PRACTICES, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP

IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF WEST WOLLEGA ZONE

ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND BEHAVIORAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PLANNING AND

MANAGEMENT

BY

GIRMA EMIRU LEMESSA

JUNE,2019

ADDIS ABABA,ETHIOPIA

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PRACTICES, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP

IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF WEST WOLLEGA ZONE

ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND BEHAVIORAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PLANNING AND

MANAGEMENT

SUBMITTED TO:

HUSEIN KEDIR (PhD)

SUBMITTED BY:

GIRMA EMIRU

JUNE, 2019

ADDIS ABABA ,ETHIOPIA

iii

PRACTICES, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP

IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF WEST WOLLEGA ZONE

BY

GIRMA EMIRU LEMESSA

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND BEHAVIORAL STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF ARTS (MA) IN SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND BEHAVIORAL STUDIES

JUNE, 2019

ADDIS ABABA,ETHIOPIA

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Declaration

I declare that the thesis entitled as “Practices, Challenges and opportunities of instructional leadership in the Secondery schools of West Wollega Zone, Oromia Regional State” has been carried out by me as part of Master Degree in School leadership.

I further declare that this thesis is my original work and has not been submitted to any other University or Institution for the award of any degree or diploma and all sources of material used for this thesis have been dully acknowledge.

Submitted by:

Girma Emiru Lemessa ______

Student Name Signature Date

Approved by:

Hussien Kedir (PhD) ______

Supervisor Signature Date

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ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

AND BEHAVIORAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

PRACTICES, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF WEST WOLLEGA ZONE

BY GIRMA EMIRU LEMESSA

APPROVED BY THE BOARD EXAMINER

______

Graduate Committee signature

Chairman, Department Head,

______

Advisor Signature

______

External Examiner Signature

______

Internal Examiner Signature

______

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Acknowledgements

Above all, I would like to thank GOD for helping me to pass all the difficult moment during my study in Addis Ababa University

Next I would like to express my heart-felt thanks to my advisor, Dr. Hussien Kedir, for his unreserved, critical and constructive comments during this research study. For sure, this thesis would have not been for his encouragement and critical comments.

I would also like to convey my truthful thanks to my family, specially my wife W/ro Meti Belay Yadeta and my Daughter Urji Girma Emiru for their un reserved assistance and prayers encouraged me throughout my study at Addis Ababa University.

My deep gratitude also goes to the principals, vice principals, teachers, and students who devoted substantial part of their time in completing the survey instruments and in providing me the necessary data/ information. Without their generous participation, this study would have not been realized. I am also greatly indebted to the Department of Educational Planning and Management in Addis Ababa University for arranging this program and assistance to carry out the study. Finally, I am very much grateful to my families and friends who assisted me throughout the thesis work.

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Table of Contents

Contents Page Acknowledgements ...... i

Table of Contents ...... ii

LIST OF TABLES ...... v

Abstract ...... vi

CHAPTER ONE ...... 1

INTRODUCTION ...... 1

1.1. Back ground of the study ...... 1

1.2. Statement of the Problem ...... 3

1.3. Objectives of the study...... 5

1.3.1 General Objective ...... 5

1.3.2. Specific Objectives ...... 6

1.4. Significance of the study ...... 6

1.5. Delimitation of the Study ...... 6

1.6. Limitation of the study ...... 7

1.7. Operational Definition of Key Terms ...... 7

1.8 .Organization of the Study ...... 8

CHAPTER TWO ...... 9

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ...... 9

2.1. The Concept of Leadership ...... 9

2.2. The Concept of Instructional Leadership ...... 9

2.3. Leadership Practices in Schools...... 10

2.4. Features of Effective Leadership ...... 13

2.5. Characteristics of Strategic Leadership in School ...... 14

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2.6. School Leadership Qualities ...... 17

2.6.1. Educational Values ...... 18

2.6.2. Professional Knowledge ...... 18

2.6.3. Skills ...... 19

2.6.4. Attributes...... 19

2.7. Challenges of School Leadership...... 20

2.7.1. Providing a Values-Driven Vision ...... 21

2.7.2. Managing Staff Relationships ...... 21

2.7.3. Leading People...... 22

2.7.4. Effective Communication ...... 23

2.7.5. Leading Continuous Change ...... 23

2.7.6. Care and Rules ...... 24

CHAPTER THREE ...... 25

THE RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY ...... 25

3.1. The Research Method ...... 25

3.2. Sources of Data ...... 26

3.3. The study Site and Population ...... 26

3.4. Sample Size and Sampling Technique ...... 26

3.5. Instrument of Data Collection ...... 29

3.5.1. Questionnaire ...... 29

3.5.2. Interview ...... 29

3.6. Data Collection Procedure ...... 29

3.7. Validity and Reliability Checks ...... 30

3.8. Methods of Data Analysis ...... 31

3.9. Ethical Consideration ...... 32

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CHAPTER FOUR ...... 33

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION ...... 33

4.1. Characteristics of Respondents ...... 34

CHAPTER FIVE ...... 51

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS...... 51

5.1 .Summary of Major Findings ...... 51

5.2. Conclusions ...... 54

5.3 .Recommendations ...... 56

Reference ...... 58

Appendix A ...... 62

Appendix B ...... 65

APPENDIX C ...... 66

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LIST OF TABLES Table Page

Table 1: The summary of population, sample size and sampling technique ...... 28

Table 2 Reliability test result with Cronbach Alpha ...... 31

Table 3 the characteristics of respondents ...... 34

Table 4 Respondents view on shared vision and mission ...... 36

Table 5 Respondents‟ concept on motivation of Teachers ...... 38

Table 6:Respondents‟concept on School decision Making ...... 40

Table7: Professional Skill development Of Teachers ...... 41

Table 8: School communication practice ...... 43

Table 9 Evaluation of Performance ...... 45

Table 10 Fostering teaching learning process ...... 47

Table 11 Opportunities of instructional leadership ...... 49

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Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess the current practice, challenges and opportunities of school leadership practice in secondary schools of West Wollega Zone. The study particularly treated the dimensions of successful school leadership practices such as developing shared vision and mission, motivating teachers, effective decision making, communication practice, professional skill development, evaluation of performance and challenges that affect the school leaders in performing their activities in the school. To conduct this study, the descriptive survey was design employed. Among the 80 secondary schools found in the zone, 14 of them were selected randomly as sample schools. From these sample schools, 800 (30%) teachers were included as a sample through availability sampling technique. Additionally, 14 principals, 13 vice principals, 13 supervisors have participated in the study through availability sampling technique. A questionnaire was the main instrument for data collection. Interviews were also used to triangulate the data gathered through questionnaires. Frequencies, percentage standard deviation and mean value, were used to analyze quantitative data gained through the questionnaires. The qualitative data gathered during the interview sessions were analyzed using narration. The results of the study revealed that the school leadership practices were ineffective. School leaders were involved in leading the school without having prior leadership qualification and adequate training in school leadership. School leaders were also inefficient in promoting professional competence of teachers, creating strong school-community relationship, developing the school mission and vision, and evaluation of performance. Furthermore, the study revealed that: lack of qualified and well-trained school leaders, lack of training and experience sharing within school and with surrounding schools, inadequate participatory decision making, and insufficient motivation of teachers and inadequate communication skill of school leaders were factors that hinder leadership effectiveness. Instructional leaders’ effort in liaising schools/clusters with various organizations, community groups and other interests in matters that affect quality education were also insufficient. Finally the following recommendations were forwarded: Instructional leaders should give professional support to teachers in order to improve their instructional limitations; they also had great responsibility to link the schools with other stakeholders The Zone educational office, in collaboration with Oromia regional education bureau, need to provide educational leadership training to the school leaders to strengthen their capacity, awareness on the part of school leaders and teachers through in- service training, continuous professional development and experience sharing so as to improve their professional growth and teaching learning activities to alleviate the factors that hindered proper implementation of school leadership practice and solve the challenges. In addition to this instructional leadership provide benefits to improve school and change teaching and learning process forward.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the back ground of the study, statement of the problem, objectives, significance, delimitation, limitation, operational definition of key terms and organization of the study.

