Perceptions Of Principals Research Articles

PERSEPSI GURU. KEPALA SEKOLAH, DAN WALI MURID TENTANG FENOMENA KEKERASAN DI DUNIA MAYA TERHADAP ANAK

In the current technological era many children are using social media. Children are more vulnerable to experiencing violence in cyberspace. The role of teachers, principals and guardians of students is needed to prevent the occurrence of violence in cyberspace. This study aims to determine the perceptions of teachers, principals, and guardians of students about the phenomenon of cyber violence against children. The subjects of this study were 4 teachers, 2 school principals, and 4 student guardians. Selection of subjects using purposive sampling technique. The object in this study is the perception of teachers, principals, and guardians of students about child violence in cyberspace. This research is a qualitative research with data collection techniques in the form of observation, interviews, and documentation. The validity of the data uses triangulation techniques with data analysis using an interactive model consisting of data collection, data reduction, display data, and conclusion drawing. The results of the study show that from (1) the cognitive aspects of teachers, principals and guardians of students who know about child violence in cyberspace prevent children from violence in cyberspace. (2) Affective aspects, feelings of teachers, principals and guardians of students are good, if children experience violence in cyberspace feel sad and sad. However, in the context of finding children who experience violence in cyberspace is still classified as passive. Teachers, principals and guardians of students will take action if there is a complaint from the child. (3) Conative aspects, when in school teachers and principals tend to act to prevent violence by advising children, prohibiting the use of mobile phones in schools and not providing internet support facilities for children. At home, guardians provide supervision and advice if children access the internet.

The Need for a School-based Student Obesity Prevention Program: Perceptions of Rural Elementary Principals

This phenomenological study investigated the perceptions of elementary principals regarding the need for a school-based student obesity prevention at eight, rural elementary schools in North Central Texas. Face to face interviews were the primary method of data collection from the eight participants. Findings indicated that school-based obesity prevention programs are needed to decrease the occurrence of student obesity, improve student diets and health related behaviors, educate families on obesity prevention measures, and improve the academic performance of students. The need to inform and include relevant stakeholders in the creation and implementation of school-based obesity prevention programs was identified as an essential component to the success of the program. The findings provide school leaders with components needed for an effective school-based obesity prevention program along with barriers for consideration.

Metaphoric Perceptions of School Principals towards Physical Education Term

Abstract It is very crucial to know how the notion of physical education is perceived by the Principals who are responsible for the school administration and to know the mission and visions they have put on these concepts. The aim of this study is to reveal the metaphoric perceptions of school Principals about physical education concept. The research group is consisted of 153 school principals in Ankara in 2017-2018 academic year. The datum is like “Physical Education is like .........., it is because .......” It was gathered with an open-ended survey containing the sentence. Content analysis technique was used in data analysis and interpretation. In this research, the data were analyzed under the headings of coding and sorting, category development, validity and reliability, data interpretation by taking into consideration the content analysis stages. Metaphors were gathered in 6 different categories as a result of the grouping formed according to the common characteristics of 66 metaphors produced by school Principals related to the concept of Physical Education. Among the metaphors produced by the school principals, it is seen that the most used ones are lesson, activity, power, socialization, discharge and need. Keywords: school management, physical education, metaphor

Perceptions of Assistant Principals’ and Principals’ of Bahrain Government Schools about the Impact of the Bahrain Teachers College Educational Leadership Program on Their Performance

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School principals’ perceptions and requirements of school evaluators

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of school principals of the evaluator’s role and to learn about their requirements of school evaluators.Design/methodology/approachThe current study is based on the qualitative paradigm of data collection and analysis. This paradigm provides a profound a description of the phenomenon in the context in which it takes place, based on the respondents’ perceptions and how they interpret their experiences. In the course of the study, the authors used semi-structured in-depth interviews.FindingsFindings indicated that principals had regarded the role of the school evaluator mainly as that of an expert, a managerial partner and an implementer of school evaluation culture.Research limitations/implicationsThe interviewers were the teachers who had been trained for the school evaluator’s position.Practical implicationsThe “school evaluator” and the principals bear the complex task of evaluation on their shoulders, and their success in fulfilling it depends on their insights about how to delineate and implement the evaluator’s role. The paper outlines some crucial benchmarks for resolving the issue of role definitions between them.Social implicationsAs a relatively new profession, derived from other professions and research areas, evaluation has no solid, historical occupational legacy in schools. This paper broadens the merit of school evaluator as the facilitator of quality assurance.Originality/valueThe increased responsibility placed on schools, the demand of accountability as well as transparency, have obliged the schools to broaden and deepen the internal evaluation activities. This paper reveals the essence of school evaluator’s role and suggests some key points for his/her valuable work.

