School Leadership Practices Research Articles

Contribution of Job Nature on Leadership Style among Academia

Purpose- Effective leadership practices in schools are only possible while headmaster and teachers adopt suitable leadership styles. The main purpose of this study is to identify the leadership styles as well as determine the association of democratic, autocratic and laissez-faire leadership style with each other among school teachers.
 Design/Methodology- This study is based on post-positivist research philosophy and cross-sectional survey as the research design which is confirmatory and explanatory in nature. It gathered the data via self-administer questionnaire from 345 school teachers and analyzed through descriptive statistics and parametric test. 
 Findings- The researcher derived that school teachers adopted a more democratic leadership style and gave least prefer to the laissez-faire leadership style in schools. Meanwhile, the lacking of equal facility and access to power exercise contributes to making significant differences in leadership styles across the job nature of school teachers. Furthermore, this study assess that there is no relationship between autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire leadership styles. These distinct styles of leadership may develop the differences in work performances of school teachers.
 Practical Implications- This research provides the framework for another future researcher to investigate the input of job nature on leadership style among school teachers.

Applied critical race theory: educational leadership actions for student equity

ABSTRACT Critical race theory (CRT) in education has been used to expose and analyze racism in K-12 schooling and higher education. However, the theory has been underutilized as an inventory lens applied to school leadership practice. Our paper takes on this inquiry by highlighting the work done by an administrative leadership team at a majority racially diverse middle school in the Mountain western region of the U.S. Through an examination of the practice of racism as whiteness as property through teacher expectations, classroom instruction and teacher-student and parent interactions and by implementing changes in areas of student discipline, and color-blind teacher perceptions, the leadership team developed racial equity pathways which served as an important implementation of CRT leadership.

English

This study looks at the views of Finnish comprehensive school principals on distributed leadership and presents discussion on the leadership training required by principals and looks at it in relation to the views of principals. In Finland the qualification requirements for principals are based on their experience as teachers, and studies in educational administration. In general, studies in leadership are not mandatory. In terms of distributed leadership, one relevant question is the way distribution happens. Is it based on delegation of tasks or does it happen in interaction between teachers and principal? The data were principals’ responses to an electronic survey (n=71). The respondents represented 71 schools around Finland. The results showed that principals viewed distributed leadership differently depending on the type of question. In the Likert-scale questions they (n=71) emphasised distributed leadership as an interaction between principal and teachers and their situations, whereas in open-ended answers (n=44) the delegation had a bigger role. In terms of training background, the results indicate that principals (n=13) having university studies in educational leadership and administration emphasised more distributed leadership as an interaction than principals having other types of training. This paper poses questions concerning the content and structure of educational leadership training. Further, this study implies that there is a growing need to examine educational leadership in terms of training, and views concerning leadership structures and practices in schools. Key words: Distributed leadership, educational leadership, leadership training, principal.

School leadership in the reforms of the Hong Kong education system: insights into school-based development in policy borrowing and indigenising

ABSTRACT This study aims at elaborating the reform policy effects on school leadership practices for quality educational development in the evolving hybrid of Western and Confucian cultures in Hong Kong. Why were education reforms and changes intensified in Hong Kong's education system in the post-1997 decades? How were these reform policies effectively implemented to bring about the changes in the school community? What insights into educational development can be drawn from the policy effects of school-based improvement on school leadership in the changing cultural context? The findings derived from the content analysis of the meanings of the articles selected by a systematic review approach show an urgent need for success in the political and cultural shift in alignment with the international trend of neoliberal-driven educational outcomes in the post-1997 period. School leadership was turned into collaborative whole-school participation in policy indigenising for improvement in a highly accountable context. These insights inspired us to conceptualise a framework of quality education development in policy borrowing/indigenising in school-based improvement.

