The Perceived Heads of Departments’ Infusion of Ubuntu Values in Curriculum and Knowledge Sharing Leadership in Under-Resourced Public Schools

Abstract

The article reports on the findings of a qualitative inquiry involving a sample of nine (9) teachers (three participants per school) drawn from three schools within the locality of three education circuits of Emalahleni in Mpumalanga Province (South Africa). The primary objective of the article was informed by the paucity of literature that establishes an intersection between Indigenous epistemologies of Ubuntu philosophy, instructional leadership and the sharing process of knowledge management within the domain of primary and secondary education. By eliciting teachers’ views on heads of departments’ (HODs’) curriculum leadership practices, the article attempts to narrow down the knowledge gap on the topic of instructional (herein referred to as curriculum) leadership— a domain whose preoccupation often slants towards the principal’s role at the exclusion of other key stakeholders within the school ecology. In terms of the findings, democratic (participative), autocratic, transactional, transformational and managerial (in no particular order) leadership styles were found to have been used by individual HODs alongside instructional leadership style to strengthen their curriculum leadership role. It however, became apparent that both participative and transformational leadership styles sufficiently promoted the ethos of Ubuntu in HODs’ curriculum leadership role and thus enhanced curriculum delivery processes and knowledge sharing behavior among teachers as well as between HODs and teachers. The findings of the article demonstrate how a non-adversarial intersection between indigenous and mainstream leadership practices, might add an impetus to HODs’ curriculum delivery and knowledge sharing leadership role in under-resourced schooling contexts.

The Effect of Batho Pele Principles on Mediating Internally and Externally Directed Knowledge-sharing Practices in Public Schools

“…Kalema et al (2016) found that Senior teachers hoarded tacit knowledge instead of transferring it to their novice or mid-career counterparts, as they were of the view that giving away too much knowledge would render them powerless and replaceable. Doing so denies novice and midcareer teachers a wealth of tacit knowledge that rests in Senior teachers' minds (Nkambule, 2023b). Rismark and Sølvberg (2011) further point out that teachers who do not share knowledge with their peers are a barrier to their respective schools' aspirations to become learning organisations.…”

“…It is a challenge to get everyone's buy-in on certain processes and procedures, the management is at times, resistant to change and tends to be loyal to their old ways, especially the knowledge that comes from new/younger teachers. Leader's failure to motivate, reward and recognise workers ' [i.e., teachers] knowledge sharing efforts (Šajeva, 2014) exposes their lack of knowledge leadership skills (Kazak, 2021;Nkambule, 2023b).…”

“…Leadership and Strategic Direction For a school to perform maximally it requires leaders who can provide strategic leadership. Based on the understanding that individual knowledge leaders adopt different leadership styles (Nkambule, 2023b), participants were asked how they felt that the leadership of their respective schools promoted effective knowledge-sharing practices. H6@C felt that the leadership practices were implemented by themselves (as middle management, also known as HODs) and the deputies and the principal set the tone for disseminating effective sharing practices in the school.…”

“…In both schools there was a sense that HODs did not conduct teacher supervision within the contours of the BPPs. In both cases, teachers felt alienated from decision making and strategic planning (Nkambule, 2023b). The was a rift between teachers and HODs that was worsened by the ineffectiveness of both principals in entrenching values that stimulate widely dispersed knowledge-sharing practices (Nkambule, 2022).…”

Foundation Phase Educators’ Views on the Management of Professional Development in Historically Disadvantaged Schools

“…Generally, "the cornerstone of the ToC is the application of the correctly calibrated combination of capacity building (support) with accountability (pressure)" (Fullan, 1999cited in Fleisch, 2023. In the parlance of school management, accountability and capacity building refer to the availability of a series of workshops, follow-ups and briefings, study, reflections, field observations (Morake, 2014), mentorship, peer coaching, coaching clinics, seminars, and conferences as well as informal short-term courses and in-service post-graduate training (Nkambule, 2020(Nkambule, , 2023b. Meanwhile, his mentioning of "accountability (pressure)" Fullan (1999cited in Fleisch, 2023 serves to highlight the importance of having school leaders who can learn to adapt their leadership approaches to different situations and to use their personalities to influence the achievement of high performing, interdisciplinary teams that thrive in a culture of continuous learning focused on school improvement (New South Wales Government [NSW], 2023).…”