My academic leadership journey was challenged by multiple factors, ranging from underprivileged households, poor school, inadequacy of academic writing skills, heavy university loads, and full-time job responsibilities. My academic journey influenced my supervision. It was marred by delayed completion of academic projects and throughput. The…

The annual analysis of schools' results shows that Xhariep District still has many underperforming schools at the primary level, requiring continuous intervention from the Free State Department of Basic Education. This article explored collaborative strategies used by School Management Teams to sustain parental involvement in Xhariep District…

In education systems there is inter-connectedness with multiple sub-systems which interact with each other. This paper argues that complexity theory is well suited as a lens to research education reforms. Key elements of complexity theory that are particularly useful are applied to the South African case. Aspects of complexity theory include:…

Amongst the contemporary needs of societies in the fourth industrial revolution, are student-teachers who are adaptable, ethical, and literate in developing technology-mediated environments. Cultivating such teachers requires engaging them experientially in blended learning practices. We explored 155 student-teachers' experiences of blended…

The purpose of the study was to explore the role cultural diversity plays in a Full-Service School in Soshanguve by means of a wellness perspective lens. The phenomenon at hand was the way that cultural diversity influences role players within a Full-Service School. The study was underpinned by three theories, namely Hettler's Wellness Theory,…

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new opportunities to tap into teachers' own reservoirs of experiences and knowledge to develop them as teacher leaders, while minimising the potential for conflict with their colleagues and reducing confusion about their responsibilities. In this article, we describe some key themes identified and lessons learned…

While shadowing as a method has been analysed and discussed, these discussions have often been focused on (business) management research as opposed to school leadership research. Additionally, little attention has so far been paid to the parameters of shadowing. Without knowledge of these matters, the validity, merits and difficulties of shadowing…

Neoliberal practices such as managerialism and academic casualisation impact higher education systems globally. While these practices can constrain any curriculum aimed at enabling transformative learning, this paper shows that they place particular limitations on arts and humanities curricula intent on cultivating criticality and a sense of…

Trust and accountability are often positioned as opposites, the argument being that accountability is based on distrust and correction of identified deficiencies. Yet, trust is also important in order for accountability to lead to improvement; only when teachers and principals are open about the quality of their teaching and their school can there…

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…

General legislation as well as legislation specifically regulating education in South Africa is aimed at the protection and advancement of the best interests of children (learners). Developments in the school education sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, which reached the shores of South Africa in March 2020, starkly underscored that not only the…

Many countries confront surprisingly similar challenges in preparing K-12 educators for success, while national contexts also make for surprising differences. In "Teaching the World's Teachers," education historians Lauren Lefty and James W. Fraser and their contributors make a convincing case for approaching these shared challenges from…

For much of the past 60 years, the 'visible' knowledge base consisted almost entirely of studies that described EDLM policies and practices from a relatively small number of Anglo-American societies. Over the past five years, reviews of research have revealed abundant evidence of rapidly increasing publication output from developing societies in…

The paper reflects whether it is too much to ask for a 'compassionate' university. It is an opinion piece as a response about how to make a shift against narratives that oppress, and how to respond positively to the 'compelling need for compassionate academic leadership in our universities' (Waddington, 2018, p.87). The authors draw on writers…

The South African education system has been perceived as a decentralised and democratized education system and the National Development Plan proposes that greater management autonomy should be granted to public school principals by recommending that principals should gradually be given more powers as the quality of their leadership improves. This…