Gender differences in instructional leadership: how male and female principals perform their instructional leadership role

The current qualitative study sought to examine how male and female principals enact their instructional leadership. Data were collected through 59 semi-structured interviews with 36 female principals and 23 male principals from Israel, and analysed in a four-stage process – condensing, coding, categorising, and theorising. Findings presented two main differences between male and female principals’ instructional leadership: (a) the source of authority nurturing their instructional leadership; and (b) the integration of instructional leadership with principal-teacher relationships. Gender theories were employed to explain these findings and further research possibilities in this realm are discussed.     

Contextual antecedents of instructional leadership

The premise of this paper is that principals' activities and the success of those activities for the creation or maintenance of potent instruction in schools depends largely on the nature of principals' instructional contexts. Contextual precursors to principals' actions are identified and their relevancy described through the comparison of the behaviors of four elementary school principals in rural, suburban, and urban schools. Findings result from the analysis of a year-long, comparative field study of school principals in which data was gathered through extensive, on-site interviews and observations.     

Perceptual inhibitors of instructional leadership in Israeli principals

ABSTRACT

The instructional leadership approach expects school leaders to give top priority to ongoing improvement of teaching quality and academic outcomes. Researchers have found that despite the top-down pressures to assume an instructional leadership role, school principals demonstrate limited direct involvement in such leadership. The current qualitative study, based on semi-structured interviews, aimed to expand inquiry into inhibitors of instructional leadership in Israeli principals. Data analysis uncovered that Israeli principals’ perceptions served as key inhibitors of instructional leadership, identifying three main perceptual inhibitors: (1) perceptions regarding principal-teacher relationships; (2) perceptions regarding the role of the principal; and (3) perceptions regarding the goal of schooling. These findings expands the available knowledge by illustrating how for Israeli principals, the inhibitors of instructional leadership did not only involve the constraints and capabilities of school principals but also deep disagreements with the conceptual framework that underpins instructional leadership. Implications and further research are discussed.     

Establishing and maintaining high-performing leadership teams: a primary perspective

This article reports on the findings from a study into high-performing leadership teams in English primary schools. The schools, in the sample, received ‘outstanding’ Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) grades overall, and for leadership and management, in their most recent school inspection. The evidence suggests that developing a successful primary school leadership team takes time, commitment and continuity. The development of leaders requires a deliberate approach to build individual capacity and team unity. Effective team working takes time to develop and that ‘quick fix’ solutions to inadequate team work are inappropriate.     

Challenges in preparing aspiring principals for instructional leadership: voices from the field

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the challenges professors of educational leadership encounter as they prepare aspiring principals to be instructional leaders. Drawing upon an open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interviews of professors from across the U.S.A., we analyzed significant statements and created themes that illuminate the challenges facing university faculty in preparing aspiring principals for instructional leadership. From the analysis of the combined data sources, five overarching challenges emerged for preparing future principals for the role of instructional leader. These challenges are: (a) teaching instructional leadership via online courses, (b) time in the internship to focus on instructional leadership, (c) instructional leadership mindsets, (d) pedagogical knowledge for use in instructional leadership and (e) the professor’s knowledge/experience in instructional leadership. The five challenges presented in the findings highlight the need for continuous program evaluation and collaboration among faculty to address coursework both in the classroom and in the internship. Additionally, the challenges highlight the need for more research in how to prepare aspiring principals to be culturally responsive and adopt a growth-mindset when it comes to teacher development, and how to create powerful learning experiences for aspiring principals in varying program contexts.     

Developing a shared cluster construct of instructional leadership in TALIS

In the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), instructional leadership is measured by the self-reports of principals on three items only. When this measure is investigated together with teacher satisfaction with current work environment, no significant associations were found in the Nordic countries participating in the TALIS 2013 round. This paper argues that a potential reason for this might be the severely underrepresented construct of instructional leadership. As an alternative approach, teacher data from the same study are used to establish two important dimensions of instructional leadership at the school level: 1) managing the instructional program and 2) developing the school learning climate. Applying multilevel structural equation modelling (MSEM), we establish two shared cluster constructs at the school level and observe significant modest relationships between these constructs and teacher job satisfaction with current work environment. The paper brings to our attention the different approaches for interpreting, exploring, and making sense of instructional leadership in international large-scale studies, such as TALIS, from the joint perspective of teachers.     

