‘Sink or swim’ school leadership socialisation: A global South case of principal preparation and development

Abstract

Much of the school leadership preparation and development literature emanates from the global north with little attention paid to leadership preparation and development in non-western contexts. This article draws on a South African case in a larger study that explored how school leaders were socialised into the principalship role in four Sub-Saharan African countries. Framed by leadership socialisation theory, and using questionnaire and interview data generated from 29 school leaders, the writer adopted the conceptual elements of professional, organisational and anticipatory socialisation in analysing the data. The article provides strong evidence of ‘sink or swim’ school leadership socialisation. The writer argues that more attention be given to the dimensions of professional and organisational socialisation in global south contexts, South Africa being an illustrative case. She further highlights the importance of anticipatory socialisation in the preparation and development of school leaders, particularly in resource-constrained contexts.