Ethical leadership in schools: A qualitative case study of perspectives from six South African principals

Celumusa Bethuel Hlongwane and Thamsanqa Thulani Bhengu
University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

This paper explores the perspectives of six contextually different primary and secondary school principals regarding the complexities, contradictions and benefits of ethical leadership practices. Underpinned by the interpretive research paradigm and chaos theory, a qualitative case study design was adopted to guide data generation. We used semi-structured interviews and the review of documents to generate qualitative data. To analyse data, we used a meta-matrix form within an inductive analytic approach to make sense of the transcribed verbatim quotes from the participants. The findings highlight the complexities, contradictions, and benefits embedded in enacting ethical leadership. Chaos theory enabled us to explain why inputs made by school principals' leadership practice may not necessarily result in expected outcomes. Nevertheless, the findings and conclusions suggest that adopting ethical leadership principles by, for instance, being true to leading schools honestly, genuinely and in ways that show trust and respect for stakeholders, can engender highly positive results for the schools.
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Authors: Dr Celumusa Bethuel Hlongwane is a school principal in a primary school in a South African rural community. He holds a PhD degree in Educational Leadership, Management and Policy, obtained from the School of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. His research interests include issues of ethics, ethical leadership and accountability in education. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7381-2865 Email: hlongscb10@gmail.com Professor Thamsanqa Thulani Bhengu (corresponding author) is an Associate Professor in Educational Leadership, Management and Policy, in the School of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He has graduated more than 60 Masters and 28 PhD students. He has published more than 40 journal articles in accredited journals and 7 book chapters. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6777-4279 Email: bhengutt@ukzn.ac.za Please cite as: Hlongwane, C. B. & Bhengu, T. T. (2025). Ethical leadership in schools: A qualitative case study of perspectives from six South African principals. Issues in Educational Research, 35(1), 199-219. http://www.iier.org.au/iier35/hlongwane.pdf