Actions and Attitudes Regarding Middle-Grade LGBTQ Students: Principals’ Perspectives

This study examined Indiana public middle school principals’ perceptions of school conditions and stakeholders’ attitudes regarding middle-grade lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) students. Principals’ responses revealed that inclusive school environments and caring faculty members were prominent factors in successfully providing support to middle-grade LGBTQ students, while the negative attitudes of some parents, community members, and school staff members were barriers to supporting LGBTQ youth. Principals’ self-reported attitudes toward LGBTQ students were favorable and were found to be statistically significant in predicting their reports of school stakeholders’ attitudes, especially teachers. Implications for principal preparation programs and recommendations for school leadership practice are discussed.

Analyzing abusive school leadership practices through the lens of social justice

Purpose The present study contributes to the growing body of research on abusive supervision in school settings, particularly by principals. School leadership (principal) behavior has been a topical issue for decades in educational research. This paper attempts to add to scholarly knowledge in the area of school leadership and specifically the effect of abusive school leadership on organizational productivity and organization citizen behavior. Put succinctly, the purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of abusive school leadership on school performance and teacher behavior. Abusive leadership is attributable to behavior that is deviant, antisocial and counter-productive and that which is uncivil. Design/methodology/approach In examining abusive school leadership behavior and its effect on school performance and teacher behavior, this conceptual paper draws heavily from an in-depth analysis of extant scholarship and uses Rawls theory of social justice as a conceptual tool. Social justice theorists believe that social institutions are embedded with immense responsibility of dispensing justice, fairness and equity. Findings Building from these relevant literatures and grounding the argument from the Rawlsian perspective of social justice, it can be argued that abusive school leadership perpetuates unfair and unjust practices toward teachers, which negatively affects performance. Literature reviewed convincingly indicates that abusive tendencies are practiced in school by school leadership. Further, these abusive practices negatively impact on the following: teacher productivity, teacher turnover and, finally, staff members’ well-being and health. The findings confirm that these practices perpetuate social injustice. Schools are social institutions and have to ensure that justice is served on all members of the organization, and, for this reason, Rawls (1971) argues that justice is the first virtue of social institutions. Practical implications The findings of this study have a number of important implications for future practice. It is critical in this study to suggest that in trying to deal with scourge, tougher measures need to be taken by various education departments to ensure that the problem is dealt with effectively. One of the interventions that is suggested is tougher policy positions on matters related to abusive leadership. In education departments that have legislation regarding consequences regarding abusive school leadership practices, tougher action should be taken against leadership which practice abuse. Originality/value School leadership is a highly contested research space and this conceptual paper is of great value because it adds to the already existing insights and understanding in abusive leadership in educational settings. This paper is of great significance because it focuses on the effect of abusive school leadership on teachers’ behavior and school performance.

Exploring instructional leadership in Iran: A mixed methods study of high- and low-performing principals

The purpose of this study is to understand and describe patterns of principal instructional leadership practice in Iranian primary schools and to then assess whether there are differences between the high- and low-rated principals. A mixed methods design was used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data from principals and teachers within Iranian primary schools. The quantitative data were collected and analyzed from 535 teachers and 70 principals across the 70 primary schools. Next, we used ratings on the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale to identify four of the highest and lowest performing principals. We then conducted open-ended interviews with teachers and principals in these schools. The key findings showed that, despite working in a highly centralized context, the highly ranked principals in the sample were also differentiated from their lower ranked peers on specific instructional leadership practices. They appeared to give more emphasis to their role in developing the quality of teaching and learning and monitoring student progress. In this setting, ensuring a collegial and collaborative environment for teachers is commonly articulated by the successful principals in our study as an important aspect of instructional leadership.

