ResearchSpace

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Balancing teaching and administrative responsibilities: examining the complex role of deputy principals in township schools.
(2025) Sotunde, Oluwadamilare Olufemi.; Myende, Phumlani Erasmus.
Deputy Principals (DPs) in township schools play a pivotal role in ensuring the effective functioning of these schools, often in the context of significant resource constraints and socioeconomic challenges. As mid-managers, DPs are responsible for a range of teaching and administrative responsibilities, which include curriculum implementation, staff management, student discipline, and community engagement, to mention but a few. However, the complexity of their role is often overlooked, under-explored in educational leadership, and yet they are expected to navigate these demands and expectations from their role sets with limited support or training. This qualitative case study explores the complex role of DPs in township schools in South Africa, examining their perceptions of teaching and administrative responsibilities, contextual challenges, role conflicts, and tensions they experience in balancing these dual roles and strategies for navigating their demanding expectations. This study uses distributed leadership theory (Spillane, 2017) and organisation role theory (Katz & Khan, 1978) to examine the experiences of DPs in township schools across three districts in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. The study addresses the research problem through a review of empirical literature and three research questions: How do DPs in the case study schools perceive their teaching and administrative responsibilities? What are the contextual challenges, conflicts, and tensions that DPs encounter in their attempts to balance their dual roles? How do DPs navigate these challenges that arise from attempting to balance their teaching and administrative responsibilities? Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with six (6) DPs and analysed thematically. Key findings reveal that DPs perceive their role as complex, unclear, and without direction, and with a cumbersome workload preceded by the dual roles. Contextual challenges include managing learners and parents impacted by substance abuse and violence, stakeholder and staffing issues, and inadequate communication and collaboration, among others became evident. Role conflicts, including conflicting expectations, overlapping roles, and vying for control within their role sets that precede work-related stress, discomfort, and burnout, also emerged. The study found that DPs adopted strategies such as time management, continued professional development, and networking and collaboration, amongst others, to navigate these challenges. The study highlights the need for targeted support and development programmes for DPs, contextualised to the unique challenges of township schools. Recommendations are made for policymakers, educational leaders, and support structures to empower and support DPs in their roles, ultimately enhancing the quality of education in South African township schools. This study contributes to the limited research on DPs' role and responsibilities in South African township schools, offering insights into the complexities of their role and the contextual challenges they face.
Leading teaching and learning in small schools in the context of deprivation: a qualitative study of principals’ experiences.
(2025) Sibisi, Rudolph Ntuthuko.; Myende, Phumlani Erasmus.; Msiza, Vusi Jan.
Recently, studies on leadership have increasingly focused on successful leadership in deprived schools. Though there is this literature, very little is known about leading deprived small schools. Leadership in small schools is shaped by unique, context-specific challenges, particularly in areas affected by deprivation. These challenges are common in deprived contexts, but in small schools they are intensified by limited resources, lack of administrative support, increased workloads, multiple role demands and inadequate funding. As a result, leading such schools demands specific capabilities and leadership approaches. This study employed two theories as study frameworks: Leadership for learning and Contingency leadership theory. The study was carried out as a qualitative study and adopted an interpretivist paradigm. Semi-structured interviews and document reviews were used to generate data. Three research questions guided the study: (1) How the principals leading teaching and learning in small schools in deprived contexts understand leadership for teaching and learning? (2) How do principals in small schools in deprived contexts lead teaching and learning? (3) Why do principals in small schools in deprived contexts lead teaching and learning in the way they do? The findings show that principals have numerous understandings of the concept of leadership and leadership for teaching and learning. The study identified sharing leadership, leadership involving personal sacrifices and resource improvisation as the dominant leadership approaches in small schools in the deprived context. Further, the study found limited time, heavy teaching workloads for principals, insufficient educators, limited management portfolios, absence of administrative clerks and insufficient financial resources as reasons for adopting certain leadership approaches. The study concluded that the principals’ varying understanding of leadership and the leadership for learning was moderated by their personal characteristics. The context of being small and deprived schools played a significant role in influencing the type of leadership approaches adopted by principals. The study recommended: All schools, regardless of size be allocated departmental heads to focus on the leadership of curriculum management. All schools allocated administrative personnel to focus on the administrative duties. The study recommends the NNSSF policy to be reviewed and be structured to address context of small schools.
Exploring the use of customised Generative AI in first-year Accounting learning: a case study of a private higher education institution (PHEI).
(2026) Reddy, Evendree.; Reddy, Sarasvathie.
