Empowering communication as an aspect of managerial communication in the training and development of principals

D.Ed.On surveying education in South Africa, it becomes clear that there is a vast and pervasive effort to reform schools. Criticism from several quarters regarding the lack of effective managerial skills of principals including empowering communication indicates the importance of research into the communicative competencies of educational managers. The development of training programmes in effective communication skills for principals is thus imperative. A group of M.Ed. students from the Rand Afrikaans University that investigated communicative competence discovered that three areas played an important role in the process of managerial communication (Phillips, 1996:100). The three areas that were exposed and needed further investigation were: Democratic managerial communication; Empowering managerial communication; Collegial managerial communication. This researcher will be concentrating on empowering communication as an aspect of managerial communication in the training and development of principals. Taking cognizance of the above, the research problem can be encapsulated by means of the following questions: Which aspects of managerial communication are essential for the training and development of effective principals? What are the essential aspects of empowering managerial communication? What is the perception of principals and educators regarding empowering managerial communication in the training and development of principals? Which aspects of empowering managerial communication are fundamental in a training program for principals? In the light of the problem questions formulated above, it is important to formulate the aims and objectives for this research