Life Sciences Teacher’s Perspectives on Instructional Leadership: A Case of Two South African Schools

This study investigates instructional leadership practices specific to Life Sciences in South African high schools, with a focus on how principals and departmental heads monitor, support, and evaluate teaching and learning. Using an exploratory qualitative case study design, data was collected from two schools, notably, one well-resourced and one under-resourced, through semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis involving eight participants (principals, departmental heads, and teachers of Life Sciences). The findings reveal that the well-resourced school employed structured monitoring tools such as the Curriculum Management Framework, systematic file checks, and regular classroom visits, coupled with professional development opportunities and adequate resource provision. In contrast, the under-resourced school relied on less formal monitoring practices, offered limited subject-specific support, and faced challenges linked to resource deficits and leaders’ lack of expertise in Life Sciences. The study highlights the importance of subject-specific instructional leadership, contextual resource capacity, and professional development in shaping effective instruction of Life Sciences. It concludes that strengthening leaders’ science-specific knowledge and establishing structured support mechanisms are essential for improving teacher development and learner outcomes in Life Sciences.

The quality of educational outcomes has emerged as a critical factor in determining the progress and success of both societies and individuals. Studies suggest that effective instructional leadership impacts learner outcomes in schools. The objective of the study is to explore the influence of instructional leadership on the performance of students in South Africa. The study employed the qualitative approach with a case study design to investigate the impact of instructional leadership on the performance of students. Purposive sampling was used to select six participants. Semi-structured interviews were adopted to gather data, and thematic analysis was utilised to identify themes and patterns that emerged from the study. The findings of the study showed that an improved school environment and positive school cultures contribute to enhanced performance of students. In addition, the study discovered that addressing the individual learning differences of students and removing barriers to learning is key to enhancing students learning. Consequently, there is a need for instructional leaders to emphasise teaching and learning, as well as establish a clear school vision to improve the learning culture and school environment. The study concluded that instructional leadership play a significant role in fostering the quality of teaching and learning practices in schools. The findings of this study imply that schools should emphasise and empower leaders with instructional leadership skills to achieve improved educational outcomes in schools.

Pedagogical leadership has been assigned different meanings and conceptualizations in different educational settings and across contexts. In the early childhood sector, the term first emerged in the 1990s. Here, pedagogy is seen as more applicable to the holistic work of early childhood educators in contrast to the term instructional leadership, which is usually associated with the schooling context. Pedagogical leadership is recently gaining more prominence due to the acknowledgment of the importance of leadership in early childhood and its integration into policy and qualifications (e.g., England’s Early Year Professional Status). In the schooling sector, pedagogical leadership was first promoted by Thomas Sergiovanni as an alternative to bureaucratic, visionary, and entrepreneurial leadership. Here, leadership is seen as a form of pedagogy and as being practiced by school leaders and teachers. Proponents of the model argue that pedagogy, especially in contrast to instruction, recognizes the cultural, moral, and societal aspects of learning. It involves a focus on building social and academic capital for students and intellectual and professional capital for teachers. Pedagogical leadership is described as bringing a pedagogical lens to all aspects of teaching and is strongly focused on dialogue with those being led or taught. Pedagogical leadership, as promoted by Sergiovanni, has not found great uptake in policy or research and the author did not further promote or examine the model in his later work. The term pedagogical or pedagogic leadership, however, is often used in research and policy in different contexts with other meanings attached to it. In the North American context, pedagogical leadership is generally used to describe leadership activities specifically focused on the improvement of teaching and learning as an aspect or dimension of a broader leadership model, such as instructional or transformational leadership. In the Scandinavian countries, pedagogical leadership has been used as a term in educational policy since the 1940s; however, it seems to lack a clear conceptualization and, in the schooling sector, is often regarded as the equivalent to instructional leadership, with some noting overlaps to Sergiovanni’s work or extending the earlier conceptualizations. Given the varying conceptualizations and uses of the term pedagogical leadership, this article incorporates sections on the use in each sector and the Scandinavian context. It highlights research published in the field, works that are helpful in understanding overlaps with other models, and works that extended conceptualizations of pedagogical leadership. Finally, sections on journals and books in the field are included.

