Browsing by Author "Naidoo, Dean Edmund Michael."

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The development of a leadership model for the intepretation and enactment of 21st century learning: a case of South African private schools in KwaZulu-Natal.
(2022) Naidoo, Dean Edmund Michael.; Proches, Cecile Naomi Gerwel.; James, Angela Antoinette.
Rapid developments in information and communication technology (ICT), since the early 1990’s, have introduced significant global changes in education, which has necessitated pedagogical transformation. Many countries have moved from traditional approaches to education, to 21st Century Learning (21 CL). 21 CL is student-centred, practical, inquiry-based, ICT aligned, inclusive of morals and attitudes, and focuses on the development of cognitive, and affective competencies. ICT is a necessary and critical facet of 21 CL. Furthermore, effective school leadership, is also necessary, and a critical component in determining the success of the change to 21 CL. Globally, many professions in the 21st century have simultaneously transformed with the global changes brought about by the fourth industrial revolution, and now require individuals of a different calibre, with different 21st century competencies. In addition, the rapid and profound ICT innovations, have fundamentally altered many aspects of human existence, such as the way we communicate, bank, buy, socialise, and learn. Consequently, many countries have already transformed their educational systems, to 21 CL. Others, are in the process of transforming their education systems, to make 21 CL a reality, in the hope of producing learners who are fully functional, capable and effective global citizens by empowering them with 21st century competencies. The COVID-19 pandemic has also changed the global landscape, especially in education. Private schools in South Africa, who were well resourced, engaged in digital learning. These schools embarked on the intensive use of digital tools to teach and learn. School leadership has the potential to be one of the cornerstones of the paradigm shift to 21 CL, as well as the new field of e-learning, both nationally and internationally, because it directly influences all structures, and individuals within a school. The four dominant leadership theories, which have proven to be critical facets of 21 CL, are ecological leadership, system leadership, transformational leadership, and strategic leadership. This research intended to investigate the relationship between 21 CL, ICT and school leadership in the South African context. The aim of which, was to develop a leadership model for the interpretation and enactment of 21 CL, in South African private secondary schools in KwaZulu-Natal.
Ethical leadership in schools : voices of school principals and teachers from three secondary schools in Durban.
(2015) Naidoo, Dean Edmund Michael.; Mthiyane, Siphiwe Eric.
The media has recently exposed a large number of cases of unethical conduct specifically within the South African Education Department. Learners, teachers, principals, union members and departmental officials have all been cited in different reports and research studies regarding unethical conduct in the Department of Education. This apparent rise in unethical behaviour has caused the concept of ethical leadership and its potential to reduce unethical conduct to become the focus of research especially in educational leadership. In a similar manner this study explored the understandings, experiences and practices of ethical leadership in South African schools and its implications for school leadership from the perspectives of school teachers and principals. Conceptualised within the theoretical frameworks of ethical leadership and ethical development, this research aimed to: elicit perceptions/understandings and experiences of school principals and teachers about the ethics in education; to solicit the opinions/views and perceptions of school principals and teachers about the causes of unethical conduct in schools and to explore the perspectives of school principals and teachers about what they think should be done to reduce unethical behaviour in schools. This study operated within the interpretive paradigm and utilised a qualitative methodological approach to research. The three participating secondary schools were selected for the study using convenience sampling. The two teachers and the principals from each school were subsequently selected using purposive sampling. All ethical issues were observed before the data was generated through semi-structured interviews and documents reviews. Thematic analysis was chosen to analyse the generated data. The conclusions of the study indicate that: all the participants possessed very good and clear understandings of the terms ethics and ethical leadership; the unethical conduct of learners, teachers and principals occurred regularly in some schools and some of these unethical behaviours appeared to be increasing; some of the causes of the unethical behaviours of learners, teachers and principals seemed to originate from both inside the school environment and outside in society; there are various solutions to reduce the unethical conduct of learners, teachers and principals in schools and that there was a consensus that ethical leadership could potentially be an effective approach to reducing unethical conduct in schools. This study therefore recommends the use of ethical leadership to reduce unethical conduct within schools.