The Role of School Principal as Instructional Leader: The Case of Type 2 and Type 3 Schools in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The school leader has a greater responsibility to students, teachers, parents as well as school community. Instructional leadership is a model of school leadership in which a principal works together with teachers to provide support and guidance in establishing best practices in teaching. The purpose of this study was to examine the practices of school principal’s role as instructional leader:The case of Type 2 and Type 3 School. The objevtives of the study were to find out what are the practices of principal’s role as instructional leader at Type 2 and Type 3 School? How does principal fulfill his/her instructional leadership role? And which activities do principals as instructional leaders engage in promoting the education of students and upgrading the pedagogy of teachers in Type 2 and Type 3 schools. The study was guided by qualitative multiple case study in order to examine the issue. Accordingly, Semi-structured interview, focus group discussion, observation and document analyses were used as data collecting tools. As the study sample four principals, two sectional heads and four teachers were selected using purposive sampling for interviews and group discussion. The finding of the study revealed that the general administrative roles took much of principals’ time and attention rather than instructional leadership roles. Also the study found that irrespective of school type principals pay much attention on provision of instructional materials and incentives for teaching and learning, protection of instructional and maintaining high visibility. However, it was further revealed that principals pay less attention on instructional supervision and evaluation, teacher training and professional development, monitoring studnets progess and coordinating curriculum. The study further revealed that the opportunities available for principals to acquire leadership training at an appropriate stage in their career are limited. For school to be successful, the principals need to balance both administrative roles and instructional leadership roles. Therefore it is recommended that the principals need to be trained in school management and leadership in order to be competent as instructional leaders in different categories of schools.