I contend that South African school leaders perform their functions within a managerialistic school system that focuses strongly on prescribed standards, quality, and outcomes. The aim is to draw attention to the conceptual contradiction inherent in the labelling of the sch oo l p rin cipal as a leader rather than as a manager. In practice, school principals are expected to perform with in a framework of control systems and performitivity, which are the core features of managerialism . The argument will be that the functions performed by school principals are e ss en tially managerial rather than being true leadership functions, in spite of the practice of labelling principals as leaders. In consequence, the expected manag erialistic performance of principals ine vitably has specific implications for the training of educational leaders. The training is therefore characterised as leadership moulding rather than leadership training.