Competency is the basis for the combination of teachers' skills, knowledge, and behaviors that must strive to enhance their ability in the education world. Each component should be integrated holistically to support the teachers' effectiveness, administration, and school excellence. Therefore, this study focused on the relationship between school leaders' instructional leadership and teachers' functional competency. It also identified which factors in instructional leadership contributed to teachers' functional competency in Malaysia context. A total of 225 teachers from the high-performance school in the state of Kedah were selected as participants. Meanwhile, the instrument in this research was adapted from the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS) to measure school leaders' instructional leadership. In contrast, the instrument for teachers' functional competency was adapted from the Integrated Assessment Module for Education Officers (PBPPP) and developed by the MOE Curriculum Development Division. The findings showed that there was a very strong and positive relationship between school leaders' instructional leadership and teachers' functional competency (r=.956, p=.00). At the same time, multiple regression analysis revealed that there were three components of the independent variable explaining the variance as 15.1% of teachers' functional competency (r2=.151, F (2, 214)=80.74, p<0.01). Admittedly, the School Learning Climate Promoting component had the most significant impact on teachers' functional competency, followed by Managing the Curriculum and Teaching and ending with the Defining School Mission. In conclusion, the role of instructional leadership has proven to enhance the teachers' functional competency through the current stream of education, teaching, and learning processes. Sustainable leaders can influence teachers towards improving school excellence together to face the 21st century educational challenges.

The study focused on the influence of principals` instructional leadership practices on students` academic performance in public secondary schools in Nyeri and Nyandarua counties. The concern was the low and widely varied academic performance yet the principals` instructional leadership practices were not clear. The study adopted ex-post facto research design and systems theory to study instructional leadership as a determinant of learning outcomes. The sample size comprised 192 principals, 330 Heads of Department, and 352 teachers in 192 schools. The main data collection tools were the principals` questionnaire (r =.89), HoDs` questionnaire (r =.92) and teachers` questionnaire (r =.87). Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis, while quantitative data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Due to the non-normality and ordinal nature of data, inferential statistics were done by use of the Kruskal-Wallis H-test as the non-parametric alternative to the one-way analysis of variance F-test. The study findings were that all five dimensions of instructional leadership were positively and significantly related to students’ academic achievement. Strategic provision of instructional materials and promoting teacher capacity building and motivation were the two dimensions with the largest effect sizes since they explained 9.6% and 9.1% of the observed variation in academic performance, respectively. When all five dimensions of instructional leadership were considered together, the overall instructional leadership explained 16.7% of the observed variation in academic performance, implying that for principals to impact significantly on academic achievement in their schools, they must focus and prioritise all the dimensions of instructional leadership. As a major recommendation for the study, though principals have an arduous task of general school management, they need to prioritise instructional leadership to enhance academic performance in their schools. Proper capacity building and stakeholders support to the principals in this endeavour would be a move in the right direction.

Principals' Instructional Leadership in Secondary Schools in Bohlabela District: A Matter of Concern

Leadership of school leaders regardless principals or headmasters is among the key factors that can affect the academic achievement of students directly or indirectly. Based on previous research, a strong relationship between student achievement and leadership of school leaders was proven. The Ministry of Education Malaysia (MoE) has outlined three approaches to improving student achievement through the improvement of school leaders' performance. One of the approaches is school leaders should act as instructional leaders who are actively involved in teacher development activities by planning, coordinating and evaluating the teaching and learning process (T&amp;L) at school. This concept paper will discuss several matters related to instructional leadership such as background and development of instructional leadership, instructional leadership definitions, the development of instructional leadership concepts, instructional leadership models and the issues and challenges that exist in implementing this leadership styles. The analysis was done in the context of Malaysia and abroad. The paper is written based on extensive secondary data analysis. After analyzing matters relating to instructional leadership, it can be concluded that instructional leadership is a form of leadership that every school leader needs to practice for excellence achievements in a school. With a lot of challenges nowadays, it needs to be addressed so that the direction of the school is on the right track and students’ achievement can be enhanced.

Principals in South African schools are mandated to implement the National Curriculum and Assessment Policy. Successful implementation of the curriculum is inferred from learner academic achievements in the Annual National Assessments. At present learner academic performance is below the achievement targets set for 2014, creating pressure on school principals as they are accountable for the academic performance of learners. To meet these challenges, principals need to become directly involved in the teaching and learning processes, which can be achieved if they become instructional leaders. To investigate the structure of instructional leadership in the South African context, quantitative research was utilised. A questionnaire captured the perceptions of 2 386 teachers about the principals’ utilisation of the postulated sub-dimensions of instructional leadership. Data was statistically analysed using appropriate statistical techniques. AMOS 18 graphics indicated that instructional leadership consi...

