Why Principals Sidestep Instructional Leadership

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 517-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haim Shaked
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Leadership ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Administrators ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Instructional Leaders ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Principal Behavior ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Definition Of

Principal educators‘ and policy makers’ predominant expectation from school principals to serve as instructional leaders—who engage primarily in a wide range of activities that clearly focus on improving teaching and learning for all students—has scarcely been applied in practice by principals in today's schools. Researchers have found several reasons for this gap between professional recommendations and actual principal behavior. The current qualitative study, based on semi-structured interviews with 41 Israeli principals, suggests one more explanation for today's reality of principals‘ limited engagement in instructional leadership: Some principals uphold a non-academic definition of schools’ major goal—focusing on students‘ well-being, social skills, values, etc.—and thereby claim that improvements in teaching and learning should not be at the top of the school administrators’ priorities. This goal as a possible mechanism underlying principals' noncompliance has not been investigated to date.

Between Venus and Mars: Sources of gender differences in instructional leadership

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haim Shaked ◽  
Zehavit Gross ◽  
Jeffrey Glanz
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Leadership ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
School Principal ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Female Principals ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Gender Theories ◽  
Gap Data

Instructional leadership can be explained as an educational leadership approach whereby the school principal engages in a wide range of activities aiming to improve teaching and learning for all students. A recent meta-analysis found that female principals engaged in more active instructional leadership than male counterparts. The current qualitative study sought to understand this gender gap. Data were collected through 59 semi-structured interviews with 36 female principals and 23 male principals from Israel. Data analysis was a four-stage process – condensing, coding, categorizing, and theorizing. Findings showed that female participants, more frequently than their male counterparts, reported possessing two capabilities that are necessary for instructional leadership: (1) instructional expertise; (2) attention to relationships. Gender theories are employed to explain these findings. Practical implications and further research are discussed.

Ensuring Teachers’ Job Suitability: A Missing Component of Instructional Leadership

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 427-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haim Shaked
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Leadership ◽  
Effective Teachers ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Principal ◽  
Instructional Leaders ◽  
Teacher Hiring ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Right ◽  
Principals Perceptions ◽  
Practical Implications

Instructional leadership can be defined as an educational leadership approach whereby the school principal is involved in a wide range of activities aiming to improve teaching and learning for all students. Surprisingly, the literature about instructional leadership practices has not mentioned school leaders’ practices for hiring appropriate teachers and for determining whether existing teachers are the “right people” for the job. This suggests that instructional leaders are not necessarily expected to ensure that the right people are on board. The current study’s goal was to explore principals’ perceptions regarding their role in ensuring teachers’ job suitability and its relation to instructional leadership. Data collection included interviews with a diverse sample of 59 Israeli principals. Data analysis revealed that school principals perceived the issue of teacher hiring/firing as complicated. Therefore, they often regarded related tasks—such as deciding which attributes are most important for effective teachers, determining how such effective teachers can be proficiently screened for hire, and executing dismissal of ineffective teachers—as impossible or impractical. The current study suggests that this perception led principals to refrain from considering the activities involved in ensuring teacher suitability as means to improve teaching and learning. Practical implications and further research are discussed.

The deputy principal instructional leadership role and professional learning

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Leaf ◽  
George Odhiambo
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Leadership ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Team Building ◽  
Leadership Role ◽  
Instructional Leaders ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on a study examining the perceptions of secondary principals, deputies and teachers, of deputy principal (DP) instructional leadership (IL), as well as deputies’ professional learning (PL) needs. Framed within an interpretivist approach, the specific objectives of this study were: to explore the extent to which DPs are perceived as leaders of learning, to examine the actual responsibilities of these DPs and to explore the PL that support DP roles. Design/methodology/approach The researchers used multiple perspective case studies which included semi-structured interviews and key school document analysis. A thematic content analysis facilitated qualitative descriptions and insights from the perspectives of the principals, DPs and teachers of four high-performing secondary schools in Sydney, Australia. Findings The data revealed that deputies performed a huge range of tasks; all the principals were distributing leadership to their deputies to build leadership capacity and supported their PL in a variety of ways. Across three of the case study schools, most deputies were frequently performing as instructional leaders, improving their school’s performance through distributing leadership, team building and goal setting. Deputy PL was largely dependent on principal mentoring and self-initiated but was often ad hoc. Findings add more validity to the importance of principals building the educational leadership of their deputies. Research limitations/implications This study relied upon responses from four case study schools. Further insight into the key issues discussed may require a longitudinal data that describe perceptions from a substantial number of schools in Australia over time. However, studying only four schools allowed for an in-depth investigation. Practical implications The findings from this study have practical implications for system leaders with responsibilities of framing the deputies’ role as emergent educational leaders rather than as administrators and the need for coherent, integrated, consequential and systematic approaches to DP professional development. Further research is required on the effect of deputy IL on school performance. Originality/value There is a dearth of research-based evidence exploring the range of responsibilities of deputies and perceptions of staff about deputies’ IL role and their PL needs. This is the first published New South Wales, Australian DP study and adds to the growing evidence around perceptions of DPs as instructional leaders by providing an Australian perspective on the phenomenon. The paper raises important concerns about the complexity of the DP’s role on the one hand, and on the other hand, the PL that is perceived to be most appropriate for dealing with this complexity.

