The development of a partial school principal competency model

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The unequal distribution of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics(KSAOs) across all South Africans is perhaps the most fundamental problem facedby South African organisations in terms of building sustainable human resourcecapacity. This inequality has a profoundly negative effect on the upward mobilisationof potentially competent employees within the labour market. Therefore, if theHuman Resource Management and Industrial Psychology fraternity earnestly plansto earn the title of 'strategic, then both its academic and professional spheres needto get involved there where the fundamental cause of the problem originates: thelack of quality primary and secondary education in South Africa. Previous researchfound that the unequal distribution of the quality of primary and secondary schools inSouth Africa is to a large extent attributable to a lack of effective school leadershipand management, with the school principal being the focal point (Van der Berg,2007; van der Berg et al, 2011; Taylor, 2011). This finding leads to the researchinitiating question: why do some school principals outperform others in effectivelyleading their schools?The objective of this study is to offer an exploratory step towards explaining variancein school principal performance by studying the behaviours (competencies)associated with successful school principals. A comprehensive literature review wasconducted to understand the context and identify broad categories of variables. Thiswas followed by semi-structured interviews with a diverse sample of highly effectiveSouth African school principals (N=10). The qualitative analysis based on grounded theory principals, resulted in the refinement and expansion of the variables that wereidentified through the literature study. The final product culminates in a framework of eleven competency clusters, 32 School Principal Competencies (SPCs) and 173 behavioural examples. Similarly, the results yield two additional School PerformanceOutcomes (SPOs). Finally, a conceptual model is proposed that depicts the possibleinterrelationships between the School Principal Competencies and School Performance Outcomes.The study therefore contributes as a stepping stone in the path towards developingempirically-based human resource management instruments that in turn can lead tothe improvement of the selection, development, and performance management of South African school principals. Due to the exploratory and qualitative nature of thestudy, follow-up studies are needed to develop and validate a School Principal Competency Questionnaire. This will enable future research to empirically test and validate a comprehensive school principal competency model.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University