Principals’ Understanding of their Role in Establishing a Positive and Enabling School Culture in Chinese and South African Public Primary Schools – Report on the Pilot Study

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an investigation into principals’ understanding of their role in establishing a positive and enabling school culture in Chinese and South African public primary school. The culture of a school, defined as the intangible foundation of norms, values, rules, beliefs and common assumptions that govern and determine not only the behaviour of all the role players in a school, but also the attitude of these role players towards the school and the character and success of the teaching and learning that takes place there, has a substantial impact on the performance of the school and its learners. The research question that guided this study was “How do school principals in primary schools in South Africa and China understand their role in the establishing and maintaining of an enabling school culture?” With the definition of school culture as conceptual framework, this qualitative case study gathered data through the use of semi-structured interviews, observations and questionnaires. Primary findings include the fact that principals in both China and South Africa misunderstand the concept of school culture and also underestimate their role in the establishing and maintenance of positive school culture. Finally, it is also clear from the interviews that schools with a positive culture share certain characteristics - a greater distribution of leadership responsibility, a culture of educator empowerment and development and a strong presence of pastoral care for both learners and educators.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p1178