scholarly journals AMALAN KEPIMPINAN INSTRUKSIONAL GURU BESAR DI SEKOLAH VERNAKULAR NEGERI SELANGOR DAN WILAYAH PERSEKUTUAN

2018 ◽  
pp. 109-132
Author(s):  
DONNIE ADAMS ◽  
RAVADHI PERIASAMY ◽  
EDWARD DEVADASON ◽  
SATINAH AWANG
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Leadership ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
School Leader ◽  
Instructional Leader ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Structured Interviews

Abstrak Kajian kualitatif ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji amalan kepimpinan instruksional guru besar di Sekolah Vernakular Negeri Selangor dan Wilayah Persekutuan. Kajian ini menggunakan temu bual separa berstruktur terhadap 14 orang guru besar di dua jenis sekolah vernakular, iaitu Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SRJK (T)) dan Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SRJK(C)) yang terletak di kawasan bandar dan pinggir bandar. Teknik persampelan bertujuan yang dijalankan di dua jenis sekolah ini mendapati bahawa guru besar memahami tugas mereka untuk meningkatkan amalan pengajaran melalui penyeliaan guru. Dapatan juga menunjukkan amalan kepimpinan guru besar dalam memantau kualiti pengajaran dan pembelajaran di sekolah dijalankan dalam pelbagai kaedah. Kajian ini turut menunjukkan bahawa sebahagian daripada tugas dan harapan guru besar di Malaysia adalah selari dengan ciri-ciri dalam kepimpinan instruksional. Dalam konteks lain pula, beban kerja seorang guru besar dan keperluan untuk membuat pelaporan telah mendatangkan pelbagai cabaran berterusan kepada mereka semasa menjalankan tugas sebagai seorang pemimpin instruksional. Implikasi daripada kajian ini mempamerkan realiti kontemporari peranan guru besar dan amalan kepimpinan instruksional mereka di sekolah vernakular di Malaysia. Kesimpulannya, kajian ini menunjukkan kepimpinan instruksional dibina atas pengaruh sosial, politik dan budaya. Kata kunci: Amalan kepimpinan instruksional, pemimpin instruksional, guru besar. Abstract The purpose of this qualitative study is to outline school leaders’ instructional leadership practices in Selangor and Federal Territory Vernacular Schools. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 primary school leaders from Chinese Schools (SRJK(C)) and Tamil Schools (SRJK (T)) in urban and suburban areas in Malaysia. The sampling technique utilised in two of these schools generated findings which showed that the school leaders understood their duties in improving instructional practice through supervision of teachers. Findings also showed school leaders’ leadership practices in monitoring the quality of teaching and learning in schools was done in many ways. The research also demonstrated some of the duties and hope of the school leaders’ in Malaysia as being particularly congruent with the features of instructional leadership practices. In another context, the workload of a school leader and the need for reporting has led to a series of challenges for them in carrying out their duties as instructional leaders. The implication of this study demonstrates the current reality of the roles of school leaders and their instructional leadership roles in vernacular schools in Malaysia. In conclusion, this research shows that instructional leadership is built on social, political and cultural influences. Keywords: Instructional leadership practices, instructional leader, school leader.

scholarly journals Crucial Contributions

Human Nature ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brooke A. Scelza ◽  
Katie Hinde
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Perinatal Period ◽  
Reproductive Age ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Breastfeeding Support ◽  
Critical Window ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Clinical Literature ◽  
Health And Well Being

AbstractMaternal grandmothers play a key role in allomaternal care, directly caring for and provisioning their grandchildren as well as helping their daughters with household chores and productive labor. Previous studies have investigated these contributions across a broad time period, from infancy through toddlerhood. Here, we extend and refine the grandmothering literature to investigate the perinatal period as a critical window for grandmaternal contributions. We propose that mother-daughter co-residence during this period affords targeted grandmaternal effort during a period of heightened vulnerability and appreciable impact. We conducted two focus groups and 37 semi-structured interviews with Himba women. Interviews focused on experiences from their first and, if applicable, their most recent birth and included information on social support, domains of teaching and learning, and infant feeding practices. Our qualitative findings reveal three domains in which grandmothers contribute: learning to mother, breastfeeding support, and postnatal health and well-being. We show that informational, emotional, and instrumental support provided to new mothers and their neonates during the perinatal period can aid in the establishment of the mother-infant bond, buffer maternal energy balance, and improve nutritional outcomes for infants. These findings demonstrate that the role of grandmother can be crucial, even when alloparenting is common and breastfeeding is frequent and highly visible. Situated within the broader anthropological and clinical literature, these findings substantiate the claim that humans have evolved in an adaptive sociocultural perinatal complex in which grandmothers provide significant contributions to the health and well-being of their reproductive-age daughters and grandchildren.

