This study explores practical school leadership and management, as enacted by women. The study, conducted in an interpretive paradigm, attempts to gain an understanding of women’s subjective experiences of school leadership and management. Two women principals from Ondangwa West Educational Region were interviewed. The two were selected through consultations with one of the senior inspectors in the region. Both had been principals for more than ten years and were seen by those who are concerned with their school to be successful. The study found that these women prefer a participative style of leadership and management, characterised by consultations with others, teamwork, collaborative decision-making and the use of power to empower others. They also strive for good human relationships because they believe that it fosters mutual respect, trust, openness and a good working atmosphere. All these human centred approaches are directed towards creating a school atmosphere that is conducive to teaching and learning and therefore result in effective schooling and quality educational outcomes. They do not experience gender discrimination in their work places. They have the full support of their supervisors. Though both are married with children, these dual roles do not prevent them from being successful in their professional work. In fact they have reached a stage where they feel confident as leaders and feel that they are acting as role models for fellow women principals and those aspiring to this position. The study concludes that the styles of leadership and management displayed by women are similar to those that are universally accepted as characteristics needed for effective school management and leadership. Though these leadership styles are traditionally associated with women, these characteristics are not gender specific. Therefore it will be in the best interest of schools, if school principals, both men and women, could borrow from these qualities in order to change schools from authoritarian to more democratic institutions.

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Research Report submitted to the School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education. February 2016 / This study explores the experiences of two women principals in leading suburban co-educational high schools in Gauteng province, South Africa. It sought to explore and understand the experiences of two women principals and their leadership roles through the consideration of their challenges, their successes and their leadership styles as demonstrated in their school contexts. Gender and leadership is an area which remains under-researched in both the South African and the national and international educational leadership fields (Faulkner, 2015; Moorosi, 2010 & 2012). Also in South Africa there is very little knowledge of the experiences of women leading suburban co-educational high schools formerly known as Model C schools (Lumby & Heystek, 2011). This context is particularly interesting and important considering the dramatic change in demography of these schools after 1994, which impacts upon how women principals, in particular, experience and lead these diverse schools and their very diverse communities. As the schools now have heterogeneous ethnic and cultural populations, principals face many different challenges in leadership. In a very patriarchal and traditional culture, which typifies South Africa, it was considered an important aspect of the research to understand the experiences of women specific to these under-researched school contexts. The research methodology chosen as the most appropriate is a qualitative, interpretivist approach which uses a case study. The two high schools in the case study were purposefully sampled because they were led by women and they were former Model C schools in Gauteng, to the west and north, which under the apartheid regime served only white learners and communities in former affluent white suburban areas. The participants in this study were the two women principals of the two suburban schools. The research instruments chosen were a semi structured questionnaire, loosely based on Coleman’s questionnaire from her study of UK head teachers (2001), and follow-up probing interviews to gain more in depth responses to key areas of interest. The research was underpinned by a theoretical framework that contends that context plays a significant role in the two women’s experiences and how this might impact upon challenges to their leadership as women, (Christie & Lingard, 2001). Cubillo and Brown (2011) posited in their research that context is critical to women’s experiences of leadership, even more than is the case for male leaders. Evidence from the data collected and analysed in addressing the research questions shows that the two women principals were negatively affected by entrenched patriarchal attitudes within the communities they served. Contexts of former Model C schools played a pivotal role in the two women’s experiences as they employed the leadership styles they considered as the ones that best fitted the situations imposed by diverse ethnic and cultural communities. The misconception about former Model C schools, as still being sites of affluence and privilege, also contributed to their challenges, given the demographic changes that contradict this assumption. Despite these challenges, the two women remained strong with the determination to lead successfully ‘against the odds’ (Coleman, 2001). Family support, work experience, qualifications, confidence and their leadership styles also contributed to their success. This study recommended the need for further research through a longitudinal and wide ranging study of women’s experiences of leadership and specifically on the nature of leadership in these under-researched co-educational former Model C high schools. Keywords Gender and leadership, Principalship, South African High Schools, Discrimination, Patriarchy, Glass Ceilings and Walls,

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, School of Education, 2011

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2006. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Carolyn Riehl; submitted to the School of Education. Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-126).

