This article presents and discusses the findings from five principals about their experiences of using systems thinking approach to school development. This was an ethnographic multiple case study that was conducted in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Literature demonstrates the efficacies of using systems thinking as an approach in dealing with complex school issues. Data were gathered by way of qualitative semi-structured interviews, focus group discussion, and shadowing techniques. Evidence suggests that participants had adequate understanding of systems thinking and were able to use it to the benefit of their respective schools. Furthermore, the findings point to the value of developing a holistic and multimethodological approach to systemic school development, particularly in deprived school contexts.
The chapter reports on the findings of a small-scale mixed-method study conducted amongst thirty sampled school principals. In the study, the principals share their challenges and achievements in implementing COVID-19 responsive policies in a turbulent school environment threatened by the pandemic. We sought to understand the experiences of principals in managing the implementation of policies necessary to make situational analyses in navigating the unstable academic year. We used the concepts of geographies of place and situational leadership to understand first, how principals managed to implement the national and provincial policies to ensure learners share available learning space without physical contact. Second, it was to understand the implementation of curriculum recovery programmes meant to mitigate against lost teaching time. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques were used to generate data to answer research questions that underpinned the study. The findings suggest that principals faced challenges in implementing the policies in areas of phasing in all grades, ensuring continuity of teaching and learning due to intermittent outbreaks of COVID-19 infections. This resulted in the loss of schooling time because of temporary closures of schools and the absence of teachers which impacted negatively on curriculum delivery.
The findings of a small-scale qualitative study of school leadership responses to the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) school environment performed among secondary schools in the Mpumalanga Circuit are presented in this paper. The article looks at how principals were responding to the pandemic’s disruptive effects and how they were planning to mitigate the effects on school operations. It employed qualitative, multiple case-study approaches to collect data from to secondary sample schools in Mpumalanga Circuit, using 10 principals as respondents. The findings illustrate how principals dealt with the issues posed by the implementation of the social distance and COVID-19 regulations in a VUCA-oriented school environment. Teacher leave applications contributed to the intricacy, with unexpected results such as teacher shortages and subjects not being taught. Despite these challenges, the principals were able to achieve their goals.
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