Curriculum implementation in Lesotho secondary schools: Insight from a distributed instructional leadership perspective

The academic world has become increasingly complex over the years, thus necessitating distributed instructional leadership (DIL) among more people to improve the efficacy of curriculum implementation. However, DIL at departmental level in secondary schools in Lesotho is ambiguous and not fully acknowledged. With this mixed-methods research of a convergent parallel design we explored how heads of science departments (HoDs) conducted DIL in their respective departments for the implementation of the new science and technology (ST) curriculum in Lesotho secondary schools. Quantitative data from a concurrent nested sample of 67 HoDs were collected through a questionnaire and analysed through descriptive and inferential statistics. A stratified purposive subset consisting of 4 HoDs and their 4 ST teachers was interviewed, and the data were thematically analysed. The HoDs in this study performed DIL functions related to out of class activities more effectively than the functions related to in class activities. Only 2 of 4 interviewees implemented curriculum integration as proposed in the syllabus. We recommend constant communication among the HoDs, teachers and curriculum developers through regular feedback during the implementation process.