Achieving Educational Goals through Effective Leadership: Experiences from a

Rural District in ZimbabweBy

G.N SHAVA - POST DOC , North West University, Potchefstroom Campus

A leader without followers is simply taking a walk

Introduction

The quality of leadership in schools is the key factor driving the transformation in school improvement.

Our presentation is structured in four main sections:• First section unpacks the literature review• Second section presents the theoretical frameworks• Third section provides the methodology• Fourth section presents the results and discussions

Literature Review

Effective leadership makes a great difference in improving student learning( Arikewuyo2007, Woods 2007, Day et al., 2000 and Leithwood et al., 2008)Heads are responsible for• Training subordinates• Motivating subordinates• Supervising employees• Providing the necessary communication

Literature Review Cont.

According to Kouzes et al., (2002) principals as leaders guide schools to better teaching and learning by:• Shaping a vision of academic success for all• Creating a climate hospitable to teaching and learning• Improving instructions to enable teachers to teach at

their best and students to learn to their most• Managing people, data and processes to foster school

improvement.• Cultivate leadership in others.

Theoretical frameworks

Our study uses Margaret Archer,s (1995) social realist theory of structure, culture and agency to examine the role of leadership in enhancing the achievement of school goals. According to Archer the notion of stratified reality provides a model comprising of three domains (ie) structure, culture and agency which are superimposed on each other.Structural domains comprise of, policies, roles, rules, committees as well as abstract phenomena such as race, gender and social class (Basker 1978)

Theoretical frameworks cont'

Cultural factors mainly focus on ideas, beliefs, norms, values and ideologies of society from which events and experiences emerge. Agency refer to the personal and psychological make up of individuals their roles and capacity to act in a voluntary way ( Archer 2003, Boughey 2010).

Methodology

The study was qualitative case study of six schools in one cluster in Zimbabwe.• Data was collected through semi structured in

depth face to face interviews and focus group discussions

• During interviews participants were coded as (H1-H6) for heads, (T1S1 –T2S6) while School Development Committees (SDCs) were coded as (SDCS1 –SDCS6

Methodology cont'.

• Purposive sampling with maximum variation was adopted to select participants.

• Multiple sources of evidence were used to ensure credibility and transferability of research findings

• An interview question guide with six questions was eventually used:

Results and discussions

The analysis of findings involved an intensive reading and recording of reach transcript and the identification of key words and phrases.• The six schools are in the same geographical location• Only the secondary school is electrified• Community is affected by a range of social and

economic problems like, persistent drought, food shortages, poverty, illness and dearth from HIV/DIDS

• Such factors according to Owens(200) hinder learning achievement

Statistics for the schools

• The six school had the following statistics:

School Type of school

No of learners

No of Teachers

S1 Council Pri 210 7

S2 Council Pri 250 9

S3 Council Pri 303 10

S4 Council Pri 480 15

S5 Council Pri 221 8

S6 Council Sec 540 16

TOTAL - 2004 64

Results cont.,

• The five primary schools exhibited a range of problems which include, lack of furniture for both teachers and learners, clean water, inadequate infrastructure, shortage of text books and overcrowding in the classrooms.

• Out of the six school only one head is female• All the six schools have an elected SDC

constituted according to the Zimbabwe Education Statutory Instrument 96 (1992)

Cultural factors

• Developing a culture of learning among learners.• Creating a school culture that is hospitable to learning.• Shaping the culture and climate of the school towards learning

improvement.• Shaping the values, beliefs and attitudes necessary to promote

a stable learning environment.• Seeking to eliminate cultural barriers that affect learning• Basically the findings from the interviews point to the fact that

the quality of teaching and learning improvement depend on the head's initiative and creative mind( Harris 2003, 2014, Leithwood et al., 2000 , Bennet et al., 2003 and Spillane et al., 2011).

Structural factors

• Promoting distributed leadership in the schools• Establishing committees for enhancing teaching and

learning.• Building collaboration structures in the school• Promoting team work• Engaging teachers in roles and practices that promote

effective teaching.• Engaging in participative decision making• The establishment of substructures in schools contribute to

organizational effectiveness (Katzenmeyer2001, Day and Harris 2003 and Leithwood 2003,2008)

Agential factors

• Empowerment of teachers• All members are regarded as important team players.• Head stimulates change by analyzing the

organization's for change.• Isolating and eliminating structures and routines that

work against change• Fostering open communication• Ensuring viability of teams• "Head encourages team work"

Leadership styles likely to enhance goal achievement

• Democratic or participative where leader engages people in decision making.

• Transactional leadership based on reciprocal exchange duty and rewards

• Transformational developing the commitment and beliefs of members.

• Consultative leadership where the leader makes genuine efforts to listen to ideas.

• Distributed leadership or shared leadership which concentrates on engaging expertise where it exists.

Conclusion

• The impact of leadership upon school goal achievement and school improvement is significant.

• Heads should seek to eliminate cultural, structural and agential barriers in schools

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