1.1. Back ground of the study

The issue for improving the quality of education at school level is one of the priorities that requires due attention and has been given unlimited involvement by the higher officials and people in the world of academia. There have been several calls on the instructional leadership on how to make the education system to be vibrant in the quality of products after several quantity of mass failure and half-baked products of various educational institutions around the world including our country Ethiopia. Schools are the formal agencies of education where the future citizens are shaped and developed through the process of teaching and learning. So schools need to help all students to develop their potentials to the highest level. This requires the effectiveness and commitment of the stakeholders particularly teachers, school leaders and management (Aggarwal,2010).

Effective instructional leadership is essential for improving quality education. The recognition that the task of improving instructional leadership in schools and raising the performance of both teachers and pupils rests with all the stakeholders in the education institution including head teachers, assistant principals, supervisors, PTA and parents. This study identified the practices challenges and opportunities of the instructional leadership (head teachers, principals, and supervisors) in secondary schools of West Wollega Zone by analyzing sampled data in the government schools of the Zone. Instructional leadership is often defined as a blend of several tasks, such as supervision of classroom instruction, staff development, and curriculum development Smith & Andrews, (1989). Taken together, Glickman (1985) and Pajak (1989) succinctly conceptualize and illuminate the responsibilities and activities of what is broadly referred to as instructional leadership. Glickman (1985) defined the five primary tasks of instructional leadership as direct assistance to teachers, group development, staff development, curriculum development, and action research.

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He notes that it is the integration of these tasks that unites teachers‟ needs with school goals. research on what functions “should” be a part of instructional leadership generated a similar list of tasks, but also included planning, organizing, facilitating change, and motivating staff.

Likewise, Schön‟s (1988), concept of instructional leadership emphasizes collegial classroom observations and specifically focuses on support, guidance, and encouragement of reflective teaching. Glickman (1985) described ideal instructional leadership as a collaborative endeavor enacted in a supportive environment that leads to an all-school action plan. Reitzug and Cross (1993), have discussed an inquiry-oriented practice of instructional leadership (i.e., “critical collaboration”) that encourages teacher voice and acknowledges diverse contexts as well as the complexity of teaching; the principal‟s role is one of facilitating a teacher‟s thinking about practice. By comparison approach is more inclusive; he conceptualizes instructional leadership as a discursive, collaborative, and critical study of classroom interaction to achieve a just and democratic world.

The emphasis for school improvement today is on student achievement, and on identifying students' needs and creating various mechanisms through which these needs can be met. In defining quality, Schonberger and Knod (1997) point to the lack of clear definitions of the term and infer that quality denotes a desirable characteristic in output of goods and services, as well as processes that make and deliver those outputs in ways that please customers. In spite of differences in meaning however, the concept of quality reflects how scholars think about quality, and issues that leaders (managers) at all levels needed to be addressed if quality is to happen. In its basic sense, Fry, Stonier and Hattwick (2001) refer to quality as the ability of a product or service to consistently meet or exceed customer expectations. While McShane and von Glinow (2006) define quality as the value that the end user perceives from a product or service, Mondy & Premeaux (1993) describe quality as the degree of excellence of a good or service. The implication is that a product or service has quality when its features satisfy and anticipate student needs and expectations, and conforms to a standard.

From the perspective of instructional leaders as a role, is considered as official activity performed by school leader and school administrators. However from the perspective of supervision as a process, not only school leaders and school administrators, but also staff

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members do perform leadership function by giving advice and guidance to other staff members in a school.

From this perspective, school leader is not a monopoly practice of leading the school as personnel. In this research, instructional leadership is regarded as shared activity among staff members including supervisor, principal, department heads, and teachers, on the basis of mutual trust and understanding in a school. In west Wollega Zone (Ethiopia) the practice of instructional leadership has been seen as challenging. This challenging problem initiated the researcher to conduct this research in order to identify the problems and assess the opportunities gained by instructional leaders.

1.2. Statement of the Problem

The main purpose of this research paper is to assess practices, challenges and opportunity of instructional leadership in West Wollega Zone government secondary schools. The intention of this study, apart from the studies indicated so far, focused on the instructional leadership practices, challenges and opportunities. To the best of the researcher„s knowledge, there was scarcity of studies which focus on the instructional leadership practices, challenges and opportunities in West Wollega Zone. As a result, the researcher felt that there was a gap that needs to be assessed on the current instructional leadership practices, challenges and opportunities in West Wollega Zone, Oromia Regional State.

Instructional leadership is a way of stimulating, guiding, improving, refreshing, encouraging and overseeing certain group with the hope of seeking improve teaching and learning. Instructional leadership in schools needed to draw on a body of professional knowledge to respond to the wishes of school community within the educational contexts. Instructional leaders must understand school contexts, and how the contexts affect the students‟ continuous learning. They should be able to demonstrate their knowledge and skill on how to structure the support (observe and evaluate) to meet the physical, social, conceptual and intellectual development of teachers and characteristics of the students at schools.

The school instructional leadership should be able to encourage learning environment, and provide guidance of teachers at different level accordingly. These are supposed to be majority of

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the problems facing a huge number of schools in the Zone as far as quality of education is concerned in the school system.

Insufficient support by the instructional leadership in the teaching learning process appeared to be a difficulty probably not only in West Wollega Zone secondary schools; undeniably it can be said a problem in all other Zones of the Region and country as well. School instructional leadership should be able to promote, support and create conducive environment for effective learning and teaching activities at schools.

They are also expected to be able to create and maintain safe, inclusive and challenging learning environments and promote fair and equitable behavior management system. They need to use simple and appropriate communication techniques; to have a repertoire of effective supervisory work strategies and use them to implement well-designed support .They should regularly support and guide all aspects of their practices to ensure how they are meeting the needs of the school communities. The researcher has lived in this Zone around and has got the opportunities to observe the practice challenges of school leaders and guidelines provided by the schools leadership in place, but which was happened without differentiating the type of leaders required in varied situations.

Greenfield (1985), defines instructional leadership in the broad sense by stating, “instructional leadership involves actions undertaken with the intention of developing a productive and satisfying working environment for teachers and desirable learning conditions and outcomes for children” (p. 56). Instructional leaders need to understand the practice and theoretical underpinnings of contemporary leadership and apply that knowledge in school improvement. They should be well versed in the latest research and development in pedagogy, curriculum, observation, and assessment.

The thesis could also verify the gap on how the instructional leaders and teachers themselves know and utilize the concept and technique of leadership practices. There has to be clear understanding on how the instructional leadership importantly practicing instructions and the teachers have got conceptual awareness of the roles of instructional leadership and even skills of the leaders. We need to know the instructional leaderships have the understanding how to facilitate and practicing supervision opportunities with the teachers.

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Current trends appear to indicate that there is a quality challenge still left unsolved in secondary education of the Zone, not only in the form of deterioration of student achievement but also in the form of decline in the quality of teacher and school instructional leadership professional performance. Weakness in the latter critical input in school instructional leadership is usually manifested in poor supervision practice or leadership process in the school system which in turn will negatively affect the effectiveness of classroom teaching learning delivery.

The thesis deals with identification of practices challenges and opportunities of the schools instructional leadership roles on the bases of the above mentioned facts that can commonly appear as major problems of the learning environment. It aspires to manipulate when and how

Frequently the instructional leadership provides support for teachers at different experience level and how adequately has been conducted to enhance students leaning achievement. Based on this concept, School leaders in West Wollega Zone were selected from subject specialist teachers whether they lack basic leadership professional qualification or experience that at least needed by the school principals to lead the school. Therefore, in the light of the above pressing and sensitive issues the writer of this paper felt that there is a gap that needs to be assessed comprehensively. So the researcher was interested to investigate the challenges that may hinder the school leaders in performing their role. To address this, the following research questions were raised.

