This article analyses the views of selected headteachers on the impact of the 10-year basic education policy on the leadership skills of secondary school headteachers in Botswana. Research literature on school leadership and management in Botswana is sparse. Despite this, demands for effective leadership in schools have continued as the education system changes. In 1996, the Botswana Government started to implement a 10-year basic education programme, which rapidly increased student numbers at both community junior and senior secondary schools and building projects for school expansion became the order of the day. Secondary school headteachers have to manage these changes. A central focus of this article is their perceptions of the practice used to appoint them, leadership skills required for the post, their leadership training, and how training for leadership can be improved to meet the educational changes. Using results of the interview data collected from eight selected secondary school headteachers, this article exposes the limitations of the practice and procedures that are used in appointing headteachers to school leadership position and the established procedures intended to develop a skilled leadership force in secondary education to ensure quality education. The article highlights the need for Botswana to establish a leadership training policy to guide the training of headteachers and ensure that schools become effective.
This paper examines best basic leadership styles that can be used by principals to improve academic performance of learners in rural schools. Authors argue that basic leadership styles can have positive effects in learner performance. The study was conducted in best performing rural schools in the Eastern Cape Province. The belief is that poor performing schools can learn from successful schools. A phenomenological study with an interpretive-constructivism approach was conducted to establish basic leadership styles that can be used by rural school principals (which were purposely selected) to improve the academic performance of learners. Data collected through interviews were thematically analyzed and revealed that: democratic and autocratic leadership styles were used by successful rural secondary school principals; laissez-faire leadership style adversely affected culture of teaching and learning. It is recommended that the Department of Basic Education should spend more time and money on training principals on leadership skills.
From the Triple A Leadership model, this chapter shares a story of four women who gained economic empowerment through a bakery project whose success can be attributed to the application of the three tenets of this model, namely; accountable, attitude and approach. The first A denotes that ‘Accountability' is an indispensable aspect of leadership while ‘Attitude' is the other basic element. The theory further highlights that ‘approach' is fundamental to good leadership. The four women displayed self-reinforcing attitude that gave rise to increased interest in the project resulting in self- empowerment. It is clear that when people' personalities display leadership skills such as awareness of individual differences, responsibility, conflict resolution, tensions can be avoided as was the case with women who owned the bakery. In reality different situations call for different leadership styles, different actions, different strategies and this case illustrates that Triple A leadership was the appropriate approach.
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