Deputy principals’ understanding and experiences of their leadership role.

Abstract

School leadership is a critical driving force to the realisation of educational goals. For many decades, research studies on school leadership focused on the role played by the school principal while being oblivious to that played by the deputy in school leadership. This is perplexing, considering that the deputy principal is the second in charge after the principal in the school hierarchy. The few studies conducted on the leadership role of deputy principals are mostly from an international context. Using the sensemaking theoretical framework, this study sought to explore deputy principals’ understanding and experiences of their leadership roles. The rationale for conducting the study was to gain insight into how deputy principals in the South African context understand and experience their leadership roles. The critical questions that this study sought answers to were: what the deputy principals perceived their leadership roles to be; how they experienced their roles; what factors enabled them to play or hindered them from playing their roles effectively, and what support they received to play their roles effectively. The leadership role of deputy principals was studied through the interpretive lens. A qualitative research approach and case study design were used to gain in-depth knowledge into the real-life experiences of deputy principals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven purposively selected participants. The responses to the interview questions were analysed and organised into themes that correlated with related literature and the research questions. There were two levels of data analysis. In the first level, data were presented and supported by verbatim quotes, while in the second level, themes that emerged from the data were discussed. The findings of the study indicate that although deputy principals perceive themselves to be leaders and the principals’ right-hand man or woman, their power and authority rested with the principal. There was very little that deputy principals could do without the principal’s approval. It also surfaced that as part of their leadership, deputy principals played numerous roles, to the extent of being overwhelmed by them. Consequently, deputy principals found it difficult to strike a balance between their professional and personal responsibilities. Factors that hindered deputy principals’ effectiveness outweighed those that enhanced it. Lastly, there was very little support that deputy principals received to build their capacity to lead effectively. The study also presented recommendations that could enhance how deputy principals experience leadership