Analysing Principals’ Policy Perceptions of Educators’ Disciplinary Procedures: Cases in Gauteng Province, South Africa

Abstract

A disciplinary process in respect of educators in South African schools can be a tedious and sometimes a lengthy process. The disciplinary process has sometimes yielded positive results but there is also a concern by school leaders about the effectiveness of this policy, as in some instances results have shown the opposite. Therefore, this study analyses the perceptions of principals in respect of the policy on educator’s disciplinary procedure. The study adopted a generic qualitative research design. Qualitative data was collected from a purposefully selected sample of twenty principals by means of in-depth interviews. An inductive analysis framework was used to analyse qualitative data. Among the findings was that principals seemed less confident about the effectiveness of the policy on disciplinary procedure in respect of educators. One of the recommendations then is that a policy review is necessary to deal with perceived policy flaws.