7/29/2019 Lead 1

1/12

RESEARCH ON INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIPCOMPETENCIES OF SCHOOL PRINCIPALS

MUR AT G R KAN G LC ANAsst. Prof. Dr. Gazi University, Faculty of Technical EducationDepartm ent of Educational SciencesAnkara - Turkey.

The issue of leadership competencies has been the subject of sci-entific research since 1980s. Through this study, it is determinedwhether instructional competencies of school principals varydepending on the type of school they work at and their field.Data obtained as a result of this study were associated with theeffect of the field and type of school in selecting school princi-pals on the instructional competencies of school principals. It isthought that the findings of the study will provide significantdata in selecting and educating school principals, which isamong the underlying factors of the effective school concept.Key Words: Effective school, school administration, schoolprincipal, leadership, educational leadership, instructional lead-ership

Problem SituationToday management science has beenexperiencing a process where conceptswith regards to how organizafions will bemanaged are often discussed and newapproaches are suggested with researchsupport. It is seen that the concept of lead-ership becomes prominent m ore than thetraditional concept of management andadministration. man (2000) defines theconcept of leadership as the power to influ-ence others and lead them to action in linewith certain goals and targets. alik (2003)defines leadership as being a source ofinspiration to others and guiding themwhile being the stimulating power of thechange in the organization as well as solv-ing the problems.

Leadership is the foremost of the impor-tan t i s sues tha t both theor i s t s andimplementers strive to resolve and about

20th century (Eretin, 2000). A leader isgenerally a person who can m otivate, influ-ence , give good examples and guide.Leader is the individual who has a creativeand initiator role in ensuring organizationto survive in line with its goals. The leaderis the one making critical decisions notdaily ones. Leadership involves foresee-ing future, determining a realistic visionand targets for the future of the organiza-tion and collaborating people in order toreahze this (iman and Turan, 200 1: 43).Senge (1990) defines leaders as the design-ers of the organizational behaviors.

At schools, activities are conductedtowards changing student behaviors in aplanned and programmed manner. It isundoubtedly true that the most importantfactor in conducting the educational andinstructional activifies and consulting at

7/29/2019 Lead 1

2/12

626 7 Education Vo l. 132 N o. 3

with the legal force is now not the educa-t ional adminis t ra t ion but educat ionalleadership (Yrk and Akda ; 2010:67).With the developing and changing educa-tion system, the roles expected from schooladministrators have become more com-phcated. Th e school adm inistrator needs tobe aware that he should change at first inorder to maintain the transformation atschool and dem onstrate this change to hissurroundings. Besides the manager ia laspect of the school administrators, it isexpected that they are the instructionalleaders. It is necessary that administratorsdemonstrate effecdve leadership at edu-cadon insdtudons where human resourceis effecdvely educated.

School administrators should possessthe characteristics of a leader more than amanager in order to reach the organiza-donal goals. School principals in the recenteducadonal endd es implement some majorstrategies while pracdcing the leadershipa p p r o a c h e s . T h e se a r e t r a d i t i o n a lleadership, instructional leadership, trans-format ive leadersh ip and fac i l i t a to rleadership.

The concep t of effecdve leadership maybring the change of school principals whodo not have any effect of the school any-more and whose success l eve l s a regradually decreasing on the agenda. Deci-sions that may adversely affect the schoolmay result in a decrease in education staff'strust to school. How ever; an effective lead-ership may be an effective component ofthe system (Porter et.al. 2010). Managerswith leadership behaviors may establish

