School of Education Management, Policy, and Comparative Education

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Browsing School of Education Management, Policy, and Comparative Education by Author "Gcelu, N."

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    Approaches to enhance the emotional intelligence skills of School Management Team members for improved leadership practices
    (University of the Free State, 2024) Pretorius, Anton; Gcelu, N.; Plaatjies, B. O.
    School Management Team (SMT) members, the leaders of schools, face enduring and daunting educational challenges that may hinder the successful and effective teaching and learning of a school, and the school’s goals. Additionally, their duties and responsibilities have drastically increased over the last few years which leads to more pressure and demands placed on these SMT members individually and as a team. It seems that leadership practices may be hindered by the increase of challenges and duties. However, with the introduction of emotional intelligence skills, SMT members’ leadership practices may be improved. Therefore, this research was aimed at investigating how approaches to enhance the emotional intelligence skills of SMT members can improve leadership practices in secondary schools. This qualitative investigation, guided by a phenomenology research design, was executed at five secondary schools in the Motheo District, Bloemfontein, Free State. The SMT members as well as teachers from the respective schools participated in the study regarding the emotional intelligence skills and leadership practices of SMT members. A total of 14 individual interviews were conducted with school leaders (4 principals, 3 deputy principals, 5 HODs and 2 teacher part of the SMT), and three focus group interviews with a combined total of 15 teachers. Additionally, open-ended questionnaires were handed out for completion to 4 retired school principals and 4 teachers who were unable to participate in the focus group interview. After data collection, the data were analysed using thematical analysis. The theoretical perspectives and different emotional intelligence models of Mayer and Salovey, Goleman, Bar-On and Petrides and Furnham were reviewed. Additionally, the different leadership practices from literature from various researchers over the years were also studied. These emotional intelligence models and leadership practices from literature served as foundation to establish a conceptual framework for this research. The research findings revealed that with the enhancement of appropriate emotional intelligence skills, SMT members’ leadership practices can be improved. Moreover, educational leadership challenges can be managed effectively. Additionally, improved leadership practices from SMT members may result in successful school management and leadership which leads to effective teaching and learning in secondary schools. It is recommended that SMT members as well as teachers consider enhancing specific and appropriate emotional intelligence skills through workshops, seminars, courses, and training necessary for specific leadership practices.
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    Exploring the collaborative roles of stakeholders to sustain discipline in selected primary schools in the Motheo district
    (University of the Free State, 2023) Swanepoel, Maryna Adriana; Gcelu, N.; Hamilton, J.
    Sustained discipline for learners is very important for successful teaching and learning. It is of increasing importance that all stakeholders – school principals, parents, teachers, and learners – become involved with enforcing discipline in the school. Control of learners’ behaviour by the various stakeholders is problematic. Resultantly, there is a growing tendency of school principals and teachers resigning their careers. The aim of the study is to explore the collaborative roles of stakeholders to sustain discipline in selected primary schools in the Motheo district. There is a lack of cooperation among the various stakeholders to sustain discipline in their schools. Consequently, this study endeavoured to determine the extent to which the various stakeholders practised collaborative roles in sustaining discipline in the school environment. The community's contribution as stakeholders in sustaining discipline in the school was also investigated. The study was undertaken at four primary schools in the Motheo district. The qualitative research approach, as well as the theory of Freud as the theoretical approach, was used in this study. The interpretivist paradigm was employed for the collection process of the data. This included semi-structured interviews with HOD’s and teachers as well as open-ended questionnaires filled out by the school principal, SGB and two learners. The results thus obtained through the various participants indicated that varying strategies were implemented by participants to eradicate misbehaviour in schools and to sustain discipline in place thereof. The main cause of misbehaviour is also discussed from the data gained through the investigation, and categories and themes have been identified. The investigation of the lack of discipline in schools, as well as the possible stumbling blocks that contributed to the problem, formed the basis of this study. The findings proved that there was a lack of cooperation in sustaining discipline at the schools participating in the investigation. The co-operation of the community in this respect was also found to be negligible. Recommendations suggested as a result of the study are that the different stakeholders should co-operate in sustaining discipline in the school environment. Non-punitive forms of discipline should be used to motivate learners.