PRINCIPAL LEADERSHIP AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT: EXPERIENCES FROM SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOL CONTEXTS

Principal leadership issues are becoming increasingly debated and explored in international and comparative contexts due to the changing context of educational provision. In the South African education context and the world over, there is unprecedented interest in how school leadership influences the performance of learners. Teaching and learning environments in schools have become more complex and diverse, where effective principalship is required to achieve high standards of educational success. The quality of leadership in schools is the cornerstone for driving transformational change that is required in schools. In this article, we argue that principals need to adopt leadership styles that would enhance the culture of teaching and learning. It was the goal of our qualitative study to explore the role of school principals in improving learning outcomes. Six schools in the North-West province, South Africa, were purposively selected to participate in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with principals and teachers from the selected schools. We found that principals use several leadership styles to enhance the culture of teaching and learning in their schools. The study concluded that leadership in schools plays a significant role in improving learner performance.