Role Of School Leaders Research Articles

Developing Positive Data Cultures in High-Stakes Environments: The Role of School Leaders

Data use is considered a key lever in school improvement processes, but the punitive pressure of high-stakes accountability can influence whether or not data use is enacted in ways which facilitate improvement. School leaders must learn to respond to high-stakes accountability in ways which lead teachers to feel safe, efficacious, and agentic with data use, and they must orient teachers to recognize data use as a mechanism for improvement. The following case describes how two leaders at Milo School District uniquely responded to high-stakes accountability and ultimately influenced the type of data culture created within their schools.

Role of School Leadership to Improve School Quality Through Hidden Curriculum

AbstractThis study aims to explore the leadership role of school principals in maintaining and developing a hidden curriculum to improve school quality. The research was conducted in schools in the city of Bandung using a survey method. Data collection techniques used an open questionnaire. The results showed that the key to the success of school principals in achieving the objectives of the hidden curriculum refers to two aspects: (a) related to the character of school principals which can be seen in the integrity of female principals, leadership styles, managerial abilities of principals and competence of school principals related to the determinants of the success of the hidden curriculum which includes the authority of the school principal, the role of teachers in overseeing the implementation of the hidden curriculum, support from parents and school autonomy. Hidden curriculum that is formed the school character will improve the quality of the school.

Effects of school leadership in enhancing learners’ achievement in South African rural schools

Introduction: School leadership has increasingly been gaining attention from educational policymakers, and the entire educational society. Research has also confirmed that school principals are essential for developing and maintaining effective school systems. The role of school leadership in schools is highly complex and dynamic such that strategies are needed to change underperforming schools. This article reported on a small scale exploratory qualitative study that investigated the effects of school leadership in enhancing the learning outcomes of a cohort of schools in a rural setting in South Africa. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to analyse the role of principals in enhancing learning achievement in schools. Methodology: The study took a qualitative research approach with an interpretive epistemological and constructivist ontological perspective. Qualitative evidence was collected from six schools in the same district through semi-structured interview question with educators and school principals. Purposive sampling techniques were used to select information-rich cases from the schools and in selecting the schools. Results: Grounded in the accounts of our study participants, results from the study indicated that school principals are the cornerstones of achieving quality teaching and learning through motivating educators, training and providing distributed leadership Recommendations: From the study findings, it was recommended that there is need to improve the basic unit of the educational institution which include structural, cultural and agential conditions to enhance the effective operations of school principals. There is a need to motivate and enhance existing forms of agency in ways that expand learners’ achievement.

Theorising and preparing students for precarity: how can leaders and educators better prepare students to enter an increasingly insecure workforce?

ABSTRACT Workforce insecurity has significant implications for the role of school leaders and teachers preparing students for changing worlds of work. For educators to better prepare students to enter an increasingly casualised labour workforce, there first needs to be an acknowledgement of how students perceive themselves in relation to post-school life. Drawing on a study of approximately 2500 secondary school students in the Australian state of Victoria, the figure of homo promptus is presented as a figure of youth to understand the real and imagined characteristics of students as workers-in-the-making. Homo promptus is entrepreneurial and strategic, yet on ‘standby’ as short-termism problematises future planning. This figure is overlaid onto students’ perceptions of their own career identity relative to post-school aspirations and transitions. The emergence of homo promptus and the broader labour and education landscapes from which this conceptualisation has been developed have implications for school leaders, teachers and school-based careers advisors.

The roles of school leaders in developing future-ready learners: the case of Singapore

PurposeAn education system can only be successful if it can develop future-ready learners who can continue to learn after graduation, take on their future lifework and thrive in the future society and environment. This article examines the economic, social and environmental trajectories of Singapore and proposes that it is important for future-ready learners to develop habits of practices that will support the skills, knowledge and values that are pertinent to these trajectories.Design/methodology/approachSchool leaders are responsible for creating environments and implementing practices that are conducive for fostering habits of practices that are crucial for future-ready outcomes. The authors discuss the inadequacies of traditional teaching and learning practices in supporting these habits and elucidate how newer paradigms such as constructivism, connectivism, coagency and communities of practice might be more useful in achieving this. The authors also present a case study of a school leadership preparation programme that aims to develop future-ready learners.FindingsThis paper provides insights into how newer paradigms of teaching and learning can be supportive for developing desirable habits of practices for future readiness.Originality/valueThis discussion piece introduces a fresh concept – habits of practices – that is relevant in preparing future-ready learners in Singapore.

