School Principal's Leadership

• In Event: 61.020 - Lessons Learned From the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS 2013)

Abstract

Although they are not the sole source of influence, schools - regardless of their location or composition - are primarily institutions designed to influence student achievement and teachers are the main agents responsible for achieving this purpose. It would be mistaken, however, to fail to recognize the contribution of school principals to student achievement through their impact on the school, its organisation and climate and especially upon teachers and teaching. A chief obstacle is that role of the principal is not particularly well understood. Contrary to what one might expect, there is no clear, well-articulated body of research about the role of the principal and school leadership.
One of the difficulties faced by those who wish to understand the principal’s contribution to school achievement is that the principal’s influence is typically indirect. School leadership and a school’s success are linked, though the evidence indicates an indirect relationship that is mediated by the impact that principals have on such factors as the organisation of teacher work, school organisation, and relationships between the school and the wider community In other words, principals influence the climate and organisation of the school and its staff and the conditions under which the staff, especially teachers, work, teacher satisfaction and their sense of efficacy.
The 2013 cycle of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) provided a unique opportunity to examine cross-country data for understanding the role of the principal and the principal’s influence on student achievement. The paper is based on the response of principals in lower secondary education to a questionnaire administered in a representative sample of schools in 34 countries / economies. The TALIS 2013 themes and the individual items were determined by representatives of the participating countries and translated into questionnaires for teachers and principals by an Instrument Development Expert Group established by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The results speak to the increasingly demanding role of school principals; their responsibilities; the instructional leadership they provide; their demographic characteristics, formal education, prior work experience, and engagement in professional development; and their satisfaction with their work using data from TALIS 2013. For example, principals in the participating countries and economies have a demanding and far-ranging set of responsibilities. On average, principals spend the most time (41%) managing human and material resources, planning, reporting and adhering to regulations. In some countries, principals who show high levels of instructional leadership are more likely to report using student performance and student evaluation results to develop the school’s educational goals and programs and to report working on a professional development plan for their school. Principals with higher levels of instructional leadership tend to spend more time on curriculum and teaching-related tasks, and in most countries they are more likely to directly observe classroom teaching as part of the formal appraisal of teachers’ work in their school. Implications for policy and practice are also discussed.

Authors

• Charles S. Ungerleider, Directions Evidence and Policy Research Group

• Zohreh Yaghoub Zadeh, Directions Evidence and Policy Research Group, LLP