Abstract
In the light of recent media reports of racism in South African schools, this paper examines the role of school principalship standards in addressing race in South African educational leadership. The paper draws on tenets of critical race theory to examine how issues of race are addressed in the Policy for School Principalship Standard in South Africa and the implications thereof for leadership preparation and leadership practice. The methodology involves the employment of content analysis underpinned by key tenets of critical race theory that challenge notions of colour-blindness, meritocracy and neutrality. The analysis reveals that there is no explicit mention or treatment of race and ethnicity as social constructs in the principalship standards. It also reveals that diversity and culture are used more, suggesting the emphasis on difference rather than inequality. The paper argues that, although driven by principles of social justice, the Policy for School Principalship Standard is colour-blind. Through this omission, the policy denies the existence of racism and fails to recognise the power and influence of school leaders (and principals, in particular) in shaping the race dynamic in schools. The paper ends with implications for the improvement of leadership policy and practice.
Highlights
In this paper I draw on some tenets of critical race theory (CRT) to examine how race is considered and represented in the Policy for School Principalship Standard in South Africa
The paper starts by providing an historical background to racial inequality in South Africa to set the context for the exploration of a colour-blind approach in South African educational leadership policy
Challenging these notions contributes to the promotion of research that investigates ways in which race acquires meaning through normal everyday practices and policies. This analysis was inspired by the work of Davis et al (2015), which analysed the US principalship standards through the lens of CRT. It is underpinned by some tenets of CRT that challenge notions of colour-blindness, meritocracy and race-neutrality of the Standard of principalship document in South Africa
Summary
In this paper I draw on some tenets of critical race theory (CRT) to examine how race is considered and represented in the Policy for School Principalship Standard in South Africa (the Standard). The paper starts by providing an historical background to racial inequality in South Africa to set the context for the exploration of a colour-blind approach in South African educational leadership policy. This is followed by a brief outline of CRT as an analytical framework and a detailed account of the methodological approach taken in the analysis. A brief summary of the literature on colour-blindness and educational leadership is presented followed by an overview of the Standard and its analysis using CRT. The paper ends with a discussion and implications for leadership policy and practice
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