Poor Performance at TVET Colleges: Conceptualising a Distributed Instructional Leadership Approach as a Solution

What is it about?

The post-school vocational education system in South Africa is performing very poorly due to an array of factors, amongst which poor leadership and management, irrelevant curricula, and blatant shortcomings in lecturers' teaching capabilities. In this article the researchers suggest that ineffective and fragmented leadership and management practices may be to blame for this state of affairs. Amongst others, corrective measures should be implemented at institutional level as a first-line intervention strategy. To this end, a distributed instructional leadership approach is proposed to address the problems at institutional level.

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Why is it important?

South Africa is in need of well-trained, skilled workforce to stimulate economic growth. The shortage of artisans in many vocational fields is worrying, and the quality of current training programmes and, importantly, education provision in this sector is questionable. Strong leadership is paramount, starting at institutional level to oversee the implementation of quality and relevant training that respond to the needs of commerce and industry.