Pierre du Plessis

The principal as instructional leader: Guiding schools to improve instruction

AbstractSchool leaders are increasingly being challenged to take a more instructionally focused role in their schools. As pressure for improving student performance in the current standards-based accountability environment swells and test results are increasingly scrutinised, school principals are being urged to focus efforts on the core business of schooling – teaching and learning. This article focuses on school principals who are successful in improving teaching and learning in their schools. Six principals contributed their time, stories and experiences as instructional leaders as well as how they have improved teaching and learning in their respective schools. The article describes the strategies of principals who practise exemplary instructional leadership, and how these principals have influenced teaching and learning. The principals in this sample sought to focus their time and efforts on instructional improvement by shifting their priorities towards teaching and learning. Literature on instructio...

State Funding in Selected African Countries

Transforming education systems has been given top priority in many southern African regions (such as Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa) after being liberated from colonialism. This transformation agenda also extended to other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) like Burkino Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania.

Enriching School Culture and Climate through Leadership in Collectivistic Educational Settings: Cases from Nepal and South Africa

ABSTRACT Culture and climate are intertwined, but not the same. Anthropologically speaking, culture is related to personality, while climate is akin to attitude, relating to the psychological issue of anthropological problems. Culture and climate reflect a schools environment. A schools culture is often determined by its leadership as they work to enhance a policy system. Open-ended interviews were conducted in schools from Nepal and South Africa with the school actors. Data was analyzed through triangulations, which validated the reliability of interpretations. The findings suggest that educational leadership strategies towards managing the psychological issues arising from anthropological problems create a healthy environment. A single culture may define the uniqueness of a school. However, having one culture for shaping the climate is not necessary. Leadership approaches were limited to a few individuals rather than the entire student body, thus hampering attempts to enrich the school climate. However, school leadership does reach the entire schools professional community.

Learner Discipline in Crisis: Can South African Schools Overcome the Problem?

Abstract Discipline problems seem to exist in South African schools and the situation is getting worse and even out of hand, including bullying behavior. Traditional behavior management practices, including corporal punishment, are prohibited in South African schools. An area of concern is whether learner discipline policies and procedures are equitable, fair and effective. It is the school’s role to ensure that all learners are aware of the reality, that while having rights, they also have corresponding responsibilities. Therefore, this qualitative critical review paper critically analyzes the concept of discipline and highlights the theories of approaches towards it. The paper, then in view of the critical review, draws some lessons on what strategies could be applicable to a South African school’s context and makes some suggestions regarding dealing with discipline problems in schools