Thesis (Ed D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-181). Also available on the Internet.

This study explores how women in management are perceived especially in a Kwa-Dukuza Lower Tugela primary school (with the pseudonym, Mbonisweni). Mhonisweni is situated 5 kilometers away from my school. I was motivated to conduct this study by the negative perceptions of women in management positions that I detected in my own school (with the pseudonym, Vela). Vela is a new primary school, which was established as a result of overcrowding at Siyathuthuka senior primary school, which was at first a combined primary school. I was interested to see if a similar situation pertained at Mbonisweni and to find out what might he the reasons for any negative perception of women managers. Data for this study was collected through semi-structured interviews with eight educators from Mbonisweni Primary, including the principal of the school, 4 management team members and the 4 educators (two females and two males). The study found that evidence of some negativity towards the school principal and in some cases such negativity was based on gender stereotyped attitudes. The situation was not, however, simple. Prior to conducting the research I had anticipated that there might be strong support from female HODs and educators for the female principal (manager) but this was not uniformly the case nor was it the case that all males in the study were opposed to the female manager. The situation was more complex. Three quarters of the males interviewed supported the female management although their support did not mean that male teachers were in necessarily in favour of gender equity more broadly nor did it preclude some men from expressing view that could be seen as sexist. While three quarters of the females interviewed also supported the female management it was clear that no encompassing bond of sisterhood exited by which women automatically supported the females in the school's management team. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.

Relying on the standard conventions and techniques of life-history methodology in the Social Sciences, this study explores the professional or career histories of selected women principals in the EThekwini region. The study examines the relationship between gender and self-portrayal on the one hand, and gender and school leadership, on the other hand. Thus the central focus of the study is on the different ways in which women principals define themselves and are defined by others, especially their colleagues and the communities served by their schools. The study also looks at the ways in which key management structures such as School Management Teams (SMTs) and School Governing Bodies (SGBs) deal with the issues relating to gender equality in school leadership, management and governance. The dissertation also tackles the· complex relationship between private (personal) and professional identities and how these are constructed and continually re-constructed within the context of school management and leadership. The study is recognizably qualitative in orientation and therefore does not set out to formulate general principles about gender and school management. Instead the intention is to gain some insight into the relatively unique lives of individual women managers in education. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

The study sought to explore four female school principals’ management experiences and challenges that these females encounter in their management duties. It adopted a qualitative approach inquiry, and used semi-structured interviews and observations as its methods of data collection. The objective was to examine and unveil the challenges that these principals encountered when applying for promotion into school management; some gender-based dynamics related to executing their duties and responsibilities as female school managers; the management strategies that the female principals used to cope with their management responsibilities, as well as the support they required in order to enhance their effective management in the schools. The findings reveal that female principals have, indeed encountered challenges at schools owing to their gender as females. These range from the very long period of time it took for them to be promoted into management positions to the dynamics related to managing staff meetings, which included female principals being regarded as tokens by some teachers and not being taken seriously, thereby undermining the female principals’ authority as school managers. Mainly based on the societal expectations on females to perform domestic chores, female principals in these schools have to struggle with a heavy workload of their school work which runs concurrently with their familial responsibilities (domestic chores) at home. The negative attitudes of staff and the community, which cast doubt on females’ capacity to become managers, are shown to have far-reaching adverse consequences, which affect the female principals’ ability to effectively manage the schools. However, the female principals in this study innovatively employ various management strategies to mitigate the effects of these challenges on their ability to manage the schools. These include adopting collegial (and democratic) management strategies that enable them to raise above the tide, thus challenging the stereotypic conceptions that females do not have the capacity to become effective school managers. Based on the female principals’ views and experiences, the study suggested some strategies that could be employed to support and enhance female principals’ abilities for effective school management. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2012.