Instructional leadership role of government primary school head teachers for successful implementation of curriculum

Abstract

The objective of this research was to study the perceptions of Government Primary School Head Teachers about their instructional leadership at school, which was broken down into specific themes and subthemes under the categories of instructional leadership dimensions. This research can be significant to the Government Primary School Head Teachers who practice instructional leadership to develop their leadership qualities and skills. A qualitative approach was taken for the study. Data collection was done through one-to-one interviews, and the thematic analysis method was used to analyze the findings. The findings found that Government Primary School Head Teachers feel the importance of all instructional leadership dimensions. They highly prioritize strong collaboration with relevant stakeholders towards s achieving a collective goal. Head Teachers stated that they maintain shared decision-making and responsibilities while coordinating with assistant teachers and encourage professional development. Besides ensuring a safe environment, they regularly monitor students' progress and supervise teachers' performance. While implementing instructional leadership, Head Teachers receive support from assistant teachers for different school-related works, School Management Committee (SMC) for resources, and Education Officers for training. However, they also face challenges, such as lack of accountability or integrity of the assistant teachers, low educational quality, or corrupted SMC members. Head Teachers usually take situation-based strategies to address the challenges. Finally, it was recommended Head Teachers should maintain a weekly tracking system, analyze assistant teachers' job satisfaction, cooperate more with URC instructors, establish a student behavior tracker at school, and involve Parents Teacher Association more in school improvement activities.