PurposeEducational accountability and student achievement polarization, which result in high dropout rates, pose significant challenges and pressures on teachers' pedagogical leadership. Whether pedagogical leadership, which originates in the Western educational environment, can significantly improve student achievement in Chinese high schools remains unclear. This concept has not yet been fully explored in the Chinese educational environment, and its direct impact on student achievement and the mediating role of English teaching methods remain to be investigated. However, existing research has concentrated on the effectiveness of principals' pedagogical leadership, with variations in teachers' pedagogical leadership practices. Many reform measures have been implemented in China to improve student achievement, but past educational practices have analyzed the impact on student achievement from a single instructional leadership, school capital or teaching method perspective. Furthermore, there is a lack of multidimensional and systematic assessments of the direct effects of teacher pedagogical leadership on student achievement and the mediating effects of English teaching methods.Design/methodology/approachTo address this gap, this study analyzed the impact of teachers' pedagogical leadership on student achievement and the mediating effect of English teaching methods with the support of the theory of action for teacher leadership, specifically using pedagogical leadership and English teaching methods models.This study conducted a questionnaire survey of 968 participants in Taian City, China, and quantitatively analyzed the data using SmartPLS structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsThis study revealed that pedagogical leadership has a positive direct effect on student achievement. Meanwhile, among the four mediating factors, the Direct Method, Audio-Lingual Method and Communicative Language Teaching had significant mediating effects.Originality/valueThis study shows that the effective use of academic and professional capital allocation in pedagogical leadership, combined with effective measures of using multiple effective English teaching methods, helps achieve high-quality student achievement.

Departmental heads are increasingly recognised as pivotal instructional leaders within schools, serving as a bridge between senior management and classroom practice. Despite this recognition, the existing literature predominantly focuses on principals, often neglecting the leadership roles of departmental heads, particularly in South African public primary schools. This under-representation creates a gap in understanding how these middle leaders interpret and enact instructional leadership within complex and under-resourced educational environments. This study aimed to explore the instructional leadership experiences of departmental heads in five public primary schools in Gauteng Province, South Africa. A qualitative research approach, underpinned by the interpretive paradigm, was adopted, employing a generic qualitative design. Ten departmental heads were purposively selected, and data were collected through semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis. Thematic analysis was employed to interpret the findings. Results revealed varied understandings of instructional leadership, shaped by personal orientations, school culture, and leadership structures. Departmental heads actively engaged in curriculum planning, classroom monitoring, and mentoring but faced challenges due to curriculum changes, limited autonomy, administrative overload, and a lack of formal leadership training. These challenges created a disparity between policy expectations and practical realities. Participants highlighted the necessity for structured leadership capacity development, peer support, and access to digital tools. The study concludes that departmental heads are crucial to instructional improvement, yet they remain under-supported and overburdened.

School leadership and teacher efficacy are the most important factors in improving student performance in resource-poor region, where educational disparities impede the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on equitable education. This study explored the association between principals’ instructional leadership (PIL), teacher self-efficacy (TSE), and students’ performance (SP) in secondary schools in the Wolaita Zone, South Ethiopia. Adopting a concurrent mixed-method design, the study comprised 369 respondents (teachers, department heads, unit leaders, and students) from 22 secondary schools, using proportional random sampling. Data were collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with eight school principals. Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed significant positive relationships between PIL and SP (R = 0.78) and between teachers’ efficacy and SP (R = 0.88). The results show that collaborative and teaching-focused leadership practices increase teachers’ confidence and efficacy, resulting in higher student achievement. This study shows that school leaders play a crucial role in enhancing educational outcomes in resource-limited settings study area. By demonstrating how successful leadership can influence teacher motivation and learning among students, this study supports SDG 4 by adopting inclusive and equitable quality education. This implies that the strategy of investing in strong instructional leadership and teacher support in under-resourced rural schools is scalable to minimize educational disparities and enhance the learning outcomes. In particular, building teachers’ capacity through collaborative instructional leadership in settings such as the Wolaita Zone could eliminate achievement gaps and fulfill the inclusive lifelong learning objectives of SDG 4. Based on this evidence, specific policies to develop the capacity of school leadership and teacher development have the potential to promote equity in education and sustainable development in a similar context in rural Ethiopia and the rest of the world, with inputs to the global effort to achieve quality education in the future.