Post-conflict reconstruction: Negotiating school leadership practice for inclusive education of conflict-affected children in Kenya

Provision of education during/after violent conflicts remains a global dilemma with many conflict-affected children excluded from/within education. Likewise, school leadership is increasingly seen as a key element in developing inclusive schools across communities. This single intrinsic case study with aspects of ethnography was conducted in one post-conflict community school in Kenya, where 71% of the pupil population comprised conflict-affected children following the 2007–2008 post-election violence. The aim was to explore and understand how the headteacher and teachers perceived and developed teacher participation in school leadership practice, in order to respond to learning and development needs of conflict-affected children, and promote inclusive practices in post-conflict schooling. Thematic analysis of interviews, observations, and textual displays indicated that by diagnosing the state of local affairs, that is, violence-disrupted livelihoods, school demographics, and systemic demands, the headteacher encouraged active participation of teachers in school leadership practices. Although overall accountability remained locked in hierarchical structures, teacher leadership emerged in arrangements like “office-referenced” individual leadership and collaborating groups (e.g., task groups and “team leadership”). With school leadership practice often attributed to headteachers in Kenya, this study contributes to debates on the construction of teacher leadership and offers insights into the experiences of school leaders in combating exclusionary practices after societal violence.

درجة ممارسة القیادات المدرسیة لدورها فی تمهین التعلیم تحقیقا لتوجهات رؤیة المملکة العربیة السعودیة

هدفت الدراسة إلى تعرف دور القيادات المدرسية في تمهين التعليم؛ تحقيقا لرؤية المملکة العربية السعودية 2030 والمعوقات التي تحد من ذلک، والتعرف على السبل التي تفضي إلى تطوير أدوارهم، ولتحقيق الهدف استخدمت الدراسة المنهج الوصفي المسحي، واستبانة طبقت على عينة بلغت (794) (قائدا، وکيلا، معلما)، وتوصلت الدراسة إلى عدة نتائج منها: اتفاق عينة الدراسة على قيام القيادة المدرسية بدورها في تجسيد القيم والمسؤوليات المهنية، وترسيخ المعرفة المهنية، وتنمية الممارسة المهنية لدى لمعلمين بدرجة عالية، بالإضافة إلى وجود بعض الصعوبات التي تواجه القيادات المدرسية من ممارسة التمهين، ومن أهمها ضعف الميزانية التشغيلية للمدرسة، کما توصلت الدراسة إلى بعض الحلول المقترحة للتغلب على الصعوبات التي تواجه ممارسة قادة المدارس لتمهين التعليم، وتوصي الدراسة بضرورة ربط المخصصات المالية والمادية للمدارس بکفاءة ممارساتها المهنية وتقديم برامج نوعية للقيادات المدرسية منتهية بالاجتياز لضمان کفاءتهم مهنيا. Abstract: The study aimed to identify the role of the school leaders to qualify the education in order to achieve the vision of Saudi Arabia 2030 and the obstacles that limit it and to identify the ways that lead to the development of their roles. To achieve the objective, the study used the descriptive method, and a questionnaire applied to a sample of (794) The study concluded several results, including: The agreement of the study sample on the practice of school leadership to reflect the values ​​and professional responsibilities and the consolidation of professional knowledge of teachers and the development of the professional practice of teachers to a high degree, in addition to the existence of some difficulties facing the leadership of the school practice The study also recommended some of the proposed solutions to overcome the difficulties facing the practice of school leaders to facilitate education. The study recommends that financial and material allocations to schools should be linked to the efficiency of their professional practices and the provision of quality programs to school leaders who have completed the exams to ensure their professional competence.

How Principal Leadership, Disciplinary Climate, and Parental Involvement Work Collectively as Predictors of Student Achievement

This study examined how school leadership, parental involvement, disciplinary climate can collectively impact students' perceptions on reading and student achievement. The sample was obtained from the combined data of Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 package. School leadership is believed to have a positive indirect impact on student achievement through the influence of other mediating variables. It was hypothesized that the more time principals spend on accomplishing school leadership practices, the greater the degree of parental involvement and disciplinary climate, thus higher levels of students' perceptions on reading and better student achievement. The results indicated the school leadership did have an indirect positive influence on student outcomes (students' perception on reading, and student achievement.

