THE EFFECTS OF INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

THE EFFECTS OF INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

CHAPITER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 THE STUDY’S BACKGROUND

Instructional leadership (IL) emerged from the literature on successful schools in the 1960s. Two distinct themes have developed during the past three decades. IL increased academic achievement, according to data from the 1980s (Murphy, 1985). Large-scale research demonstrating the beneficial impact of IL on school effectiveness and improvement was produced in the new century as a result of a second wave of interest (Hallinger, 2011). There is a long history of instructional leadership (IL) raising student achievement, mostly in the US (Murphy 2013). According to Wahlstrom (2010), claim the IL has been the most effective leadership strategy for the past 30 years. There has been a resurgence in interest in IL during the past ten years, with many hailing its value in fostering long-term teaching and learning in classrooms (Dretzkea, 2010). According to Peterson (1999), students have a right to a top-notch education that enables them to grow intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. If teachers provide students with a high-quality education, society will value them. However, the kind of environment that is conducive to teaching and learning is typically not achieved because of the combination of internal and external variables that tend to mediate instruction and develop a bad view of the teaching profession. According to Harris (2007), a number of outside variables that have fundamentally changed the character and nature of teaching and learning have had a direct impact on the community’s perceptions of teaching in recent decades. According to Bush (2007), the transformation of teaching and learning may be significantly impacted by the leadership’s effectiveness. To be accomplished, both the national development and education visions need instructional leadership. Because of these objectives, parents and society as a whole have high expectations for education and professional responsibilities. The public’s education is under more and more scrutiny from schools and teachers (Mpofu, 2000). According to Richmond (2007), among other things, school leaders are expected to supervise staff, correct students, communicate with parents, manage buildings, direct the educational program, secure the safety of teachers and students, manage funds, and take part in school reform. According to Grima (2016), heads of schools are in a better position since they are more aware of what is happening in their institutions and can identify opportunities for development because they are in constant touch with other agencies. ―School The role of heads is to provide the optimum atmosphere for improvement to take place in their schools. They need to know exactly where they want their schools to go and debate and plan how to get there with their employees. The principal’s duties are always evolving. A head teacher typically oversees just one school, however there are few instances where they are in charge of several. Examples of job titles include principal, executive, associate, and head of school, as well as the governance structures that head teachers are accountable to. Head teachers have a significant influence on society and the teaching profession globally (Bryk, 2009). On the other hand, head teachers are supposed to have admirable aims and objectives to raise schools to higher levels because they are in charge of the performance of the schools and students. The effectiveness of instruction and student achievement in the classroom are significantly impacted by the leadership of head teachers. Head professors set high academic expectations both inside and outside of their own schools. According to Spillane and Diamond (2004), head teachers are accountable for locating, purchasing, allocating, coordinating, and utilizing the social, material, and cultural resources required to establish the conditions for teaching and learning. Instructional leadership includes the identification, acquisition, allocation, coordination, and application of social and cultural resources necessary to establish the conditions for teaching and learning (Spillane, 2004). Nkobi (2008) asserts that instructional leadership seeks to raise the caliber of instructors’ work in the classroom in order to improve student accomplishment as well as their attitudes and behavior toward academics and their personal lives. Raising learner achievement requires effective instructional leadership.

Statement of the problem: 1.2

The Ministry of Education (2012) stated that primary school principals are in charge of providing their institutions with the vision, leadership, and direction they need to achieve their goals and objectives. Teachers must prepare students to become global citizens on a local level. Efforts to increase student accomplishment can be very successful when school leaders carry out their responsibilities for instructional leadership in a proper manner (Hammond, 2005). However, a contentious national debate is currently centering on educational excellence and school leadership skills. This area is affected by a number of variables, including the subject taught, the instructors who provide the curriculum, and the administrators who collaborate with educators, students, and the community (Paula, 2009). Evidence suggests that policies that only address management and leadership struggle to have more than a general impact on students’ learning. The position of school principals has altered as a result of considerable economic, demographic, technological, and geopolitical upheaval (Levine, 2005). Public primary school administrators encounter a range of difficulties in their current workplace, despite the fact that they are crucial to defining the future of successful schools. Even though studies have been conducted largely to look at the difficulties that primary school administrators confront in delivering high-quality primary education more quickly (Oduro, 2007). However, given the significance of this position in students’ academic progress and the difficulties faced by primary schools in Niger State, it is vitally necessary to do study on the definitions teachers give to the role of heads of school in instructional leadership.

1.3 THE STUDY’S OBJECTIVE

This study’s main objective is to improve instructional leadership methods in elementary schools by better understanding them. The study specifically seeks to:

i. evaluate how teachers perceive the responsibilities of head teachers as instructional leaders.

ii. To identify the challenges primary school head teachers encounter when exercising instructional leadership.

iii. To investigate how head teachers can improve primary school teaching and learning.

Research question 1.4

i. How should head teachers view their roles as instructional leaders?

What challenges do primary school head teachers have when they exert instructional leadership?

What impact do head teachers have on improving primary school teaching and learning?

1.5 THE STUDY’S SIGNIFICANCE

The results of this study were expected to be useful to researchers as well as other educational stakeholders, including teachers, curriculum designers, parents, and legislators. For instance, the results of the suggested study showed teachers’ attitudes toward instructional leadership and increased teachers’ (educators’) understanding of well-respected methods for improving teaching and learning in primary schools. The results of this study undoubtedly helped curriculum designers and legislators address the challenges that head teachers and academic staff experienced when exercising instructional leadership in primary schools, and they may have discovered solutions to these issues. (For instance, the kind and accessibility of teaching and learning resources in primary schools, as well as what needs to be addressed.) Understanding what was most needed for basic education would help students understand what was lacking.

1.6 THE STUDY’S SCOPE

Primary school students from four different elementary schools in Niger’s Tafa LGA will participate in this study.

1.7 THE STUDY’S LIMITATIONS

A hurdle during the study period will be finding funding for the general research activity. Additionally, respondents might not be able or willing to complete the surveys that were sent to them. However, it is anticipated that these limitations will be overcome by making the best use of the resources at hand and investing more time in the research than is strictly necessary. It is therefore firmly anticipated that despite these restrictions, their impact on this research report will be negligible, making the study’s purpose and significance attainable.

1.8 TERMINAL DEFINITIONS

Leadership: Many academics have sought to define it, and the majority of them agree that it refers to the influence process between leaders and followers. According to Bush and Clover (2003), leadership is a process of influence that results in the accomplishment of desired goals.

The identification, acquisition, allocation, coordination, and utilization of the social and cultural resources required to create the framework for the possibility of teaching and learning constitute instructional leadership. According to Nkobi (2008), instructional leadership aims to raise teachers’ standards of classroom work in order to increase students’ accomplishment as well as their attitudes and behavior toward academics and their personal lives.