1. What are the current practices of instructional leadership in secondary schools of West Wollega Zone?

2. What are the major challenges of providing instructional leadership in Secondary schools of West Wollega Zone?

3. What Opportunities or benefits are there in providing instructional leadership in secondary schools of West Wollega Zone?

1.3. Objectives of the study

1.3.1 General Objective

The general objective of this study was to assess practices, challenges and opportunities of instructional leadership in government secondary schools of West Wollega Zone.

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1.3.2. Specific Objectives

The specific objectives of the study were to:

1. The study intends to examine the school practices, challenges and opportunities of instructional leadership in support of the teaching learning environment.

2. To identify the relevance of the leadership support to teachers at different level.

3. To describe the challenges and opportunities of instructional leadership in the secondary schools.

1.4. Significance of the study

This research work has deep significance in understanding practice, challenges of instructional leadership. Specifically the result of this research has the following contribution

1. Might broaden the knowledge and skills of instructional leadership which was going along way to improve instructional leadership generating ideas on how to improve instructional leadership

2. It might help to inform school leaders about practice, challenges and opportunities of instructional leadership to react accordingly.

3. It may also serve as an input to teachers, principals and school supervisors with important information instructional leadership practice.

4. It may serve as a springboard for further study by researchers who want to conduct research in the area of instructional leadership practice.

1.5. Delimitation of the Study

The study was delimited in both content wise and geographically. The contents were delimited to examine the practice, challenges and opportunities of instructional leadership.

Geographically, the scope of this study was delimited to secondary schools of west wollega zone. There are 80 secondary schools in west wollega zone. Conditions did not permit the researcher to study in all the schools. Therefore, to make the study more manageable and feasible, among the

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80 secondary schools in the zone, the study was delimited to 14 secondary schools of the zone. Namely Biftu Gimbi, Boji Chokorsa, Boji Dirmage, Dalo Michael, Debeso,Enango, Ganji, Gimbi, Haru,Homa, Jarso, Mandi, Nedjo and Kiltu secondary schools. West wollega Zone was selected because of two main reasons. The first is that teachers in the zone were not properly supported by instructional leadership in tackling instructional problem.

The other one was that, the researcher is a colleague with secondary schools supervisors, teachers and school principals where he has been working in one of the Woredas of West Wollega zone as secondary school principal and teacher

1.6. Limitation of the study

The researcher believes that the study was not totally free of any limitation. The major limitation of the study was related to respondents‟ (particularly teachers‟) willingness to fill out and return the questionnaire. However; the researcher managed the limitation by convincing the teachers to fill out and return the questionnaire. This had its own effect on the findings of the study.

1.7. Operational Definition of Key Terms

Instructional leader: In this study it refers to school principals and vice- principals who lead and provide direction to improve instructional process

Instruction: Teaching in a particular subject or skills taught, the act, process or profession of teaching.

Challenge: Any condition or phenomenon that hinder activities of instructional leaders and Problems that affect the secondary school instructional leaders

Instructional leadership: refers to a series of behaviors designed to affect classroom instruction and the management of curriculum and instruction by a school principals

Practice: To do something repeatedly in order to improve performance through instructional leader. Government Schools: Primary schools which are under financial and administrative control of the Ministry of National and Regional Education.

Opportunity: the Situation or condition favorable for attainment of the goal.

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1.8 .Organization of the Study

This study has been organized in to five chapters. The first chapter consisted of background of the study; statement of the problem, basic research questions, objective of the study, significance of the study, delimitation, limitation of the study, definition of terms and the organization of the study. The second chapter presented the review of literature. Chapter three, discussed research design, and methodology of the research. The fourth chapter contained presentation, analysis of the results and discussion. The fifth chapter contained summary of the major findings, conclusion and recommendations. Finally, references and appendices were attached at last.

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CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Researcher has conducted different evaluations of the practices, challenges and opportunities of instructional leadership. Some of these results and challenges of instructional leaders and opportunities are discussed as follows:-

2.1. The Concept of Leadership

The implication of the fore going discussions to leadership are that a school leader be an effective leaders he/she has to consider the conceptions of leadership to deal with attitudes values and mutilations of different groups individual and people in school matters especially teachers as professional staff members have their own view of teaching and learning that giving or influencing positively an independent minded would probably be a difficult task for school leaders thus as and leaders principals should assert their view objectives and interests while respecting the views and needs of others (Lunenburg and (Ornistein 1991).

2.2. The Concept of Instructional Leadership

Perhaps the most popular theme in educational over the last two decades has been instructional leadership in their review of contemporary literature on leadership Leithtwood, and Jantizi, (2003)note that instructional leadership is one most of the yet, despite its popularly the concept is not well definite.

The description of instructional that has attained the highest level of visibility over the years is that by Smith and Andrews (1989) they identify four dimensions or roles of an instructional leader resources provider the principal ensures that teachers have the materials facilities and budget necessary to adequately perform their have the duties as an instructional resources the principal actively supports day to day instructional activities and programs by modeling desired behaviors participating in service training and consistently giving priority to instructional concerns as a communicator the principal has clear goals for the school and articles those goals to faculty and staff as instructional leadership has been linked with transformational leadership transformation leadership is expansion of instructional leadership because it aspires more

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generally to increase members efforts on behalf of the organization as well as develop more skilled practice.

Before reviewing the practice of instructional leadership the main question here is what is the real meaning of instructional leadership? Instructional leadership refers to leadership that is directly related to the teaching process involving the reaction between teachers students and curriculum from partial viewpoint to implement leadership of the teaching process instructional leader must play a role in the teaching and learning of teachers in terms of supervision assessment staff development and training services (Acheson and smith 1986) Keefe and Jenkins (2002) refers instructional leadership as the role of principal in providing directions resources and supports to teacher and students in order to improve the teaching and learning in schools while Bevoises (1984) his opinion regarding instructional leadership involves the principals actions to encourage growth in student learning.

According to Sergoivanni (2005) instructional leadership refers to the ability to develop educational programs this include the ability to interpret the curriculum and determine the objectives of the teaching the diversity of teaching methods determines class room management provide learning climate implement instructional innovation able influence and coordinate the teachers and students achieve the goals of education. For improving student performance in the current standards based on account ability environment swells and test results are increasing scrutinized school principals are being agreed to focus their efforts on the care business of schooling teaching and learning. Coin (in Chell 2005) states that schools need to create models of shaped leadership which incorporate the talents and energy of principals teacher students and parents also Hallinger (1992) speaks leadership teams to the secondary level to help carry rout the critical functions of curriculum and instructional coordination and supervision.

2.3. Leadership Practices in Schools

School leadership practice is taken to comprise eight elements as indicated in educational leadership culture and diversity by Clive Dimmock and Allan Walker are: The first group of Processes relate to the extent to which teachers and others are involved collaboratively in school management (Pounder, 1998). Differences between principals in different cultures may be compared according to the degree of participation they foster among others, achieving the optimal balance between the exercise of „power over‟ and „power through‟ colleagues (Day et

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al., 2000). When teachers and administrators work together, the level of commitment, energy, and motivation is likely to be higher and change efforts are more easily implemented. Effective teaching in modern schools is collegial and transparent, cooperative and collaborative, and conducted in teams and larger professional learning communities. Schools with professional collaboration exhibit relationships and behaviors that support quality work and effective instruction, including the following:

More complex problem-solving and extensive sharing of craft knowledge ; Stronger professional networks to share information; Greater risk-taking and experimentation because colleagues offer support and feedback; A richer technical language shared by educators in the school that can transmit professional knowledge quickly; Increased job satisfaction and identification with the school and More continuous and comprehensive attempts to improve the school, when combined with school-level improvement efforts (Fullan and Hargreaves, 1992).

Another set of leadership practices relate to motivation (Brotherton, 1999). It is useful for comparative purposes to explore the extent to which teachers are motivated and whether and how principals enhance teacher motivation, both as individuals and as team players (Cacioppe, 1999). School leaders can influence levels of motivation by shaping the school's instructional climate, which in turn shapes "the attitudes of teachers, students, parents, and the community at large toward education. By effectively managing this aspect of a school's culture, principals can increase both student and teacher motivation and indirectly impact learning gains.

