Challenges and opportunities to instructional leadership in inclusive secondary schools of Zimbabwe
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Date
2020-07
Authors
Muresherwa, Edson
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
This study explored challenges to and opportunities for instructional leadership in inclusive secondary schools as perceived and experienced by school heads in this instructional environment. It sought to provide answers to the central research question: What are the challenges to and opportunities for instructional leadership in inclusive secondary schools and how does sense-making by school heads explain their construction and practice of instructional leadership in such school settings? Although many countries, including Zimbabwe, have embraced inclusive education, at least on paper, very little is known about the challenges to and opportunities for instructional leadership in inclusive secondary schools as perceived and experienced by school heads. However, such knowledge is believed to have implications on the success of inclusive reforms in secondary schools. My study which is framed on a qualitative research approach and informed by an interpretivist paradigm and the enactive sense-making theory sought to bridge this knowledge gap. Research participants consisted of 3 school heads drawn from 3 inclusive secondary schools in the Masvingo district of Zimbabwe. The schools were identified through nominations by the district on the basis of the extent to which they had embraced the inclusive framework ahead of other schools in the same district. A combination of semi-structured interviews, non-participant observation and document analysis research methods was employed to collect data. Data were presented and analysed case by case, using a storied approach. The key finding was that, whilst there were some important areas of overlap in their understanding; consistent with the sense-making theory which informs this study, by and large, instructional leadership in the schools studied appeared to school heads as listening to different sounds from echoes of a single drum-beat. As a result, instructional leadership meant different things across these schools. This difference was shaped by interactions between the institutional contexts for the schools and resources of biography for each of the school heads involved. The schools‟ contexts comprised expectations from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE), the Responsible authorities (RAs) and the community. Key challenges faced included that; education is a multi-stakeholder based social activity. As a result, its purpose and expectations varied across its key stakeholders. Other challenges included curriculum rigidity and inconsistency between the MoPSE‟s inclusive policy as practice (covert policy) and as written statements (overt policy). In theory, the MoPSE‟s policy spoke to inclusive education whilst in practice it was judged to support exclusionary practices. This discrepancy between written policy and practice made school heads to become disenchanted as they sought to couple diverse and, at times, conflicting expectations from multiple stakeholders. In practice, the RAs were seen to be more supportive of full inclusion than the MoPSE. The RAs appeared to be inclined to the social justice logic whilst the MoPSE seemed to favour the entrepreneurial logic and political inclusion of Black children to formerly group „A‟ schools only. Basing on the level of support that school heads enjoyed from stakeholders and the effect of resources of biography on sense-making and practice, findings in this study suggest that, the future of full inclusive education in the district studied was in the hands of church related schools and/or properly socialised school heads. These findings elaborated and in many instances brought new insights on the work of earlier writers on school leadership and policy implementation studies. They also illuminated the challenges secondary school authorities grapple with, as they seek to make education more responsive to the needs of „all‟ learners through embracing inclusive instructional practices.
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Keywords
Thesis (Ph.D. (Education Studies))--University of the Free State, 2020, Educational leadership, Instructional leadership, Inclusive instructional leadership, Sense-making, Inclusive secondary schools, Zimbabwe