This study explores the integration of a customised Generative AI tool in a first-year Accounting module at a Private Higher Education Institution (PHEI) in South Africa, addressing the empirical gap regarding AI's conditional effectiveness in professional education contexts. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, quantitative survey data from 149 students was followed by qualitative semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 24 students. The central finding is that student responses were predominantly neutral across multiple constructs (40–47%), reflecting accurate learner assessment of context-dependent, rather than universally positive or negative AI effectiveness. AI supported foundational declarative knowledge acquisition and initial concept learning but proved insufficient for procedural competence development and higher-order assessment preparation, revealing a persistent theory-practice gap. A strong positive correlation between Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness (ρ = 0.692, p < 0.01) identified usability as a pedagogical gatekeeper, with usability barriers preventing engagement regardless of content quality. Theoretically, findings extend the Technology Acceptance Model into an Educational context (ETAM-E), refine Self-Directed Learning theory for professional education settings, and synthesise these extensions into an Integrated Conditional Effectiveness Framework for AI-Enhanced Learning (ICEFL). Together, these contributions advance understanding of the conditions under which AI supports learning in South African higher education. The study advocates for strategic, evidence-based, and pedagogically intentional AI implementation rather than uncritical technology adoption.
Stakeholder perspectives on the employability of TVET civil engineering graduates in South Africa.
(2025) Nogcantsi, Bubele.; Teferra, Damtew.
The purpose of the study was to explore college stakeholders’ perspectives on the employability of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) civil engineering graduates in South Africa. The study sought to understand how senior managers and employers perceive the employability of these graduates, the factors that shape these views, and the strategies they propose for strengthening labour-market outcomes. In line with the scope of the thesis, the study also aimed to develop a conceptual framework that explains how human capital, institutional structures and stakeholder relationships interact to influence employability. Although TVET colleges play a significant role in addressing national skills shortages, limited research has examined employability from the collective perspectives of multiple institutional stakeholders. A qualitative case study within the interpretive paradigm was used to explore these stakeholder perspectives across one TVET college, five municipalities and a civil engineering and construction company. Semi-structured interviews, focus groups and document reviews were used as the main methods of data generation, supported by relevant national and international literature to situate and deepen the analysis. Human Capital Theory, Institutional Theory and Stakeholder Theory were adopted to frame the study. The data were analysed thematically in alignment with the three research questions, enabling a comprehensive understanding of stakeholder perspectives and contributing to the development of the conceptual framework. Findings revealed that while TVET civil engineering graduates possess foundational practical skills suitable for entry into the labour market, their employability is constrained by several systemic challenges. These include high student attrition rates, limited formal recognition of TVET qualifications, curriculum gaps that narrow graduate capability to mainly physical work, and weak partnerships between colleges and relevant industries. The study also identified modest improvements in graduate employment and highlighted emerging entrepreneurial pathways. Stakeholders proposed strategies such as strengthening work-based collaborations between colleges and municipalities, reviewing the curriculum to widen its scope, incorporating current industry technologies and creating a centralised system to track graduate employment status. The study highlights the complex interplay of individual, institutional and relational factors influencing TVET graduate employability and integrates these insights into a conceptual framework that demonstrates how these dimensions collectively shape labour-market outcomes. The framework provides a new contribution to knowledge by synthesising human capital, institutional and stakeholder dynamics into a holistic model that can guide practice and inform policy within the TVET sector. Key recommendations include revising the TVET civil engineering curriculum to incorporate industryrelated literacies such as CAD/BIM and documentation, formalising college–industry partnerships through robust MoUs and structured placement agreements and establishing a district-level graduate tracking and transition system to strengthen alignment between training and labour market needs.
Managing gender diverse and non-binary classrooms: the perspectives of township secondary school educators in Clermont.
(2025) Nkambule, Thandokuhle Mcebo.; Jaca, Nosipho Immaculate.
In recent years, gender diversity has become increasingly visible in education spaces, challenging traditional classroom management practices and raising questions on inclusivity and justice in South Africa. Therefore, it is undeniable that the landscape of modern education is constantly changing to meet learners' diverse needs and identities, with gender diversity becoming more widely recognised in classrooms. Most literature covers the experiences of gender diverse and non-binary learners and how educators lack training in dealing with such learners. However, there is a paucity of research focusing on the perspectives of educators regarding their role in managing gender-diverse and non-binary classrooms, specifically in township schools where multiple constraints are impacting the schooling environment. Therefore, this study was aimed at exploring educators’ roles in managing gender-diverse and non-binary classrooms in a selected township school. The study was grounded by a conceptual framework that draws from three lenses: transformational leadership theory, social justice theory, and the management concept of leadership. This research adopted a qualitative research approach and was underpinned by the interpretive paradigm. Moreover, the case study design was used to study a single case for the selected school. Six participants, who were life orientation educators, were purposefully selected in this study, and the data were generated using semi-structured one-on-one interviews and were analysed thematically. Consequently, the participants found that while they are familiar with gender diversity and non-binary concepts at a surface level, they lack a more profound understanding of these topics. Participants also revealed that they tried to employ different strategies to manage genderdiverse and non-binary classrooms but faced multiple challenges, such as bullying from nonbinary learners, cultural and religious beliefs, work overload, and misgendering learners. The participants further recommended support to manage gender-diverse and non-binary classrooms better, such as continuous training, policy reform and implementation, giving learners a voice, and raising awareness. These findings emphasise the need for change and the understanding that educators have a significant role in promoting inclusivity in their classrooms. Nonetheless, the study’s limitation was that it cannot be generalised to a wider population, as it had a small sample and focused on a single school.