Secondary school teachers’ perceptions of principals’ roles as instructional leaders

Abstract

This is a study of how teachers perceive the role of principals as instructional leaders and the support provided by them in managing teaching and learning and in the provision of Continuing Teacher Professional development (CPTD). The role of the principal in this study is that of an instructional leader regarded as key to school academic improvement and the overall success of the school. The principal as an instructional leader is to ensure that a school maintains its focus on student learning. In the South African contexts, several studies point to the low academic performance of the learners which arguably is linked to the lack of effective instructional leadership. This study attempts to answer the following main research question: How do teachers perceive the role of principals as instructional leaders? The sub-questions of this study are: 1. What are teachers’ perceptions of the principals’ roles as instructional leaders managing teaching and learning? 2. What are teachers’ perceptions about the principals’ roles as instructional leaders in supporting their professional learning and development? The objectives of the study are as follows: 1. To better understand teachers’ perceptions of the role of principals as instructional leaders managing teaching and learning. 2. To better understand teachers’ perceptions of the role of principals as instructional leaders in supporting their professional development. A qualitative approach case study research design is used in this study. For the purpose of this study, the researcher will purposefully select two schools in the Metropole Central district in the Western Cape. The study used purposive sampling by selecting the most appropriate research participants for the study. As a qualitative research project, interviews will be the main tool used for the data collection. The findings indicate that across both schools, the principals do support the teachers in their teaching and learning activities which characterises them as instructional leaders. However, due to teachers' perceptions of the principal as being less involved, the support offered by one of the principals is limited. This suggest that perhaps principals are not yet able to provide the level of support that teachers expect and in some instances principals are not directly involved in the support offered due to their administrative functions on school management and administration as oppose to the theory of leadership as transformative and supporting as instructional leaders. This study contributes to knowledge about instructional leadership in South Africa in two ways: It gives insight on teachers’ perceptions about the role of the principal as an instructional leader. Specifically, it gives us an understanding of the perceptions of teachers about the principal’s role as an instructional leader in both a rich and poor school in South Africa.