An analysis of principals' instructional leadership role: a case of Gatundu District
Date
2014
Authors
Owenga, Sophia Nekesa
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
Leadership today deals with complex phenomena because of the complexity of
industrial, social or political organization, globalization and technological advancement
especially in information technology. Research on effective schools points to the crucial
role leaders play in establishing and monitoring quality schools for all students. This
study examined the various leadership roles of a school principal as an instructional
leader. The objectives of the study were: to investigate the current instructional
leadership skills practiced by the principals, to identify the influence of the principals'
instructional leadership skills on the school performance, to identify the challenges that
principals face in executing their leadership roles and to recommend strategies for
improvement on the challenges. This study was a survey carried out in sixteen
government and four private owned secondary schools in Gatundu District which now
falls under Kiambu County. Some schools were sampled to represent the entire district
and a descriptive survey research design was used. The data collection instruments
included questionnaires, records and observation. The target population was a total of
twenty secondary schools that were sampled through purposive sampling. The two
research questions addressed by the study were answered using descriptive statistics.
The results showed that principals in Gatundu District showed high level of
instructional leadership responsibility but they missed out on some important skills like
teamwork i.e. cultivating amicable relationships with stakeholders, sensitizing board of
management and communities on the importance of supporting principals. The
researcher recommended that principals should get a firm grip of their school
curriculum in order to be able to offer useful advice/ assistance to the teachers, since
one can only give what he/she has. In order to have teachers who can impart the right
knowledge and also meet the challenges of being teachers at every point in time, they
must be engaged in several staff development programmes to constantly update their
knowledge hence funding should be given to principals to run the programmes. If the
recommendations are well effected, ,it will be apparent that schools will have improved
instructional leadership practices, improved academic performance, improved teacher
performance, and reduce student truancy.
Description
Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Educational Management
Keywords
Leadership, Education, Gatundu District, Principals' Instructional Leadership, Instructional Leadership, Stakeholders, board of management, school curriculum, staff development