Paper Title
Managing Teachers‟ Passion in Rural Secondary Schools: An Asset-Based Approach

Abstract
Teachers without passion for their profession have become endemic to the sustainability of secondary school education in South Africa, most especially rural schools. Therefore, the study examined the challenges responsible for dispassionateness of teachers in the teaching profession alongside it possible solutions in the rural located secondary schools of Thabo Mofutsanyana Municipality of South Africa. The study was underpinned by assets-based community development theory. A simple qualitative research approach was used to pilot the study. The population for the study comprises secondary schools in the Thabo Mofutsanyana District of the Free State province. The participants consist of six members of the stated population, that is, two secondary school teachers, one principal and two retired teachers including one member of the district employees in the Department of Education using a purposive sampling technique. Unstructured interviews were used to collect data from the participants. The collected data was analysed using thematic analysis (TA). The study revealed that novice teachers love the teaching profession, but the problem comes when they face challenges such as the lack of resources, are underpaid, there is conflict between co-workers and learners and also stress emanated from the organisation. These challenges were confirmed to be responsible for low teachers’ morale towards effectives teaching. The study conclusively recommends a commensurate salary for teachers, adequate provision of teaching and learning resources and that the school management should devise a practicable means of managing organisational conflict. Keywords - Management, Passion, Rural Secondary Schools, Teacher.