Standards as epistemological practice. A study of how Danish school leaders use assessment findings in the development of leadership practice

ABSTRACTDuring recent years, we have seen an increase in the complexity of school leadership as knowledge work. The new forms of knowledge available to school leadership, such as performance data and survey-based data, raise the expectation that leaders make relevant use of these knowledge resources. Theory and policy claim that new knowledge is of instrumental use in leadership decision making, yet there are important limitations to this strand of efficiency thinking. The paper analyzes leaders’ use of organizational assessment data for the purposes of developing their leadership practice. The paper constructs this empirical object as a composite of general quality standards and specific knowledge about each school. Accountability practices are taken to be specific to particular schools and professional organizations. The paper explores how school leadership practices can be researched as an interplay between quality standards emerging from abstracted knowledge ressources such as theory and strategy, and local knowledge work. It may be difficult to balance these forms of knowledge work, and that may explain why leaders often find it hard to use new knowledge resources. The task of making sense of the flow of knowledge and new standards becomes a complex, comprehensive and time-consuming part of practical leadership.

It All Starts With Forging Social Ties: Developing School Leadership From the Social Network Perspectives

School leadership can be developed and strengthened from many approaches, including, but not limited to, transformational, instructional, distributed, and social justice leadership. This article presents an alternative perspective to develop school leadership from the social network perspectives. Drawing upon the growing body of research on social networks in school leadership, this article elucidates the evidence-based school leadership practices from four facets: social ties, network structure, social influence, and school culture. These four facets influence one another as the school leaders emerge, exercise leadership, and build a nurturing school culture through forging social ties, shaping network structure, and gaining social influence.

School leadership practice across international policy contexts: Organizational roles and distributed leadership in Denmark and the United States

This comparative analysis applies a distributed leadership framework to data from teachers and leaders taking the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL). Because the policies educators in Denmark and the United States respond to in their daily practice are related through the transnational policy borrowing process, we are better able to understand how these policies impact educators in their respective countries by comparing their leadership practice through a shared lens: the CALL framework. In this exploratory analysis, we take a comparative perspective by asking: How does distributed leadership practice compare in the US and the Danish contexts of schooling? And: How do views on leadership practice vary according to professional roles in specific national and local (school) contexts? Our conceptual framework has three components: neoinstitutional theory, translation theory, and distributed leadership. We use multilevel confirmatory factor analysis and t-tests with SY2015–2016 CALL data to compare and contrast the pattern of leadership practices teachers and school leaders take-up in Danish and US schools. We found that the leadership practices aligned to a school-wide focus on learning are closely associated with the work of monitoring teaching and learning and building nested learning communities, particularly in the US context of schooling.

Examining Distributed Leadership Practices by School Grade Configuration

ABSTRACT In this study, we apply a distributed leadership framework to better understand the nature of leadership practices distributed in schools by grade configuration. In this analysis we examine the following research question: What are the differences between school-level grade configuration (elementary school or secondary school) and the extent and distribution of leadership practices in the school? This study uses multilevel confirmatory factor analysis to examine leadership practice in schools using the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning.

ВПЛИВ ЄВРОІНТЕГРАЦІЙНИХ ПРОЦЕСІВ НА МОДЕРНІЗАЦІЮ ФОРМ І ЗМІСТУ ПІДГОТОВКИ РЕЗЕРВУ ДИРЕКТОРІВ ШКІЛ

The article deals with the problem of influence European integration processes on future school principals’ preparation in Ukraine. The results of experimental research shows the importance of modernization of Ukrainian education system, demonstrate the necessity of changes in theory & practice of school leadership. Preparation of future school principals is one of the main tasks for local authorities & it should be based on the best European practices.

