Leadership approaches of principals heading National Strategy Learner Attainment Schools in South Africa

This study examines the leadership approaches associated with sustained improved academic performance of principals heading National Strategy for Learner Attainment (NSLA) schools. This article reports on a qualitative multiple-case study focused on five successful NSLA secondary schools in Cape Town, South Africa. Data was collected from principals, teachers and selected School Management Team (SMT) members via questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to understand the leadership practices and personality traits that characterised the leadership approaches of principals to facilitate teaching and learning for improving academic performance of learners. The findings indicated that an integrated leadership principal leadership framework would be most effective because it would cultivate community between teachers and learners and result into improved academic performance. This approach encapsulates the various leadership approaches and the leadership personality traits or characteristics of the principals as well as taking into consideration the situational context for effective leadership and decision-making.

CZECH NATIONAL STRATEGY OF DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEMS AND LINKED ACTIVITIES

The article presents topical news on intelligent transport systems policy, strategy, and linked activities in the Czech Republic. It introduces historical background, relation to other documents, and current development in 2021. The Strategy of Development of Intelligent Transport Systems 2021-2027 with a View to 2050 (in force since January 2021) is the core document. The strategy is introduced by its context, methodology and structure of the content. Focus on coming years is included in this article, too: essential support for the ITS policy brings the online ITS Library (https://www.its-knihovna.cz), a knowledge database, described here with its certain parts and space for supportive tools. The tools enable to manage information on implementation progress, selected progress indicators and monitoring of ITS data quality, expressed by data conformance testing and publishing. The conclusion chapter gives a general overview on implementation of the Strategy and the ITS Library in the future.

“Mbas Mi”: Fighting COVID-19 Through Music in Senegal

In the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Senegalese musicians produced a large body of songs addressing the coronavirus. These songs engage with prophylaxes, symptoms, instructions in case of infection, and metaphysical conceptions about the origin and meaning of the pandemic. These songs are part of a national strategy aimed at containing and eradicating the coronavirus by developing “COVID-literacy”: knowledge about the pandemic which is spread through music. In this article, we examine a socio-local history of music’s use during health crises, its place in local religious communities, and how its use interlaces linguistic, traditional, and metaphysical tenets.