Fagleg forysta eða stjórnun í erli dagsins: Hlutverk og staða aðstoðarskólastjóra í grunnskólum Reykjavíkur

Niðurstöður rannsókna á erlendum vettvangi sýna að hlutverk aðstoðarskólastjóra í stjórnun og forystu skóla verður umfangsmeira eftir því sem kröfur um árangur nemenda aukast og skólastarf verður flóknara. Einnig sýna rannsóknir að hlutverk aðstoðarskólastjóra í grunnskólum getur verið mjög margþætt og brotakennt. Greinin fjallar um reynslu aðstoðarskólastjóra af hlutverki sínu og stöðu þegar kemur að stjórnun og forystu, og er byggð á viðtölum við átta aðstoðarskólastjóra sem valdir voru af handahófi úr hópi aðstoðarskólastjóra í grunnskólum Reykjavíkur. Helstu niðurstöður rannsóknarinnar eru þær að aðstoðarskólastjórar í Reykjavík sjá sjálfa sig sem stjórnendur skóla fremur en faglega leiðtoga, enda fer mestur tími þeirra í daglega stjórnun skólans, svo sem að leysa úr forföllum starfsfólks og koma að úrlausnum ýmissa mála er snúa að nemendum og starfsfólki. Aðstoðarskólastjórarnir vildu gjarnan geta sinnt faglegri forystu í meiri mæli en þeir gera, en þeir upplifa að í erli dagsins gefist þeim fá tækifæri til slíkrar forystu. Niðurstöðurnar vekja upp áleitnar spurningar um starfsumhverfi aðstoðarskólastjóra, stöðu þeirra og óskýrt hlutverk.

The Role of School Leadership in Supporting Teacher Creativity to Improve Student Learning Outcomes in SMK Negeri 1 Al-Mubarkeya Ingin Jaya

The research objectives are to determine and analyze the role of principal leadership in increasing teacher creativity at SMK Negeri 1 Al-Mubarkeya Ingin Jaya and to find out and analyze teacher creativity in improving student learning outcomes at SMK Negeri 1 Al-Mubarkeya Ingin Jaya. This study used a qualitative approach using purposive sampling technique to determine informants and data collection techniques were carried out through observation, interviews and focus group discussions (FGD). The role of principal as education leader in increasing the creativity of teachers in State Vocational High School I Al-Mubarkeya Ingin Jaya, Aceh Besar District, still has several shortcomings. This can be seen from the indicators that the principal as an educator is still not maximal in guiding teachers to prepare learning tools. The principal as a supervisor is still not able to prepare a supervision program properly, because he does not do classification of problems and check the correctness of the problem. The implementation of supervision is still constrained by curriculum differences. The principal as a leader also still has shortcomings so that it has implications for the level of creativity guru in improving student learning outcomes. Teacher There are still those who have difficulty in formulating and classifying specific instructional goals to develop students' attitudes, knowledge, and skills.

Teachers’ perspective on school development at German vocational schools during the Covid-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the challenges of teachers at vocational schools with regard to the process of digitalisation in school development during the Covid-19 pandemic. Besides the intrapersonal prerequisites for teaching with technology and the change in learning and teaching attitudes, preconditions concerning schools as part of a learning organisation are examined. A qualitative interview study including N = 18 participants was conducted to identify challenges for teachers, the role of school leadership, and cooperation between stakeholders. The main coping strategies proved to be a clear agenda by the school leadership in connection with reliable technological infrastructure and teachers’ willingness to use digital teaching methods.

Blueprinting Evaluation Evidence: Data Sources and Methods.

Your residency program has shifted to a virtual interview process. This necessitates numerous changes, ranging from virtually introducing applicants to your program and meeting current residents to preparing faculty for the new interview process. Your program is proud of its track record of recruiting residents who are a good fit for the program and decides to keep the same overall method for ranking applicants. In preparing for recruitment, strong concerns were raised as to whether the virtual interview processes will continue to yield high-quality residents who fit your program as evidenced by: aligning their interests with the program's mission, having robust examination scores, embracing the values of the profession, being a good team member, and demonstrating a capacity to learn. Given this evaluation focus (ie, fit-for-program) and stakeholder-identified evidence (eg, aligned interests), what sources of data and methods of data collection do you need to evaluate your new virtual interview processes?Data should serve the information needs of stakeholders (utility) while also being accurate, feasible, and fair/ethical.1 Consider an adopt, adapt, and/or author (3A's) approach to data collection. Can you adopt data collection using existing surveys, performance data, and examination scores? Can you adapt an available tool to include items specific to your evaluation focus and evidence sought (eg, add an item on teamwork or alignment with mission to an existing rating tool)? Or can you adapt an available data set with a new analysis? For example, will you rate applicants' medical school leadership roles (as previously found leadership experiences correlate with a good “fit” with your residency mission) or analyze comments on interview rating forms? Your last resort is to author a new data collection strategy, if it is feasible (eg, realistic, cost-effective) and accurate (eg, valid, reliable). If you must author a new strategy, it should provide evidence that is not otherwise available.

