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Article
Publication date: 11 January 2013

Matthew Militello, Bonnie Fusarelli, Thomas Alsbury and Thomas P. Warren

The purpose of this study is to provide an empirical measure of how principals enact prescribed leadership standards into practice. The aim of the study was to ascertain how…

1034

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to provide an empirical measure of how principals enact prescribed leadership standards into practice. The aim of the study was to ascertain how current school principals perceive the practice of a specific set of leadership standards.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 61 practicing school principals in North Carolina were asked to rate (in a forced distribution) how they currently enact the North Carolina Standards for School Executives (their professional standards for certification and evaluation). Using Q‐methodology, factor analysis generated three model sorts. These factors are examined with the sorting data along with data from a post sort questionnaire.

Findings

The three factors that emerged in this study highlight that there is no one way leadership practices are lived in schools. Specifically, this study provided three distinct categories of how school principals practice leadership. The three factors that accounted for 38 percent of the variance in this study. The factors were named collaboration focus, policy focus, and vision focus. Each provides illustrative descriptions of what fosters and inhibits practices within each factor.

Practical implications

The findings have clear and present implications for how, why, and to what extent current school principals enact professional standards in the face of contextual factors that may complicate or even negate the efficacy of standardized practice. Such analysis holds promise that practices can be mediated in a meaningful manner.

Originality/value

This study adds value to the field by virtue of examining the dissonance between standards and practice. This study's methodology that seeks to operationalize subjectivity is original in the field of principal leadership.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 27 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 May 2020

Sedat Gümüş and Mehmet Şükrü Bellibaş

There is an extensive body of contemporary educational literature concerning teachers' professional development (PD), but little attention has been paid to the PD of principals

1309

Abstract

Purpose

There is an extensive body of contemporary educational literature concerning teachers' professional development (PD), but little attention has been paid to the PD of principals, despite their vital role in improving student learning outcomes. The available literature on principals' PD deals with content and quality while mostly ignoring whether and how PD activities have an impact on leadership practices. In our study, we wanted to examine the extent to which principals perform learning-centred leadership practices and whether and how their practices are influenced by the PD programmes they have engaged in during the past twelve months.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 130 Turkish principals participated in the study. Using the SEM model, we examined the direct and indirect links between principals' PD and their self-perceived learning-centred leadership practices, with self-efficacy as the mediating variable.

Findings

We found a positive, statistically significant yet weak relationship between principals' PD and their leadership practices, with self-efficacy playing a considerable mediating role.

Originality/value

We argue that traditional types of PD activities can contribute to the leadership practices of principals, at least in countries where school principals are not adequately prepared for principalship positions. We suggest that such activities can contribute by providing newly appointed school principals with certain basic knowledge regarding effective leadership that many principals in developing countries are missing due to the lack of pre-service training. These activities can also strengthen principals' belief in their ability to overcome school problems and improve student learning. This, in turn, could motivate them to focus more on learning-centred leadership practices.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 34 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 June 2019

Jessica Rigby, Emily Donaldson Walsh, Shelley Boten, Allison Deno, M. Scott Harrison, Rodrick Merrell, Sarah Pritchett and Scott Seaman

Research on principal supervisors (PSs) is an emerging field, and principal supervision for racial equity has not yet been studied or theorized. Conducted in partnership with…

Abstract

Purpose

Research on principal supervisors (PSs) is an emerging field, and principal supervision for racial equity has not yet been studied or theorized. Conducted in partnership with practicing district leaders, the purpose of this paper is to examine current PS leadership in three districts at various points of engagement in equitable leadership practices and set forth a framework for conceptualizing systems equitable leadership practice.

Design/methodology/approach

This collaborative study emerged from an EdD course project in which groups of practitioner–scholars identified and collected qualitative interview, survey and artifact data about problems of practice in their districts. University researchers supported data collection and conducted analyses across settings, building on Ishimaru and Galloway’s (2014) equitable leadership practices framework.

Findings

Equitable PS leadership practices were variable. No district engaged with “proficiency” across all drivers of equitable leadership practice, but the district that engaged in equitable PS practices most deeply framed the work of schooling as a race-explicit endeavor, suggesting that framing is a fundamental driver.

