School Leaders' Perspectives on Successful Leadership: A Mixed Methods Case Study of a Private School Network in Pakistan (original) (raw)

Successful leadership practices of head teachers for school improvement Some evidence from Pakistan

Purpose -The main purpose of this study is to identify the successful leadership practices of head teachers for school improvement at secondary level in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach -The study was descriptive (survey type) in nature. It was conducted on a sample of 351 secondary school head teachers, 702 elementary and secondary school teachers working in the government secondary schools of Punjab province. Data were collected using a mixed-methods research design that included: review of related literature, documents indicating school achievements and student attainment, questionnaires and in-depth semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders including the head teachers, teachers, parents and students. The validity and reliability of the instruments was ensured through experts' opinions and pilot testing in mid-2007; the overall reliability was established at 0.923 alpha level. Findings -The findings of the study revealed that the majority of the head teachers of successful schools developed a common and shared school vision and promoted a culture of collaboration, support and trust. They empowered others to lead and distributed leadership responsibilities throughout the school; involved different stakeholders in the process of decision making; developed and maintained good relationships among different personnel of school community. They emphasised the professional development of teachers as well as themselves, and involved parents and community in the process of school improvement. Practical implications -The findings of this article may be useful for other countries of almost similar socio-economic status, to improve quality of teaching and learning at secondary level. Originality/value -The paper shows that policy makers, administrators, managers and head teachers at secondary school level may improve school performance by adopting effective strategies for school improvement in Pakistan.

A study on leadership styles executed by principal and academic coordinator in one of the private schools in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

2017

This study investigates the leadership styles of school principal and academic coordinator in one of the private schools in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. A qualitative case study approach was employed to generate the study data using semi-structured interviews as major data generation tool. A pre-designed interview guide was used to facilitate the interview discourses. The findings of the study showed that both, the principal and academic coordinator mostly execute democratic leadership approach to facilitate learning processes in the school, though this style becomes varied under different circumstances. This dominant leadership style was seen effective in bringing about positive learning environment within the school. The study recommends that exploration of similar comparative studies in same context may be continued to generate more in-depth understanding of the context and to devise appropriate plans in educational sector.

Leadership and management in public schools: Opportunities and challenges faced by school leaders in Punjab

Journal of Social Sciences Advancement

Punjab has been undergoing radical changes in transforming school education. Especially the governance structures (school being unit of analysis for improvement) influencing school and learning atmosphere. The proposed study focuses on scrutinizing these changes regarding school leadership in the era of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Pakistan. Leadership is concerned with how Head Teachers (HTs) promote, manage, and monitor the teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and skills using ICT to support student learning. These structural changes have created an engaging, prolific, and fruitful rationale for researchers to discuss how the policy-mandated initiatives impact leadership for learning mainly in primary schools. A qualitative case study of district Hafizabad opted as the methodology. Thirty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted, twenty-five with the HTs, seven with Assistant Education Officers, and the district supervisory staff. Thematic analysis was...

MALAYSIAN ONLINE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT (MOJEM) PAKISTANI SCHOOLS POSSESS EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP: PLATITUDE OR REALITY

The purpose of this paper is to find out the existing level of leadership skills of the principals working in secondary schools in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan on the basis of teacher's perception working with these principals. This study was conducted in 31 secondary schools in Pakistan. A sample of 408 secondary school teachers responded completely to a survey instrument comprising 18 items that measured the levels of three leadership skills: transformational, organizational and behavioral leadership skills. The overall findings reveal that the principals working in these secondary schools seem to possess an overall high level of leadership skills. However, there were variations in the level of leadership skills which may be due to structural capital of these organizations, and past job of the principals as leaders and administrators in other schools. The findings do reveal a strong need for boosting and enhancing leadership skills through leadership training for the school principals prior to their selection as school leaders. At the same time, this study also suggests that the authorities should avoid promoting teachers to the head-post without prior leadership training which is very necessary for school effectiveness in the long run.

