Cape Town: A recent Stellenbosch University study has found that Western Cape school principals in disadvantaged communities tend to show resilience and leadership in bringing greatness to schools, regardless of inadequate support.
In a study published recently in the South African Journal of Industrial Psychology, Dr Francois van der Bank and Jaco Janse van Vuuren developed a behavioural competency framework for school principals.
They wanted to identify and understand the behaviours displayed by school principals who have succeeded against the odds and managed to turn around failing schools. For this, they interviewed principals in the Western Cape with good track records.
The researchers said that even though past studies highlight school leadership and management to be pivotal in the establishment and maintenance of well-performing schools, little is known about the behavioural competencies required by school principals.
Dr Francois van der Bank, from the Department of Industrial Psychology at Stellenbosch University, said the data-capturing phase of the study showed the immense inequality in schools in South Africa.
“The lack of policies are not the only issues in schools in South Africa. Good leadership and governance are also lacking in many schools. In some of the schools interviewed, the communities are filled with gangs. The culture of discipline and leadership is what makes these schools thrive and do well.
“Much of the research on school leadership focuses on job experience, qualifications or other attributes believed to be predictive of success rather than on accurate, contextualised descriptions of the required behaviour or competencies. Also, work on school leadership success does not sufficiently account for the various intermediate outcomes such as teaching capacity, quality of instruction, learner engagement and parent-community ties that are instrumental to academic achievement,” he said.
Jaco Janse van Vuuren, a fellow researcher in the study, said many of the school principals interviewed were able to grasp a vision for their schools.
“Effective principals set and communicate strategically aligned and challenging academic goals and expectations to teaching and other staff in such a way that there is clarity and consensus about these goals.
“They take a personal interest in the development of teachers by initiating formal and informal learning opportunities, as well as empowering school staff to solve problems independently and creatively. They build strong teams and parent-community ties through an inspiring vision, effective communication, and the ability to engage in critical discussion and debate while being uncompromising on quality of instruction,” he said.
The researchers added that successful principals show an understanding and concern for the aspirations, needs and feelings of teachers and learners when managing school relations, including effectively handling interpersonal and group conflicts.
Vanessa Le Roux, the founder of the NPO Parents for Equal Education SA, said principals are under extreme pressure from the department and don't necessarily receive the support that they need.
“In fact, in many cases, I think principals are unnecessarily loaded with administrative duties and have little time for the management of schools. Last week, I had an issue with a school that doesn't have all their textbooks yet.
“There are many good principals. Unfortunately, the bad ones overshadow them, where they don't know where to draw the line between their function as the manager of the school and the responsibility of the SGB, who is supposed to govern the school. This is causing major havoc and have serious legal implications, ” she said.