https://doi.org/10.1177/1365480220969296 Improving Schools 1–16 © The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1365480220969296 journals.sagepub.com/home/imp Improving Schools Equipping students for leadership through community engagement Gladys Ingasia Ayaya St Stithians Boys’ College, South Africa Abstract The contribution of community engagement towards shaping leadership development in students is an area that is not well explored in research. A study was conducted to establish the type of leadership skills and values that were acquired by a group of students from an established private school in Johannesburg, South Africa, while they served an underprivileged community. The private school adheres to both Round Square discoveries framework and the International Boys’ School Coalition’s character education and practices the leadership development programs that have been developed by the two organisations. This was a qualitative research study within the constructivist paradigm with a phenomenological approach. Reflection sheets were used to collect data from 120 students. The data was analysed through discourse analysis, where all recurrent terms were coded, and the codes grouped into themes which were then matched against existing literature, the Round Square discoveries framework and the International Boys’ School Coalition’s character education. The study found that community engagement experience helped refine the character of the students, affording them opportunities to develop leadership skills and values that would see them adjust well into the 21st century way of life. The study was, however, not able to determine how other learning areas and developmental fields impacted on the leadership development of the students. Keywords Community engagement, developing character education, leadership development in students, service learning Introduction Good schools are continually looking for ways to improve in order to distinguish themselves as leading schools. One method of improving schools is through training their students to be able to adjust better in the world of work (Adams & Cummins, 2018; Sapaprot et al., 2018; Westgarth, 2018). Developing leadership in students by exposing them to real-life situations was found to place them at an advantage when they got to the workplace. Leaderships skills were also viewed as tools that ensure that students are equipped with skills for 21st century way of life (Adams & Cummins, 2018). One way of training students for leadership is by making them serve others through commu- nity engagement (Preece, 2016). Community engagement exposes students to societal problems and gives them a chance to play a part in finding solutions. The disparities between the poor and rich are extreme in South Africa, the country where this research took place. The apartheid Corresponding author: Gladys Ingasia Ayaya, St Stithians Boys’ College, Sandton 2129, South Africa. Email: GAyaya@stithian.com 969296IMP 0 0 10.1177/1365480220969296Improving SchoolsAyaya research-article 2020 Article