Instructional Leadership Development for Principals: A South African Context

Abstract

This chapter provides a general extrapolation of educational leadership, leadership for learning and instructional leadership of principals which are then contextualised to the South African environment. It argues that principals become effective instructional leaders when they can critically analyse existing curricula and engage teachers with more culturally relevant teaching strategies and practices. There is a dire need for principals to be professionally prepared for their roles as heads of schools and to continually enhance their skills, attributes and competencies through structured preparation programmes in instructional leadership. We believe that principals set the tone of the school by becoming “leaders for learning”, providing both effective leadership practices and professional management. In South Africa, the lack of stringent criteria and the absence of a qualification for the appointment of principals in public schools have negatively impacted the standards of education and student performance. In this chapter, we will show how instructional leadership and leadership for learning are interconnected and what implications these have in improving student performances.