Exploring School Improvement Opportunities through Distributed Leadership Practices for Science and Mathematics in South African Schools
School leadership practices are significant in addressing learner-attainment gaps in school subjects such as science and mathematics. This paper uses an exploratory qualitative case-study approach with four purposely selected high schools to explore how distributed leadership (DL) improves opportun...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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OpenED Network
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Research in Educational Policy and Management |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://repamjournal.org/index.php/REPAM/article/view/115 |
| _version_ | 1797371072643858432 |
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| author | Maria Tsakeni Paul Nwati Munje Loyiso Jita |
| author_facet | Maria Tsakeni Paul Nwati Munje Loyiso Jita |
| author_sort | Maria Tsakeni |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
School leadership practices are significant in addressing learner-attainment gaps in school subjects such as science and mathematics. This paper uses an exploratory qualitative case-study approach with four purposely selected high schools to explore how distributed leadership (DL) improves opportunities for teaching and learning in science and mathematics. The four schools constituted two suburban and two township schools prioritizing science and mathematics on school improvement agendas. Principals, deputy principals, heads of department, and teachers of science and mathematics participated in semi-structured interviews. Thematic content analysis in which the emerging themes were compared to the DL tenets was used to make sense of the gathered data. The findings indicate that DL practices influence the teaching and learning of science and mathematics, irrespective of a school’s socioeconomic status. The participating schools developed useful mechanisms for school improvement through science and mathematics that were compatible with the DL setups existing in their schools. The study recommends that DL should be promoted in schools by being one of the topics for professional development made available to science and mathematics teachers.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T18:14:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4e12ed303f7c465ba89d8410cab49256 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2691-0667 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T18:14:33Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | OpenED Network |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Research in Educational Policy and Management |
| spelling | doaj.art-4e12ed303f7c465ba89d8410cab492562023-12-31T14:21:13ZengOpenED NetworkResearch in Educational Policy and Management2691-06672023-12-015310.46303/repam.2023.19Exploring School Improvement Opportunities through Distributed Leadership Practices for Science and Mathematics in South African SchoolsMaria Tsakeni0Paul Nwati Munje1Loyiso Jita2University of the Free StateUniversity of the Free StateUniversity of the Free State School leadership practices are significant in addressing learner-attainment gaps in school subjects such as science and mathematics. This paper uses an exploratory qualitative case-study approach with four purposely selected high schools to explore how distributed leadership (DL) improves opportunities for teaching and learning in science and mathematics. The four schools constituted two suburban and two township schools prioritizing science and mathematics on school improvement agendas. Principals, deputy principals, heads of department, and teachers of science and mathematics participated in semi-structured interviews. Thematic content analysis in which the emerging themes were compared to the DL tenets was used to make sense of the gathered data. The findings indicate that DL practices influence the teaching and learning of science and mathematics, irrespective of a school’s socioeconomic status. The participating schools developed useful mechanisms for school improvement through science and mathematics that were compatible with the DL setups existing in their schools. The study recommends that DL should be promoted in schools by being one of the topics for professional development made available to science and mathematics teachers. https://repamjournal.org/index.php/REPAM/article/view/115distributed leadership practicesschool improvementscience and mathematicsSouth African schools |
| spellingShingle | Maria Tsakeni Paul Nwati Munje Loyiso Jita Exploring School Improvement Opportunities through Distributed Leadership Practices for Science and Mathematics in South African Schools Research in Educational Policy and Management distributed leadership practices school improvement science and mathematics South African schools |
| title | Exploring School Improvement Opportunities through Distributed Leadership Practices for Science and Mathematics in South African Schools |
| title_full | Exploring School Improvement Opportunities through Distributed Leadership Practices for Science and Mathematics in South African Schools |
| title_fullStr | Exploring School Improvement Opportunities through Distributed Leadership Practices for Science and Mathematics in South African Schools |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring School Improvement Opportunities through Distributed Leadership Practices for Science and Mathematics in South African Schools |
| title_short | Exploring School Improvement Opportunities through Distributed Leadership Practices for Science and Mathematics in South African Schools |
| title_sort | exploring school improvement opportunities through distributed leadership practices for science and mathematics in south african schools |
| topic | distributed leadership practices school improvement science and mathematics South African schools |
| url | https://repamjournal.org/index.php/REPAM/article/view/115 |
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