Strategic Leadership Policy Strategies to Optimize Justice and Equity for Children of Child-Headed Households

Abstract

Systemic inequalities pervade our education systems worldwide. No time, like the present, is more apt for school principals to thwart inequalities and ensure that quality is infused in all classrooms and permeates the entire schooling system. This article contributes to the paper on how school principals may utilize their strategic leadership role to enhance the socially just experiences of learners in child-headed households (CHHs). The aim is to investigate and counter justice and equity violations of learners in CHHs, from the perspective of social action leadership theory (SALT) with the help of deconstruction of texts in the Children’s Act, Policy on the South African Standard for Principals, and Revised White Paper on Families. The findings call attention to the human agency role of the principal to resist oppression in schools and promote equity and achieve justice and equity for learners in CHHs. Implications for a just strategic leadership plan to advance anti-oppressive practices for CHHs are shared. This article recommends that principals consider the recommended strategies to advance equity, enact human agency, and perform social justice to counter justice violations and prevent inequalities in school systems in their quest to realize equitable societies.