Determining the Challenges of Implementing Instructional Leadership in Township Secondary Schools in the Western Cape: A Case Study
Jerry G. Mofoka 
& Matsolo Mokhampanyane
Issue: Vol.5 No. 6 August 2024 Article 3 pp. 95-110
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/jelt.2024563 | Published online 28th August, 2024.
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
In this empirical paper, the researchers determine the challenges experienced by township secondary school principals in the Western Cape, in implementing instructional leadership. The background to this paper is that there are challenges in the implementation of instructional leadership in township secondary schools which leads to learners performing poorly in the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exam. The study is couched in the theoretical framework of Critical Emancipatory Research which advocates peace, hope, equality, freedom, and social justice. A transformative paradigm under the qualitative approach and participatory action research design was adopted to analyse the experiences of the stakeholders of the research school. A focus group discussion was conducted with the school management team (SMT) of a particular secondary school in the Metro East Education district in the Western Cape. This SMT comprised eight members, including the school principal. The findings revealed that ineffective communication and a lack of clear goals are the primary causes of challenges to the effective implementation of instructional leadership. Contrary to this, effective communication and formulation of clear goals can alleviate the challenges experienced in instructional leadership. Considering the findings, the study argues that effective communication, and a formulation of clear goals, are a prerequisite for the implementation of effective instructional leadership in schools. This study contributes to the body of research on the challenges of implementing effective instructional leadership from the township context in the Western Cape province in South Africa.
Keywords: instructional leadership, critical emancipatory research, participatory action research, learner achievement, teamwork.
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Jerry G. Mofoka is a PhD student at the Central University of Technology, Free State (Welkom Campus). His research focused on the implementation of instructional leadership in township secondary schools in the Western Cape province in South Africa.
Dr. Matsolo Mokhampanyane is an Accounting Education Doctor and Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities within the Department of Language and Social Science Education at the Central University of Technology, Free State (Welkom Campus), South Africa in the Department of Accounting and Business Management Studies. Her research focused more on Pedagogical content knowledge of Accounting, Transformative pedagogy, and accounting knowledge.
Mofoka, Jerry G. & Matsolo Mokhampanyane.”Determining the Challenges of Implementing Instructional Leadership in Township Secondary Schools in the Western Cape: A Case Study.” Journal of Education and Learning Technology 5, no.6 (2024): 95-110. https://doi.org/10.38159/jelt.2024563
© 2024 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