Research limitations/implications

This paper builds on PS and equity-focused leadership research by adding a systems-level equity focus.

Practical implications

Findings suggest that districts should focus on equity framing as the foundation for principal support and development.

Originality/value

This researcher/practitioner–scholar collaboration shows how practitioner–scholars provide focus and expertise to the field unavailable to traditional researchers.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 57 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 April 2016

Mimi Engel and F. Chris Curran

The purpose of this paper is to explore variation across principals in terms of the number and types of strategies they engage in to find teachers to fill the vacancies in their…

1835

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore variation across principals in terms of the number and types of strategies they engage in to find teachers to fill the vacancies in their schools. The practices that the authors consider to be strategic are aligned with the district’s goals and objectives for teacher recruitment.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors selected 31 schools from the Chicago Public Schools system through a combination of stratified random sampling and purposive sampling. Through analysis of qualitative interviews with the 31 principals of these schools, the authors explore a range of principals’ hiring strategies and provide brief case examples to illuminate differences in hiring practices across principals.

Findings

The authors find that the majority of principals in the sample engage in relatively few of the practices considered strategic. Interestingly, sample principals who engaged in seven or more strategic practices were more likely to work in high schools than in elementary schools.

Research limitations/implications

While the range of strategic hiring practices the authors explore provides a starting point for analyzing principals’ hiring practices, it is important to recognize that the list of strategies the authors consider is not exhaustive. For instance, the context of the study did not allow the authors to analyze practices such as the consideration of teacher value-added scores.

Practical implications

This study should be replicated in other contexts in order to see whether and how principals’ hiring practices vary by country, geographic location, urbanicity, and other factors.

Originality/value

This study is the first, to the authors’ knowledge, to detail principals’ hiring practices in relation to their district’s teacher recruitment plan with the aim of adding to the knowledge base on teacher hiring.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 54 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 July 2020

Nedim Özdemir

This study focused on the impact of principals' leadership content knowledge, evaluation practices and teachers' professional learning activities on classroom instruction.

1367

Abstract

Purpose

This study focused on the impact of principals' leadership content knowledge, evaluation practices and teachers' professional learning activities on classroom instruction.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 425 teachers who worked in 46 elementary and lower secondary public schools within two provinces in Turkey. Teachers were asked to fill out a questionnaire on principals’ leadership content knowledge, evaluation feedback, professional learning activities and changed instructional practices. This study employed multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) by using the Bayesian estimation method to analyze the research hypotheses.

Findings

Findings indicate that if teachers perceive the evaluation progress as more useful, then they will participate in more professional learning activities, and they will be more effective in their classroom practices. This study also indicates that teachers' professional learning activities stimulate their instructional practices.

Research limitations/implications

Although the number of schools and teachers allows using multilevel analysis, it limits the findings generalized beyond the sample. To compensate for this limitation, the author confirmed that the sample was representative of the larger population by examining the size of students and teachers, SES and teachers' job experience. The author also conducted a Bayesian estimator to strengthen the test of significance of effects.

Practical implications

This study underlines the critical role of leadership content knowledge in evaluating practices and providing useful feedback perceived by teachers in elementary and secondary schools. Principals should lead to instruction by knowing how to address a lack of teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and classroom practices. The Ministry of Education should support principals in becoming effective instructional leaders to observe teachers and provide them meaningful feedback on teaching.

