Departmental Heads’ experiences in enacting leadership for teaching and learning.

Abstract

The role of Departmental Heads (DHs) in schools is complex and multifaceted, requiring a balance between teaching responsibilities and leadership for effective curriculum management. In South Africa, DHs are middle managers who play a critical role in improving teaching and nlearning. However, existing research suggests that many DHs struggle with their leadership responsibilities due to unclear role expectations, inadequate training, heavy workloads, and limited support. While studies have explored the challenges DHs face, there is limited research on their lived experiences in enacting leadership for teaching and learning, particularly in primary schools. This research aimed to explore the experiences of DHs in enacting leadership for teaching and learning in selected primary schools at the King Cetshwayo District in KwaZulu-Natal Province. A qualitative case study was conducted within an interpretivist paradigm, guided by Hallinger and Murphy’s (1985) instructional leadership theory. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with four DHs from different schools. The study aimed to understand how DHs perceive and perform their leadership role, identify enabling and disabling factors, and explore the support they require. The findings of this research reveal that DHs face substantial difficulties in managing both their teaching responsibilities and leadership oles. These challenges include a lack of role clarity, insufficient leadership training, time constraints, and inadequate institutional support. Additionally, DHs struggle with resistance from teachers, administrative overload, and limited professional development opportunities. Despite these difficulties, DHs utilise multiple coping mechanisms, including delegation, selfempowerment, teamwork and pursuing external assistance from teacher unions and school management teams (SMTs). This study underscores the need for targeted leadership training, structured mentorship programmes, and increased institutional support to enhance the effectiveness of DHs in primary schools. The findings suggest that strengthening professional development and reducing administrative burdens could enable DHs to provide more effective instructional leadership, ultimately improving the quality of teaching and learning. Keywords: Departmental Heads, instructional leadership, middle management, leadership and management, professional development, teacher supervision, educational leadership