Disabling discourses and some implications for parent leadership in special education policy and practice

The paper aims to explore ways in which mothers of children with cerebral palsy (CP) attempt to voice their concerns about current discourses and power imbalances enshrined in special education policy and provision. Mothers’ narratives are important in making transparent the multiple forms of ‘disablism’ experienced by them in their attempts to negotiate and counteract on behalf of their children deficit-based and discriminatory discourses and professional practices that violate their children’s rights, notwithstanding international and national legal mandates promoting a rights-based approach to disability. Their narrated subjugated agency in disability politics highlights the imperative to introduce new forms of advocacy through parent leadership in order to enable parents to have a more active and strategic role in challenging disabling discourses and practices that undermine their children’s rights and entitlements.     

Enacting instructional leadership: perspectives and actions of public K-12 principals

This article’s purpose is to highlight the perspectives and actions of urban, public school K-12 principals who are noted for prioritising instructional leadership. Grounded in the conceptual framework of agency, I examined the work experiences of 18 New York City public school principals nominated by supervisors, colleagues, trained educational consultants, parents, and students through a four-phase qualitative study consisting of interviews, time surveys, document review, and observations with participants. In order to uphold instructional leadership, analysis highlighted that participants assumed agency by engendering perspectives and actions that viewed instructional leadership as: grounded in learning, influenced by teachers/staff, requiring time and planning for principals and teachers/staff, and calls for teacher/staff empowerment.     

Teacher supervision and evaluation challenges: Canadian perspectives on overall instructional leadership

This inquiry focuses on the overall instructional leadership approaches used by exemplary principals in three high performing Canadian provinces to overcome three persistent obstacles to effective teacher supervision and evaluation: (a) the management challenge, (b) the complexity challenge, and (c) the learning challenge. Analysis of data collected from interviews, focus groups, observations, field notes, documents, artifacts, and reflective research journals yielded the following four assertions: (a) Shared, distributed, and collective approaches to overall instructional leadership deepen and widen impact. (b) Effective supervision and evaluation are part of a career-long continuum of practice that fosters teacher growth while ensuring quality teaching. (c) There are multiple learning pathways to effective overall instructional leadership. (d) Policy contexts that place teacher supervision and evaluation practice within a broader conception of overall instructional leadership are beneficial.     

Assessing instructional leadership from two mindsets in China: power distance as a moderator

The past decade has witnessed growing interest in the study of the perceptual differences between principals and teachers, and a number of inconsistent results have been documented. This study examined differences between principals’ and teachers’ perceptions of principal instructional leadership and tested the hypothesis that power distance (PD) moderates the differences between the two parties. Based on survey data collected from 132 Chinese principals and 1708 teachers, the results revealed no significant differences in the total and dimensional levels of instructional leadership; however, PD moderated the perceptual differences. Specifically, when the principals reported a low PD, their self-ratings of their instructional leadership were higher than the teachers’ ratings, and conversely, when the principals reported a high PD, their self-ratings were lower than the teachers’ evaluations. However, the result was contrary to the hypothesis when PD was reported by teachers. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Leading Educational Change: reflections on the practice of instructional and transformational leadership

Over the past two decades, debate over the most suitable leadership role for principals has been dominated by two conceptual models: instructional leadership and transformational leadership. This article reviews the conceptual and empirical development of these two leadership models. The author concludes that the suitability or effectiveness of a particular leadership model is linked to factors in the external environment and the local context of a school. Moreover, the paper argues that the definitions of the two models are also evolving in response to the changing needs of schools in the context of global educational reforms.     

The professionalization of instructional leadership in the United States: competing values and current tensions

This paper considers two examples of recent policies affecting teachers' work, Performance Threshold Assessment in England and Chartered Teacher status in Scotland. Through tracing their origins and motivations, a comparative analysis is offered, which seeks to explore the extent of the influence of national contexts on developments in the restructuring process. Both policies purport to meet the professional needs of teachers who are a few years into their careers, yet the Scottish example is strongly oriented towards professional development, while the English example is oriented towards performativity and teacher assessment.     