tion by creating a positive culture at school(ct. nandi, zkan 2006, Law and Glow-er, 2000). The interest in leadership alsogains importance in cultural terms as wellas an educational policy in macro level.School leadership should be dealt with ininteraction w ith adm inistration (Heck andHallinger, 2005).Sciendfic studies regarding instrucdonalleadership have been performed since1980s. The concept of effective schoolscomes into front through these studies. Ina study by Edmons (1979) instrucdonalleadership is defined as the school p rinci-pa l's role (Hallinger, 2005). A professionalmanagement is needed as a role model atschool. The school administrator shouldbe talented and kno wledg eable and have apositive attitude (Ediger, 2009).Instructional LeadershipAs i t i s in leadership def ini t ions ,researchers define instructional leadershipwith different perspectives in instruction-al leadership definitions. In general terms,instructional leadership expresses thepower and behaviors that school princi-pals, teachers and auditors use to influencethe individuals and situations w ith regardsto school ( i man, 200 2). Instructionalleadership has changed the school admin-istrator's conventional understanding ofrole and management. The basic startingpoint of instructional leadership is to devel-op instruction. In this leadership ap proach,it is aimed at designing the school envi-ronment com pletely in line with instrucdonand as a productive setdng (elik, 1999).

7/29/2019 Lead 1

3/12

Research on Instructional Leadership... 7 627

in two aspects. The first one is the taskbehaviors by which the leader brings theschool to a more structural position. T heseappear as generating the school targets anddetermining the job descriptions. The sec-ond is the relationship behaviors by m eansof which relationships w ith em ployees arearranged and employees are motivated withregards to instruction. According to Green-f ie ld (1987) and Vinsons (1997) ,instructional leadership is defined as theproce ss of jo b satisfaction and an efficientwork environment for teachers and settingup and maintaining the desired learningconditions for studen ts. According to Yang(1996), it is possible to divide instruction-al leadership into two as broad and narrowaspects. In narrow terms, instructional lead-ership is defined as a function withinmanagement and actions directly relatedwith teacher and leaming. According tothe broader definition, instructional lead-ership is stated as the process of performingall leadership activities that may affectlearning at school. As seen, behavioralaspects and the definition of instructionalleadership are defined differently by vari-ous researchers. However, the commonpoints in these definitions are coord inatingand motivating the employees and studentsat school in order to reach the goals and cre-ate an effective school. It is examinedwhether the fields of school principal andthe type of school have any impact oninstructional leadership competencies ofthe principal (nandi and zkan, 2006).

The Instructional LeadershipRoles of School PrincipalThe instructional leadership roles of theschool principal can be as five items:1. Identifying the vision and m ission ofthe school: School principal defined theschool's mission, determines and sharesthe goals of the school and assesses, devel-ops and implements them.2. Programming and administering edu-ca t ion : He uses the teach ing per iodefi'ectively; motivates students to leam andmaintains a good setting for leam ing, col-laboration and cooperation.3. Staff development: He rewards thesuccess of the staff and ensures profes-sional development of teachers.4. Monitoring and assessing the teach-

ing process: It controls and assesses theteaching period.5. Creating and developing a positiveschool climate: Initiates organizationalchange and strengthens com munication.Instmctional leadership is compo sed ofthe behaviors that the principal shows him-self or make others show in order toincrease student success (De Bevoise,1984; ctd. i man, 2002). Researchershave found that one of the main factorsincreasing student success at effectiveschools is related w ith the success in mainfeatures of school defined in terms of edu-cational leadership (Cited. Porter et al.L e i t h w o o d L o u i s , A n d e r s o n a ndWahlstrom, 2004). Leadership has signif-icance particularly in hard times or whenorganizational change is experience (cite.Porter et al . Murphy, Elliott, Goldring andPorter, 2006).

7/29/2019 Lead 1

4/12

628 / E ducation V oi. 132 No. 3

models teachers are willing to take overresponsibility and open for professionaldevelopment and innovation (cited. Marks,Print. Poole, 1995). Participating in deci-sions taken at schools encourages theteacher to develop pedagogical compe-tence feeling and act in a student-centeredway while increasing her usage of teach-ing techniques based on research (citedPrint, Marks and Printy, 2003). Therefore;the role of the administrator (as a teacher,too) should be being the instructor withthe knowledge and skills of a teacher. Theinstructional leadership of administratorscan be summarized under the followingheadings:a) Understanding the leaming needs of theindividuals,b) Organizing social and interactive envi-ronments,c) Encouraging learning expertise andappropriate tasks,d) Motivat ing individuals to improvethemselves and impose sanctions,e) Providing sufficient source support forleaming (cited: Print. Stein and Nelson,2003, p. 426)

