parents and principals as partners in creating a culture of learning

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"As the principal, so the school" an axiom as old as schooling itself, simply means
that nobody has a greater influence on every facet of school life than the
educational leader (Pretorius, 1994:83-84). His perception of education and
teaching is exemplified in all facets of his school's life, and his personality not
only influences the job satisfaction of all his staff members, but with the passage
of years becomes a cardinal factor that guides the morale and quality of the school
as an educational institution in a particular direction. An incompetent teacher can
do considerable damage at a school, but this is far surpassed by the influence of
an incompetent educational leader, who not only disrupts the school's
administration and organisation to the core, but can derail the entire educational
potential of the school in short order (Shah, 1994: 18-19).
The educational leader is not only the pivot on which the whole administration and
organisation of the school turns, but as a key figure he is held responsible for the
quality of the teaching offered to the children of a whole community. He is the
manager of a school and the organiser of all its multifarious activities (Oosthuizen
(ed.), 1994:138-139). At the same time he also serves as the educational
representative on committees and boards offering representation to other social
institutions. In society at large he is also the embodiment of the principles the
school stands for. In brief, he directs everything that happens in the school (De
Witt, 1993:9).
A study of the literature on leadership by Alan and Paisey (1987: 10-20), Lemmer
& Squelch (1994: 10-13) and Kruger (I995a:6-8) reveals unmistakably that the
following qualities are universally required for leaders (including educational
leaders to be effective):
* A leader must set a high premIUm un the value of good human
relationships for an organisation.