Principals’ Instructional Leadership in Small School-A Preliminary Study

Nitce Isa Medina,Azlin Norhaini Mansor,Jamalul Lail Abdul Wahab,Sharmini Siva Vikaraman

doi:10.6007/ijarbss/v8-i8/4623

Abstract

The challenges faced by principals in small schools are unique due to its context. Small schools which has less than 150 enrolments of students are mostly located in rural areas. Yet, educators are concerned about the ability of the principal to adapt to this context considering many limitations and multitasks at the same time. This paper discusses the principals’ instructional leadership practices in three different types of small schools which are Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK), Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) and Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT) in Perak state. The purpose of this preliminary, quantitative study was to examine how their instructional leadership practices differ in these schools. Through the use of a cross-sectional survey, responses made by 92 teachers from nine schools were compared. The Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS) Teacher Short Form was used for data collection. Findings showed that principals’ instructional leadership practices in this study is at moderate level. Although the principals’ instructional leadership practices level is the lowest for SK principals, the findings also showed that there is no significant difference in principals’ instructional leadership practices level among all schools. Nevertheless, the areas of significance identified by this study showed that despite all challenges, the principals from different types of schools are practicing instructional leadership at their best.

Highlights

Instructional leadership impact in Southeast Asia has become increasingly important (Hallinger & Bryant, 2013) ever since it became the subject of research over the last three decades
A quantitative cross-sectional survey was used in this study involving small schools in Perak state
The principals’ instructional leadership practices were measured using the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS) Teacher Short Form which served as an effective instrument for the data collection with high standard reliability and internal validity (Hallinger & Murphy, 2013; Hallinger et al, 2015)

Summary

Introduction

Instructional leadership impact in Southeast Asia has become increasingly important (Hallinger & Bryant, 2013) ever since it became the subject of research over the last three decades. School principals need to face many challenges including the need to compete with the 21st century learning, resulting to the “leaders dilemma” (Adams, Raman Kutty, & Zuliana, 2017). It is critical for a principal to understand the concept of leadership so they can be an efficient leader in school. The path-goal theory by House (1996) can be applied by the principals. This theory was designed to identify leader’s practiced style as a motivation to get subordinate to accomplish goals. It reinforces the idea that as a school leader, the principals must make sure that motivation plays an important part in how a principal and teacher interact. Positive interaction further brings about the intentions towards attaining school goals despite challenges

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Results