Stein and Nelson (cited. Print. 2003)suggested that the main purpose of devel-op ing leadersh ip competenc ies i s toorganize leaming environments and con-tr ibute in s t rengthening teaching andleaming process.The studies about instmctional leader-ship are firstly considered as among theroles of the school principal (Hallinger,2010). Yet, instructional leadership hasstarted to be perceived as a competency

School Principal" developed by Hallinger(1982) and adopted by ahin (2000) byusing the Delphi Technique is used and theitems with regards to the instmctional lead-e r sh ip compe tenc i e s o f t he s choo lprincipals are covered. It is aimed at deter-mining to what extent the field of theprincipal and the school type are affectiveon identifying the instmction al leadershipcompetencies of the school principals.PurposeThis study puts forth the effect of schooltype and field of school principals on theinstmctional leadership competencies ofthe school principals. For this purpose, thefollowing sub-problems were determined:

1. How are the instmctional leadershipcompetencies of the school principalsbased on teacher views?2. Is there any difference ship betweenthe instmctional leadership competenciesof the school principals and the type ofschool they work at?

3. Is there any relationship between theinstmctional leadership competencies ofthe school principals and their field?MethodThrough this study, it was found outwhether the instmctional leadership com -petencies of the school principals varydepending on the school type and theirfield. Hence, the method of the study isdescriptive survey method as it puts forththe current situation.

The population and sample group

7/29/2019 Lead 1

5/12

Research on Instructional Leadership... /629

tors working at these schools. Since thenumber of schools is too many, samplesare taken. Sample group is composed ofeach school from randomly selected 15cities and the teachers and administratorsat these schools. The survey is given to 675staff at 15 schools in total and 460 of theseretumed.Gathering and Analysis of DataA 21-item questionnaire was developedin order to find out the effects of schooltype and fields on instmctional leadership.The questionnaire consists two parts aspersonal information, instmctional lead-ership and school types and fields. 5questions were asked in the first part w hile21 questions w ere asked in the other. Thesecond part of the survey questions wereprep ared by using the study of ahin

(2000), "Competencies of the PrimarySchool Principal". The instmctional lead-ership competencies that school p rincipalsneed to have, which w ere determined as aresult of this study were transformed intothe survey questions.Data obtained as a result of this studywere put into tables through statisticalanalysis. Frequencies, percentages, chi-squares and mean scores are shown intables.

Findings and InterpretationFor the analysis of data obtained in thisstudy SPSS 16 software was used and sta-tistical results are acquired.

Table 1: The distribution of participants in terms of gender, education, experience, schooltype and field

GENDER

Experience

School Type

PROPERTIESMaleFemale1-5 years610 years1115 ye ar s16-20 years21-25 years26 years and overHigh schoolHealth Vocational SchoolGirl Vocational SchoolCommerce Vocational SchoolPrimary School

f2082521419210747452897967961107

%44,854,330,219,823,310,39,56,012,212,117,112,944,8

7/29/2019 Lead 1

6/12

630 / Education Vol. 132No. 3

Demographical Properties working at a primary school. The secondAccording to findings obtained in line was the Girl Vocational School with 17,1with the research data, 44,8% of the par- % of teachers in the survey. 12,9 % of theticipants of the survey were men while 54,3 participants were working in Commerce% were women. Vocational School and the percentages of

In terms of experience, 30,2% of the other remaining types of schools were theteachers had an experience between 1 and same (12,1 %).5 years, 23,3 % had an experience levelbetween 11 and 15 years. 2. Findings regarding instructional

In terms of school type, 44,8 % of the leadership competenciesteachers were the majority and they wereTable 2: The frequency and percentage distributions of the questionsinstructional leadership competenciesQuestions

1. The school principal brings the new approaches ineducation and shares them .2. The school principal knows the new legal regulationsin Turkish education system and ensures theiritnplementation at school.3. The school principal supports teachers' development.4. The school principal understands developmentalpsychology, student psychology and adult psychology.5. The school principal makes use of the theories,principles and models ineducation psychology.6. The school principal consults experts in the fieldwhen necessary.7. The school principal plans the instructional activities ofschool.8. The school principal initiates the activities thatimprove teaching.9. The school principal supports the research,development and implementation ofnew instructionalprograms.10. The school principal isaware of the differencesbetween the school and the other organizations.11. The school principal helps the utilization ofcurrent education technologies in class effectively.12. The school principal assists teachers inimplementing the curriculum.