Impact of instructional leadership on high school student academic achievement in China

Asia Pacific Education Review - The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of instructional leadership on high school students’ academic achievement in the Chinese context and to...     

Building high-performance teams through action learning

Team psychological safety is critical to team learning. When a team feels safe to talk about difficult issues and each team member feels comfortable to express feelings and ideas, the team continuously learns and improves its performance. Amy Edmondson identified team psychological safety in 1999 as a key to high-performance teams, and Google confirmed this in an internal research project in 2015. A lot has been written about team psychological safety, but very few research or experiences demonstrate how to increase the level of psychological safety in a team. The author has measured psychological safety in a team before and after a series of action learning sessions. The results are very encouraging: action learning increases the average level of psychological safety in the team and reduces the dispersion in team members’ evaluation of team psychological safety. A test was made to verify if the mere dynamic of team members participating in a facilitated workshop would have the same impact on the level of psychological safety, but this was not the case. It can therefore be concluded that action learning has a significant impact on team psychological safety and helps a team move toward high-performance.     

Virtual action learning: a pilot in building leadership capacity

This account of practice encompasses a pilot virtual action learning programme with a small group of learners. This was an 18-month extension to the one-week Leadership Open Programme that the participants had previously completed at the Business School. It includes insights from an evaluation study completed in early 2016. It considers in particular the following issues: the structuring of a virtual event; the significance of maintaining continuity of learning; the need for commonality of reference points about leadership in order to enhance it; the selection of problems by participants; whether leadership development itself is a ‘wicked problem’ and the role and skills required of the tutor to add value to the learning experience. Amongst other benefits, the participants found the chance to build relationships broke down the loneliness of leadership and greatly enhanced their learning. These issues will be explored further in a review planned for early 2017.     

Examining contextual differences in the development of instructional leadership and school achievement

This study examined the generalizability of a principal instructional leadership model and its impact on school academic achievement across different school levels. The study tested the model across elementary and secondary school levels. The study also examined whether elementary school principals exert stronger instructional leadership influence over their school's academic achievement than high school principals. The results confirmed the fit of the same instructional leadership model to principals from both school levels. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.     

Pedagogical leadership in action: two case studies in English schools

This paper explores the construct of pedagogical leadership in action in two case-study schools in England. Both schools investigated had headteachers who were recognized as excellent practitioners who had led their schools from a failing position to being judged as ‘outstanding’ and had successfully sustained and extended this status. Their behaviours thus corresponded to the ideals of pedagogical leadership which had been developed in the previous research by the authors. This approach is an extension of ideas pertaining to learner-centred leadership where the key focus is on the personalization of education for the benefit of the learner. Pedagogical leaders take this further, however, and ensure they are equally responsible to the local community and the larger education system when determining appropriate action to support learning in their schools. The research reported here is based on interviews conducted with members of the school community (including students) to establish to how these pedagogical leaders determine effective action. The examination of data identifies six categories of leadership activity which contribute to the continued growth of these schools: establishing a success culture, managing external expectations, selection and induction of staff, managing a robust supportive environment, sustaining effective internal relationships and headteacher leadership behaviour.     

关于行动导向的教学观

行动导向的学习是教育学的一种新范式。所谓职业教育行动导向的教学，其基本意义在于：学生是学习过程的中心，教师是学习过程的组织者与协调人，遵循“资讯，计划，决策，实施，检查，评估”这一完整的“行动”过程序列，在教学中教师与学生互动，让学生通过“独立地获取信息，独立的制定计划，独立地实施计划，独立地评估计划，”     

Animating critical action learning: process-based leadership and management development

Increasing attention is focusing on the value of critical approaches to enhancing leadership and management development processes. This paper examines how a critical action learning perspectives can be harnessed to produce valuable learning and development through critically reflective practise. Critical action learning approaches not only explore underlying power and control issues, but actively engage in an examination of political and cultural processes affecting leadership development. The aims of this paper are to explore approaches to critical action learning, to elucidate its principal features, to highlight how it can be applied in leadership and management development contexts and, finally, to illuminate some of the complexities and challenges of working with critical action learning in practice.