The study was based on Instructional Leadership of school principals of Puttalam educational zone. The principal occupies an important position in the school instructions. The idea that principals should serve as instructional leaders in school learning and teaching process - not just as generic managers. Therefore, Principals are needed to fulfil this role as Instructional Leadership.
So, to provide proposals to improve instructional leadership of Principals is needed to evaluate the perceptions of principals, teachers and academic staff, find out the best practices of instructional leadership roles of principals and assess the role of Instructional Leadership on the classroom learning, teaching process and students’ achievements.
A mixed research method carried out with stratified probability sampling. 33 principals, 20 teachers and 10 academic officers were selected as sample in Tamil medium schools in Puttalam educational zone. Principal Instructional Manual Rating Scale (PIMRS) questionnaire is used for data collection from principals and self developed an interview schedule is used to collect data from teachers and academic officers. One way ANOVA and post hoc methods are used for analyse the quantitative data with the SPSS Ver. 18 software. The results revealed that the principal of Puttalam district has positive perception on Instructional Leadership. Specially principals from 1C and Type 2 School are highly expressed Instructional Leadership behaviour and significantly related indirectly on students’ achievement. However class supervision and monitoring the students’ progress are showed as below average. These findings are suggested that the quality of instructional leadership should be increased, and class supervision, monitoring students’ progress and learning climate should be developed for the best instructional practices. Keywords: Instructional Leadership, Perceptions, Learning and Teaching Process, Students’ achievements Introduction School leaders and educational administrators are constantly seeking ways to improve their schools and their students’ academic success. …show more content…
Researches have identified numerous factors which affect students’ academic success. Such as socioeconomic status (Barton, 2004), parental involvement (Barnard, 2004), principal leadership style (Blase & Blase, 2000; Hallinger, 2003), teacher and student engagement (Bryson & Hand, 2007) and method of instruction (Miller & Calfee, 2004).
Lozette (2001) listed effective schools characteristics as follow. Clear School Mission, High Expectations for Success, Instructional Leadership, Opportunity to Learn and Time on Task, Safe and Orderly Environment, Positive Home-School Relations, Frequent Monitoring of Student Progress. Jaufar (2001) found his study that the Teacher engagement, motivation for learning and instructional leadership of principals are significantly correlates with students’ academic achievements. So, both studies show that the principal leadership style as instructional leadership is seen in effective schools and affect students’ academic success. In the era of accountability, principals of schools are playing very important role in the school instructions. The primary responsibility of the principal is to facilitate effective learning and teaching with the overall mission of enhancing students achievements. Leadership is a central variable in the equation that defines organizational success (Murphy, Stephen, Ellen, & Andrew, 2007) Therefore, principals needed to serve as instructional leaders in school learning and teaching process for school success. Principals are responsible for class room learning and teaching process. They are expected to lead to learning and teaching process. He is the leader and he must be prepared to give the leadership. Principal must be very high standards in work and behaviour. With his encouragement, the rest of the school will follow where he leads. In the 1980s, "instructional leadership" term introduced in effective school movement research (Edmon, 1979) and it become very important topic in educational field. Researchers notice that effective schools usually had principals who kept a high focus on curriculum and instruction. The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP, 2001) defines instructional leadership as leading learning communities, in which staff members meet on a regular basis to discuss …show more content…
Principal plays traditional managerial role. Even though instructional leadership concept was introduced in 1980’s, Sri Lankan school system not adopted the instructional leadership. Traditional Sri Lankan education system began to change in colonial period. In 1836 the British School system was introduced by the Colebrook Commission recommendation. Principals ware called as Head Masters and they managed the school and academic functions. After the independence the socio, economy and political changes made Head Masters to principal (Sasheeka,
So, to provide proposals to improve instructional leadership of Principals is needed to evaluate the perceptions of principals, teachers and academic staff, find out the best practices of instructional leadership roles of principals and assess the role of Instructional Leadership on the classroom learning, teaching process and students’ achievements.
A mixed research method carried out with stratified probability sampling. 33 principals, 20 teachers and 10 academic officers were selected as sample in Tamil medium schools in Puttalam educational zone. Principal Instructional Manual Rating Scale (PIMRS) questionnaire is used for data collection from principals and self developed an interview schedule is used to collect data from teachers and academic officers. One way ANOVA and post hoc methods are used for analyse the quantitative data with the SPSS Ver. 18 software. The results revealed that the principal of Puttalam district has positive perception on Instructional Leadership. Specially principals from 1C and Type 2 School are highly expressed Instructional Leadership behaviour and significantly related indirectly on students’ achievement. However class supervision and monitoring the students’ progress are showed as below average. These findings are suggested that the quality of instructional leadership should be increased, and class supervision, monitoring students’ progress and learning climate should be developed for the best instructional practices. Keywords: Instructional Leadership, Perceptions, Learning and Teaching Process, Students’ achievements Introduction School leaders and educational administrators are constantly seeking ways to improve their schools and their students’ academic success. …show more content…
Researches have identified numerous factors which affect students’ academic success. Such as socioeconomic status (Barton, 2004), parental involvement (Barnard, 2004), principal leadership style (Blase & Blase, 2000; Hallinger, 2003), teacher and student engagement (Bryson & Hand, 2007) and method of instruction (Miller & Calfee, 2004).
Lozette (2001) listed effective schools characteristics as follow. Clear School Mission, High Expectations for Success, Instructional Leadership, Opportunity to Learn and Time on Task, Safe and Orderly Environment, Positive Home-School Relations, Frequent Monitoring of Student Progress. Jaufar (2001) found his study that the Teacher engagement, motivation for learning and instructional leadership of principals are significantly correlates with students’ academic achievements. So, both studies show that the principal leadership style as instructional leadership is seen in effective schools and affect students’ academic success. In the era of accountability, principals of schools are playing very important role in the school instructions. The primary responsibility of the principal is to facilitate effective learning and teaching with the overall mission of enhancing students achievements. Leadership is a central variable in the equation that defines organizational success (Murphy, Stephen, Ellen, & Andrew, 2007) Therefore, principals needed to serve as instructional leaders in school learning and teaching process for school success. Principals are responsible for class room learning and teaching process. They are expected to lead to learning and teaching process. He is the leader and he must be prepared to give the leadership. Principal must be very high standards in work and behaviour. With his encouragement, the rest of the school will follow where he leads. In the 1980s, "instructional leadership" term introduced in effective school movement research (Edmon, 1979) and it become very important topic in educational field. Researchers notice that effective schools usually had principals who kept a high focus on curriculum and instruction. The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP, 2001) defines instructional leadership as leading learning communities, in which staff members meet on a regular basis to discuss …show more content…
Principal plays traditional managerial role. Even though instructional leadership concept was introduced in 1980’s, Sri Lankan school system not adopted the instructional leadership. Traditional Sri Lankan education system began to change in colonial period. In 1836 the British School system was introduced by the Colebrook Commission recommendation. Principals ware called as Head Masters and they managed the school and academic functions. After the independence the socio, economy and political changes made Head Masters to principal (Sasheeka,