The crisis in Black Education has dramatically influenced the manner in which principals manage their schools. What is clear is that for more than a decade school principal's have been faced with a complex task of managing schools in a changing environment, which is characterised by many upheavals. It would seem that every school principal will inevitably have to reconceptualise the school as a management structure and perhaps, accept certain guidelines for effective management of his school. Therefore, the specific purposes of the study were:  to investigate the problems encountered by principals, who are assigned the duty of managing the schools in an unstable environment;  to put forward proposals for effective management in a changing environment. In this study special attention was paid to the management of urban secondary schools under the Department of Education and Culture, KwaZulu. The major findings which emerged from the study are that :  from 1976 to 1991 the school environment has not been stable enough for the principals to be able to practise their management and leadership skills effectively.  that a number of factors within and outside the school have contributed to the disorder encountered in the schools;  although principals continued in their positions as heads, they had almost no authority to suppress the unrest that threatened the normal functioning of their schools;  that principals have to be innovative and flexible enough, to deal with the situation as it presents itself;  that as long as the legitimacy of the KwaZulu Education System remains questionable to the communities, teachers and the pupils it servers, unrest in schools, under this Department, will never be eliminated and therefore principals will always remain deprived of their opportunity to manage their schools effectively. The study concludes with several recommendations arising out of the study. The most important being :  the establishment of a single based purely on academic considerations rather than political considerations;  as the school is part of its surrounding environment, recognition must be given to the norms, values and attitudes of the community from which its pupils are drawn;  unrest related problems, that affect both the home and the school, can be overcome if parents meet regularly with principals and teachers and have discussions on matters of common concern, such as reducing the incident of truancy, methods of curbing drug abuse, methods of handling adolescent problems and selection of subject packages;  maintenance of firm, fair and consistent discipline is essential for effective management of a school. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, Durban, 1993.

This study reports on a qualitative study that sought to explore the experiences of female Heads of Department in Primary Schools. The study was carried out in KwaNdengezi, Pinetown South. It made use of qualitative methodology to obtain data using semi-structured interviews and observations as its methods of data collection. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants of the study, and the study sample consisted of four female heads of department in four primary schools, with whom the interviews and observations were conducted. The main findings of the study revealed that female heads of department experience and internalize negative stereotypes and believe males do not listen to them and they also experience gender stereotypes and their impact when performing their management duties in schools. Other findings include the experiences related to dynamics of being mothers and teachers at the same time. Further the communication with teachers, teacher discipline and the role that gender stereotyped held by members of the society. There is the issue of unequal power relations between men and women within the schools, which is an underlying factor behind all the gender-based experiences of female heads of department in the schools. Despite the fact that female heads of department encounter gender-based experiences in their management roles and responsibilities, they are engaged in empowering style of management by means of involving all the colleagues in the decision making processes. The study concludes by recommending that female heads of departments require support from all the stakeholders of the school, and that the government should hold workshops and seminars to support them. At the school level, they should resist all attempts at being treated in a condescending manner, and become role models to other aspiring females to assume school management positions for effective management and delivery of quality education. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2012.

The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the messages conveyed by principals in one context, that of well resourced schools. The contents of the messages and how these messages are influenced by the context of the schools were interrogated. Also of relevance are principals presenting a desirably, inviting message about the teaching profession. This study is part of the TP120 project that is being conducted by the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal to evaluate the placing of context at the centre of a learning to teach approach. The school environment has become diverse and dynamic since the implementation of changes after 1994. Teacher training institutions are faced with trying to adequately prepare teachers to adapt and adjust. The thinking therefore, is to include diverse contexts as one of the major components in the teacher education curriculum. One initiative to achieve this is to enlist the help of principals, who are the experienced counterparts in schools, to assist university personnel with the training of student teachers. This is done when first year student teachers are taken to schools of varying contexts and where principals are given an opportunity to address these students. The belief is that, what principals say prepares students teachers for the world of work in a particular context. A case study using the interpretivist paradigm was conducted with the participants being principals in well resourced schools. The participating schools and the participants were selected by pre-determined criteria in keeping with the requirements of the TP120 project. The principals’ speeches were recorded and transcribed. Thereafter a discourse analysis was embarked on. The theories that underpin this study are the invitational theory of Purkey and Novak (1996) and the learning to teach approach of Amin and Ramrathan (2009). The findings show that a well resourced context is established and maintained through hard work, dedication, commitment and support of all stakeholders. The messages conveyed by the principals prepare the student teachers for the teaching profession in general and for the well resourced context in particular. The main conclusion of this study is that principals can be an invaluable source of knowledge to student teachers and can assist in teacher training. They articulated a sense of purpose and direction and inspire the student teachers by motivating, encouraging, guiding and inviting them to the teaching profession. Recommendations of the study were that the universities should continue to provide student teachers with the opportunity of experiencing different contexts, principals can be provided with guidelines on what to talk about in their orientation speeches, student teachers should prepare questions to get clarity on issues in particular contexts and principals can be provided with professional development around communicating motivational and inspirational orientation speeches. Recommendations for further research are that a variety of contexts be researched or the student teachers can be interviewed to gauge the exact message that they go away with. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

