Engagement of Educators in Private Family Business Schools: The Role of a Healthy Leadership Environment

Abstract

Educators play a crucial role in youth preparation, education, work, and life. They manage classroom environments, engage learners, and act as leaders. The public education system in South Africa is facing a crisis, with private family business schools (PFBSs) emerging. Educators in South Africa face challenges in youth preparation, education, work, and life, requiring a healthy leadership environment to manage classroom environments and engage learners. Thus, a healthy leadership environment is essential for educators to feel involved in their work. However, low employee engagement levels can lead to economic challenges such as unemployment, poverty, and inequality, exacerbated by illiteracy. This paper summarises the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion on the issue of the significance of apt leadership for employee engagement. The aim of the paper was to examine the extent to which leadership predicts levels of engagement of educators in private family business schools. The relevance of this scientific study is that it gives key information to leaders in private family business schools on how leadership is paramount for educators to be engaged. The investigation of the topic in this study is carried out in the following logical sequence: Introduction, literature review, methodology, data analysis and results, discussion, recommendations, conclusion, limitations, future research, acknowledgements and research funding and references. The study followed an explanatory, non-experimental research design using a positivist research paradigm and approached this study from a unique axiology, ontology, epistemology, technique, and rhetorical stance that set the tone for ontological, epistemological, methodological, axiological, and rhetorical positions. Using a census sampling technique, data was collected using structured, self-administered, emailed, and drop-off questionnaires. This study's hypothesis was tested using appropriate inferential statistics. Non-parametric analysis techniques were used to test the research hypothesis. The research empirically confirms and theoretically proves that leadership predicts engagement levels of educators in PFBSs. The results of the study can be helpful to leaders in private family business schools in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa and other regions of the world.

Keywords

• educator
• engagement
• leadership
• private family business school