Increasingly, novice teachers function in complex learning environments that require heightened resilience and making calculated, sometimes unexpected decisions. Undoubtedly, novice teachers in the African context must adapt to the persistent weaknesses of inadequate education systems characterized by underperforming learners, high learner drop-out rates, limited resources and possible unemployability after having completed their studies. In exploring the realities of novice teachers in two provinces of South Africa, this paper conceptualises an adaptive leadership framework pursuant to the novice teachers’ portrayal of their adaptive leadership ability in uncertain and challenging times. Novice teachers’ narratives and semi-structured interviews informed the qualitative data collection process and an interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted to analyse the data. The findings revealed that novice teachers desire an enabling leadership environment in which they can contribute meaningfully to the improvement of their schools. Novice teachers echoed concern about the creation of a psychologically safe environment in which to function while they are engaging in a process of sense-making of their realities. Finally, novice teachers’ contributions to sustainable change must be acknowledged while leadership strategies must be explored to overcome the adaptive challenges they face.

Authors:
June Palmer, Central University of Technology, South Africa
Darrell De Klerk, Northwest University, South Africa

About the Presenter(s)
Professor June Palmer is a University Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer at Central University of Technology, Free State in South Africa

See this presentation on the full schedule – Saturday Schedule

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