Ensuring Teachers' Job Suitability: A Missing Component of Instructional Leadership

• In Event: 63.084 - MTCC Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: 63.084-1 - Instructional Leadership's Impact on Organizational Management

Abstract

Surprisingly, the literature about instructional leadership practices has not mentioned school leaders' practices for hiring appropriate teachers and for determining if existing teachers are the "right people" for the job. The current study's goal was to explore Israeli principals' perceptions regarding their role in ensuring teachers' job suitability and its relation to instructional leadership. Data analysis revealed that school principals perceived the issue of teacher hiring/firing as complicated. Therefore, they often regarded related tasks as impossible or impractical. The current study suggests that this perception led principals to refrain from considering the activities involved in ensuring teacher suitability as means to improve teaching and learning. Practical implications and further research are discussed.

Author

• Haim Shaked, Hemdat Hadarom College of Education