Understanding principals’ lived experiences of ethical dilemmas on issues relating to educators’ codes of professional ethics in Umgungundlovu District.

Abstract

School principals are the most important educational leaders in education because of the delegated powers vested upon them by the education system. Hence, they need to have strong ethics and morals which will inform their day to day leadership activities in schools. The study sought to explore principals’ lived experiences of ethical dilemmas as they carry out their work of dealing with issues relating to educators’ codes of professional ethics. The study further sought to explore strategies applied by principals in their leadership to resolve their ethical dilemmas in their practice of enhancing the educators’ codes of professional ethics. The Hunt and Vitell general theory of marketing ethics was used as the theoretical framework for this study. The study adopted an interpretive paradigm located in the qualitative research approach. A hermeneutic phenomenology was employed where semi-structured interviews were adopted as a data generation method. Through purposive sampling, seven local school principals were identified as research participants. The data generated was thematically analysed which identified codes and themes. The study argues that principals encounter ethical dilemmas daily as they deal with cases involving educators who have violated the codes of professional ethics. Furthermore, the study also reveals that principals handle their ethical dilemmas with difficulty and in isolation as the support they require in the process is not provided by the relevant structures.