Teacher attrition is common in developed, developing and underdeveloped countries. School principals are tasked with a responsibility to oversee that teaching and learning takes place as smoothly and efficiently as possible and to handle whatever disturbance that takes place in a school including teacher. Teacher attrition affects them directly as it interferes with planning and daily routine in the school. There are many factors which influence teacher attrition such as poor working conditions, poor pay, stress, pursuit of “greener pastures” and many others. This study seeks to explore and document the experiences of school principals regarding teacher attrition. It is a case study of four school principals from Umlazi district. The main research question is: What are the experiences of school principals with regards to teacher attrition? The purpose is to document the experiences of school principals and; to identify factors which influence teacher attrition. I intend to examine challenges experienced by principals with regards to teacher attrition and to find out how principals manage these challenges. This is a qualitative study from an interpretive approach. It explores the experiences of school principals after a teacher transfers, resigns or even dies. Case study is used because of the nature of the study (small scale). Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. These recorded and transcriptions were done personally. Data was coded according to emerging themes during analysis then interpreted in order to make meaning. Sampling is purposeful and school principals both at Primary and Secondary school level are the respondents as I believed their experiences would not be the same. The findings revealed that the common experiences of school principals during teacher attrition were frustration and stress; disruption of learning and compromised student performance and lack of support of the Department of Education. Resignations were influenced by job dissatisfaction and jobrelated stress. These forced teachers to pursue “greener pastures” in the business sector as well as private sector. It also emerged that school principals were experiencing a lot of frustrating and stressful challenges during teacher attrition and most of them found it hard to cope with these challenges. They also complained about the lack of support from the education department. The findings are based only on data collected during interviews. v These findings are going to help the Department of Education to devise new strategies that will help school principals cope better with teacher attrition and also find ways of speeding up the teacher replacement process in order to prevent loss of contact time. Principals also got a platform to voice their concerns whilst they shared their experiences. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

Abstract not available. / M. Ed. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.

This study entailed an exploration of instructional leadership practices of school principals. A case study was conducted at four schools in Durban. The research participants included four school principals, two from primary and two from secondary schools. My purpose was to explore the role of school principals in supporting teaching and learning at their schools. The study was conducted from an interpretive perspective. Three theories informed this investigation, namely instructional leadership theory, transformational leadership theory and distributed leadership theory. The data analysis procedure entailed a transcription of all four interviews that were thematically analysed to produce significant findings which informed the conclusions.All four principals had similar things to share about their role as instructional leaders, such as creating a favourable teaching and learning atmosphere. Secondly, some of the things that principals actually do to support teaching and learning is to motivate educators and learners and organise fund raising. Thirdly, there a numerous challenges that school principals are faced with irrespective of whether it is a primary or secondary school. Fourthly, principals take responsibility for overcoming challenges by reviewing the school’s code of conduct and making amendments to curb discipline related problems and implementing professional development of their staff. All four principals displayed a good understanding of their role as instructional leaders. We can conclude that the school principals who were interviewed make a concerted effort to ensure the maximum development of their staff. They view team collaboration and delegation of tasks as important to the smooth functioning of the organisation and try their best to ensure that this takes place at their schools. Principals also voiced concerns over SGB members that often overstepped their mark in certain instances. Recommendations informed by the conclusions demonstrated that school principals, unions, and the Department of Education need to do more to enhance the delivery of quality education in schools. / M. Ed. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.

This investigative study focused on challenges experienced by novice principals in executing their mandated leadership and management duties. A case study was conducted on four novice principals in the Pinetown District. Two headed a rural primary and high school respectively and the other two, an urban primary and high school respectively. The study investigated challenges experienced by novice principals, how they coped with these challenges and how they enacted themselves as assets to their schools. This qualitative study was located in the interpretive paradigm. Documents review, observations and semi-structured interviews constitute the research instruments for date generation. The study was framed by the distributive theory and the asset-based approach. Local and international scholastic works, on the research topic, were interrogated to seek insights into the progress so far made and determine the agenda to the explored. The analysis and discussion of the generated and presented data led to findings that demystified the world of novice principals. Clearly, they require pre-service induction or orientation, mentoring and coaching should accompany the in-service workshops for contextualisation of the theory learnt and informal networking to glean from the experience of peers. Higher stakeholder involvement and learning should be enhanced through the adoption of distributive leadership and the asset-based approach. The findings were utilised as the basis of making conclusions. It was concluded that capacity building initiatives are key to development even if novice principals are appropriately qualified, possessed accumulated experiences in leadership position as the Head of Department or Deputy principal and prior knowledge. It was also concluded that for the effective and efficient entrenchment of thee DoE’s legislated vision and direction of the democratic system of education, leadership should be shared or distributed. Individual capabilities should be determined and employed in the asset-based approach. Recommendations, informed by the conclusions were presented to facilitate how each theoretical conclusion can be translated into a workable practice in running schools effectively and efficiently. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

This study explored the lived experiences of a selected group of women principals in Umgungundlovu district. In South Africa women constitute the majority of the teaching force and yet school principals are predominantly men. Literature showed a number of barriers that prevent women from being in leadership positions. These barriers included social-cultural factors, societal expectations as well as women’s perceptions of themselves potentially being in positions of leadership. An attempt was made to investigate how women principals’ lived experiences could shed light on the reasons for their under-representation in positions of educational leadership. A qualitative phenomenological study was used to generate data guided by two research questions. The data was collected from three women school principals in the Umgungundlovu district and they were interviewed in their natural settings in this case, their schools. The findings of the study revealed that women principals encounter many challenges as they begin their careers as principals as a consequence of resistance from the staff, as well as in their efforts to balance their home and work lives. In order to cope with these demands, the women had to network to make sure they have a support system; collaborating with both staff and learners also assisted in meeting the requirements of their positions. In leading their schools they utilised a caring approach to the staff and the needs of the learners. Their major achievement was being able to work as team. In understanding the lived experiences of these women primary school principals of the UMgungundlovu District, six themes emerged. These themes are: first experiences as initially challenging; work and home conflicting demands; networking as a way of dealing with challenges; the need for spirituality as a way of coping with these challenges; mothering and collaboration as a way of leading. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.