Analysis of the roles and leadership capacity of heads of departments in secondary schools

Abstract

This multi-case qualitative study explored the roles and leadership capacity exhibited by heads of departments (HODs) in secondary schools. The findings of the current study revealed that HODs have different roles to fulfil in secondary schools. As a result, HODs experienced both role conflict and role ambiguity between the espoused nature of the job and the reality of the job. Furthermore, some critical features of high leadership capacity, such as enquiry-based decisions, reflective practices, and broad-based skilful collaboration, are often missing in the leadership responsibilities of HODs. Although the study tends to validate the findings of other research studies, it also makes a contribution to the existing knowledge base, by highlighting the challenges faced by HODs, and also by using critical features of high leadership capacity to analyse the current leadership capacity exhibited by HODs in secondary schools. The integration of critical features of high leadership capacity in this study is therefore a methodological contribution to the study of leadership capacity. Furthermore, this multi-case study provided insights and recommendations which might serve as strategies to reduce workloads of HODs, and to enable them to balance their leadership duties and build leadership capacity in secondary schools.