As an educationist over the years, I have experienced principals’ outburst and their tendency to make a scene out of seemly minor issues that could have been addressed with little modesty. This behaviour has led to an uproar amongst parents, teachers and learners about the school principals’ insensitiveness which is attributed to lack of emotional intelligence (EI) competency. The study is underpinned by the transformational leadership theory which aims at pioneering change of attitude in school leadership so that different educational actors could be influenced to achieve the school and overall educational objectives. This qualitative study generated data from five (5) conveniently selected secondary school principals, five (5) parents and five (5) teachers using semi-structured interviews. Using thematic analysis method, the study revealed that principals with EI are able to enhance school performance and satisfy parents. Thus, the study revealed that EI is useful in establishing and maintaining good relationships with different school stakeholders. It is fundamental in managing conflicts in schools and facilitates constructive management of any stressful situations. The study further revealed that principals could acquire this skill through self-enrichment and induction initiatives by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET). It is recommended that before principals are appointed, they should be subjected to multiple aptitude tests to evaluate their knowledge and competencies. Furthermore MoET through its experts should continually induct principals on EI aspects.

Some secondary school principals are complaining about teachers’ reluctance to participate in any activities beyond classroom teaching. To understand this phenomenon, the study attempts to explore the inhibiting factors that hinder teachers in selected secondary schools in the Maseru district from supporting and engaging in teacher leadership (TL) activities. This qualitative inquiry is underpinned by the critical theory (CT), which among others aims at revealing the core factors that contributed to teachers’ lack of enthusiasm in performing various TL related activities. Also, to suggest strategies that could pioneer a change in teachers’ attitudes towards participation in school leadership beyond teaching. The study generated data from ten (10) purposively selected secondary school teachers. Using the thematic analysis method, despite participating teachers being able to conceptualise TL, they cited that, factors including; unmanageable teaching loads, inadequate induction, and use of top-down leadership approaches inhibited TL initiatives. To mitigate the abovementioned factors, participants suggested the creation of a supportive school environment, teacher training and recognition.

Turnover in middle management can be very expensive for a school, not just financially, but also in terms of providing continuity of leadership, sustainability of management practices, and quality student experiences. Therefore, a rigorous understanding of why middle managers in schools are thinking of leaving post can provide senior leaders an opportunity to develop strategies to reduce this turnover cost. Using the case of Lady Agatha’s Boarding School in England, this paper uses a novel approach to investigate the complexities of school middle management from a social perspective, arguing that by using a Bordieuan lens, researchers can investigate the complex matrix nature of working in middle management. By using the Bordieuan tools of field, habitus, doxa, capital, and symbolic violence, researchers can observe the struggles that the middle managers engage in to acquire capital or resources compared to other actors in the field, as tournaments of socio-political dominance. By using this original ontological turn in analysing turnover antecedents, researchers as well as practitioners could make significant impacts in the way turnover can be understood and its costs mitigated.