Investigating the Existence of Mentoring Support to School’s New-Entrant Substitute Teachers in the Greek Educational Context: The Role of School Leadership

Teacher mentoring is one of the most well-known and widespread methods of personalized guidance and support for school’s new-entrant substitute teachers (Bezzina, 2006; Andrews & Quinn 2005; Moyles, Suschitsky & Chapman,1999; Nemser-Feiman, 1996), providing multiple benefits (Ingersoll, 2003; Ingersoll & Kralik, 2004; Lambeth, 2012). However, in the Greek context, teacher mentoring as a practice, although it is institutionalized in 2010, has not been yet implemented. For that reason, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether the school’s new-entrant substitute teachers receive mentoring support and guidance, even informally, from their colleagues (peer mentoring) and their principal. Additionally, it explores the role of leadership in mentoring support as described above. A quantitative research approach has been adopted. Self-administered questionnaires were completed by 120 school’s new-entrant substitute schoolteachers using the convenience sampling technique. The questionnaires included a Likert-type scale with 51 items measuring different aspects of teachers’ views about their informal peer mentoring support (Huling-Austin & Murphy, 1987) and leadership style of their principal (Organizational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire- Hoy & Clover, 1986). According to the results, the school’s new-entrant substitute teachers seem to receive a small extent informal mentoring support and guidance from their colleagues and principal. However, colleagues provide to a greater extent mentoring support than school principals. In addition, school leadership, especially supportive leadership style is positively correlated with mentoring support.

Hubungan Kausalitas antara Gaya Kepemimpinan dan Iklim Kerja Organisasional Terhadap Employee Engagement Guru di SMK Al Khoiriyah Tulungagung

Employee engagement or employee attachment to the workplace needs to be deeply instilled because there is a sense of attachment to organizational members both physically, cognitively and emotionally, it is hoped that it can foster a sense of self-motivation in educators and create employee engagement in addition to the existence of a conducive school work climate which will also not be separated from the role of school leadership. This study aims to determine the effect partially and simultaneously between leadership style and organizational work climate on employee engagement. This type of research is descriptive and verification research with a quantitative research approach. The analysis technique used in this research is validity test, reliability test, normality test, classical assumption test, multiple linear regression test and hypothesis test. The results of this study indicate that there is a simultaneous influence between the variables of leadership style and organizational work climate on employee engagement of teachers of SMK Al Khoiriyah Tulungagung. Then the influence of leadership style and organizational work climate on teacher employee engagement was 74.2%. Then partially the leadership style has a positive and significant effect on employee engagement of teachers at SMK Al Khoiriyah Tulungagung and partially the organizational work climate has a positive and significant effect on teacher employee engagement at SMK Al Khoiriyah Tulungagung.

Leadership practices of school principal through a distributed leadership lens: a case study of a secondary school in urban Pakistan

PurposeUnless the expertise of multiple teachers is availed, it is very unlikely for an individual leader to bring improvement especially at classroom level. This realization had led to the emergence of distributed leadership which is about engaging multiple individuals in leadership roles. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of school leadership in distributing leadership to teachers in a private secondary school in an urban context of Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachUsing qualitative approach and case study method, the research collects data from school leaders and teachers involved in leadership roles through interviews.FindingsIt was found that leadership facilitates distributed leadership through formulating a vision to develop teachers, enhancing the capacity of individuals involved in leadership roles, establishing a culture of trust, and creating opportunities for interaction and collaboration among teachers.Practical implicationsSchool leadership should distribute leadership to teachers in order to utilize the potential of multiple individuals which will ultimately lead to school improvement through initiatives from within. Educational reformers should incorporate the concept of distributed leadership in the professional development programmes designed for school leaders and teachers.Originality/valueThe study is first of its nature which reports on distributed leadership from a private sector school of Pakistan based on original data.

