Skoolleierskap: 'n transkulturele ondersoek

English: Much research has already been done on leadership. Still it seems that research in this regard is mainly theory-driven and to a large extent lacks practical application. Theorists increasingly regard leadership as a process through which the individual characteristics, the demands of the given situation as well as the contributions and roles of the group members contribute to a leader's effectiveness. Because of the afore-mentioned factors leadership development comes to the fore. The early development of leadership can provide an important contribution to future leadership practice. Therefore, the school endeavours to cultivate and develop the adolescent leader's self-confidence and abilities in this context. In the present South African context, across different sexes and cultures, divergent approaches regarding school leadership seem to exist. For the purposes of this investigation emphasis has been placed upon personality, adaptability and leadership behaviour. The survey group consisted of 70 grade 12 learners who were elected as school leaders at the end of 1997. One white pupils' council, two brown pupils' councils and two black student representative councils were involved. The five schools are situated in the Bloemfontein area. Male and female leaders from different cultural groups were compared with regards to their personality, adaptability and leadership behaviour. The data was statistically analysed by means of the Mann- Whitney Test (regarding sex) and the Kruskall-Wallis analysis of variance (regarding culture). It has been established that differences between male and female school leaders do exist regarding certain aspects of their personalities as well as their adaptability. Furthermore, differences have been observed among the cultural groups regarding aspects of personality, adaptability and leadership behaviour. Lastly a few suggestions have been made with regards to the findings and conclusions which could lead to further research and development in this field of study.