Neglected Issues: How Charter Schools Manage Teachers and Acquire Resources

Background/ContextCharter schools are commonly discussed as being more effective at matching student and family interests with school mission, ensuring family choice of educational products and improving education quality and the efficiency of resource use as a result of the competitive dynamics they are assumed to generate between themselves and public schools. The rhetoric around charter schools in general puts little attention on teacher management and resource acquisition, and the literature on charter schools has tended to focus on outcomes such as student achievement. The prevalence of charter schools within and outside the United States underscores the need to understand what role such issues as teacher management and resourcing play in this increasingly popular education reform.Focus of StudyThe purpose of this article is to uncover and present the strategies that charter schools employ for managing teachers and acquiring resources, and with what implications.Research DesignThrough a qualitative case study of a charter school program in Bogotá, Colombia, that began in 1999, we investigated (a) the regulations that governed the hiring, firing, and compensation of charter school teachers, in addition to (b) how charters respond to those regulations in contracting teachers, and (c) the overall approach of charter principals and the charter management organizations (CMOs) that oversee them when it comes to teacher engagement, collaboration, supervision, and professional development. In terms of resource acquisition, the focus was on understanding (d) the extent of government-provided resources to charter schools, (e) the perceptions of charter principals and CMO directors of the resources provided by the government, (f) the ways in which these actors have sought to complement these resources, and (g) the kinds of additional resources that have been obtained. Data in the form of documents, archives, literature and evaluations, and qualitative interviews were collected over eight months.ConclusionsFindings indicate that charter school teachers in Bogotá feel that many aspects of their work environment are positive, though they also report tradeoffs in terms of job security and financial compensation. Charter schools use the flexibility afforded to them around employment to spend half as much on teachers by hiring nonunionized teachers, contracting them for periods of a year or less, assigning teachers to lower compensation categories, and offering significantly lower salaries, despite teachers working over 12 hours more each week than their public school counterparts. Findings with regard to resource acquisition address differences between public and charter schools, perceptions of school leaders, and the routes to resource acquisition used by charter schools, namely budget prioritization, donations, volunteers, partnerships, and alumni networks. Implications for future research are discussed, including the need for studies to distinguish among types of charter schools. The article concludes that, when addressing the costs and benefits of charter schools, we need to ask: Costs in what sense? Benefits for whom? And at whose expense?

Declining Morale, Diminishing Autonomy, and Decreasing Value: Principal Reflections on a High-Stakes Teacher Evaluation System

Since the adoption of teacher evaluation systems that rely, at least in part, on controversial student achievement measures, little research has been conducted that focuses on stakeholders’ perceptions of systems in practice, specifically the perceptions of school principals. This study was conducted in a large urban school district to better understand principals’ perceptions of evaluating teachers based on professional and instructional practices as well as student achievement (i.e., value-added scores). Principals in this study strongly expressed concerns regarding: (a) the negative impact of the teacher evaluation system on district culture and morale; (b) their lack of autonomy in evaluating teachers and making staffing decisions; and (c) their perceived lack of value as professionals in the district. Examining the implications of teacher evaluation systems, per the experiences of principals as practitioners, is increasingly important if state and local policymakers as well as the general public are to better understand the intended and unintended consequences of these systems in practice.

The Hashkafa Program as a Framework for the Professional Development of Teachers: The Perceptions of Principals

ABSTRACT Professional development communities (PDCs) are professional learning communities for teacher development in schools. Israeli educational reforms made principals responsible for staff professional development and introduced a teacher-led, PDC-based program called Hashkafa for teacher development. The current study examined principals’ views regarding: the teacher characteristics necessary to lead a PDC; the facilitators and barriers to effective PDCs; and the effect of Hashkafa on teacher professional development. Participants were the principals of 17 of the 97 schools participating in the Hashkafa pilot program. Most (13) principals considered the program to have a moderately or strongly positive effect on teacher professional development.

Interactions between principals and teacher leaders in the context of Chinese curriculum reform: a micropolitical perspective

This paper draws from a larger exploratory qualitative study that investigated the perceptions of principals and teacher leaders regarding their interactions in Chinese urban primary schools during contemporary curriculum reform. Insights from micropolitics, notably two core constructs of cooperation and conflict, were utilised to examine the interactions of participants. The research found that principals and teacher leaders employed exchange and facilitation as two strategies during cooperative processes; and they adopted enforcement and compromise in conflictive processes. Eight new sub-dimensions under the four strategies emerged from the interview accounts. Findings indicate that most principals were exercising their power ‘through’ their teacher leaders who in turn were working in alignment with their principals to achieve the desired outcomes in schools. Principals in some circumstances used power ‘over’ as a traditional approach, while power ‘with’ was not apparent in participants’ comments. The paper contends that traditional Chinese cultural attitudes towards education, as shaped through Confucianism, were also discernible in framing the nature of some of the interactions between principals and teacher leaders.