Trust in principals, leaders’ focus on instruction, teacher collaboration, and teacher self-efficacy: testing a multilevel mediation model

A vast amount of contemporary research has been devoted to defining effective school leadership roles and practices and measuring their influence on school processes, structures and outcomes. This paper examines the effects of trust in principals and school leaders’ focus on instruction on teacher collaboration and teacher self-efficacy. Using teacher survey data collected from 45 lower secondary Turkish schools across the country in the 2018–2019 academic year, this study employs multilevel structural equation modelling with Bayesian estimation to investigate the structural relationships between trust in principals, alongside leaders’ focus on instruction, and teacher collaboration and teacher self-efficacy. The study confirms previous research, indicating that trust in principals has a crucial role in teachers’ emphasis on instruction and that these principals’ instructional leadership practices enhance teachers’ sense of efficacy both directly and indirectly through teacher collaboration. The research concludes that, while the way these practices are carried out might differ across contexts, the principals’ leadership practices focusing on teaching and learning still matter for teachers’ beliefs and practices in non-western countries. Implications for policy, practice and further research are discussed.

Framing the role of the school leader in OECD documents: A critical analysis

ABSTRACT This paper explores the OECD framing of the role of the school leader in a series of its publications, drawing on role theory, using critical analysis of how school leaders’ roles are represented in a body of OECD texts. The research findings provide insight into the multi-faceted portrayal of the ‘ideal’ role of school leadership as framed by the OECD. The findings also show the dominance of classic scientific management ideas in the framing of the role of school leadership by the OECD. The study demonstrates how adopting role theory can provide a deeper understanding of how OECD discursive actions redraw new roles for those working in education.

“The Child is Not Broken”: Leadership and Restorative Justice at an Urban Charter High School

Background/Context There has been growing attention to the disproportionate and harmful effects of school exclusion, including suspension and expulsion, on boys of color. Restorative justice may be one possibility for addressing these disparities. Yet the research on restorative justice in schools is nascent, and in particular, little is known about the role of school leaders in enacting restorative practices as a means to creating more equitable schools. Focus of Study By highlighting the work of school leaders, this study contributes to our collective understanding of how restorative justice can function as a meaningful alternative to school exclusion. The study explores how two leaders exercise leadership, build legitimacy, and develop relationships with teachers and students. It examines how these leaders make sense of their efforts to transform the school from a place reliant on traditional punitive mechanisms as a form of control to a restorative school culture. Setting The study took place at a charter school with campuses in two neighboring cities in the Northeast United States. Research Design This study uses portraiture, a methodology that emphasizes participants’ phenomenological perspectives and illuminates the complexity of goodness and success, making it well-aligned with the topic of this research. I gathered data through in-depth interviews with and observation of the two leaders at the center of the study, as well as interviews and observations of students and teachers. Conclusions Ultimately, the leaders exhibited restraint, persistence, and respect, qualities that served as the basis for meaningful relationships with students and teachers. In turn, these relationships were an important component of how the school sought to reduce suspension rates and narrow racial gaps in exclusionary punishments.

Leadership that matters: creating cultures of academic optimism that support teacher learning in Thailand

PurposeResearch on school leadership has confirmed that principals influence teacher and student learning by building an “academic-focused ethos” in their schools. In this study, our objective was to examine if and how the learning-centered leadership of principals influenced academic optimism of teachers and the resulting effects on their engagement in professional learning. More specifically, we examined this hypothesized set of leadership effects among teachers and principals in high schools located in Thailand.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted with 1,763 teachers and 152 principals from 159 randomly selected, medium size secondary schools located in Thailand. The research employed multi-level structural equation modeling and bootstrapping analyses in order to test and explore these relationships in a mediation model of school leadership effects on teacher professional learning through academic optimism.FindingsResults of this study reinforce prior research which has found that principal leadership can have significant direct and indirect effects on the professional learning of teachers. This finding is important because, as elaborated earlier, scholars believe that teacher professional learning is a key to sustainable improvement in schools. More specifically, our results extend prior research in two ways. First, as the first study to link Learning-Centered Leadership with Academic Optimism, this study extends findings that point to the role of school leadership in sustaining a culture of academic optimism in schools. Second, this study also established Academic Optimism as a mediator through which school leadership supports Teacher Professional Learning.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough our results support a positive conclusion concerning the effects of school leadership and academic optimism on teacher learning, this was a cross-sectional study. Therefore, caution must be exercised before drawing causal attributions. For example, research has also found that teachers who work in schools that evidence features of a professional learning community are more likely to have a greater sense of collective teacher efficacy, a variable that is also associated with Academic Optimism. Therefore, although our study proposed Academic Optimism as the mediator and teacher professional learning as the dependent variable, it is also possible that this relationship could be reversed or reciprocal (i.e. mutually reinforcing). Future research should continue to examine these possibilities using longitudinal and/or experimental research designs that enable clearer delineation of causal relationships. We also suggest the utility of qualitative and mixed methods studies capable of exploring in greater depth the mechanisms through which school leadership contributes to productive teacher learning.Practical implicationsThere is a need in Thailand, and elsewhere, to redefine the formal roles and professional standards of school leaders to include learning-centered practices. These standards should be embedded into the redesign of pre-service and in-service education programs for teachers and principals. We believe that, at present, relatively few school leaders in Thailand genuinely understand the meaningful impact they can have on teacher learning, and by extension, on student learning. Thus, there is a need for systemic change that recasts the nature of leadership expected from principals as well as the level of lifelong learning expected of teachers.Originality/valueThe findings from this research contribute to an evolving knowledge base on how school leaders influence teacher learning in different national contexts. The research also extends prior research by exploring the role of academic optimism as a mediator of school leadership effects on teacher learning.