Originality/value

Despite increased interest in this construct, research on principals' and teachers' responses to adapt the recent form of teachers’ performance evaluation systems is scant, especially in developing countries’ context. Moreover, little is known about the paths through which principals can enhance classroom practices by providing useful feedback. Given these trends in policy and practice context, this study provides empirical evidence that principals can enact the teachers' performance evaluation that affects classroom instruction.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 58 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1990

Kenneth A. Leithwood, Paul T. Begley and J. Bradley Cousins

Growing appreciation for the potential impact of principals ontheir schools has stimulated a significant body of research concerningthe principalship. While many aspects of the…

Abstract

Growing appreciation for the potential impact of principals on their schools has stimulated a significant body of research concerning the principalship. While many aspects of the principalship have been the object of study, it is often difficult to determine the relationship among these studies and how these studies, as a whole, contribute to a better understanding of the principalship. It is also difficult to judge which aspects of the principalship would provide the most productive focus for subsequent research. The review reported in this article addressed both sets of difficulties by analysing a total of 135 empirical studies conducted between 1974 and 1988; 60 of these studies were reported between 1985 and 1988 and received more attention than the earlier 75. Results of the analysis identify aspects of the principalship about which much is known, approaches to research which appear to have exhausted their usefulness and areas in which further study seems likely to be of most value. One major conclusion from the analysis is that we know most about effective principal practices and least about how such practices develop.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 28 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 May 2021

Mette Liljenberg

The purpose of this paper is to increase the knowledge of principals' professional development (PD) by focusing on the arrangements that shape a PD practice initiated to enhance…

3061

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to increase the knowledge of principals' professional development (PD) by focusing on the arrangements that shape a PD practice initiated to enhance principals' instructional leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on findings from a three-year PD initiative in a Swedish school district. The data consist of field notes and semi-structured interviews with principals and managers. Theoretically, the paper takes its starting point in the theory of practice architectures and the cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements that shape practices.

Findings

Practices for principals' PD require a fine balance to prevent the perception of hierarchical control. Designated time, common artifacts and external expertise are arrangements of practice that enable principals' PD. High expectations and relations between principals and managers both enable and constrain principals' PD. As trustful relations are of particular importance, the implication for managers and others organizing for principals' PD is to make sure that collaborative work settings also become a natural way of working for principals. As building relations takes time, a longer time perspective is also recommended.

Practical implications

The findings have practical implications for educational leaders responsible for organizing PD practices for principals in any context.

Originality/value

This paper adopts a practice theory approach to its study of principals' PD and provide an elaborated illustration of arrangements that enable and constrain principals' PD in collegial settings.

Details

Journal of Professional Capital and Community, vol. 6 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-9548

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 July 2021

Mariandri Kazi

The paper discusses the influence of instructional leadership on effective teacher teaching practices and learning outcomes. In particular, the paper examines one of the…

Abstract

Purpose

The paper discusses the influence of instructional leadership on effective teacher teaching practices and learning outcomes. In particular, the paper examines one of the instructional leadership practices, namely teaching evaluation, and seeks to investigate the influence on the effective teacher practices and on the achievement of 6th grade primary school students studying mathematics in the Cyprus educational system.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative research approach was deemed appropriate and employed for the purpose of the research subject, and in particular for the type of questions studied. Data were collected from 81 principals, 139 6th grade teachers and 1,553 students in the Cyprus educational system. In addition, data analysis was performed using structural equation models (SEM).

Findings

The instructional leadership approach assumes that principal evaluations influence high learning outcomes. Findings demonstrated that the principal evaluation has a positive and statistically significant impact on effective teaching practices and student achievement.

Originality/value

It is important to acknowledge that in the Cyprus educational leadership field the corellation among the instructional leadership, the effective teaching practices of teachers and the students achievements were not examined through the above parameters. Furthermore, the survey provided important insights into the principals, teachers, pupils and, more generally, on Cyprus's educational policy.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 35 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 June 2019

Marit Aas and Jan Merok Paulsen

A number of empirical studies and evaluations in Norway and Sweden shows variabilities in the degree to which the municipalities succeed in their endeavors to support school…

1367

Abstract

Purpose

A number of empirical studies and evaluations in Norway and Sweden shows variabilities in the degree to which the municipalities succeed in their endeavors to support school principals’ instructional leadership practices. In response to this situation, the Norwegian and Swedish directorates of education have developed a joint collaborative design for practice learning of instructional leadership. Based on findings from two separate studies, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to theory development and improved practice for school district administrators and their subordinated school leaders.