The Effect of Principals’ Social Justice Leadership on Teachers’ Academic Optimism in Taiwan

This study examined teacher perceptions of principals’ social justice leadership and their effect on teachers’ academic optimism in Taiwan, along with the moderating effects of teachers’ gender, position, and school size. While a total sample of 1,470 elementary and secondary school teachers were surveyed, this study applied a multidimensional framework to examine social justice leadership. The results indicate that teachers perceive principals’ social justice leadership to a high degree. Second, teachers’ perceptions of social justice leadership significantly vary by gender, position, and school size. Third, social justice leadership positively relates to teachers’ academic optimism. Fourth, gender has a moderating effect on the relationship of social justice leadership and teachers’ academic optimism, which suggests that the practice of principals’ social justice leadership is influenced by the inherent culture, at least to an extent.

Perceptions of Elementary Principals on Compass Evaluation System

This study explores the perceptions of elementary school principals on the Compass teacher evaluation system in a Southern Louisiana school district in the United States. There were seven themes that emerged from the qualitative data analysis: compliance, subjectivity, accountability, expectation, confinement, inconsistency, and helpfulness. Data analysis led to the following major findings: (a) all principals comply with the functions of Compass; (b) principals experience subjectivity when using the Compass teacher evaluation system; (c) principals believe that Compass holds teachers accountable for their performances; (d) principals would like Compass to be consistent, unambiguous, and not place limitations on teacher practices; and (e) principals experience a lack of involvement and support from the central office.

Homework in the Foundation Phase: Perceptions of principals of eight public primary schools in Johannesburg

This article reports on a qualitative study done in Johannesburg, South Africa, which investigated attitudes of primary school principals of eight public primary schools towards the use of homework in teaching and learning in the Foundation Phase (which comprises the first three grade levels of primary schooling). Using a semi-structured interview, the study focused on the principals’ perceptions of homework in general, whether homework policies existed in their schools, and the extent to which parents were involved in their children’s homework. To obtain a representative set of findings, purposive sampling was used to recruit two participating principals from schools in each of the following geographical and socio-economic settings: inner city, peri-urban, suburban and township. The findings indicated that although the purpose and value of homework remains debatable, the participating principals viewed homework as a valuable tool in teaching and learning. The principals expressed the belief that parents from low-income environments regarded homework as important, as did their higher-income counterparts, but poorer parents were less involved in their children’s homework. The study concludes with recommendations for education policy-makers, as well as primary school administrators and parents, regarding the use of homework in primary schools. Keywords : effective homework; homework; homework debates; homework policy; parental involvement; socio-economic environment

Instructional Supervision: The Policy-Practice Rift

If school superintendents were polled as to the level of agreement between the behaviors outlined in school division policy manuals and actual behaviours in schools, one might expect them to respond that there was, in fact, a high level of agreement. In fact, in today's site-based managed schools, it seems critically important that the level of agreement be high since schools operated under this management philosophy often have a great deal of autonomy with less day to day contact with superintendents. This article r elates the results of a recent study in which the perceptions of superintendents, principals, and teachers were analyzed and compared in order to determine the actual level of agreement between the practices for instructional supervision outlined in the school division's policy manual and the actual practice in the schools governed by those policies.

Educational Decentralization Efforts in a Centralized Country: Saudi Tatweer Principal Perceptions of New Authorities Granted

This study captured the perspectives of school principals in Saudi Arabia regarding the new authorizes granted to them as part of their country’s education decentralization efforts. Specifically, this study explored these principals’ perceived ability to implement the new authorities, levels of support, effectiveness, and additional desired authorities. This study provided an opportunity to analyze the early efforts of a country with a very centralized educational system to implement more significant decentralization efforts.A total of 173 Tatweer school principals completed an online survey, and findings suggest these Saudi principals perceived limited ability, low to moderate support in implementing the new authorities, and only slight agreement that the authorities were likely to achieve desired outcomes. Multiple regression analysis revealed that beliefs on the effectiveness of the authorities at achieving MOE outcomes were predicted by perceived ability to implement administrative authorities, perceived support to implement technical authorities, and years of experience.

Do Differences in High School Principal and Assistant Principal Perceptions Predict Student Achievement Outcomes?

The assistant principal plays a key role in school success but research suggests there are differences between principals and assistant principals in their perceptions of their roles. The 2011 Teaching, Empowering, Leading, and Learning Kentucky survey responses of educator perceptions were statistically analyzed for the statewide sample of principals and assistant principals. Results indicate that principals and assistant principals reported significantly different perceptions regarding teacher leadership and school leadership. Differences in principal and assistant principal responses were not related to student achievement, however. Implications for collaborative engagement between principals and assistant principals as they focus on increasing school leadership and teacher effectiveness are discussed.

