Perceptions of Foundation Phase Teachers on Principals as Literacy Leaders in Selected Primary Schools

Abstract

The bleak picture of South Africa’s poor learner performance in international tests is perceived to be linked to ineffective literacy leadership in primary schools. This paper therefore explores the perceptions of foundation phase teachers on principals’ capacities as literacy leaders. For this paper, literacy leadership is limited to two facets: instruction and assessment. As such, the study explored teachers’ perceptions on principals as leaders in these two aspects. As custodians of the literacy curriculum, teachers possess a wealth of knowledge on instruction and assessment practices. It seems that this rich knowledge and classroom experiences are sometimes untapped into or ignored, which would seem strange and unfortunate. If utilised to the maximum, teachers’ knowledge and expertise could contribute immensely to improve literacy practices. This exploratory qualitative study employed a multiple-case study design and was conducted with 35 teachers from four schools in the Mangaung district of Bloemfontein’s Free State Department of Education (FSDOE). The study sample was purposefully selected and data were collected through open-ended questionnaires. Thematic analysis was employed to make sense of the data, and the findings disclose that teachers hold conflicting views regarding their principals as literacy leaders. Although some noble leadership practices were underscored, especially regarding internal moderation processes, the general impression was that principals’ literacy leadership skills are lacking. This study has highlighted the need for a greater focus on subject‑specific leadership in general, but more so for literacy specifically.  https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.7.1