Design/methodology/approach

The study draws on the data from participants who completed the program in June 2015, June 2016 and June 2017, respectively. The data are based on individual reflection documents from students on their learning and new leadership practices 4 months, 16 months and 28 months after the end of the program.

Findings

The project subjected to this study, labeled “Benchlearning,” involved learning from experiences of others, observational learning, dialogic group learning and in the final round translating what is learnt into the social and cultural context in which the individual school principal’s school is situated. When participating school principals experience observation-based learning together with trusted colleagues, followed by vicarious learning from these experiences in their schools, the authors see some facilitating factors to be of particular importance: learning infrastructure, digital tools, compulsory tasks associated with preparation and subsequent experiments with their teachers. Emerging from the analysis was a systematic balancing act of autonomy and structure running through the various learning activities. Finally, a strong evidence was found that developing core competence in digital learning and formative assessment among teaching staff required enhanced distributed leadership across the whole school organization. By sharing leadership tasks on instructional issues with teachers and other non-leaders, principals succeeded in leveling up instructional leadership significantly.

Research limitations/implications

The implications of the study can be summed up in the following four principles. First, policy makers should take into accounts the fact that principals’ motivation and willingness to initiate change processes can be created in a synergy between structured school visits and engagement in learning groups based on a sound theoretical foundation. Second, within a socially contracted practice in a well-designed learning group, it is possible to raise principals’ level of self-efficacy. Third, a systematic reflection process on authentic practice is an example of how principals can develop their metacognitive capacity and how knowledge can be transformed into new practice. Finally, educators should be trained to be process leaders in order to create a balance between demand and support in promoting principals’ learning of new instructional leadership practices.

Practical implications

School district administrators should take into accounts the fact that changing practices will be supported by sense-making processes involving discussions about how new instructional practices are justified. Specifically, shifts in talk and actions will also involve shifts in the ways people relate to each other and how they relate to their internal context. Further, leadership programs should include trying out new practices as the focal learning mode, accompanied by individual and collective reflective activities.

Originality/value

The findings of the study underscore the mutual interdependence of distributed leadership and student-centered focus accompanied with the school’s learning capacity as enabling conditions for principalspractice learning in the field of instructional leadership.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 57 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 April 2017

Alma Harris, Michelle Jones, Kenny Soon Lee Cheah, Edward Devadason and Donnie Adams

The purpose of this paper is to outline the findings from a small-scale, exploratory, study of principals’ instructional leadership practice in Malaysian primary schools. The…

2922

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to outline the findings from a small-scale, exploratory, study of principals’ instructional leadership practice in Malaysian primary schools. The dimensions and functions of instructional leadership, explicitly explored in this study, are those outlined in the Hallinger and Murphy’s (1985) model.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is part of a larger international, comparative research project that aims to identify the boundaries of the current knowledge base on instructional leadership practice and to develop a preliminary empirically based understanding of how principals conceive and enact their role as instructional leaders in Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Using a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 primary school principals in Malaysia. The sample comprised principals from 14 Government National schools (SK), nine principals from Chinese schools (SJKC) and seven principals from Tamil schools (SJKT). The qualitative data were initially analysed inductively, and subsequently coded using ATLAS.ti to generate the findings and conclusions.

Findings

The findings showed that the Malaysian principals, who were interviewed, understood and could describe their responsibilities relating to improving instructional practice. In particular, they talked about the supervision of teachers and outlined various ways in which they actively monitored the quality of teaching and learning in their schools. These data revealed that some of the duties and activities associated with being a principal in Malaysia are particularly congruent with instructional leadership practices. In particular, the supervision of teaching and learning along with leading professional learning were strongly represented in the data.

Research limitations/implications

This is a small-scale, exploratory study involving 30 principals.

Practical implications

There is a clear policy aspiration, outlined in the Malaysian Education Blueprint, that principals should be instructional leaders. The evidence shows that principals are enacting some of the functions associated with being an instructional leader but not others.

Originality/value

The findings from this study provide some new insights into the principals’ instructional leadership practices in Malaysia. They also provide a basis for further, in-depth exploration that can enhance the knowledge base about principals’ instructional leadership practices in Malaysia.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 55 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 62000