Exploring principals’ ethical leadership practices in tackling learner-on-teacher violence

Abstract

This study was about exploring the principals’ ethical leadership practices in tackling learner-on-teacher violence. The phenomenon of learner-on-teacher violence has become a global area of great concern. The frequent reports about learner-on-teacher violence have made many teachers fear for their lives and have thus affected the quality of teaching-learning processes. Section 12 of the South African Constitution stipulates that everyone has the right to be free from all forms of violence, and not to be treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman or degrading way. This legal legislation stipulates that all Government employees in the Department of Education must perform their duties fairly, with morals, and ethically. This study employed two theories the Ethical Leadership Theory and the Social Learning Theory; the ethical leadership theory provided tenets, which can be used to tackle learner-on-teacher violence, while the social learning theory provided understanding on how the learners’ behaviour of violence directed to teachers developed. A qualitative multiple case design was employed in order to explore the principals’ ethical leadership practices in tackling learner-on-teacher violence.

The study took place in two secondary schools in the eastern Free State. Purposive sampling was employed in order to select four participants, a principal and a deputy from each school. The data for this study was collected using semi-structured interviews, with the two principals and two deputy principals and their data was supported by document analysis. The data in this study was analysed through thematic data analysis, and from this data, five themes emerged. The findings revealed the challenges of ethical leadership experienced by principals in tackling learner-on-teacher violence. The findings found that when the principals are faced with learner-on-teacher violence, they involve parents, evoke the learners’ code of conduct, involve the school based support team (SBST) and other committees that can assist in this phenomenon. However, despite their strategies to curb this phenomenon of learner-on-teacher violence, they still experienced challenges such as, parents who do not want to be involved, children from child headed families, lack of support from the department of basic education (DBE), inadequate policies. The study thus recommends the building of alternative schools, learners’ code of conduct, South African school administration management system (SASAMS), quality learning and teaching campaign (QLTC) and parental involvement.