Instructional leadership roles of seven principals of primary schools located in the Umlazi District in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The main purpose of the study was to understand how the selected primary school principals’ leadership influenced effective teaching and learning in their schools. The underlying assumption was that the nature and effectiveness of the education system depend on the role of school principals as instructional leaders. It is school leaders’ mandate and responsibility to provide leadership to learners, teachers, and parents, and instructional leadership is the engine that drives these endeavours. This qualitative study was underpinned by the interpretive research paradigm as well as Weber’s (1996) Five Domains of Instructional Leadership model. The research methodology adopted a qualitative case study, and the researcher utilised the purposive sampling technique to recruit the principals. Two methods of qualitative data generation were used, namely semi-structured individual interviews and document analysis. The two techniques were deemed appropriate based on the methodological and paradigmatic position of the study.