Relation of principal instructional leadership, school climate, teacher job performance and student achievement

PurposeWe study the role of school climate, and teacher task, and citizenship performance in mediating the effects of principal instructional leadership behavior on student achievement.Design/methodology/approachStructural equation modeling was applied to data obtained from 302 Indian secondary schools to test a mediated-effects model.FindingsSchool climate was examined under two broad dimensions, the social and affective and the physical environment. Results of mediation analysis showed that the benefits of principal instructional leadership for student achievement are operationalized as an indirect effect. This indirect effect is realized primarily through the physical environment, and the in-role task performance of teachers. No significant contribution to the indirect effect through the social and affective environment was found. The latter, nonetheless, fully mediated the relationship between the instructional leadership and extra-role or citizenship behavior of teachers. These findings underscore the different and distinct mediating roles played by the social and affective, and physical dimensions of the school climate in our model.Originality/valueTo the best of our knowledge, the reported associations between principal instructional leadership, school climate and student achievement that take into account both the in-role and extra-role job performance of teachers within the purview of a single framework are new. Also, this is the first study exploring these relations in an Indian context.

The influence of the principal instructional leadership of theacer's job satisfaction at vocational secondary schools

This study aimed to discover the school principal instructional leadership influence on job satisfaction of vocational high school teachers in Sleman Regency, D.I. Yogyakarta. This type of research was ex-post facto with a quantitative approach. The questionnaire was conducted on 91 teachers (71,09% response rate) to examine the influence of principal instructional leadership (X) on teacher job satisfaction (Y). Validation of the instrument used expert judgment and empirical test with the Pearson Product Moment correlation, 43 out of 43 items are declared valid. The instrument reliability test was applied by using Cronbach's Alpha. The results of the reliability test showed that all variables were declared reliable (α > 0,7). A classical assumption test was done by testing normality, linearity, multicollinearity, and heteroscedasticity. Simple linear regression was used as data analysis to test the influence of the independent variable (X) towards the dependent variable (Y). The simple linear regression results indicate that there is a positive and significant influence between the principal instructional leadership on teacher job satisfaction (t = 13,329, p = .000). The coefficient of determination value (R^2) of 0,666 indicates that the principal instructional leadership influences teacher job satisfaction by 66,6%. Meanwhile, the remaining 33,4% are influenced by other factors.

Instructional leadership in a centralized and competitive educational system: a qualitative meta-synthesis of research from Turkey

PurposeThis study sought to provide an understanding of what a culturally contextualized model of instructional leadership looks like in Turkey, and how this differs from models disseminated in the USA.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed qualitative meta-synthesis to systematically review the full set of 22 qualitative studies of instructional leadership in Turkey. A systematic synthesis strategy was applied to code the findings from each study to develop broad themes that describe key domains of principal instructional leadership practice.FindingsThe results showed that instructional leadership of school principals in Turkey is composed of four main dimensions and ten subdimensions. The main dimensions include: (1) emphasis on national goals and competition, (2) maintaining the learning environment, (3) motivating and enabling teachers, and (4) monitoring program alignment and test results.Research limitations/implicationsWhile broad dimensions of instructional leadership described in the international literature are relevant in Turkey, some practices used to enact those dimensions appear poorly aligned with the institutional–cultural context of Turkish schools. Thus, findings from this study support the assertion that the specific practices used to measure, assess and practice instructional leadership must be adapted to the context of a specific society.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to international efforts to develop a globally validated knowledge base in educational leadership and management.

School Health as the Mediator Variable: Determinants of the Principal Instructional Leadership Behavior

<p style="text-align: justify;">The primary purpose of this research was to determine the effect of principal instructional leadership behavior on several determinants: organizational commitment, efficacy, and teacher satisfaction through school health. Five instruments that had been used are the principal instructional management rating scale (PIMRS); organizational health inventory for elementary schools (OHI-E); online course questionnaire (OCQ); teacher satisfaction scale (TSS); teacher efficacy scale (TES). All of these instruments had high validity and reliability; with Cronbach’s alpha values of each was PIMRS (.83), OHI-E (.81), OCQ (.80), TSS (.86), and TES (.79). A total of 350 public primary school teachers in Surakarta had been selected as respondents in this study with satisfied random sampling. AMOS software version 6.0 is used to analyze CFA and SEM. The results of SEM analysis to the structural model built by the researcher was good, with Probability = .001; RMSEA = .043; GFI = .941; AGFI = .907; CMIN/DF = 1.522), so the relationship between the variables in the constructs was interpreted; (1) The Principal instructional leadership behavior had a significant direct influence on the school health, (2) The school health parameter had a significant direct influence on organizational commitment, efficacy, and teacher satisfaction, (3) The principal instructional leadership behavior did not have a significant direct effect on organizational commitment, efficacy, and teacher satisfaction through the variables and school health.</p>