Disagreef

65

65

133119114827883

74

798296

%14

14

312625181718

16

171821

regardingUndecided

f84

32

688596806791

4 4

838576

%18

7

151921171420

10

181916

Agreef

321

376

299244240301320249

370

302289288

%68

79

645554656962

74

656363

7/29/2019 Lead 1

7/12

Research on Instructional Leadership... /631

15 . The school principal ensures establishing andmaintaining discipline at school.16. The field of the school principal is suitable for theinstructional activities depending on the school type.17. The school principal serves as a source in teachingand learning (assessing lessons, designing the program,usage of materials) due to his field.18. While determining the school goals, the principalcollaborates with teachers, students and parents.19. The school principal contributes in preparing aschool program that takes into account the desires of thestudents, teacher and environment.20 . The school principal makes activities that developschool-parent relationships.21 . The school principal contributes in schoo l'sinteraction with its environment.

8788

105

101

100

6869

1919

23

22

22

1515

5269

89

71

84

6773

1115

20

15

18

1416

32 3328

26 5

28 9

24 0

33131 7

7066

57

63

60

7169

1.68 % of the teachers think that schoolprincipals follow up the new approachesand bring them into school.2 .79 % of the teachers think that schoolprincipals know and implement the legalregulations.3.64 % of the teachers think that schoolprincipals support teachers' development.4 .55 % of the teachers think that schoolprincipals are competent in developmen-tal psychology, student psychology andadult psychology.5.65 % of the teachers think that schoolprincipals support teachers in researching,developing and implementing new teach-ing programs.6 .69 % of the teachers think that schoolprincipals initiate activities that improveteaching.7.62 % of the teachers think that schoolprincipals are aware of the fact that schoolsare more different than other organ izations.8.74 % of the teachers think that school

psychology.9.65 % of the teachers think that schoolprincipals consult experts.10. 63 % of the teachers think thatschool principals assist in using the currenteducation technologies in the classroomeffectively.11. 68 % of the teachers think thatschool principals plan teaching activitiesof school.12. 68 % of the teachers think thatschool principals help teachers im plemen t

curriculum at school.13. 55 % of the teachers think that thefield of the school principal is suitable forthe instructional activities depending onthe school type.14. 70 % of the teachers think that theschool principal ensures vision develop-ment regarding school.15. 66 % of the teachers think that the

school principals ensure establishing andmaintaining discipline at school.

7/29/2019 Lead 1

8/12

632 / E ducation Vo i. 132 No. 3

ing and leaming (assessing lessons, design-ing the program, usage of materials) dueto their field.17. 63 % of the teachers think that theprincipal collaborates with teachers, stu-dents and parents while determining theschool goals.18. 60 % of the teachers think that theschool principal contributes in preparing aschool program that takes into account thedesires of the students, teacher and envi-ronment.19. 68 % of the teachers think that theschool principal m akes activities that devel-op school-parent relationships.20. 69 % of the teachers think that theschool principal contributes in school'sinteraction with its environment.

