School leadership matters. After teachers and teaching, school leadership is the most important determinant of learner achievement in school. Despite this, there is still uncertainty regarding what successfulschool leadership is and what successful school leaders do in non-Western contexts. In this mixed methods study I explored successful high…

In the study reported on here we aimed to determine the role of strengthening leadership behaviour on the psychological contract in primary and secondary schools. The population was a total of 7,772 teachers (3,627 primary school teachers and 4,145 middle school teachers) working in the districts of Baglar, Kayapinar, Sur and Yenisehir in…

One of the reasons attributed to the continuous decline in student performance and low educational outcomes in public schools is the poor leadership displayed by many principals. Despite the fact that there are no stringent criteria for the appointment of school principals or prerequisite qualifications, principals do have the potential to lead…

In this article, bullying in South African schools is conceptualised regarding both the phenomenon and the leadership style using a relational framework. An instrumental case study nested in social constructivism was applied. I employed semistructured interviews, including some open-ended questionnaires, based on the same interview questions.…

The role of circuit managers is an essential component of school district leadership, which provides a necessary bridge between schools and government. School districts play a vital role in continuously collaborating, guiding and leading, and challenging schools to raise standards. In this paper, we draw on a subset of semi-structured interviews…

Principals in Kenyan schools are required to adopt democratic school leadership practises as part of the government policy. Adopting an interpretive case study, this paper set out to explore the application of democracy, ethics and social justice in secondary schools in Kenya. The study was in two phases. Phase one: twelve school principals were…

Globally, education systems have been affected by radical social, political and economic changes. Although school principals play a pivotal role in improving student learning and attaining educational outcomes, they work under strenuous conditions to deal with multifaceted transformational issues. Principals experience great difficulty in coping…

The continued use of corporal punishment in some South African schools and the reasons advanced for it make this subject topical even now, twenty years after the abolition of this practice. Corporal punishment is a worrying issue among human rights activists and scholars. This paper reports on contestations and paradoxes regarding the use of…

A formidable challenge most school leaders in South Africa face is to improve the academic results in state schools. In terms of their contracts, principals are accountable for the academic results as reflected in examination and test results for their schools. The National Department of Education (currently the Department of Basic Education) has…

Adopting a humanistic perspective to the study of leadership, I discuss and describe how school principals adapt to their new roles, owing to the new education policies and educational restructuring within the South African Department of Education. The Life History approach was used to collect data from six selected school principals in…

South African schools are constantly faced with evolving needs and challenges characterised by change. As in other countries, schools in South Africa encounter pressure to "produce more for less" and at the same time to achieve certain goals and standards. Transforming schools into inviting institutions requires a paradigm shift among…