Overcoming quality management systems challenges in public secondary schools: Examination of the transformational leadership theory
Simanga Phillip Lukhele & LDM Lebeloane
Abstract
The study aimed to develop a strategic framework for improving the effectiveness of Quality Management System (QMS) in public secondary schools, by exploring its importance, identifying challenges and proposing strategic interventions. Framed through the lens of Burn’s (1978) Transformational Leadership (TL) theory, twelve (12) participants were purposively selected to partake in the study. Through the case study design and a qualitative approach, a telephone semi-structured interview was used to gather data. Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis was employed to arrange emerging themes and subthemes. The findings of the study reveal that there are discrepancies in the effectiveness of QMS across the selected public secondary schools. Lack of training, time constraints, attitude towards the system, lack of school resources, and lack of systems control and management were all identified challenges. The study strongly recommends policymakers within the Department of Education deliberately incorporate the principles of the TL theory to guide the future streamlining and repositioning of QMS. Moreover, policy makers, district officials, and circuit managers should prioritize on training SMTs and educators regularly, focusing on TL development, educator empowerment, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation of QMS effectiveness. However, the study was limited to relatively small sample size to represent the findings of the entire public secondary schools in the district. Guided by this limitation, further research is recommended. Another limitation was the technical challenges experienced during semi-structured interviews, including consistent network connectivity issues, which may have compromised the quality of responses from some participants.
Keywords
public school system, school management team, strategic framework, quality education
Author information & Contribution
Simanga Phillip Lukhele. Corresponding author. Department of Educational Leadership and Management, University of South Africa, South Africa. Email: 17269741@mylife.unisa.ac.za
LDM Lebeloane. Department of Science and Technology Education, University of South Africa, South Africa. Email: lebelldm@unisa.ac.za
"All authors equally contributed to the conception, design, preparation, data gathering and analysis, and writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript."
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
This work was not supported by any funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement
This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines set by University of South Africa (Ref: 8223). The conduct of this study has been approved and given relative clearance(s) by the University of South Africa.
Data and Materials Availability
The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
AI Declaration
AI tools were not used in writing this paper.
Notes
Acknowledgement
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Cite this article:
Lukhele, S.P. & Lebeloane, L.D.M. (2026). Overcoming quality management systems challenges in public secondary schools: Examination of the transformational leadership theory. International Review of Social Sciences Research, 6(2), 25-50. https://doi.org/10.53378/irssr.353347
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