Exploring the role of principals in supporting professional development in school-based professional learning communities.

Abstract

Principals have a very crucial role to play in professional development of teachers in schoolbased professional learning communities. This task demands that principals understand what professional development is and what role they need to play to support the teachers at their schools. The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which principals support professional development and the role of principals in supporting teacher professional development in school-based professional learning communities. This is a case study of four school principals from uMgungundlovu and uMzinyathi districts This study draws on Desimone‟s (2011) conceptual framework, a primer on effective professional development, which identify five core features of effective professional development and Price‟s (2012) principal-teacher interactions. Convenience sampling was used to select the participants of the study. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis were used to gather data and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings of the study revealed that principals had an understanding of teacher professional development. The study showed that principals played a key role in supporting teacher professional development in schools. This has been implemented through the promotion of teamwork, collaboration and mentoring within their schools. Principals identified some factors that enabled them to support professional development in schools, such as motivated teachers, implementation of Jika Imfundo, regular class visits, involvement of teachers in decision making and regular developmental meetings. However, the principals also shared some challenges that hindered then in supporting teacher professional development. These challenges included a high teacher workload and a lack of time for professional development activities. Hence, findings also revealed that principals had strategies in place to overcome some of the challenges that hindered them.