Young person’s well-being: Exploring material, subjective and relational factors

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (01) ◽  
pp. 13-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margot Rawsthorne ◽  
Grace Kinsela ◽  
Karen Paxton ◽  
Georgina Luscombe
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Relational Factors ◽  
Report Data ◽  
Self Report Data ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractYoung people’s well-being has attracted significant policy and research attention in Australia and internationally for at least three decades. Despite this, there is no consensus about what it means, how it can be measured or, most importantly, what supports young people’s well-being. This paper adopts a definition of well-being as a multidimensional process, comprising subjective, material and relational factors. Drawing on self-report data collected at two time points from young people (aged 9–14 years) living in rural and regional New South Wales (N= 342 at baseline andN= 217 Wave 2), this paper seeks to identify the salience of these factors to well-being, measured through Perceived Self-Efficacy. Our analysis suggests that a sense of belonging, safety and the presence of supportive adults all appear to support enhanced well-being. The paper concludes with recommendations for policy makers and communities wishing to better support the development of young people’s well-being.

scholarly journals Positive health as a new concept for physiotherapy in the Netherlands?

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
C M A De Bot ◽  
C Boemaars ◽  
J A J Dierx
Keyword(s):  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Dutch Association ◽  
Dutch Health ◽  
Professional Profile ◽  
Definition Of

Abstract Background The current WHO definition of health seems to no longer meet the changes in the current Dutch health system. An alternative approach which puts emphasis on health, not disease, is Positive Health. This focus shifts the emphasis on improving resilience and well-being rather than the perspective on what is lacking in health. In 2014, this new definition of Positive health was included in the professional profile ’physiotherapist’ of the Royal Dutch Association for Physiotherapy. This study examines the attitude of physiotherapists to Positive Health and to what extent they experience this concept in their current working practice. Methods A mixed method study was used, with a quantitative and qualitative method. A survey was completed by 276 physiotherapists and 7 semi-structured interviews were conducted among physiotherapists. Results Positive health was considered positive by 68% of the physiotherapists that health is seen as a dynamic concept rather than static, and 60.5% consider it important that the emphasis is on self-regulation. However, physiotherapists wonder if all patients have the ability to self-manage skills. The qualitative analysis shows that all therapists find the new definition positive and that it covers all aspects of health. Conclusions In general, physiotherapists are positive about the definition of positive health. Positive health can help physiotherapists in their work with clients and other professionals because of the multidisciplinary approach. Key messages Positive health can help physiotherapists to promote health in their clients. Positive health can stimulate cooperation between physiotherapists and client to increase self-management.

scholarly journals Exploring principals’ instructional leadership practices in Malaysia: insights and implications

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alma Harris ◽  
Michelle Jones ◽  
Kenny Soon Lee Cheah ◽  
Edward Devadason ◽  
Donnie Adams
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Leadership ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Instructional Leaders ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Leadership Practice ◽  
Content Type

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.

scholarly journals ANALYSIS OF MICRO LEVEL DISPARITIES IN URBAN FACILITY-UTILITY SERVICES: A STUDY ON BARASAT CITY, WEST BENGAL, INDIA

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suman PAUL
Keyword(s):  
West Bengal ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Empirical Observation ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Economic Disparities ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Utility Services ◽  
Level Of Living

The regional disparity is a challenging issue to the urban planners, policy makers, academicians, bureaucrats and technocrats in the developing countries. In India, wide range of socio-economic disparities are commonly evident even in Class-I cities. Such an undesirable phenomena reflects on the spatial variation of quality of life, level of living as well as well-being and welfare of the inhabitants. Moreover, it is against the constitutional law of equity and social justice. The present study is based on the empirical observation focused on ward-wise variation of availability of and accessibility to socio-economic and utility services in Barasat city of West Bengal. On the basis of ‘Cronbach’s Alpha’ and ‘Principal Component Analysis’, entire set of data have been arranged into six factors of which first three factors have been considered to examine the dimension of socio-economic disparities and level of development in the city.

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