Examination of the Influence of Instructional Leadership to Multi-grade Teaching in Primary Schools Nations

The purpose of the paper is to interrogate how instructional leadership enables the occurrence of multi-grade teaching in primary schools. This is a conceptual and a positional paper. The paper followed a route of the qualitative case study design. Observation technique and the literature study were used to collect data. Out of the population of thirteen primary schools in one of the circuits of Mopani district in Limpopo Province, South Africa, three primary schools were conveniently sampled. Those are the educational institutions that are currently experiencing multi-grade classes. Research findings revealed that firstly teachers involved in multi-grade classes have had inadequate training. Secondly, such teachers are further receiving insufficient support from their School-Based Support Teams (SBSTs). Thirdly, there was an absence of the relevant multigrade material. Fourthly, there is reliance on old-fashioned teaching methods. Lastly, teachers were found to be receiving workshop from the department. As part of the conclusion, the researchers recommend that multi-grade classes be accompanied by multi-grade assessment. In addition, the researchers recommend that multi-grade teaching in primary schools, be viewed not as a burden, but as a remedy where mono-grade learning is impossible to occur. Lastly, the researchers recommend for instructional leaders in primary schools to serve as enablers of the smooth occurrence of multi-grade teaching there.