The third group of leadership practices relates to school planning, a phenomenon which has become increasingly important in school systems around the world over the last decade, especially in managing both the increased pace and complexity of educational change. School planning considers the need for more flexible and creative strategies. How principals approach planning, who they involve in the process and what they intend to achieve by it, may be of cultural significance ( Fidler, B.2002).

How principals approach decision-making may also reveal cultural differences. For example, comparisons may be drawn by identifying the existence and form of decision criteria and the methods by which decisions are made. Fidler (2002), including leadership concerns not only for the quality of the decisions made but also for the contribution of a shared decision-making process to teacher leadership and professional development.

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Another set of leadership practices concerns communication (Duignan.p.2007) cultural differences, as well as similarities, may exist in the ways in which principals use written and oral modes of communication, for example, regarding degrees of openness (Ginsberg and Gray Davies, 2003) and the exercise of „persuasive communication‟ (Grint, 2003) as well as in the extent to which they rely on different forms of communication inside and outside the school to ensure that institutional objectives are realized in practice (Morrison, 2002). The effective leader must have the quality of being a good communicator. He must be able to put forth his ideas clearly and concisely. If he fails in this, he will most likely fail in everything.

A further basis for comparison targets the different ways in which conflicts within the school community are approached and resolved (Maurer, 1991). Such comparisons may be useful in highlighting differences and similarities in leadership processes and in developing typologies for the effective management of both destructive and constructive aspects of internal conflict within schools (DiPaola, 2003).

Yet another increasingly important facet of school life for both principals and teachers is how teachers are evaluated or appraised (Cardno and Piggot-Irvine, 1997). The ways principals structure conduct and view appraisal systems may offer instructive cultural comparisons, building on the comparative approach to the study of teacher appraisal and performance management.

The eighth and final element relates to comparisons between how principals view the importance and conduct of staff development (Darling-Hammond, 1997). Including managing the interface between staff development and both teacher assessment/ appraisal (Jacobson and Battaglia, 2001) and the fostering of teacher leadership development through the promotion of shared decision-making (Leithwood, Jantzi and Steinbach, 2003).

Providing, promoting and participating in teacher development that is relevant to the local school context and aligned both with overall school improvement goals and teachers‟ needs is a key responsibility for school leaders.

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2.4. Features of Effective Leadership

Five basic factors were proposed by Waldman (1993) which specifically define the actions of an effective leader. These are: change agency, teamwork, continuous improvement, trust building, and eradication of short-term goals.

Change Agency -- Sosik and Dionne (1997) defined change agency as the leader‟s ability to stimulate change in an organization. The leader does so by analyzing the organization‟s need for change, isolating and eliminating structures and routines that work against change, creating a shared vision and sense of urgency, implanting plans and structures that enable change, and fostering open communication.

Teamwork -- one of the distinguishing features of total quality management (TQM) is the importance of teams within an organization. Sosik and Dionne (1997) define teams in the following way: Teams consist of two or more individuals with complementary skills who interact with each other toward a common task-oriented purpose. Team members consider themselves to be collectively accountable for the attainment of their goals. Teams are formed to serve organizational interests within departments, and across departments and divisions. The effective leader is not only involved in establishing teams, but also sees to their viability by providing necessary resources and support.

Continuous Improvement -- this is a concept that is derived from the Japanese term kaizen, which means the continual and incremental improvement of the critical aspects of the organization by all members of the organization (Masaaki, 1986). According to Deming (1986), a leader must invite continuous improvement into the organization keep it alive by keeping the goals of the organization up front in the minds of employees and judging the effectiveness of the organization in terms of these goals.

Trust Building -- as the term implies, trust building involves creating a climate in which employer and employees perceive the organization as a “win win” environment). Sosik and Dionne (1997) describe trust building as the process of establishing respect and instilling faith into followers based on leader integrity, honesty, and openness. Leaders establish an atmosphere of trust by their daily actions. Specific actions leaders must exhibit include knowing the concerns

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of employees, knowing what motivates employees, and knowing the necessary conditions for employees to operate at levels of maximum effectiveness.

Eradication of Short-Term Goals-- Deming uses this term to refer to the eradication of the types of goals traditionally set within an MBO (management by objectives) model as articulated by Peter Drucker (1974). Specifically, this means the elimination of goals that are based on quotas, are highly numerical, and are short term. According to Sosik and Dionne (1997), Deming had a particular disdain for such goals and their emphasis on short-term quantitative results.

This is not to say that Deming was averse to specific goals. However, the goals he advocated were focused more on process and the long-term perspective. The effective leader not only helps establish the criteria around which goals are established, but also participates in the goals‟ design and implementation.

2.5. Characteristics of Strategic Leadership in School

Brent Davies argues for the development of the strategically focused school. Key to that strategic focus is the quality of the strategic leadership in the school. If we are to support and enhance the development of strategic leadership in schools, we need to be able to build a framework of understanding of what strategic leadership might comprise. Strategy is a process of influence, leading to the achievement of desired purposes. It involves inspiring and supporting others towards the achievement of a vision for the school which is based on clear personal and professional values.

Strategic orientation is the ability to link long-range visions and concepts to daily work. Korac- Kakabadse and Kakabadse (1998) suggested that visionary leadership is transformational by nature, and as such, quite different from planning, which is a managerial or a transactional process. Javidon (1991) quoted in Korac-Kakabadse and Kakabadse (1998) suggests that, visioning depends on understanding existing realities (culture, history, formative context) and developing a clear sense of direction for the organization. However, it is necessary to treat the concept of vision or visioning with caution. Seeking to analyze trends and their meaning for the future of the organization can be seen as a good thing if it engenders debate and if future scenarios become the basis for strategic conversations.

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The importance of creating the strategy with others, and not just communicating it to others, may be the critical skill that strategic leaders deploy in determining the strategic direction of the organization. As Boal and Hooijberg 2001, Strategic orientation can be considered to be the establishment of an outward-looking organization, which builds an understanding of possible future directions, and involves engaging in strategic conversations and debate to focus on the most appropriate direction and approach. Strategic leaders have the ability to translate strategy into action. In addition to strategic leaders leading the creation of an appropriate strategy for the organization is the need to translate strategy into action by converting it into operational terms.

Leaders need the skills on planning, motivating, communicating, decision making, evaluating or appraising, approaching conflict problems, conducting staff development and others to be able to influence people and their actions and they need to direct those actions through setting goals and creating meanings. This has resonance with the perspective of transformational leadership, where a leader is proactive about the vision and mission, shaping members‟ beliefs, values and attitudes while developing options for the future.

Similarly, Bass (1985) identified that, transformational leaders, in educational settings, motivate people to do more than they are originally expected to do in any of the following ways: Raising their level of awareness about the importance and value of designated outcomes; getting them to transcend their own self-interest for the sake of the team, organization or large polity; expanding their portfolio of needs and wants from low level, for e.g. physiological or safety needs to high level of esteem or self- actualization needs.

Strategic leaders have the ability to develop strategic capabilities. In line with this view, Prahalad and Hamel (1990) use the term „core competencies‟ while Stalk et al. (1992) use the term „strategic capabilities‟. The focus of much of central government activities in most Western economies is to raise educational standards by measuring student performance in annual tests. The danger of this approach is that it focuses activity on short-term targets. Thus, learning how to teach with the latest „literacy pack‟ from the government may improve teachers‟ specific skills but for sustainability the organization will need to develop deeper strategic capabilities or core competencies. These can be illustrated with the analogy of a tree, where the branches represent the short-term abilities and the roots are the underpinning fundamental capabilities of the school.