¿Cuán preparados llegan los directores escolares?: un análisis sobre su formación y trayectorias laborales previas a ejercer su cargo

The evidence shows that student learning is influenced by school principals and their leadership teams. In Chile, however, school leaders' practices present some weaknesses. Based on a survey of 500 principals of subsidized schools, this study analyzes the training and work experience of school principals prior to their first job in this role. Graduate training programs as well as previous experience in schools with some leadership responsibilities are key opportunities to develop skills and knowledge to yield effective leadership. Nonetheless, the results show that before becoming principals, one out of four did not attend specialized graduate programs or have some type of leadership role in schools. Furthermore, only 13% of the school principals were highly prepared for the role, with both specialized education and prior work experience. These results highlight the challenge of advancing policies that improve principals' specialized training as well as the need of articulation between educational leadership policies and other educational policies. The objective is to generate policies that will improve specialized leadership training and promote the importance of prior leadership experiences in schools, to yield effective school leadership practices.

When Good Intentions Only Go So Far: White Principals Leading Discussions About Race

This cross-case case study explores how two White principals took the first steps to engage in racial conversations. Using the constructs of race consciousness and antiracism, race neutrality, and resistance to racial dialogue to frame our findings, we illustrate how both principals broached the topic of race with staff members. We demonstrate how the structures of whiteness hindered the principals’ progress toward addressing systemic racial inequities within their respective schools. Our article concludes with recommendations and strategies for principal preparation programs and practicing school leaders.

Educational Leadership Reconsidered: Re-Invoking Authority in Schools

By far the most challenging task faced by schools in post-apartheid South Africa, has been the distance educational leaders were mandated to put between the educational institutions and the apartheid legacy of racial discrimination and exclusion. It is therefore not surprising that there are two dominant approaches to educational leadership, namely the transactional and transformational leadership paradigms that were considered as apposite to ensure the implementation of new educational policy and curriculum developments. Indeed, the theoretical debates about educational leadership have extended expositions of the concepts of transactional and transformative leadership that are often perceived as forms of educational leadership that can enhance the democratisation of educational institutions, such as schools. However, after the demise of apartheid all attempts to move beyond authoritative practices have been shown to be undesirable; and the transactional and transformative forms of educational leadership might have too hastily and prematurely abandoned authoritative forms of leadership. Therefore, in this article the authors argue in defence of authority as constitutive of transformative leadership in schools by reflecting on current leadership practices in schools.

(Re)constructing the Language of the Achievement Gap to an Opportunity Gap

This article situates the counternarrative of three African American female school principals and their leadership practices toward equity using a critical race theory framework (CRT). The data come from a larger exploratory study that addressed the understanding of the so-called achievement gap by school leaders. Four prevalent themes emerged through the use of a CRT analysis: (1) Mind-set toward opportunity gap; (2) recognizing issues: race, racism, and interest convergence; (3) holistic approaches toward “Our” students; and (4) the (real) opportunity of loss. I conclude with four contexts for implication for school leadership practice.

Principal Instructional Leadership, Teacher Self-Efficacy, and Teacher Professional Learning in China: Testing a Mediated-Effects Model

Background: Empirical evidence increasingly suggests that leadership which motivates, supports, and sustains the professional learning of teachers has a knock-on effect for both student learning and school improvement. The current study was conducted in China, where the workplace learning of teachers is embedded in a strong tradition of school-based, teacher learning practices such as the Master Teacher–Apprentice Bond and Teacher Research Groups. Purpose: The study investigated a mediated-effects model of principal instructional leadership and teacher learning. The model proposed principal time management skills and self-efficacy as antecedents of instructional leadership and teacher self-efficacy as a mediator of principal instructional leadership effects on the professional learning of teachers. Method: Survey data were collected from 3,414 teachers and 186 principals in 186 middle schools in Qingdao, China. Confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping were used to analyze the multisource data. Results: The research confirmed a partial mediation model whereby principal instructional leadership evidenced moderate direct and indirect effects on teacher professional learning. Principal time management and self-efficacy exercised small effects on principal instructional leadership. Implications: The research adds to a growing body of research that affirms a positive relationship between principal leadership and teacher professional learning and emphasizes the importance of self-efficacy in shaping educator practice. The authors suggest the timeliness for scholars to undertake systematic reviews of this literature on leadership and teacher professional learning, and offer recommendations for school leadership practice.