Pakistani Schools Possess Effective Leadership: Platitude or Reality

2015

The purpose of this paper is to find out the existing level of leadership skills of the principals working in secondary schools in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan on the basis of teacher’s perception working with these principals. This study was conducted in 31 secondary schools in Pakistan. A sample of 408 secondary school teachers responded completely to a survey instrument comprising 18 items that measured the levels of three leadership skills: transformational, organizational and behavioral leadership skills. The overall findings reveal that the principals working in these secondary schools seem to possess an overall high level of leadership skills. However, there were variations in the level of leadership skills which may be due to structural capital of these organizations, and past job of the principals as leaders and administrators in other schools. The findings do reveal a strong need for boosting and enhancing leadership skills through leadership training for the ...

Leadership Competencies of School Principals: The Case of Urban and Rural Private Schools in Pakistan

Polish Journal of Management Studies, 2016

Private schools have been growing in urban and rural areas to improve the quality of education in Pakistan and have become the second largest employer after textile industry. With a little government budget on education, there is a lack of monitoring on the minimum standard of education in Pakistan. Therefore the quality of education depends primarily on the way schools are managed. The objective of this study is to explore the leadership competencies of private school principals in Pakistan urban and rural areas. Content analysis was utilized to analyze written responses from 26 private schools. This study reveals that in urban and rural areas private school principals are perceived to have strong personal characters but lack the competencies to drive results. The main finding of this study is that leadership competencies of personal characters and driving results are perceived as two independent aspects, instead of complimenting to one another. This is one of the reasons why many private schools fail to retain students to complete a full cycle of basic education.

The Paradigm Shift: Leadership Challenges in the Public Sector Schools in Pakistan

2015

Previous research has established that school heads as leaders are vital to the successful implementation of educational reforms (Derek, 2009; Robinson, Lloyd, & Rowe, 2008 ). Education system in Pakistan is going through a paradigm shift from teacher centered to learner centered classrooms using English as the instructional language. The present work intends to study the school heads’ role in this changing scenario. This research aims to explore how the school heads are managing the change in the public sector schools in Punjab , in order to inform in the training programs designed to sensitize the school heads towards the most recent teaching methods and effective school management strategies . The paper does not intend to present conclusive evidence to verify or refute theories, but rather provide an understanding of the leadership challenges and responsibilities, unique to the public sector head teachers in the Punjab schools. The conclusions, as documented in this study reflect...

Article Journal of Education and Educational Developement School Heads' Perceptions About Their Leadership Styles

Journal of Education and Educational Development, 2019

This study explored school heads' perceptions regarding their school leadership styles. The study adopted a qualitative research design. The sample of the study consisted of 10 male and 10 female head teachers from Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed that school heads adopted a number of leadership styles. The main leadership styles included instructional leadership, transformational leadership and moral leadership. These different leadership styles were adopted keeping in view the needs of different situations that heads found themselves working in. The study has important implications for school management, schoolteachers, researchers and policy makers.

A Study about the Leadership Styles of Public and Private Schools

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the relationship of people oriented and task oriented leadership styles with the public and private school sector principals. Design/methodology/approach: Data for the research were collected through a survey of public and private sector school principals of Lahore in Pakistan. One hundred forty nine school heads from sixty four private and eighty five public sector school principals in Lahore rated their superiors on 35 items of leadership styles. Factor analysis of the scores on such items yielded two dimensions of leadership styles: (a) task orientation, and (b) people orientation. Items of the scale had high reliability, validity, and discriminative power on two dimensions of leadership styles.

Leadership and Management 1 Quality Leadership and Management in Private Schools

School leadership and management in private school has of late become a major focus in the globe. The question as to why most private schools perform better than their public counterparts has been associated with the difference in the kind of leadership and management in both cases. An effective leadership in private schools is what motivates students to work harder and smarter thus a better performance. In addition, private schools run on their own leadership, probably its director and other capable leaders unlike in public schools where in most cases the government has to be consulted before carrying out any activity. Public schools are also receiving more students than private schools especially in the third world countries because either the parents do not have enough for private school education or they want a cheaper school. Considering the trends, private school teachers in most countries are paid better than their public counterparts. This might be a trigger for the better performance. However, with all these good characteristics of private schools, quality leadership and management are what drives it all. This paper aims at critically examining the notion of effective educational quality, leadership and management and assessment of the effectiveness of leadership and management in private schools (UNESCO, 2016).