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Leaders can adapt and lead new strategic directions for the organization if they have cognitive flexibility linked to a mindset that welcomes and accepts change. Strategic leaders have leadership wisdom. Wisdom may simply be defined as the capacity to take the right action at the right time. In a perceptive presentation to the 2002 International Thinking Skills Conference, Robert Sternberg articulated that leaders need wisdom because: they need creative abilities to come up with ideas; they need analytical abilities to decide whether ideas are good ideas; they need practical abilities to make their ideas functional and to convince others of the value of their ideas; they need wisdom to balance the effects of ideas on themselves, others and institutions in both the short and long run.

All of these qualities affect the way a leader learns and is able to change. Boal and Hooijberg (2001) suggest that most leadership researchers agree that leaders need to have such important interpersonal skills as empathy, motivation, and communication. In addition, Bennett (2000) expands the importance of personal values stating that if moral leadership is to be exercised and pedagogy re-engineered with any degree of success, then future leaders will need a firm set of personal values. No doubt, many will have their own lists, but integrity, social justice, humanity, respect, loyalty and a sharp distinction between right and wrong, will all need to be included. Strategic relationships will soon founder unless such a value system is held with conviction and exercised on a regular consistent basis.

Implementation Process - Implementation process is one characteristics of strategic leadership. The challenge of implementing strategy involves four key tasks: translating strategy into action; aligning the individual and the organization to the new strategy; deciding between sequential and parallel implementation approaches and finally, the issue of strategic timing. a) Translating strategy into action- Although this sounds an obvious activity, it is sometimes one of the most difficult to do. Whereas discussing and writing plans cause some organizational tensions, the implementation can produce significant tensions and resistance to change.

However, successful strategic organizations pay similar amounts of attention to how strategies are to be implemented.

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Three key points adapted from Gratton (2000) are critical here: keep the process simple; measure success through the richness of the strategic conversations and focus on the few themes that will make a real difference.

(b) Alignment- One of the key challenges in implementation process is aligning both individual and organizational values, culture and ways of working to the new strategy. This alignment requires both initial and ongoing attention from the strategic leaders in the organization to „cement‟ the new way of working into the organizational practice and culture. In line with this view, Pietersen (2002) forcefully argued that the need of the ability to align every element of entire organization measurement and reward systems, organizational structures and processes, corporate culture, and the skills and motivation of people behind strategic focus. This is a monumental leadership challenge; without success here, no strategy can succeed. Thus realigning both the corporate and individual „mind set‟ to the new direction of the organization and being committed to it needs extensive staff development and training.

(c) Sequential and parallel implementation approaches- One way of considering organizational development is that schools, move from one phase of their development to another in a sequential way. A common argument is that once the improvements in the current operation have been achieved, the leadership in the school has both the courage and the experience to take more fundamental strategic moves (Marsh, 2000).

(d) Strategic timing- The leadership challenge of when to make a significant strategic change is as critical to success as choosing the right strategic change to make. The issue of timing can rest on leadership intuition as much as on rational analysis. When individuals in the organization are ready for change, when the organization needs the change and when the external constraints and conditions force the change all have to be balanced one against the other.

2.6. School Leadership Qualities

In earlier work on school leadership, Walker and Dimmock (2000), in concert with an assembled panel of experienced principals, professional developers, policy-makers and academics identified four interrelated components of what they termed „key qualities‟ for leadership. These were values, knowledge, skills and attributes. All four, it was argued, needed to be meaningful and professionally relevant. The „expert‟ panel was then charged with identifying particular core

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values, professional knowledge, skills and attributes deemed to be central to contemporary school leaders. The results of their deliberations are given below. While these are not claimed to be exclusive, they provide a useful framework for conceptualizing essential leader qualities. A key question is the extent to which the values, knowledge, skills and attributes are thought to be generic and cross-cultural, given the tensions. The panel assumed that they were mostly generic, since they are responses to the needs for school improvement more than particularities of culture. They thought, however, that cultural difference would be more likely to affect how all four components were expressed and exercised.

2.6.1. Educational Values

Essential to leaders is the development of a coherent set of educational values on which to base leadership for school improvement. These values serve as fundamental principles on which to develop and design their schools and to provide consistency across all aspects of their leadership.

2.6.2. Professional Knowledge

Leadership for school improvement and student achievement depends on a clearly conceptualized and shared body of knowledge which, together with a set of educational values, guides and informs professional practice.

This body of knowledge relates to the roles identified earlier or expressed in a different way, to each of the following: strategic direction and policy environment; teaching, learning and curriculum; leader and teacher growth and development; staff and resource management; quality assurance and accountability; and external communication and connection.

The challenge of professional practice is to ensure that leaders possess a balanced and comprehensive knowledge across different domains. In practice, leaders tend to possess strengths and weaknesses in some only, according to their preferred areas of focus. There may be a substantial lack of knowledge in other domains with an overreliance on experience and intuition (Walker and Dimmock, 2000).

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2.6.3. Skills

Leadership skills are grounded in educational values and professional knowledge. The skills of leadership for school and student improvement are exercised in relation to the leader functions. Skills may be grouped into the following three categories: Personal: these relate to how leaders manage their own behaviors and thoughts in their professional lives, communicative and influence: these relate to how leaders interact at an interpersonal level with colleagues and other members of the community, and how they mobilize colleagues and other school community members towards sustained commitment to school improvement, and organizational and technical: these skills concern the tasks and techniques that are associated with running the whole school and securing school improvement. The key skills essential to running good schools and colleges are personal and interpersonal on the one side, and technical and task-oriented othe other. It is the achievement of high levels of both, and a balance between the two that distinguishes effective leaders.

2.6.4. Attributes

Educational values, professional knowledge, and skills are integral parts of leadership qualities. However, they are not sufficient. There is a fourth element, namely personal attributes that leaders bring to the role. In the context of school-based management and school improvement, certain attributes, in particular, seem to assume prime importance.

The personal attributes, along with leader values, professional knowledge and skills provide a framework for understanding the complexities of leader qualities. As always in dynamic, interactive situations, it is the mix and combination of all elements that determines the efficacy and effectiveness of the leader. It may well be that these four elements (Educational values, professional knowledge, skills and personal attributes) of leader qualities are relevant and applicable to different societal cultures. In other words, in addressing the same policy agenda of school improvement, they are generic and thus applicable to leaders in many cultural settings. However, how particular values, knowledge, skills and attributes are displayed and exercised, and what combinations of them are considered appropriate are likely to be culturally sensitive.

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2.7. Challenges of School Leadership

Leadership must build collaborative structures and cultures of trust. They need to provide support for educator learning and establish structures and deploy resources in support of student learning. It will be seen that an instructional leadership requires a substantive knowledge base that is grounded in the educational sciences if he/she is to be the resource envisaged by the role. Walker and Dimmock,(2000)argued that supervision needed to become a group process of interdependent cooperation rather than the one-on-one clinical method, and they noted: Given the research on cooperative learning and teacher collegiality, we hypothesize that if supervision were carried out as a group process in which the supervisors and teachers were interdependent in achieving group and individual goals, the process of supervision would become more effective in helping teachers learn about and improve their teaching. One of the challenges in the schools instructional leadership supervisory practices commonly observed in that school teachers were dissatisfied about the way in which teacher‟s observation and evaluation is taking place. The reason for that is expected to be because the action taken by principals of the schools alone.

As a parallel to the notion that the shift from a traditional, teacher-centered base of learning to a more collaborative foundational learning concept, scholars pointed to the need for self- supervision through reflection and the creation of knowledge. Adepoju,T.L. (1998), contends that an increasing number of countries have, from the early 1990s onwards, attempted to reform supervision, not as the result of a radical political change, but because of recognition of its ineffectiveness. These reforms are inspired by the conviction that an effective supervision is a key tool to monitor and improve education quality.

The instructional leadership knowledge and desire in supervision to work with teachers, in encouraging teachers to observe each other‟s classes and to promote teacher‟s professional growth are activities expected to be challenges at the school level. School leadership need to understand the practice and theory of contemporary leadership and management and apply that knowledge in school improvement. They should be well competent in the latest research and development in pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment and reporting. They must have relevant knowledge of national development policies and strategies, practices and initiatives as well as relevant federal and regional state legislation and agreements.

