Contextual factors and leadership at underperforming schools

Abstract

Peer review declarationThe publisher (AOSIS) endorses the South African 'National Scholarly Book Publishers Forum Best Practice for Peer Review of Scholarly Books'. The manuscript was subjected to a rigorous twostep peer review process prior to publication, with the identities of the reviewers not revealed to the authors. The reviewers were independent of the publisher and/or authors in question. The reviewers commented positively on the scholarly merits of the manuscript and recommended that the manuscript should be published. Where the reviewers recommended revision and/or improvements to the manuscript, the authors responded adequately to such recommendations. Research JustificationThe argumentative point of departure of this scholarly book is the common conviction of specialists in the field of education in South Africa that the national education system is not at a satisfactory level, in both the academic and public discourses. Such allegations are made, and, frequently, stronger adjectives than 'non-satisfactory' are used. Results of international test series in which South Africa has participated, such as the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Studies (TIMSS) tests, confirm the negative verdicts found in the (public and scholarly) discourse. This book aims to argue that although the lack of performance could be attributed to a multiplicity of factors, one factor that can make a difference in the achievement levels obtained by learners in schools is leadership. The book demonstrates that a particular problem of both the scholarly and the public discourse on education in South Africa is an overtone of defeatism or resignation, blaming all ills in the education system and educational institutions on historical legacies and/or contextual factors (such as socio-economic deprivation in the catchment areas of schools) or poor resources and infrastructure. This collected work was inspired by a recently published spate of articles on top-performing schools (including top-performing schools in rural/townships), in which it was demonstrated that good leadership can overcome such contextual and other challenges. The book discusses the issue of leadership in South African schools from a number of perspectives, thus contributing to the development of the scholarly discourse on Educational Leadership in South Africa. The target audience of the book comprises scholars of Educational Leadership. The research reported in this book draws on a wide range of methodologies, including empirical (survey) research (questionnaires and interviews), critical literature surveys and the comparative method. The chapters constitute original research not published elsewhere. The chapters were put through iThenticate analysis and contain no plagiarism. The contents of the document reflect the views of the author(s) of each chapter, who is or are responsible for the facts and accuracy of the information.