Principals' experiences when providing management and strategic leadership at technical vocational education and training colleges in South Africa

Abstract

In this qualitative study, the research objective was to present a theoretical framework for the phenomenon of discovering principals’ experiences when providing management and strategic leadership at Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges in South Africa. Furthermore, the college Senior Management Team (SMT) members were also part of the study as they support and contribute towards to the functioning of TVET colleges. According to Hoy and Miskel (2013), an open social-systems model of schools provides an overarching and useful conceptual framework that organizes and relates this theory and research for educational administrators. At the heart of our social-systems model are four critical elements of school life—structure, motivation, culture, and politics (Hoy &Miskel 2013). The data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with participants, while the observation of how principals provided strategic management and leadership was done on a daily basis. The researcher was deputy principal corporate services at a TVET College therefore the contact with other TVET colleges and the DHET was used as a better way to conduct observation. It against the above background that the main themes were developed from the participants’ responses in the bureaucratic, political, and cultural sub-dimensions of the social system. In terms of the incorporation of the sub-dimensions of a social system, it was found that college SMTs should actively model and promote effective management and strategic leadership. This study focused on the strategic leadership and management initiatives, legislations and regulations aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of day-to-day operations of TVET colleges in South Africa. The study explored in depth the management and strategic leadership roles and responsibilities of the TVET college principals. A comparative study of South Africa’s public TVET college as well as the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia was also conducted. Furthermore, there is a need to contribute to the organizational culture and climate, job performance, employee morale and engagement, and staff retention. These may be achieved by capacitating college principals and their SMTs with relevant short courses. It is recommended that the role of the DHET and college council must shift from enforcing bureaucratic compliance to collective capacity building within the TVET colleges. This can be achieved by establishing processes and procedures that are supported by sound monitoring and reporting systems. Finally, recommendations made from this study are expected to empower principals and other middle managers and administrators to assist them to achieve the strategic objectives and to relate with all stakeholder that exists within the TVET sector.