Results and Suggestions1. School principals need to follow upnew approaches and bring them to school.However; considering these approacheswill never be enough for school organiza-tions, school p rincipals need to be informedabout the new teaching m ethods and tech-niques continuously.2. School principals know the legal reg-u la t ions and ensure tha t they a reimplemented at school.3. School principals quite support teach-er s ' development. Accordingly, schoolprincipals are dealing with the teachers.4. The level of competency of the schoolprincipals with regards to developmentalpsychology, student psychology and adult

psychology is low. Teachers avoided com-menting on this question. In order to

educational issues and focus m ore on man-agerial ones, it should be maintained thatschool principals deal with instmctionalactivities, participate in lessons w hile pay-ing attention to follow the procedures andthey are encouraged to improve themselvesin education and teaching issues.5. School principals' level of makinguse of the concepts, principles and mod-

els of education psychology is low. W henthe answers of the two questions wereexamined, school principals seemed insuf-f ic ient in ref lect ing their in teres t inpsychology. Therefore, it is necessary thatschool principals have the training partic-ularly on educational psychology.6. School principals do not benefit fi'omexperts at a desired level. It has always

been expressed as a problem that expertsat schools are not consulted much. How-ever, it hasn't been maintained so far thatschools benef i t f rom exper t s andresearchers.7. School principals mostly plan theinstmctional activities at school. There isn 'tan issue regarding the lack of competen-cy of school principals in planning theinstmctional activities at school.8. School principals aren't able to ini-tiate the activities developing teaching . Inorder for the new activities to be initiatedby the school principal, their innovativecharacteristics should be emphasized moreand model practices should be supportedwhile innovative ones are encouraged.9. School principals support research,development and implementation of thenew instmctional programs.

7/29/2019 Lead 1

9/12

Research on Instructional Leadership... /633

tions. Schools are organizations that canmostly be affected by the societal and tech-nological developments. In this respect,leadership competencies of the school prin-cipal should be assessed in priority.11 . School principals are assisting inutilizing the current education technolo-gies in the classroom. However; in caseschool principals are not familiar with

using technology as they are not familiarwith the instmctional activities, they shouldhave in-service trainings more often.12. School principals help teachersimplement the instmctional programs atschool. Teachers' needs and gaps on theseissues should be shared at seminars.13. School principals ensure visiondevelopment for school. Sharing this vision

with school- parents and school - envi-ronment wi l l make the ins t ruc t iona lleadership competencies of the principalstronger.14. School principals are able to estab-lish and sustain discipline at school to agreat extent. They are effective in achiev-ing this more than they are in other tasks.15. The fields of school principals arenot appropriate enough for the instmctionalactivities according to the school types.Principals'fieldsand specialty areas shouldbe taken into consideration when they areeducated and appointed. According to thissituation, teachers state that the field ofschool adminis t ra tor i s important forinstmctional activities.

.16. School principals fail to act as asource in terms of education and in stmc -tion (assessing the lesson s, generating theprograms, utilizing the materials) due to

lems in school principals' education andappo intmen ts. The Ministry shou ld start anew study on school administration andtake into consideration the competenciesin the instmctional leadership m easures onthe issue of principal competencies.17. School principals work in collabo-ration with teachers, students and parentsat a great extent while determining the

school goals. School principals' coopera-t ion in de te rmin ing schoo l goa ls i ssufficient.18. School principals contribute in thepreparation of a school program that con-siders the desires of students, teachers andthe environment. M ostly the laws and reg-ulations are counted on in preparing theschool program. Necessary studies should

be made in order to ensure that schoolsprepare more flexible program s.19. School principals make activitiesthat improve school-family relationships.School-family communication is amongthe factors affecting students' success.Therefore, school family relationshipsshould be enriched with some activitiesapart from their official aspect.20 . School principals contribute inschool's interaction with its environment.However, in order to increase the level ofthis contribution, it should be maintainedthat school principals are willing and tal-en t ed i n co m m un i c a t i o n w i t h theenvironment in selecting and educatingschool principals.The instmctional leadership activity thatis best demonstrated by the school princi-pa l s i s e s t ab l i s h i n g an d co n duc t i n g

7/29/2019 Lead 1

10/12

634 7 Education Vol. 132 N o. 3

due to theirfields.Teachers' views on theseissues do not vary depending on gender,experience and field.In line with these results, school prin-cipals should create a more democraticsetdng. While they are appointed, it shouldbe considered that they need to be appoint-ed to the type of school to which their fieldis appropriate. Legal regulations withregards to this issue should be made.Research data have found out thatschool principals are competent enough inadministrative issues such as maintainingdiscipline at schools and knowing the legalregulations; but not competent in issueslike educadon psychology and new instruc-don methods. However, school principalsshould be good instructional leaders aswell as being good administrators. In otherwo rds; their incomp etency on the issue ofinstructional leadership should be resolved.

