Abstract:
In South Africa the challenges facing the post-school vocational education system are
daunting. There is a lack of coherence, resulting in fragmentation of the system. A Training
Needs Assessment Study commissioned in 2014 revealed several major academic challenges
facing college leadership. The most pressing issues were poor leadership and management
skills and challenges facing lecturers in various aspects of teaching and learning, amongst
which were blatant shortcomings in their capabilities to meet the competencies required for
effective lecturing. This realisation led the researchers to hypothesise that ineffective and
fragmented leadership and management practices may be to blame for this state of affairs.
The researchers wondered whether an integrated and focused leadership model aimed at
distributing ownership for student achievement should be implemented to produce better
results. The overarching research question was: What are the main stumbling blocks in
improving National Certificate: Vocational (NC(V)) students’ performance at technical and
vocational education and training (TVET) colleges; and how can a distributed instructional
leadership approach be conceptualised to address the problems at institutional level? A
qualitative research approach was used, which was mainly inductive, providing a clear
understanding of the participants’ views and capturing their perceptions in their own words. A
phenomenological design was used as strategy of inquiry. The findings created an awareness
for considering collaboration and the distribution of powers and capabilities to bring about a
shared leadership vision in the quest for challenging poor performance at institutional level
in a sector that is in dire need of positive outcomes.
