Understanding school leadership: a study of the ACE school leadership programme and leadership practices Dr. E.M Kgwete and Dr. K. Bipath University of Pretoria

 Poor learner achievement and lack of school leadership skills may be as a result of poor principal training or lack thereof.  Literature on underperforming schools reveals that some principals are not getting the basics right.  In most cases principals fail to communicate the vision of the school correctly to the stakeholders..

 The former Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, expressed her concern about education leadership: “we have a (school) leadership that cannot analyse, cannot problem-solve, cannot devise strategic interventions and plans and cannot formulate perspectives that are directed at achieving success” (Business Day, 30 November 2004).

 Investigate how the ACE School Leadership programme influences laedership practices, and  To explore the synchrony between the theory of the ACE School Leadership programme and the practices thereof.

 How does the ACE School Leadership programme influence leadership practices of school principals?  How do principals respond to training offered in the ACE programme?  How do principals implement acquired skills in their schools?

 This study proposed a model for an improved principal preparation programme.  Revealed that the nomothetic dimension of the social systems theory outweighed the idiographic dimension.  According to Orr (2003), despite a growing body of evidence supporting the need to prepare skilled principals, more research is needed to identify and clarify specific skills and behaviours required to effectively lead schools and the types of training needed to achieve this goal.

 The theoretical framework by Getzels and Guba’s social system model (1957) presented two constructs of social systems, termed “nomothetic” and “ideographic” dimensions (Chance, 2009). The nomothetic component of the social system (school) represents the formal institution with its various prescribed roles, bureaucracy, and expectations. The ideographic component of the social system (school) refers to the needs, wants, and personalities of those who populate the social system (Chance, 2009).

 Mathibe (2007, p. 12) states that, “South African principals were not appropriately skilled and trained for school management and leadership”.  Literature reveals that principals are ignorant with regard to education law (62, 8%), their basic rights/human rights (56,4%), employment rights (63,7%) and their obligations (70,5%) (Ndlala, 2010,p. 187).  Poor learner achievement and lack of school leadership skills may be as a result of poor principal training or lack thereof among other factors (Bush, 2007).  Bush and Oduro (2006) concluded that preparation for school principals was inadequate throughout the continent.

 A qualitative research orientation was adopted.  Semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis were used as data collection tools.  Atlas ti was used to analyse the data.

 A total of six (6) secondary school principals were interviewed.  All the principals (6) of them completed the ACE School Leadership programme from the University of Pretoria in 2007/8.  They, thus, had 5/6 years of practice as principals after a principal preparation programme.  All the principals are based in Nkangala Region, in Mpumalanga Province in South Africa.  In terms of gender there were three (3) males and three (3) females.

 The principals come from different environments. Two (2) principals came from the townships, two (2) from former model C and two (2) from rural environments. All the six (6) principals are black.

 School principals are more aware of their management roles.  Imbalance In management and leadership training.  The programme focused more on the nomothetic dimension than the idiographic dimension.  Enhanced curriculum management.  The decision making skills and strategic levels of thinking were neglected.  The programme played a role in uplifting the quality of education.  Less training on finance management was provided in the programme.  Heavy reliance on policies limited creativity.

 Principals’ communication skills have improved.

 There is ample evidence of the nomothetic dimensions of the social systems theory outweighing the ideographic dimensions in the ACE school leadership programme.  There is less synchronicity between theory and practice. The programme is called ACE “School Leadership” but the outcomes in the learning content was more on “management”.  Principals felt confident to manage because they were aware of the management tools available in the new circulars and policies. Subordinates in their schools scored them highly regarding compliance and being more participative in their approach.

 However, the ideographic dimension regarding problem solving, strategic thinking and informed decision making were missing.  The contribution that this research makes is that future preparation programmes be balanced regarding the social systems theory and contain contextual case studies which result in principals not just being compliant, but competent and compassionate.

 The programme needs to be sustained using communities of practice.  We also emphasise the need for the department officials like circuit managers and institutional development officers (IDSOs) to be part of the programme. This will not only ensure effectiveness and efficiency of the schools but the education system as a whole.  The research emphasises the need for technological innovation like chat rooms and websites created for principals to either share how issues are resolved or to gain an understanding from other principals on how to lead schools towards excellence in the 21 st century.  The study recommends a leadership preparation model as follows: