Question 2

A clearly defined understanding of instructional leadership is imperative if that

leadership is to be effective. Instructional leadership differs from that of a school
administrator or manager in a number of ways. Principals who pride themselves as
administrators are too preoccupied in dealing with strictly administrative duties
compared to principals who are instructional leaders. The latter role involves setting
clear goals, allocating resources to instruction, managing the curriculum, monitoring
lesson plans, and evaluating teachers. In short, instructional leadership are those
actions that a principal takes, or delegates to others, to promote growth in student
learning (Flath, 1989). The instructional leader makes instructional quality the top
priority of the school and attempts to bring that vision to realisation.
More recently, the definition of instructional leadership has been expanded to
towards deeper involvement in the core business of schooling which is teaching and
learning. Attention has shifted from teaching to learning, and some have proposed the
term "learning leader" over "instructional leader" (Richard DuFour, 2002). The National
Association of Elementary School Principals (2001) defines instructional leadership as
"leading learning communities". In learning communities, staff members meet on a
regular basis to discuss their work, work together to problem solve, reflect on their jobs,
and take responsibility for what students learn. They operate in networks of shared and
complementary expertise rather than in hierarchies or in isolation. People in a learning
community own the problem and become agents of its solution. Instructional leaders
also make adult learning a priority; set high expectations for performance; create a
culture of continuous learning for adults and get the communitys support for school
success. Blase and Blase, (2000) expressed instructional leadership in specific
behaviours such as making suggestions, giving feedback, modeling effective instruction,
soliciting opinions, supporting collaboration, providing professional development
opportunities, and giving praise for effective teaching.
Inherent in the concept of an instructional leader is the notion that learning
should be given top priority while everything else revolves around the enhancement of
learning which undeniably is characteristic of any educational endeavor. Hence to have
credibility as an instructional leader, the principal should also be a practicing teacher.
For example, in the United Kingdom, most principals spend an average of 20 percent of
their time in a week on teaching (Weindling 1990). Instructional leaders need to know
what is going on in the classroom; an opportunity to walk the factory floor. Many a time,
principals are not in touch with what is going on at the classroom level and are unable to
appreciate some of the problems teachers and students encounter. The tendency is to
address instructional issues from the perspective when they were teachers. Principals
need to work closely with students, developing teaching techniques and methods as a
means for understanding teacher perspectives and for establishing a base on which to
make curricular decisions. Also, a teaching principal strengthens the belief that "the sole
purpose of the school is to serve the educational needs of students" (Harden, 1988, p.
88). Whitaker (1997) identified four skills essential for instructional leadership.
While it is generally held that the principal is both manager-administrator and
instructional leader in many countries, including Malaysia; principals tend to be more
manager-administrators oriented while that of instructional leader is most often
delegated to the assistant principal. Even then, the label instructional leader is seldom
assigned to any one person but is assumed to be the responsibility of all teachers.
Nonetheless, it is interesting to note that the trend is towards insisting that the principal
assume the prominent role of an instructional leader. It will be a formidable task
convincing principals to relinquish their image as manager-administrator and take on the
role of instructional leader. Generally, principals do not see themselves as instructional
leaders and many are of the belief that anything that has to do with teaching and
learning is best assigned to teachers. In some cases, principals feel inadequate to
initiate and develop instructional programmes given the assortment of subject areas
taught with each having its own pedagogical uniqueness. For example, teaching
reading is different from teaching science and would it be fair to expect the principal to
be knowledgeable about instructional strategies for each of the subject areas. Despite
these apprehensions, proponents of the idea that the principal should be an
instructional leader, is gaining serious attention. If that be the case then the principal
needs to have up-to-date knowledge on three areas of education, namely; curriculum,
instruction and assessment.
The issue of leadership styles is considered as a major and basic concern for all
organizations and institutions in various countries. Different countries around the world
have been attempting to highlight and stress the concept of efficient leadership styles in
various ways in their daily organizational activities, programs, and performance. In
Malaysia, there is rapid and increasing awareness in various sectors and fields,
including the educational institutions such as universities, colleges, schools, and others,
which indirectly related to educational domain. The role of a principal in relation to
school administration is a topic that has been subjected to close investigation. In this
case, quality leadership styles performed by a principal are considered as the most
important tools for achieving and determining the excellence and success of a school
performance, especially pertaining to students performance in curricular and co-
curricular activities. Best services and good strategic management performed by the
highest authority in hierarchical level of school administration especially the principal will
directly lead students into the right path of academic and non- academic excellence.
Nowadays, the role of a principal is to emphasize his or her role as the
transformational and instructional leader. This is because effectiveness is ultimately
determined by the impact of the principal on student learning. Most of the research
findings in the literature strongly imply that the principal is the most important person in
providing leadership for improved instruction and better curricula (Mahmood, 1993).
In order to enhance high-academic excellence in educational performance, it is
important to deal with effective leadership styles performed by principals, as they indeed
play the most important role for determining students excellence in academic. Hence
the objectives of this study are to examine teachers perception on the principal
leadership styles in high-academic performance schools and investigate the relationship
between teachers characteristics and perceptions of principal leadership styles.
Instructional leadership is a tough effort. To do it well, a school administrator
must be knowledgeable (Roundtable & Hallinger, 2012); facile with statistical data
(Lunenburg, 2010); capable of connecting with teachers on formal and informal levels
(Instructional, Is, & Important, 2005); and knowledgeable about and able to implement
the specific moves and strategies that are most effective for improving student
achievement (P. Hallinger, 2005). Nonetheless, the expectation that school
administrators demonstrate characteristics of instructional leaders is nearly undoubted.
In this part we nearby a framework which conceptualizes instructional leadership
as a two dimensional construct comprised of leadership practices and leadership
processes. This framework makes it possible to consider ways in which instructional
leadership varies in different school contexts and how principals can exercise strong
instructional leadership using quite different leadership styles. In this framework
instructional leadership practices represent the substance of the principal's instructional
leadership role (P. Hallinger & Davis, 1996).
In Malaysia, most principals of private colleges are school leaders with multiple
roles. They are responsible in the finance, administration, marketing, operation and
academic matters. It is a common practice in private colleges to have heads of
department to assist these principals in the academic matters. Heads of Department are
responsible for the smooth running of their respective departments.
Roach (1976) observed that the roles and responsibilities of Heads of
Department gradually shift from a purely subject-matter specialist to a planner and
developer of department programs. However, their responsibilities as an instructional
catalyst, resource allocator, arbitrator/human relations expert, and a partner in shaping
the institutional goals and mission still remain unchanged (Roach, 1976). The
capabilities of a Head of Department as an instructional leader are crucial in
determining the academic success of the department. Wolansky (1978) noted that
mostly a Head of Department is appointed for his /her academic achievement and
intellectual standing rather than proven managerial ability.
Instructional leadership is related to leadership in educational institutions with the
aim to achieve quality learning for their students. Sergiovanni (1987) as cited in Blas
and Blas (1998) suggested that instructional leaders have a responsibility to build a
learning community. Flath (1989) found that instructional leadership activities could be
grouped in the following four categories: goal emphasis, coordination and organization,
power and discretionary decision making, and improvement of the instructional program
and human relations. Furthermore, Krug (1992), Parker and Day (1997) highlighted that
there are five general functions of instructional leadership: defining and communicating
a clear mission, goals and objectives; supervising teaching; monitoring student progress;
promoting instructional climate; and managing curriculum. Glickman (2004) described
instructional leadership as working directly with teachers for group improvement,
professional development, curriculum improvement and action research implementation.
Hanny (1987) perceived an instructional leader as someone with knowledge
about curriculum development, teacher and instructional effectiveness, clinical
supervision, staff development and teacher evaluation. Fullan (1991) agreed and
expanded these roles to the management aspect. Throughout the literature, there were
recurring themes on instructional leadership roles. Whitaker (1997) suggested four
general roles for instructional leadership; a resource provider, an instructional resource,
a communicator and visible presence. Achua and Lussier (2007) summarised the roles
of leaders into three categories based on the ten roles of leadership which Henry
Minitzberg identified. Interpersonal roles included the figurehead role, leader role and
liaison role. Information roles comprised the monitor role, disseminator role and
spokesperson role. Lastly, decisional roles consisted being an entrepreneur, a
disturbance handler, a resource allocator and a negotiator.
In the field of educational management, almost all areas such as policy and
practice, training, decision making and leadership had been inspected thoroughly.
However, there were limited literatures addressing the issue of culture in relation to
leadership. Although there were ample literatures on educational leadership, most of
these findings are based on a Western cultural context. As a consequence, modern
discussions of leadership that emphasize non Western cultural context are limited
(Hallinger, 1995). Similarly, Western theories of leadership in education are transferred
across cultures with little concern for their cultural validity (Hallinger, 1995).
In Malaysia, most principals of private colleges are school leaders with multiple
roles. Instructional leadership is related to leadership in educational institutions with the
aim to. Through instructional leadership, they shared vision and goals,
high academic expectation, and Malaysia is a multicultural country comprising
three major ethnic group such as Malays, Chinese and Indians.