Department of Education Policy Studies

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Browsing Department of Education Policy Studies by Author "Alston, Penelope Jane"

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    The leadership practices of non-traditional school principals
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-12) Alston, Penelope Jane; Jansen, Jonathan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The issue that this study addresses is the silence in current scholarship dealing with nontraditional aspects of principal leadership. There seems to be a scarcity of empirical evidence which emphasises the human dimensions of principalship that validate the demanding, messy hour-to-hour and day-to-day work and the practices, skills, and experience that non-traditional leadership requires. To address this problem, the purpose of this study will be to explore school leadership in which human issues of frailty, emotion, and spirituality matter in the character and conduct of principal leaders. In the collection of data, I required a sample of school leaders who could offer rich descriptions relevant to the study and had enough trust in the researcher and the confidentiality of the process to participate openly and authentically. For these reasons, I used reputational sampling. The participants were interviewed to explore their recognised role as non-traditional leaders in their school community: school leaders who do things differently, and who stand out from other school leaders. The interviews were transcribed and analysed. The data led to the following seven themes, namely: Similar experiences of spirituality; The effect of universal beliefs; A sense of connectedness; The visible presence of humanness and care; Vulnerability as the transformative key to building trust; and The human capacity for nearness leadership; and Towards nearness leadership as a new identity. These themes are useful for understanding leadership through an alternative, new lens that challenges the unspoken understanding of the relationship between principal leaders and their school community. Moreover, it increases the probability that school leadership has a greater impact on organisational change when leadership practice is purposefully near. This study provides a conceptual nearness framework for innovative ways of practising and thinking about leadership. I propose that this research requires careful and ongoing attention to questions of nearness in schools where principal leaders create an environment in which all stakeholders flourish. The answer to the research questions does not end but offers new circumstances to explore the question of nearness leadership.