Educators’ leadership and management experiences in supporting learners’ transition from the foundation phase to the intermediate phase in primary schools in the uMlazi district: a multiple case study.

Abstract

Primary school educators play a pivotal role in building a solid foundation for learners to be able to succeed academically throughout their entire school journey. However, some educators in the primary schools, traverse through a rough patch when learners have to transition from one phase to another phase. Little is known about how these educators deal with teaching and learning during this critical stage of transition. But more importantly, little is known about how educators support these learners to adapt to and cope with phase transition. This study explored educators’ leadership and management experiences in supporting learners’ transition from Foundation to Intermediate Phase in primary schools in the uMlazi District. The participating primary schools were located in rural, semi-rural and in the township. In this research, I adopted a qualitative multiple case study within interpretivist paradigm. Twelve Fourth Grade educators from three primary schools from the uMlazi District were purposefully selected for this study. The study is underpinned by Adaptive Leadership Theory by Heifetz, Grashow and Linsky (2009), and Hallinger’ (2011) synthesised model of leadership. Semi-structures were used to generate qualitative data. Thematic data analysis was used to analyse the data. What emerges from the data was that learners in the fourth grade are encountered numerous challenges which complicated their journey as they progress from Grade Three to Grade Four. The findings also show that educators involved did their best to counteract the negative effects of the hostile environment to support these Grade Four learners cope with new teaching and learning environment.