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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/6230 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Dlungwane, Bongani Johannes. |
| Contributors | Mthiyane, Siphiwe Eric. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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