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2.7.1. Providing a Values-Driven Vision

One of the distinguishing characteristics of successful educational leaders is their capacity to provides a vision for the future and inspire hope in those with whom they work. They also lift the spirits of their people and help them to translate the vision into the daily practices of their work. In this way they help to inject meaning into the daily grind of getting the work done, thereby providing a sense of purpose and direction. The articulation of vision necessarily involves leaders sharing their hopes, desires and expectations with the members of the school community, and establishing the foundations of an organizational culture that supports the aspirations of all stakeholders. The intent and content of the vision helps motivate all the members of the school community. Reflection on, and communication of, this vision is essential if it is to become part of everyday practice. Linking vision to practice seems to be a vital component in the relationship of the leader and those led.

Educational leaders are challenged to engage with their staff in ways that take the whole group forward, rather than plugging gaps and responding primarily to perceived emergencies. Communicating the strategic purpose to everyone is vital in drawing together staff at all levels. Clear purpose, inspirational communication, and an appeal to agreed values and belief systems, will point clearly to the road forward. A major problem identified by a number of leaders in the study was finding the time to reflect on and communicate a vision in the face of busy schedules. Leaders cannot do it all by themselves. They have to work with and through others to achieve their organization‟s vision and goals.

Leadership can no longer be regarded as the property, even the monopoly, of one person: the principal. Emerging wisdom on leadership suggests that there needs to be greater sharing and distribution of leadership responsibilities in educational organizations.

2.7.2. Managing Staff Relationships

A dominant theme in leadership is that it must be relational, that is, by definition effective relationships are the energy source of leadership. Empowering others, delegating authority and simply trusting people to get on with their tasks should underpin leader– staff relationships in ways that link strategic purpose to everyday practices. However, usually when trust is breached there is a tendency to retreat to the classical organizational model, with remote personal

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exchanges, reliance on quasi-legal rules, and withdrawal to a hierarchical and bureaucratic form of control.

Some leaders believe that developing relationships requires too much time and resources. This is an inappropriate way to think about relationship-building. Developing relationships for their own sake, or conversely for instrumental purposes, is not what authentic leaders do. They regard relationship-building as one of the core ways that value-driven organizations value all those who work in and for the organization. It is the way a school, as a community, actively and fully engages its talented key stakeholders, giving them a sense of belonging and encouraging and supporting their commitment to the purposes of the organization. Building relationships is not just a matter of managing the people in the organization but of providing the leadership necessary to marshal the most valuable resources, the people.

2.7.3. Leading People

Many educational leaders find out the challenges to determine how, „rational‟ relationship can be built. Those who have been apprenticed in a hierarchical, control-type model of leadership are often unsure of how close relationships should be, especially with those who are accountable to them. It is important to distinguish here between personal and professional relationships in an organization. Professional relationships must, of course, have a personal dimension, but it is equally important to develop personal relationships within a professional framework. In a school setting, core values also include valuing students and the educational processes that best serve their needs. The bottom line in a school community setting is how well relationships serve the needs of students and their parents.

Often, however, educational leaders face the problem of dealing with poor performance and balancing their professional responsibility for ensuring the smooth operation of their organization with their personal feelings for those staff that are not performing adequately. However, few educational leaders seem to have developed specific strategies and methodologies for dealing with the complexity of their jobs, for establishing priorities in their work, or for targeting specific professional development to assist them. Educational leaders, also, did not seem to use the job or the workplace as a basis for experiential growth and learning.

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2.7.4. Effective Communication

Good communication requires, first, that one has something important to communicate, second, that one chooses appropriate times and means to deliver the message, and third, that one actively engages with others beyond a simple one-way communication to clarify the intended message and dispel misunderstandings. Meaningful engagement and dialogue with staff in their day-to- day working lives facilitates effective communication.

Large systems are sometimes slow to process issues and problems, so gaps in communication may occur between those who make the decisions and those who implement them. Leaders may assume that everyone in the organization knows where they are going and why, but these are not safe assumptions.

Every means, formal and informal, must be used to keep all stakeholders informed and up-to- date. If nature abhors a vacuum, then so do organizations: if communication isn‟t regular and meaningful, then someone or some group will invent a version of events, and rumors will spread to fill the void. This is especially true when leaders are attempting to bring about change in their organizations. Change usually threatens some organizational stakeholders and fears can be exacerbated if the facts of the change are distorted or manipulated by those who are resistant to the change.

2.7.5. Leading Continuous Change

We live in times of rapid change and transition. In such periods, it is necessary to realize that there may be casualties in any change process. Part of leadership is recognizing that not everyone is going to come on board immediately, or even in the short-term, with new ways of thinking and doing. Leaders need to be sensitive to the fears and anxieties of those involved in a change process. Principals have to have a set plan on how they are going to deal with that change. They have to be caring and have a plan that maintains their self-esteem. They cannot dump people. It is an important aspect of leadership.

Leaders of change need to remind themselves that changes cause transitions, which cause losses and it‟s the losses, not the changes that they‟re reacting to and that it‟s a piece of their world that is being lost. Leaders who are trying to manage a top-down change may be reluctant, according to Bridges (1995), to talk openly about the change, arguing that it will “stir up trouble” to

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acknowledge people‟s feelings‟. But leaders of change must engage openly with those who will be affected by the change, and they must acknowledge and address positively the losses and psychological transitions being experienced by these people.

2.7.6. Care and Rules

Educational leaders continually face challenges and decisions that involve tensions between a concern for either „care‟ or „rules‟. Care encompasses compassion, looking at the individual circumstances and making a decision that puts care and concern for the individual above rules and policies. Rules or policies provide guidelines for leaders on how to make decisions. Some leaders, however, argue that, by complying with rules, they are also fulfilling their duty of care to the community and, therefore, do not recognize any real tensions in this area (Duignan, 2006).

In schools there are instances where educational leaders feel that they must follow the „letter of the law‟ to protect their own careers and reputations, but this approach can have dire consequences for some individuals. An example was where a teacher disciplined a student for breach of rules on a school camp and, in order to placate the parents, the teacher was disciplined. Staff, and indeed the principal, agreed that the teacher had an impeccable reputation and acted appropriately.

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CHAPTER THREE

THE RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

This part of the research presents the methodological aspects of the research, which include the research design, research method, study population, sample size and sample techniques, data collecting instruments, data analysis and interpretation and ethical considerations.

3.1. The Research Method

In order to investigate the practice, challenges and opportunities of instructional leaders, descriptive survey design and mixed research approach was employed. This is because it enables the researcher to collect and describe large variety of data related to the practice, challenges and opportunities of instructional leadership. Creswell.J.W. (2002) also agreed that “descriptive survey design is more appropriate to gather several kinds of data in broad size to achieve the objective of the study. Additionally descriptive design is concerned with condition that exist, opinions that are held, process that are ongoing on, effects that are evident or trends that are developing. It is used to obtain information regarding the practice, challenges and opportunities of instructional leaders. It is difficult to fully explore the practice, challenges and opportunities of instructional leaders solely through one research method. Even though the selection of research design depends on the nature of the study, the research problem being addressed and the resource available for the study, there is an increasing attention of using both quantitative and qualitative methods as research strategies. Therefore, the study used both quantitative and qualitative approach with more emphasis on quantitative as a leading method through close ended question. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed for this research. Employing both quantitative and qualitative method is preferable because using both enables the researcher to verify and substantiate the data and discover something that would have been missed in either quantitative or qualitative approach.

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3.2. Sources of Data

In this study, primary data sources were employed to obtain reliable information about the practice, challenges and opportunities of instructional leaders. Secondary schools‟ supervisors, principals and teachers were chosen as primary sources of data by expecting that they have better exposure, experience and first hand information regarding the issue under the study.

