Exploring the Leadership Practices of Primary School Principals through Transformational Leadership : A Selected Case in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Despite conflicting findings about the effect of leadership styles on school performance, existing literature indicates that there is a positive relationship between transformational leadership practices and teacher productivity. This study used transformational leadership theory as a lens. Five components of transformational leadership were identified namely shared vision, motivation, commitment, job satisfaction and participative decision-making. Qualitative research approach was deployed to find out whether principals exhibit transformational leadership style and in-depth interviews were used as data collection instruments. Purposive sampling was used to select five circuit managers, five principals and five teachers. The main research question pursued in this study was: Do primary school principals in Waterberg District Education demonstrate transformational leadership practices? The purpose of this article was to explore whether primary school principals demonstrate transformational leadership practices in Waterberg Education District in Limpopo. According to the findings of the study, the views of teachers and principals to a significant extent indicate that principals do demonstrate transformational leadership attributes in all respects. These views are contrary to those of circuit managers who argue that principals do not completely exhibit transformational leadership attributes. The findings of this study have practical implications in the sense that if considered by department of education in Limpopo, it will impact on policy matters and will also add to the current scholarship in educational leadership.|Further, it is recommended that the Department of Basic Education which is responsible for the administration of primary schools encourages primary schools principals to employ the elements of transformational leadership identified in this study.