Placing emphasis on pre service training

Tshwarelo Hosia | Tuesday January 20, 2026 10:27

Emphasis should be placed on pre-service training. This is because there is no guarantee of in-service training and professional support.

To ensure the agility of school leaders and, therefore, school success, the system should boldly embark on exorcising identified situational constraints which are not inspiring hope while conspiring against the maintenance of good school governance and high standards of accountability. School governance reforms should revolve around two interrelated concepts of empowerment and autonomy.

The one thing certain about school principals is the high premium they attach to ownership of the schools they are privileged to lead.

Schools value their space and autonomy. Unnecessary external influence and patronising instructions undermine their territorial integrity. Many school principals have lofty dreams and aspirations for their schools.

All they need is professional guidance laced with empathy and respect. The key to success in schools is prioritisation and sequencing of interventions. Capacity building for school leaders should be the number one priority ahead of other considerations. Presently, novice school principals who go into the classroom and management trenches, without a grounding in management and unequipped with instructional leadership tools, find themselves in the deep end.

It is not a requirement for novice principals to undergo rigorous pre-service training or induction before assumption of their delicate management responsibilities.

While on duty, they learn through trial and error. Seasoned school principals do not fare any better as they face similar circumstances of limited or non-existent professional development opportunities.

Many are left to their own devices to chart their professional development trajectory. Left on their own, many do not make any attempts whatsoever to update and upgrade their pedagogical and management skills. There is, therefore, a backlog of training and upskilling that the system is yet to tackle. Sadly, the system does not have any organised or structured way of developing and raising school leaders and building instructional leadership.

This vacuum could be responsible for the crisis of academic underachievement presently plaguing and bedevilling public schools in particular.

Schools can only thrive in an environment which does not assume that school leaders are born but one which encourages continuous nurturing and growing of talent through good instructional governance and accountability.

The one other vacuum is the absence of a leadership manual, setting the tone, spelling out in clear terms expectations.

There should be a mandatory pre-service training and induction, as well as increased opportunities for continuous professional development. By way of emphasis, what should be borne in mind is that school principals thrive when valued and respected.

Autonomy is an essential element in driving innovation. School principals attach a high premium on independence and preservation of their territorial integrity.

They want to be left alone to develop channels accessing resources and support networks. They desire to be responsible for whatever is happening and not happening in their schools.

A flurry of mixed signals and messages from various quarters within the hierarchy could take away independence and autonomy. Giving school principals autonomy and the space to navigate challenges would unleash their potential to improve governance, lead reforms towards fulfilling the goal of achieving improved learning outcomes.

Novice principals can benefit enormously from seasoned, experienced peers. Peer mentorship should be organised and supported. To this end, a school leadership advisory body should be instituted to provide support and mentorship to new and aspiring leaders.

Peer mentorship can be a game-changer for novice principals. By leveraging the expertise and experiences of veteran school principals, schools can build strong instructional leaders and enhance opportunities for improvement

In the quest to grow and nurture leadership, it is also important to seek partnerships with institutes of repute both locally and abroad. Collaboration with renowned institutions such as the Harvard Graduate School of Education and local universities would yield new insights and perspectives.

And the final question that the system needs to ponder on is whether anybody in the system can rise through the ranks to the level of school principal? How do we identify and select school principals? The system should develop key leadership competencies for school principals and a robust selection process.

A robust and rigorous selection process would churn out the creme de la creme- All children in schools deserve the services of the best of the best in management positions.