ABSTRACT
The South African education teaching body has been extensively unionized due to the past repressive laws and practices of the apartheid system. The role of unions in the post-apartheid period has been one of the hotly debated issues. This chapter provides a historical overview of the literature of the evolution of the role and function of unions within the South African schools’ context. In this chapter, the challenges and opportunities of leading a highly unionized school are discussed. The chapter presents some lessons drawn in the leadership in dealing with unions.
