Pexels/ Tara WinsteadTeachers in South Africa are required to take part in regular professional development activities to keep their skills up to date. These can include, for example, personal study, belonging to professional learning communities, school-initiated workshops, mentorship circles and programmes facilitated by external service providers. Most are endorsed by the South African Council for Educators and the teachers earn points for completing them.Many teachers see this continuous professional teacher development (CPTD) as an unnecessary addition to their challenges. They may already have to cope with overcrowded classrooms, ill-disciplined learners and heavy work loads (teaching and administration).Encouraging teachers to do it anyway is one of the responsibilities of school principals. Heads of schools can identify gaps in their staff’s development and create an environment in which teachers are motivated and enabled to grow. Empowered teachers are a starting point for quality education.As a group of education researchers, my colleagues and I are interested in teachers’ perceptions and experiences of the principal’s role as leader in supporting their development. We did a qualitative case study involving six teachers from two secondary schools in South Africa’s Western Cape province. It’s common for qualitative studies to have a small number of participants, enabling deeper engagement. From what they told us, we noted three themes:they felt life-long learning was important in their professionsome school principals supported them to attend activities related to content knowledge some principals supported teachers in developing their classroom management skills, but others did not.We suggest that all school principals should acknowledge and value the roles they play as leaders, and create an environment for authentic growth and development of teachers.Deep dive into teachers’ worldsFor this study we took an interpretive approach. We did this to delve deep into the realities of the research participants, rather than scratching the surface with numbers, reports and statistics. We conducted semi-structured interviews with teachers who each had over three years’ teaching experience. This design allowed for flexibility and spontaneity of responses. Both schools in the study were public schools in the Western Cape Metropole Central Education District. One was in quintile 1 (a division of schools serving the country’s poorest communities) and the other in quintile 5 (serving the wealthiest communities). We chose teachers in these quintiles to establish from their responses whether principals’ leadership might differ according to the school’s resources.What the teachers told usThree important themes emerged from the findings.Significance of continuous professional development: Teachers at both schools felt that development was crucial for achieving quality teaching and learning experiences in the classroom. Teachers felt it also allowed them to grow as leaders in their own capacities and to be effective in a dynamic and diverse South African school context. Teachers viewed life-long learning as essential, as they are required to adapt to the changing nature of the learner population. As one teacher put it:The learners of five years ago are not the same learners that we are teaching now.Teachers also viewed professional development as important to stay up to date with policy changes and pedagogical content knowledge updates. One participating teacher, who was close to retirement age, highlighted its importance particularly for novice teachers, to enhance skills such as lesson planning, preparation and management of classrooms.Although teachers generally felt that the actual teaching was more important than the professional development, some believed the latter was an essential component of their growth as classroom managers and leaders. One participating teacher added that it had the potential to strengthen relationships between principals and their staff.Principal’s role in supporting teaching content: We found no evidence that principals had a direct influence on their staff’s pedagogical content knowledge (that is, subject matter and how it’s taught). But in the quintile 5 school, it appeared that the principal had an indirect influence. This was through supporting and encouraging senior staff to arrange development sessions on specific subjects. The principal made provision for teachers to attend these sessions, which subject advisors and departmental heads led.One teacher said of the principal:The subject heads need to report back to her every term.Teachers at the quintile 1 school felt that support from their principal as instructional leader was non-existent. They also felt that attending Western Cape Education Department workshops was more of a tick-box exercise than actual development taking place. These teachers had no faith in their principal or heads of department to guide and lead them in professional development, or even to create professional development space for themselves.Support offered by the principal for effective classroom management:Classroom management is a challenge for teachers in the South African public-school context. This is for a number of reasons, such as a lack of parental involvement and accountability; overcrowded classrooms; and learner behaviour, often labelled as “disruptive” and “ill-disciplined” when they struggle to understand pedagogical content. Some learners may have learning challenges that are undiagnosed. Classroom management is not only about managing learning behaviour, but also lesson planning, assessment, and creating an environment for effective learning and teaching.Teachers at the quintile 1 school reported that they did not receive support from their principal to enhance their classroom management skills or learn how to handle disruptive behaviour.At the quintile 5 school, the teachers said there was a code of conduct that all learners and parents had to agree to, and if learners stepped out of line, they would face consequences. We concluded from what they said that the principal helped teachers to deal with disruptive behaviour.Why principals’ support mattersContinuous professional teacher development is not efficient when it’s merely a compliance exercise. It should be a response to teachers’ needs. If the education system is to improve, parents, education officials and policymakers should care about how teachers are supported and by whom.It is clear from the findings that there is a measure of support from principals in the teaching and learning aspect of the teachers’ work. But it’s limited at the quintile 1 (under-resourced) school, where it is most needed.We call on principals to identify professional learning needs, involve teachers in development decisions, create opportunities for relevant training and strengthen collaboration with departmental heads and subject advisers so that professional development initiatives do not merely become tick-box exercises.Dorothy Elizabeth Esau has previously received funding from CPUT's Conference Committee as well as the National Research Fund for unrelated research projects. She is affiliated with EduFocus Connect Consulting (Pty) Ltd as founder and CEO. She is also the Director of EduFocus Foundation for Educational Development NPC