Achieving educational goals through effective leadership: experience from a distance in Zambabwe

Abstract

Teaching and learning environments have become more complex and diverse, where effective leadership is to enhance the achievement of high standards of educational success. The evolving nature of school environments in Zimbabwe and the world over have placed new demands on educational leaders. What empowers learners to succeed and ultimately achieve their goals, is the leadership in the school organisation, which creates a conducive environment for effective teaching and learning. Educational leaders need to recognise and assume a shared responsibility, not only for learners' intellectual and educational development, but also for enhancing and advancing the achievement of educational goals. The goal of this qualitative study was to explore cultural, structural and agential challenges faced by school heads seeking to achieve educational goals. Six schools in the same cluster were purposively selected. Data were collected by means of in-depth semi-structured interviews with school heads and teachers, and a focus group with School Development Committees (SDCs). The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and the data were analysed by means of content analysis. In this study, we established that there exist challenges affecting the operations of school heads, which should be eliminated to enhance the achievement of goals.