This study examined the relationship between strong instructional leadership, as measured by the Principal Instructional Measurement Rating Scale (PIMRS) and high student academic outcomes in 35 Mid-Atlantic Catholic elementary schools. In addition, the research explored the role of Catholic identity in supporting instructional leadership behaviors in Catholic elementary schools. The purpose of the study was to examineA) instructional leadership behaviors in principals with high versus low student academic outcomes, and B) to use a measure of Catholic identity to differentiate the extent to which principals can focus on instructional leadership This research focused on ways Catholic schools can both improve themselves and inform charter and traditional public schools. The study consisted of over 100 principals and teachers in Mid-Atlantic Catholic elementary schools. The participants completed the PIMRS and Framework for Catholic Identity (FCI) to identify instructional leadership behaviors and level of Catholic identity. To document student academic achievement in aggregate, the research used a value added growth model. Using factor analysis, the researcher identified behaviors associated with schools in different levels of student growth and performance on standardized assessment in relation to outcomes on the PIMRS and FCI. Research on principal leadership behavior is extensive and focuses on either traditional public schools, using an instructional leadership model supported by top-down leadership or public charter schools that focus on transformational leadership. The research provided evidence that Catholic schools reside in between instructional and transformational leadership, with Catholic culture supporting instructional leadership. Since Catholic schools lack an organized and systemic top-down leadership model, there is a gap in knowledge of the unique environment of site-based leadership management in Catholic schools. In addition, the research informs school improvement across all sectors of K-12 education. This research is designed to identify best practices in site-based leadership, as practiced in Catholic (P)K-8 elementary schools, to help improve education in public, charter, and non-public schools. With many organizations, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, supporting transformational leadership model to expand charter school across the country, there is a need to understand in what context it is possible to scale a site-based leadership model. Catholic schools benefit from having a Catholic culture drive their goals and purpose, which unlike charter schools, is not dependent on a single person or group. The implications of this study will inform Catholic school central offices on principal behaviors within its unique structure. In addition, the research will inform school reformers on how to harness the most effective elements of both instructional and transformational leadership to improve student academic outcomes for all students.

Instructional leadership must be consistent and pervasive in order for principals to lead schools and meet the ever-evolving needs of students. Over the years, the role of the building principal has evolved from building manager to instructional leader. While this evolution has engrossed much scholarly attention, minimal research has been conducted regarding the role of an assistant principal. The roles and responsibilities of assistant principals vary greatly depending on the principal, who determines the responsibilities he or she is willing to share or delegate to their assistant. To assist with providing consistent and pervasive instructional leadership, the role of the assistant principal must be called upon to develop instructional leadership. This qualitative study explored the unique experiences of two assistant principals practicing instructional leadership in a Pennsylvania high school. The intrinsic case study approach was selected in order to develop an in-depth description and analysis of how the assistant principals experience the dynamics of their relationship with their principal and the principal practices leading to the development of the assistant principals as instructional leaders. The researcher explored the central research question: How does the working relationship between a high school principal and assistant principals influence the assistant principals' instructional leadership? Additionally, the following sub-questions were explored: 1. How do high school administrators in a Pennsylvania district describe the essential skills and responsibilities of an instructional leader? 2. How do high school administrators in a Pennsylvania district describe the roles and responsibilities of assistant principals? 3. How do high school administrators in a Pennsylvania district describe principal practices that support assistant principals' instructional leadership? This qualitative case study extends current research and provides a greater understanding of how a high school principal in south, central Pennsylvania fosters the instructional leadership of his assistant principals. Data collection included semi-structured interviews and a review of documents, totaling 11 datasets. Data analysis yielded five major themes including: (a) Instructional Leaders Know and Show the Way, (b) Assistant Principals Serve as Liaisons, (c) Communication is Critical to Instructional Leadership, (d) Assembling a Strong Principal-Assistant Principal Team, and (e) Principals Facilitate the Leadership Development of Assistant Principals. Five primary results derived from the findings: (a) instructional leaders create and communicate a shared vision, provide teachers with individualized professional learning, and are committed to personal growth; (b) assistant principals and principals fulfill similar instructional leadership responsibilities; however, the role of the assistant principal is reactive in nature and the assistant principal serves as a liaison between the principal and all stakeholder groups; (c) principals and assistant principals must engage in open and honest communication in all directions in order to fulfill their leadership roles and increase their leadership growth, specifically with regard to instructional leadership; (d) when hiring an assistant principal, principals need to find a candidate that possesses a similar philosophy, but different strengths in order to assemble a strong, compatible team; and (e) principals must facilitate the leadership development of their assistant principals by getting to know their interests and strengths, empowering and supporting them, and providing meaningful leadership opportunities. The following recommended principal practices emerged during the research study. To assist with establishing the roles and responsibilities of assistant principals as instructional leaders, principals should: (a) foster professional learning networks to stay abreast of current best practices in education; (b) look for assistant principal candidates with similar philosophical beliefs, but varied strengths and differing skill sets; (c) create and communicate the specific roles and responsibilities of assistant principals; (d) assume the role of mentor and create opportunities to provide guidance to assistant principals while partaking in leadership tasks together; (e) spend time with their assistant principal every day; (f) schedule time each day to dialogue with their assistant principals-discussions should include brainstorming, planning, reflection, and feedback; (g) provide opportunities to assistant principals who align with the assistant principal's interests and strengths; (h) provide assistant principals with opportunities to communicate with all stakeholders; (i) delegate authentic, meaningful instructional leadership tasks to assistant principals; (j) model and hold high expectations for the assistant principal's instructional leadership; (k) identify teacher leaders and provide them with exposure to administrative activities and responsibilities; and (l) keep administrative teams intact as long as possible. The results could assist with redefining and restructuring the roles and responsibilities of assistant principals to include instructional leadership to improve student and school performance.

