A phenomenological study of the instructional leadership practices of school principals in three high-performing independent schools in Gauteng

Abstract

The core role and responsibility of the school principal is to be an instructional leader. The principal sets the tone in terms of teaching and learning in the school. In this study I focus on school principals at independent schools in Gauteng and explore their instructional leadership practices. To understand these practices I drew on Weber’s instructional leadership model and distributed leadership. In this interpretive, qualitative, phenomenological study I purposively sampled three independent schools in the Gauteng province based on exceptional academic achievement. I selected their school principals as participants. Data was generated using semi-structured interviews, collage inquiry and artefact inquiry. The findings indicate that the day-to-day instructional leadership practices of the participants are quite expansive and are geared towards ensuring quality in teaching and learning. Furthermore, they receive the requisite support from stakeholders and mediate the challenges they experience in their instructional leadership in multiple ways.