Why LGBT Teachers May Make Exceptional School Leaders.

The recent school gate protests about the inclusion of LGBT identities in the curriculum suggest that sexual identity remains an issue of moral panic in UK schools. Given this current climate, and the legacy of Section 28, schools have rarely been easy workplaces for LGBT teachers. For LGBT teachers, significant energy and vigilance is required then to navigate the heteronormative and cis-normative staffroom and classroom. There is evidence that LGBT teachers try to remain as invisible as possible in their schools so as to not draw attention to themselves (Lee, 2019a). Some avoid promotion to school leadership roles fearing that the status will necessitate greater personal scrutiny by school stakeholders. Based on key attributes including, reading people, compassion, and commitment to the inclusion of others, making connections managing uncertainty, courage, and risk-taking, this perspective piece argues that some of the strategies LGBT teachers deploy to manage the intersection of personal and professional identities in school equip them with an array of particular skills that are conducive to excellent school leadership.

The Role of School Leaders in Providing Equal Opportunities in Education

In this article; it is aimed to create an idea about what school leaders can do to cope with the inequality of opportunity that emerges for some disadvantaged groups as a result of the fact that social structures become more complex. We started to see this situation more in schools as a result of changing and developing technologies and increasing interaction level. School leaders need to restructure their curriculum, develop new leadership practices and create a new order for students in order to establish the balance of social justice in the their school. In this article, the role of leaders in schools to ensure equality of opportunity in education.and the practices developed by school leaders from various countries to ensure equal opportunities among students in their schools were mentioned.

Development and Validation of an Empirical Model to Study the Mediating Role of Empathic School Leadership in the Motivation of High School Students in India

Emotionally fragile organizations like schools require human elements to be treated with utmost care. Most schools in India are managed by a strictly hierarchical organizational structure with the head of the school at the top. In such organizational structures, the head decides the design, nature, and direction of the various school processes. It is within this context that this study explores the two important dimensions of leadership and empathy in conjunction with each other. While the capability to feel and share the feelings of others has been regarded as an essential leadership quality, school leadership brings forth a unique and potent dimension to the concept of empathic leadership. This study explores the role of empathic school leadership in motivating students. A random sample of 297 students was administered a questionnaire. The results were analysed and a model with empathic–leadership as a mediator for student motivation was developed and validated using path analysis. Further, the instrument used was validated with confirmatory factor analysis for use as a tool to measure empathy-driven leadership in Indian schools. This instrument might help in introducing the concept of leadership–empathy audit in Indian schools.

The perspectives of beginner principals on their new roles in school leadership and management: A South African case study

In the study reported on here we aimed to explore how beginner principals perceived their roles as new appointees. School principals are expected to demonstrate proficiency when performing leadership and management roles in schools. Based on the fact that no certificate for principalship exists, newly appointed principals rely on their teaching experience to fulfil the responsibilities of the position. Gronn’s theory advocating leadership as a career was used as a lens to analyse the data. In this qualitative study we used interviews and document verification to understand how new appointees perceived their new roles as school leaders and managers. The findings imply that beginner principals regard themselves as ill-prepared to lead and manage schools in their early years of appointment. Their perceptions were that they lacked leadership and management experience in the areas of curriculum, human resources, school finance, stakeholder relations and interpretation of legislation. Beginner principals viewed these as challenges for their leadership and management expertise. From the study we concluded that teachers needed to be exposed to leadership and management responsibilities and that newly appointed principals needed to be trained before they assumed their new positions. Keywords: aspiring principal; beginner principal; principal; principalship; school leadership; school management