The aim of this study is to determine perceptions of secondary school students towards effectiveness of their school in terms of effective school characteristics such as 'Secure and Regular Environment', 'High Academic Expectations', 'Instructional Leadership', 'Learning Opportunities', 'Monitoring School Learnings' and 'Positive School-Parent Relationship', and to determine the predictive power of such perceptions for student achievement (in terms of year-end academic average grade). In this study, the data on student perceptions of school effectiveness and student achievement were collected by 'The Scale for Effective School (SFES)' which is developed by Gunal [1]. The validity evidences on SFES were obtained by explanatory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis methods. The CFA yielded good fit indices (RMSEA(0.042)) in terms of construct validity of SFES. These results revealed that the measuring construct of the scale is statistically significant and consistent. As an evidence of internal reliability of the SFES, Cronbach's alpha coefficient for total scale was computed as α=0.91. For the main study, participants (n=4472) were comprised of students attending the grades from 5 to 8 in 13 secondary schools in the centre of Trabzon during the 2012-2013 academic year. The schools were selected according to the criteria of transportation convenience. Collected data by SFES were analyzed by multivariate regression analysis method. According to the participants' perceptions, the most effective school dimension was found as 'Instructional Leadership'. The results of the multivariate regression analysis reveal that variables (Instructional Leadership, High Academic Expectations, Monitoring School Learnings, Positive School-Home Relationship, Learning Opportunities offered to all students) of effective schools all together explain 27 % of students' year-end academic achievement scores.

The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of instructional leadership on students’ academic achievement in science subjects (Physics, Chemistry, and Biology) at secondary level. Instructional leadership includes the leadership capacity of an individual such as head teacher to provide instructional resources, maximize instructional time for teachers, and maximize instruction related activities to improve student achievement. The population of the study included all science teachers and their students of grade 10 in public high schools in Baluchistan. Instructional Leadership Questionnaire (ILQ) was adopted after getting consent from the authors. Pilot-testing was conducted to ensure the reliability of the questionnaire. Later on, using the multistage sampling technique, 2797 students and 388 teachers were selected from 6 districts (Quetta, Pishin, Sibi, Lasbela, Killa Abdullah, and Chaman) of Balochistan. Instructional Leadership Questionnaire was found to be highly reliable. (α=.84). The achievement scores of the 2797 students in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology were collected from their respective schools. Moderate positive relationship of instructional leadership and students’ achievement in Physics, Chemistry, and biology were found. Multiple regression analysis showed that Instructional leadership predicted 46% of variance in Physics achievement, 38% in Chemistry, and 49 % in Biology achievement. The study recommended implementing instructional leadership practices in schools to increase students’ achievement in science subjects.