The need for effective leadership in schools in Nkangala District : Mpumalanga Province

Abstract

The goal of this study was to determine the extent to which effective leadership is required for schools to be more successful, which strategies can be implemented for schools to be effective in finding out how the school management team (SMT) manages the school and best practices that can help the Nkangala District to develop school leadership through a case study. It also comes up with strategies that can be applied to leadership to be more effective by providing an objective view on improving leadership and reasons for how the government and schools can provide more learning and teaching materials to improve performance in schools. In data collection and analysis, the study used a qualitative approach. The researchers used the phenomenological approach as the primary objective of this study. The researcher purposefully selected 12 participants from three participating schools for this study. The sample comprised three principals, heads of department, educators and SGB members from the three selected participating schools. Data were collected throughout the interviews and the researcher used face-to-face semi-structured interviews with each of the participants. All the information was encoded into themes. The study revealed that for leadership to be effective, it takes effective leadership where all educators are encouraged to achieve the same goals, where they work in a positive environment, where they are motivated to perform tasks, and good communication is crucial when a leader wants some instruction to reach the staff correctly or when they want their task to be performed as required. The study suggests that training is required to assist principals who are not performing their duties effectively, as most of the techniques listed in this study suggested that certain leaders are not successful in their duties and may affect the school's functionality and may also affect performance.