3.3. The study Site and Population

The site of the study was limited to 14 secondary schools in West Wollega Zone in Oromia Regional state of western Ethiopia. West wollega Zone is bordered with Benishangul Gumuz in the north, East wollega and Benishangul Gumuz in the east, Ilu Ababora Zone and Kelem Wollega Zone in the south and Sudan in the west. Gimbi is the capital city of the zone, which is found 440 kilometers from the capital Addis Ababa. The zone has 80 secondary schools. From these 80 secondary schools the researcher has selected the following 14 secondary schools: Biftu Gimbi, Boji Chokorsa, Boji Dirmage, Dalo Michael, Debeso, Enango, Ganji, Gimbi, Haru, Homa, Jarso, Mandi, Nedjo and Kiltu Kara.

3.4. Sample Size and Sampling Technique

The researcher has a work experience of twenty years in west Wollega zone. The zone was selected because of the fact first, according to the information the researcher gained from supervision department of the zone and to the best of the researchers‟ knowledge, there was scarcity of studies concerning practices, challenges and opportunities of instructional leadership. Secondly, the researcher is familiar with the study area since he has been a teacher and principal in the study area.

According to the data researcher gained from the statistics department of zonal education office, currently (2019) there are 80 secondary schools (9-10) in the zone. In order to take sample secondary schools, the researcher wrote all 80 secondary schools, added them in container and 14 secondary schools were selected using simple random sampling technique. The use of simple random sampling stems from the reason that the choice of sample is guided by the probability principle, according to which every unit of target population has equal chance of none zero probability of being included in the study (Sarantakos 2005). Accordingly, 18% of the schools in the zone were selected as a sample of the study. In this regard Gay and Airasian (2011) state that

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the sample 10%-20% of the sample population is often used in descriptive research for large population.

After selecting 14 secondary schools in the zone, a sample teacher was selected. From the selected school, to get sample respondents (teachers, principal and supervisors) availability sampling was used .The total number of teachers in the schools were 2667. Due to shortage of time and finance, the researcher cannot use all the 2667 teachers. Instead sample size was limited to only 800 teachers. This covered 30% of the 2667 teachers in the zone, hence it was believed that the sample size of 14 secondary schools would be used as representative and helped the researcher generalize the finding of the study for all secondary school of the zone. The researcher also used all principals and supervisors in the sample school as they were available.

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Table 1: The summary of population, sample size and sampling technique

No Schools/organization Types of respondent Population sample size Sampling Teachers 70 70 1 Biftu Gimbi Secondary Principals 1 1 school Supervisors 1 1 Vice principals - - Teachers 60 60 2 Principals 1 1 Boji Chokorsa Secondary Supervisors 1 1 school Vice principals 1 1 Teachers 80 80 3 Principals 1 1 Boji Dirmage Secondary Supervisors 1 1 school Vice principals 1 1 Teachers 24 24 4 Principals 1 1 Dalo Michael Secondary Supervisors 1 1 School Vice principals 1 1 Teachers 75 75 5 Principals 1 1 Enango Secondary school Supervisors 1 1 Vice principals 1 1 Teachers 46 46 6 Principal 1 1 Debeso Secondary school Supervisors 1 1 Vice principals 1 1 Teachers 70 70 7 Principals 1 1 Gimbi Secondary school Supervisors 1 1 Vice principals 1 1 Teachers 70 70 8 Principals 1 1 Haru Seccondary schools Supervisors 1 1 Vice principals 1 1 Availability Teachers 62 62 9 Principals 1 1 Homa Secondary school Supervisors 1 1 Vice principals 1 1 Teachers 24 24 10 Principal 1 1 Ganji secondary schools Supervisors 1 1 Vice principals 1 1 Teachers 50 50 11 Principals 1 1 Jarso secondary school Supervisors 1 1 Vice principals 1 1 Teachers 61 61 12 Mandi secondary school Principals 1 1 Supervisors 1 1 Vice principals 1 1 Teachers 84 84 13 Principal 1 1 Nedjo secondary school Supervisors 1 1 Vice principals 1 1 Teachers 24 24 14 Principals 1 1 Kiltu Kara Secondary Supervisors 1 1 school Vice principals 1 1 Teachers 800 800 Total Vice principals 13 13

Principals 14 14

Supervisors 13 13

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3.5. Instrument of Data Collection

In order to acquire necessary information from participant, questionnaire, and interview were used for the study. Employing multiple data collection instrument help the researcher to combine, strengthen and amend some of the inadequacies of data and for triangulating it (Cresswell, 2003).

3.5.1. Questionnaire

The questionnaires mainly had close ended items. Thus, close-ended items were used for the very reason that they are easier to categorize the response gathered. The item such as Likert scale and choose type were used because they are suitable and quick for respondents to answer. The questionnaires were prepared for 800 teachers and personally administered to the teachers. In administering the questionnaires, the researcher made it clear to the respondents; so that they were not confused in any way because of the responses.

3.5.2. Interview

The interview permits greater depth of response which is not possible through any other means. The main advantage of structured interview is that, it provides uniform information which assures the comparability of data. Having this idea in mind, the researcher was also use interview to gather in-depth qualitative data from supervisors (cluster supervisors, principals and vice principal). “the purpose of interviewing people is to find out what is in their mind–what they think or how they feel about something”. Accordingly, cluster school supervisors, principals and vice principals were involved in the interview. The interview was conducted at different time at their respective schools and the information was collected by taking note and discussion.

3.6. Data Collection Procedure

The researcher used a series of data gathering procedures. The data was gathered through questionnaire and interview. Pilot study was conducted prior to the final administration of the questionnaires to some respondents. Gaba Sanbata Secondary School was selected for the pilot study purposively. The school principals and supervisors were interviewed. Interview was conducted after their individual consent was obtained. Then, the prepared questionnaires were distributed for the sample subject for the pilot study. Then, the final questionnaires were

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distributed to all participants in the sample after some changes and correction was made by this pilot test. During the interview, the researcher selected free and clean environment to reduce communication barriers.

3.7. Validity and Reliability Checks

To ensure validity of instruments, initially the instrument was prepared by the researcher and then senior colleagues‟ secondary school English teachers and instructor of Addis Ababa University were personally consulted to provide their remark. The participants of the pilot test were taken as firsthand informed about how to evaluate and give feedback on the relevance of the contents, item length, and clarity of items and layout of the questionnaire. Based on the reflections, the instruments was improved before they were administered to the main participants of the study so that irrelevant items were e removed, lengthy items were shortened and many unclear items were made clear at the end developed and approved under close guidance of my advisor. To this end, the reliability of the instrument was maintained through conducting a pilot test on schools before it was used for the actual data collection purpose. The questionnaires were distributed to teachers and supervisors who were later excluded from the actual data collection purpose and the reliability analysis were carried out.

The objectives of the pilot test was to assess the practicality and appropriateness of the questionnaire and provide an indication whether the items need further correction, to obtain teachers suggestions and views on the items, to determine the level of difficulty of the items, and assess the reliability of the questionnaire. Then the internal consistency reliability estimate was calculated using Cronbach‟s Coefficient of Alpha for the questionnaires. The researcher found the Coefficient of Alpha (∝) to be 0.893, which is regarded as strong correlation Coefficient by (Jackson, 2009). The Cronbach Alpha result >0.9 excellent, >0.8 good, >0.7 acceptable, ∝< 0.6 questionable, and < 0.5 poor. The table 4 below shows the result obtained from each questionnaire

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Table 2 Reliability test result with Cronbach Alpha No Description of titles of questionnaire Number Coefficient of items of reliability 1 The current Practice of instructional leadership 14 .893 2 The major challenges of providing instructional leadership 19 .900 3 Opportunities of instructional leadership 5 .894 Total Reliability coefficient 38 .895

3.8. Methods of Data Analysis

On the basis and types of data gathered and the instrument used techniques of data analysis were employed. To get the collected data ready for analysis, the questionnaires were checked for completion, and then were classified and tallied by the researcher himself. The data collected were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. First, to determine the personal characteristics of teachers‟ and supervisors, frequency, percentage, standard deviation and mean value were used to analyze the data. And then to examine the practice, challenges and opportunities of instructional leaders, quantitative data obtained using questionnaire (information collected through close ended questionnaires) were analyzed around the subtopic related to the research questions by using percentage. Then based on the five point likert scales from very high to very low or strongly agree to strongly disagree were used for the sake of analysis and interpretation. Finally, both the data gained from the questionnaire and interviews were compared and reported through narrative description.

