Self-leadership of school principals in the Kavango region, Namibia

Abstract

There is an increasing demand for the use of self-leadership as a model for leadership effectiveness. In the context of schools, self-leadership is an important element for the improvement of teaching and learning, and leadership capacity building in schools. The purpose of this study was to examine how self-leadership is used by principals in secondary schools in the Kavango region in Namibia. The study also integrates transformational, transactional, instructional and distributed leadership which hinges well on self-leadership. A qualitative research design underpin by interpretive paradigm was used in this study. A purposeful sampling design was used to select eighteen participants, i.e. six principals and twelve teachers from six secondary schools. The data was generated by means of semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis. Data analysis utilized the content analysis to show the relationships between school principals as the main unit of analysis and the teachers‟ performance as supporting unit of analysis. The findings show that school principals employ self-leadership in their work, especially in their relations with teachers. The findings revealed that the school principals‟ potential self-leadership virtues may be restrained by the hierarchical control processes of the ministry of education that requires them to comply with directives and policies. This study challenges the school principals in the Kavango region and Namibia in general to re-examine their leadership styles in the context of self-leadership. School principals should ask questions such as: how am I leading and how am I using self-leadership to improve my practice in my day to day work? This study therefore challenges all leaders to rethink on how they can become effective leaders through the lenses of self-leadership.