Perceptions of a Principal Mentoring Initiative

The daily demands on school principals require clear and consistent feedback, and without a mentor, a new principal may not have this type of assistance. This phenomenological study explores the perceptions of new principals and their assigned mentors in one legislated initiative, named by the researcher as the Vermont mentoring “program.” Vermont requires new principals to be mentored for 2 years. Study participants discuss their mentor-mentee relationship and how that affects their leadership practices.

Perception of Principals, Teachers, and Parents about the Issues on the Implementation of Open Recruitment System for Principals

Perception of Principals, Teachers, and Parents about the Issues on the Implementation of Open Recruitment System for Principals

Leadership Perceptions of Principals with and without Special Education Backgrounds

This study investigated the perceptions of leadership by public school principals with and without special education backgrounds. Utilizing Q-sort methodology, principals sorted 47 leadership statements. Findings indicated prior special education experience was not a predictor of subsequent leadership perceptions. Instead, two factors emerged where one was composed of younger, less educated, less experienced principals in lower-performing schools who valued instructional and transactional leadership and the other was composed of older, more educated, more experienced, and more ethnically diverse principals who worked in higher-performing schools who valued transformational-collaborative leadership. The results suggest principals with and without special education backgrounds follow a developmental path.

In Translation: School Leaders Learning in and from Leadership Practice While Confronting Pressing Policy Challenges

Background/ContextWorldwide, principals face enormous challenges while translating policies and mandates for which they are accountable into their mission and practice. While some of these school-level challenges are technical, many are adaptive (Heifetz), requiring leaders and those in their care to grow their cognitive and affective (emotional) capacities so that they can manage change. Principals are under pressure to decipher problems quickly and create conditions to build capacity at ground level.Purpose/Research QuestionThis research examined how principals framed pressing challenges they confronted in leadership practice (technical, adaptive, or mixed), and in what ways, if any, learning was part of their response. A pressing challenge is defined as a difficult problem named by leaders that they—themselves—identified as one they are currently facing or have recently faced. We explored how they helped other adults (e.g., teachers and staff) and themselves to manage change associated with meeting these challenges. Additionally, we queried how prior and new learning helped them lead while overcoming pressing challenges.SettingWe recruited principals working in urban K–12 public schools in the U.S. Eastern Seaboard and Bermuda, sites focused on educational reform.ParticipantsA purposeful sample of 13 principals (eight male, five female) representing primary, middle, and secondary levels was used. State department leaders and educational leadership faculty recommended principals who they perceived were “effective”—in other words, based on their knowledge and by reputation, these were successful school leaders.Research DesignThis qualitative study used in-depth interviews to explore the experience and perceptions of principals leading through challenges.Data Collection and AnalysisPrincipals participated in in-depth semistructured interviews. After member checking, interview transcripts were coded and categories developed to capture themes and patterns.FindingsLeaders’ pressing challenges have elements of what Heifetz calls adaptive, technical, and mixed. There was a recurring theme of leading to support change. Regardless of how these principals conceptualized challenges, they responded by creating customized professional learning experiences—informational (aimed at increasing skills and knowledge) and transformational learning (aimed at internal growth and capacity building)—for teachers, staff, and for themselves. While appreciating formal leadership preparation, they emphasized learning from informal experiences and focused on job-embedded learning in their schools.Conclusions/RecommendationsUnderstanding technical and adaptive work, the ways that adults learn and grow, and how strategically to create space and spaces for continuous, customized experiential learning in schools (informational and transformational) offers a potential pathway for principals to build capacity and surmount pressing challenges.

Service quality of school canteens: a case study from the Western Province, Sri Lanka

Background: Creating a healthy eating environment in schools is a proposed outcome of school canteen guidelines issued in 2007 in Sri Lanka. Maintaining service quality, guarantees achieving better health standards of school canteens. Objectives: This study assessed service quality of canteens in terms of location, physical facilities in food preparation and serving areas, food handling practices, food storage, and waste management. Further, it explored causes for deviating the service quality from the stipulated guidelines. Methods: This is a across sectional study, conducted in government schools in two districts in 2014. Service qualities of the canteens were assessed using a quantitative tool. Qualitative inquiry was used to explore perceptions of school principals and canteen operators on service quality. Results: Eighty eight percent of canteens were located in a suitable place and 78% had a clean outside environment. Only two third of food preparation areas satisfied the basic criteria. A dining area was available for students only in half. More than 80% of canteens had waste water drainage and 89% of canteens had bins for waste disposal. However, majority of canteens did not keep bins closed. Half of the canteens had cooling equipment, and majority of them had a practice to store raw materials and cooked food separately. Almost in 30 % of canteens, food was not covered in the serving area, and more than 90% of canteens used neither aprons nor gloves. Conclusion: This study found that providing quality food quality in school canteens has been a challenge due to many gaps in the present system. However, strengthening the service quality towards a healthy nutrition promoting setting can be done by change in planning and implementation processes.