Investigating a multiple mediated-effects model of instructional leadership and teacher professional learning in the Malaysian School Context: A partial least squares analysis

The poor student performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment has urged the Malaysian authorities to upskill teachers’ professional learning. However, little is known about how instructional leadership contributes to teacher professional learning, especially in the Malaysian context. This study seeks to investigate the direct relationship between principal instructional leadership and teacher professional learning through the mediating effects of teachers’ trust in the principal and self-efficacy in a multiple mediated-effects model. Data were collected from 335 primary and secondary school teachers in Penang, Malaysia. A partial least squares structural equation modelling approach was used for data analysis. The results found that the relationship between principal instructional leadership and teacher professional learning is mediated by teachers’ trust in the principal and self-efficacy. Implications for theory and knowledge are presented.

Instructional Leadership as a Vehicle for Teacher Collaboration and Student Achievement. What the German PISA 2015 Sample Tells Us

We investigated the effects of principal instructional leadership (IL) on the frequency of two forms of teacher collaboration (TC) namely exchange and coordination of teaching (EXCHT) and professional collaboration (PROFCOLT) and their influence on student achievement (SA). Using data from the representative German PISA 2015 sample, we carry out structural equation modeling analysis to estimate the direct effects of IL on TC and of TC on SA, as well as the indirect effects of IL on SA. The analyses were conducted at the school level and only teachers belonging to the non-science group in PISA 2015 were included. After testing for the factorial validity of the instrument, only the collaboration form (EXCHT) could be retained. Our analysis suggests that principal instructional leadership can positively influence teachers’ collaboration frequency and that the remaining form of teacher collaboration is not positively related to student achievement. Our study builds on and extends research on student achievement by adding evidence about the relations between principal leadership and teacher collaboration in Germany.

The influence of professional learning communities on informal teacher leadership in a Chinese hierarchical school context

This paper examines the influence of professional learning communities (PLCs) on informal teacher leadership in Hong Kong schools to overcome issues reported in the literature on the challenges to teacher leadership posed by Chinese hierarchical school contexts. We test the relations among PLC, informal teacher leadership, teacher focus on improving student learning, principal instructional leadership, and middle leadership (e.g., subject heads) with structural equation modeling of survey responses from 638 teachers of primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. The results show an overall positive influence among all factors in the study. PLCs have the highest positive influence among the factors considered in this study. PLCs are highly influential in promoting informal teacher leadership, which in turn has a high positive linkage to teachers’ focus on improving student learning. In addition, principal instructional leadership has a high positive influence on PLCs, while middle leadership has a moderate positive influence on PLCs. To further enhance teacher leadership capabilities that promote teachers’ focus on improving student learning, we provide recommendations to boost PLC and middle leadership capacities in schools.

Unpacking the effects of culture on school leadership and teacher learning in China

Teacher professional learning plays a critical role in education reform by enabling teachers to refine their professional skills and keep up with changing content knowledge, pedagogy, and trends in schooling. This study examines how and under what conditions principal instructional leadership contributes to teachers’ professional learning in mainland China. Data collected from 1194 teachers in 64 primary and middle schools in mainland China were analyzed using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping tests. The research tested a moderated mediation model of instructional leadership effects on teacher professional learning in which teacher self-efficacy was included as the mediator and power distance orientation of teachers as the moderator. The results reaffirmed the partial mediation model, finding significant direct and indirect effects of principal instructional leadership on teacher professional learning. Further model testing found that the individual power distance orientation of teachers acted as a significant moderator of principal instructional leadership effects on both teacher self-efficacy and professional learning. When teachers perceived lower power distance in relations with their principals, the effects of principal instructional leadership were stronger than for counterparts who perceived high power distance. Implications for understanding the contextualized nature of school leadership during an era of cultural change are discussed.