School principals experience high levels of stress that hamper their self-efficacy and inhibit their executive control capacities. The main stressors that school principals encounter, their reactions to stress and the influence of controlled breathing on their stress relief were investigated by means of a mixed-methods research approach. With a structured questionnaire, participants’ levels of stress were compared before and after attendance of a workshop based on controlled breathing. Participants’ main stressors, their reaction to stress and the influence of controlled breathing on their stress relief were investigated through individual interviewing. It was found that school principals’ main stressors related to extensive workloads carried out in an environment of resource constraints. The regular practising of controlled breathing resulted in a decrease of the levels of stress experienced with main improvements related to revitalized energy levels, restored clarity of thinking and improved interpersonal relationships. The findings contribute to research on school principals’ main stressors and constructive ways of stress relief within the school environment.
Hettie van der Merwe is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Management at the University of South Africa. She teaches postgraduate students in the field of school management and she acts as a supervisor for master's and doctoral students. She obtained all her qualifications, including her PhD, from the University of Pretoria. Before joining the academic world, she taught Afrikaans and Northern Sotho to secondary school pupils. One of her accredited articles was published with text in Afrikaans, English and Northern Sotho. Her passion for teaching is motivated by the possibility of optimal progress for each individual pupil. Her research is focused on school functioning and the way in which this functioning is influenced by competency in instructional leadership, dedicated teachers and disciplined pupils.
Hettie van der Merwe
This article explores the intervention strategy used by the staff and school management team of a South African township school to ensure that final-year learners exposed to an environment of multiple deprivation are adequately prepared for the year-end standardised examination. Analysis of the interview data confirms literature findings on the debilitating effect of multiple deprivation, in the form of absolute poverty, on learners’ chances of learning successfully. Research findings reveal strategies related to an intervention programme to prepare final-year learners for the year-end examination. The intervention programme, consisting of Saturday morning and school holiday morning classes and a study camp event a fortnight before the final examination commences, counteracts inhibiting home and environment conditions, to support learners holistically to achieve acceptable academic outcomes. However, the negative influence on learners’ diligence of extending their final school year over two years and the constraint on knowledge and skills attainment of a pass mark of only 30% for some subjects are adverse factors limiting the chances of social mobility for learners with multiple deprivation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.