Abstract
Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the literature on school leadership and management in South Africa, linked to the 20th anniversary of democratic government and integrated education.Design/methodology/approach– The authors conducted a systematic review of all published work since 2007 with a more selective review of sources before 2007.Findings– The findings show emerging evidence about the development of school leadership and management in South Africa but they also highlight on-going challenges, including poor learner outcomes, conflict with teacher unions, uneasy relationships between principals and school governing bodies, and leadership which remains focused on administration rather than teaching and learning.Research limitations/implications– The findings show that research on school leadership and management is developing but remains limited in terms of its scope and a reliance on small-scale unfunded projects.Practical/implications– The findings confirm the need for specialist leadership training for current and aspiring principals and for other senior and middle leaders.Social/implications– The findings show that South Africa remains a divided society with great differences in the quality of education available to learners, based on social class rather than race.Originality/value– The paper’s value lies in the comprehensive and systematic review of research on school leadership.
Highlights
IntroductionSouth Africa celebrated twenty years of democracy in 2014 and this seems to provide a good opportunity to review the progress made in developing an integrated education system, to replace the previous racially stratified system
This literature review was commissioned to inform the planning of a new Advanced Diploma in Education (School Management), a national qualification for current and aspiring school principals
The review offers a comprehensive review of the South African literature on school leadership and management, structured to match the framework of the ACE programme, to inform programme design and content
Summary
South Africa celebrated twenty years of democracy in 2014 and this seems to provide a good opportunity to review the progress made in developing an integrated education system, to replace the previous racially stratified system. The key legislation introducing a unified system was the 1996 South African Schools Act (SASA). As part of a wider strategy to improve the education system, the South African Department of Basic Education (DBE) introduced an Advanced Certificate in Education (School Leadership) from 2007. The DBE is planning to introduce an enhanced qualification for principals, an Advanced Diploma in Education (School Leadership and Management). The broad aim of the literature review was to establish what research has been conducted, and what literature has been published, on school leadership and management in South Africa since 2007, when a similar review was prepared (author and author 2007). This systematic review includes identification of all relevant articles in South African and international journals, books, chapters in edited volumes, theses, and published research reports. This paper reports on the outcome of this review and includes several recent sources examined since preparing the previous review
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