Teachers' perceptions of principals’ digital leadership practices in a school district in a developing country

Abstract

The fourth industrial revolution's (4IR's) disruptive digital technologies and innovations are radically altering the educational environment. The aim and structure of schooling have become progressively digital and different from the norm. Understanding principals' digital leadership practices is particularly important in the transition to digital learning as it involves navigating the digital change process in schools. This study investigated teachers' perceptions of principals' digital leadership practices in their attempts to keep up with the digital shift. Drawing on the four core principles of transformational leadership theory, the study sought to identify leadership practices that could mobilise digital learning. A generic qualitative approach was used. The study looked at three public primary schools in the Gauteng West district in South Africa. Data were generated by means of three focus group interviews with teachers and individual interviews with three principals. The findings revealed that leadership in these schools was mainly confined to conventional leadership practices which did not promote the practice of digital leadership. The findings exposed the need for principals to improve their knowledge of digital leadership in their leadership practices. The findings further highlighted the need for system-wide change in the South African education sector to support principals in transforming schools into digital learning environments. These findings contribute to the theoretical knowledge of principals' digital leadership practices.