School leadership and local learning contexts in South Africa

Abstract

International research has shown that the quality of school leadership and management (SLM) is important for teaching and learning, particularly in schools where there is acute resource deprivation. This article explores the relationship between leadership and academic achievement in South African secondary schools with varying socio-economic conditions. The study is based on data from 12,154 South African Grade 9 learners, 334 mathematics teachers and 292 principals who participated in the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Using indicators that represent different aspects of school leadership, this article examines whether the type of leadership and management practices depend on the school setting and whether better school leadership and management supports academic achievement. The analysis revealed distinct relationships between school leadership and management and academic achievement based on the socio-economic status of learner bodies. Potential policy responses are discussed.

The importance of context for leadership in education

“…While contextual factorssocio-economic, financial, legislative, culturalhave generally been acknowledged as presenting complex constraints on leadership and organizational functioning (e.g. Bossert et al, 1982;Bush, 2018;Hallinger, 2018;Lakomski and Evers, 2020;Vroom and Jago, 2007;Zuze and Juan, 2020), the centrality of leader cognition has remained intact, and the tension between contextual constraints on leadership and leader centrism has remained unresolved. We argue that broadening the traditional notion of cognition implied in leader centrism to a conception of cognition as distributed eliminates the tension between external factors and leader cognition in that distributed cognition encompasses individual minds/cognition as well as the contexts in which they operate.…”

School Heads of Departments’ Roles in Advancing Science and Mathematics through the Distributed Leadership Framework

“…This prompts research and policy initiatives on ways to improve teaching and learning (Nel & Luneta, 2017). To ensure an improvement in the teaching and learning of school subjects, including mathematics, instructional leadership becomes paramount (Zuze & Juan, 2018). However, Zuze and Juan (2018, p. 459) caution that there are "distinct relationships between school leadership and management and academic achievement based on the socio-economic status of learner bodies."…”

Leading curriculum changes in schools: The role of school principals as perceived by teachers

“…It thus implies that teaching experience alone is not sufficient to be a successful principal, but training in educational management and leadership issues becomes another criterion. According to Zuze and Juan (2020), this criterion is crucial for principals to acquire as they have been tasked over the past 20 years with implementing policies and programmes as well as raising the academic standards in schools. Furthermore, the PAM sets out the fundamental duties of school principals, which include among others, policy enactment and the management of teachers, learners, information, infrastructure and school discipline (Zuze & Juan, 2020).…”

“…According to Zuze and Juan (2020), this criterion is crucial for principals to acquire as they have been tasked over the past 20 years with implementing policies and programmes as well as raising the academic standards in schools. Furthermore, the PAM sets out the fundamental duties of school principals, which include among others, policy enactment and the management of teachers, learners, information, infrastructure and school discipline (Zuze & Juan, 2020). These roles have been refined in the Policy on the South African Standard for Principalship (RSA, 2016), which sets out eight interdependent areas of which the management of the curriculum forms one of the core activities of the principal.…”