teachers, and through observation and observation note entries. The study found that OD was a new concept approach to the participants which differs completely from the way that change processes are introduced in the schools. Participants felt that introducing change in an organization using an OD approach can bring effective change, but it can also place huge demands on participants' commitment. This is particularly so if they do not adopt it as an internal process of business improvement. The OD approach is a long-term change process and not a quick fix. Finally, the outcome of the intervention indicated enthusiasm for the school to continue addressing the prevailing challenges despite various obstacles that they do not have control over.