In many emerging economies globally, substantial investment have been made in education with the hope of generating a highly skilled labour force and high proportion of employment. Despite these investments, there is growing concern that many public schools are not functioning at its optimum and student performance is generally of a low standard. However, many nations around the world have undertaken wide-ranging reforms of curriculum, instruction, and assessments with the intention of better preparing principals for the educational demands of life and work in the 21st century (Bush, 2005). The rapid rate at which changes have taken place, and are still taking place, together with the increased volume of administrative work has placed principals under enormous pressure (Kinney, 2009). Managing change is complex and usually an elusive process. Changes in policies and new system of governance in schools have unfortunately, resulted in principals being unprepared for their new leadership and management roles. Principals also experience difficulty in adapting to their new roles and new channels of communication which result in role ambiguity. Perhaps one of the major changes in principalship has been the range of expectations placed on them and these expectations have been moved from the demands for management and control to the demand for an educational leader who can foster professional development among staff (Mestry & Grobler, 2004). It is important for principals to understand leadership as a process and to develop human relation skills and promote joint action to ensure school improvement and effectiveness (Steyn, 2009).

Fundamentally, principals should be empowered by being provided with continuing professional development (CPD) to effectively deal with challenges facing them in the 21^st century. There is thus a dire need for education authorities to continually develop and support principals so that they can effectively lead schools. CPD essentially means all types of professional learning undertaken by practicing or aspiring principals beyond the point of initial training. Some professionals consider CPD as training or a means of keeping abreast or a way to building a career while professional associations hold the view that CPD is part of lifelong learning; a means of gaining career security; a means of personal development; a means of assuring that individual professionals are up-to-date; a method of verifying competence; and a way of providing employers with a competent and adaptable workforce.

The problem statement of this research is: What are the perceptions and experiences of practicing principals of how their professional development enables them to manage change effectively? The following are research questions that framed this research:

• What is the nature and essence of continuing professional development and its importance for principals to manage change?
• How can principals be empowered through CPD programmes to effectively manage change and become successful leaders?

For this study, Lewin’s Force Field Model was used as a theoretical framework. He advocates three stages: Unfreezing; moving or changing and refreezing. In the case of this study, it is evident that the government’s legislative mandates are the driving force in organisational changes at public schools. Resisting forces include established customs and practices, teacher union agreements and the organisation’s culture. Senior (2008: 308) argues that the main focus of the unfreezing stage is centred on changing the principal’s habitual modes of thinking as a result of new legislation, diversity in school population and technological advancement to heighten awareness of the need to change. Moving is the second stage of the process that essentially makes the actual changes. Principals embark on professional development programmes that moves the principal to new types of behaviour. The third stage (refreezing) becomes apparent when changes are observed in the organisation.

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