Using visual ethnography to explore a principal’s perceptions of innovations made in a South African primary school

Abstract

This study investigates a South African principal’s view of implementing invitational education (IE) as an example of a professional development programme (PD) within a particular school setting. Two types of literature inform this study: leadership supportive of school development and the invitational education approach to teaching and learning. The study uses qualitative reflexive photography to explore the following research question: How does the principal perceive the way in which intentionally inviting changes were made in the school under his leadership? The data analysis revealed the following categories: people: focussing on care; places: changing the physical setting; policies: regulating the functions of the school; programmes: developing people through helpful initiatives; and process, that is, organising the context in which schooling takes place. The findings support the fact that the process of IE needs to organise all the other factors in a way that is both democratic and humane. IE requires a commitment to certain goals if changes are to be implemented successfully; this, in turn, implies that a school should develop a culture of collective learning and that learners should be encouraged to care about one another in the school.