ReferencesAksoy, E. and Iik H., (2008), The EducationalLeadership Role of Primary School Directors,Social Sciences Magazine, Issue: 19Bursahoglu, Z., (1991). New Structure and Behav-iour at School Management, PegemPublishing, Ankara.Bush, T. (2010). Accelerating Leadership Devel-opment, Educational ManagementAdministration Leadership, 38; 147elik, V., (1999). Educational Leadership, PegemPublishing, Ankara.Ediger, M. (2009) Leadership in the School Set-ting, Education Vol: 129 Cilt:l, USAEretin, $.$. (2000). Vision in Leader Spiral,

Nobel Publishing, Ankara.Eretin, $.$. (2000). Vision in Leader Spiral,

Hallinger, Philip (2010). Leading EducationalChange: reflections on the practice of instruc-tional and transfonnational leaders. CambridgeJournal of Education, 33: 3, 329 - 352 hip June2010Hallinger, Philiph (2005) 'Instructional Leader-ship and the School Princ ipal: A Passing Fancythat Refuses to Fade Away', Leadership andPolicy in Schools, 4: 3, 221 - 239Heck, Ronald H. Hallinger, Philip. (2005) TheStudy of Educational Leadership and Manage-

ment Where Does the Field Stand TodayEducational Management Administration &Leadership 2005 3 3: 229inandi, Yusuf, zkan Metin (2006), How FarDirectors Show Educational LeadershipBehaviour According to the Opinions of Direc-tors and Teachers at Official Primary andSecondary Schools? Mersin University Jour-nal of the Faculty of Education, Vol. 2, Issue2, December 2006, pp. 123- 149.Leithwood, K enneth. (1998) Conditions FosteringOrganizational Learning In Schools Educa-tional Administration Quarterly, 34(2),243-276,Marks, Helen M. Pdnty, Susan M. (2003) Princi-pal Leadership and School Performance: AnIntegration of Transformational and Instruc-tional Leadership Educational AdministrationQuarterly Vol. 39, No . 3 (August 2003) 370-397Memioglu, S.P., (2001), The Need for Leader

Directors in the Educational Organization inthe Light of New Leadership Approaches,Abant fzzet Baysal University, Journal of Fac-ulty of Education, Bolu.Mulford, B. Silins, H. Leadership for Organiza-tional Learning and Improved StudentOutcomes,ttp://www.aare.edu.au/03pap/niul03491.pdfMulford, W, Silins, H. ve Leithwood, K. (2004)Educational Leadership For OrganizationalLearning And Improved Student Outcomes,

Kluwer Academic Publishers New York,Boston, Dordrecht, London, Moscow

7/29/2019 Lead 1

11/12

Research on Instructional Leadership... /635

Porter, Andrew, C. Morgan S. Polikoff, EllenGoldring, Joseph Murphy, Stephen N. Elliott,Henry May. Developing a PsychometricallySound Assessment of School Leadership: TheVal-Ed as a Case Study. Educational Admin-istration Quarterly 46(2) 135- 173, 2010Printy, Susan M. Perspective Leadership forTeacher Leaming: A Community of PracticeEducational Administration Quarterly 200844: 187 February 2008Senge, Peter (2002). Fifth Discipline, Yapi Kredi

Publications, Ankara.iman, M. (2002). Instruction Leadership, Pege-ma Publishing, Ankara.iman, M. ve Turan, S., (2001), Total QualityManagement in Education, Pegem A Publish-ing, AnkaraTaymaz, H., (1986), School Management andPlacing M anagers, Ankara Un iversity, Jour-nal of Faculty of Education Sciences, Volume:19 Issue: 1Taymaz, H., (2000), School Management, PegemPublishing, Ankara

7/29/2019 Lead 1

12/12

Copyright of Education is the property of Project Innovation, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed

to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However,

users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.