Approaches to enhance the emotional intelligence skills of School Management Team members for improved leadership practices
| dc.contributor.advisor | Gcelu, N. | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Plaatjies, B. O. | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Pretorius, Anton | en_ZA |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-01-10T13:57:26Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-01-10T13:57:26Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | en_ZA |
| dc.description | Thesis (Ph.D.(Education Management and Leadership))--University of the Free State, 2024 | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | 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. | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11660/12963 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Emotional intelligence | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Leadership | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Leadership practices | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | School leaders | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Principal | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Deputy principal | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Head of Department | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Teacher | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | School management team | en_ZA |
| dc.title | Approaches to enhance the emotional intelligence skills of School Management Team members for improved leadership practices | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Thesis |