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3.9. Ethical Consideration After receiving official letter of entry to the research site from Addis Ababa University, Department of Education, the researcher communicated with all institutions and individual participants legally. The researcher secured the study site to get the approval of respondents to the research by introducing the purpose of the study.

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CHAPTER FOUR DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

This chapter has two parts; the first part deals with the characteristics of the respondents; and the second part present the analysis and interpretation of the main data. The objective of this study was to examine practice, challenges and opportunities of instructional leaders in secondary schools of west Wollega zone.

The following questions served as a guide in this research:

1. What are the current practices of instructional leadership in secondary schools of West Wollega Zone? Or what are the current practices of instructional supervision in secondary schools of West Wollega Zone?

2. What are the major challenges of providing instructional leadership in Secondary schools of West Wollega Zone?

3. What Opportunities are there in providing instructional supervision/instructional leadership in secondary schools of West Wollega Zone?

To this end, both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered to examine the problems in this study. Quantitative data were obtained through close ended questionnaire, and interviews analysis provided qualitative data for the research. A questionnaire was distributed to the respondents and was returned back. The return rate of questionnaire was 800 copies from teachers. In addition, principal, vice principals and cluster supervisors were interviewed and gave necessary information on the issue under investigation.

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4.1. Characteristics of Respondents

Table 3 the characteristics of Respondents

No Personal Categories Respondents variable Teachers Principals Vice principal supervisors No % No % No % No % 1 Sex Male 610 76.25 14 100 13 100 13 100 Female 190 23.75 ------Total 800 100 14 100 13 100 13 100 2 Age 20-25 182 22.75 - - 2 15.3 - - 26-30 345 43.1 5 36 6 46.1 - - 31-35 133 16.7 5 36 5 35.7 - - 36-40 95 11.8 3 21 - - 7 54 41&above 45 6.1 1 7 - - 6 46 Total 800 100 14 100 13 100 13 100 3 Qualification Diploma ------BA/BSC 792 99 9 64.3 8 61.5 6 46 MA/MSC 8 1 5 35.7 5 38.5 7 54 Other ------Total 800 100 14 100 13 100 13 100 4 Experience 1-5 Years 151 18.9 ------6-10 Years 430 53.75 6 43 2 15.3 - - 11-15 Years 103 12.87 4 29 7 54 - - 16-20 Years 55 6.87 2 14 4 30.7 3 23 21&above 61 7.6 2 14 - - 10 77 Total 800 100 14 100 13 100 13 100

As presented on the above table, item 1, out of 800 teachers 610 (76.25%) were males and 190 (23.75) were females. The principals, vice principal and supervisors were males. From this, one can realize that the number of females in the teaching profession and the position of principals, vice principals and clusters school supervisors are much lower than males in the sampled schools. Regarding age as item 2 of the above table shows, 182 (22,75%) of the teacher respondents were to be found 20-25 years, 345 (43.1%), 133 (16.7%,) 95(11.8%) and 49 (6.1%) of teachers age were,26-30, 31-35, 36-40, and 41& above years respectively. From this we can conclude that most teachers were young enough to perform their daily teaching learning activities. Regarding the ages of Principals they were in the range of 26-30 years 5 (36%), 31-35 years 5(36) and 36-4o years 3 (21%) in this item and 2 (15.3%) vice principal were, 20-25, 6(46.1%) were found 26-30 and 5(35.7) were 31-35 years respectively. Cluster school supervisors 7 (54%) of them were found to be in the range of 36-40 years, whereas 6 (46%) school supervisors respondents were ages 41& above. This indicates that the supervisors, principals, vice principals were experienced to support school. 34

As far as academic qualification is concerned, majority 792(99%) teachers were first degree holders while 8 (1%) of them were second degree holders. This is in line with the guide line drawn by Ministry of Education that is at least degree holders are supposed to teach secondary schools of Ethiopia. Concerning the educational level of principals, vice principal and clusters supervisors, 9 (64.3%) of principals, 8 (61.5%) of vice principals and 6 (46%) of cluster school supervisors had first degree. Whereas 5 (35.7%) of principals, 5 (38.5%) of vice principal and 7 (54%) of cluster school supervisors were second degree holders. From this one can see easily that all the qualification of principal, vice principals and clusters school supervisors is not second degree. Some of them were first degree holders. This implies that the qualification standards set by Ministry of Education for secondary schools principals, vice principal and clusters school supervisors was not achieved.

As far as respondents years of teaching experience is concerned, item 5 in table 4 indicates that out of 800 teachers 151 (18.9%) of teachers have the service of 1-5 years. But the rest 430 (53.75%) or 103 (12.87%), 55(6.87) and 61 (7.6%) have 6-10, 11-15, 16-20 and 21& above years of service respectively. As the result reveals, some teachers are in the service year of l-5, thus a critical support and coaching should be available for them, because they may faced by various methodological problem in class management, assessing and recoding marks which lead to reducing their profession and performance level. Moreover, the rest teachers service therefore, imply that almost teachers are well experienced and it is a good opportunity to share experience.. With regard to the experience of the school principals, vice principal, clusters schools supervisors in their current position, 6 (43%), 4 (29%),2(14),2 (14) of the principals have 6-10 ,11-15,16-20, and 21& above years work experience respectively.

Regarding vice principals 2 (15.3%), 7 (54%), 4 (30.7%) have 6-10years, 11-15, years and 16-20 years work experience respectively. With regard to the experience of supervisors 3(23%) and 10(77%) have 16-20 and 21& above work experience respectively

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Table 4 Respondents view on shared vision and mission

No Items Responde SDA DA NS A SA Total Mean Std. nts N=800 1 School mission and Freq. 181 321 44 157 97 800 2.59 1.34 vision is communicable in % 22.6 40.1 5.5 19.6 12.1 100% the staff by school leaders. 2 School leaders 133 308 67 170 122 800 2.8 1.35 reduce the Freq. resistance to % 16.6 38.5 8.4 21.3 15.3 100% change. 3 School leaders Freq. 185 381 23 116 95 800 2.38 1.20 implement the vision through % 23.1 47.6 2.9 14.5 11.9 100% strategic planning. 4 Parent teacher Freq. 152 612 0 24 12 800 1.92 0.66 association (PTA) participates in % 19.0 76.5 0 3.0 1.5 100% preparation of the school planning. 5 Principals lead Freq. 230 274 72 145 79 800 2.46 1.33 innovations to take place properly and % 28.8 34.3 9.0 18.1 9.9 100% effectively

Note: SD=strongly disagree DA=disagree, NS= Undecided, SA= Strongly, Agree=agree, Std. Dev. =Standard deviation and mean

The respondents‟ opinion on whether parent teacher association participate in preparation of school panning or not, the result in table 4 indicated that 764(95.5%), of the respondents were in disagreement with the issue. This means that the schools‟ PTA is almost not functioning. This strategy could not address the interests of school community and cannot be acceptable in the society. If the school planning is not recognized by the school community, the plan can be failed. The failure of school plan to be implemented cannot be successful because it is prepared without the knowledge and interest of school community. In another way, the opinions of respondents on whether school leaders implement the vision through strategic planning or not, were explored. Accordingly, 566 (70.7%) of the respondents were in disagreement with the issue. This reveals that strategic planning was no given attention in the studied schools. Majority of the respondents

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were disagreed school leaders are not implementing the vision through strategic planning. This challenge may be due to lack of training in the leadership quality because the leader should implement the school vision; on the basis of strategic plan. If the school vision is not implemented the academic performance of students will not be effective.

To find out whether principal lead innovation to take place properly and effectively or not, the information in table 4 indicates that the majority 504 (63%) respondents were in disagreement. According to the table above principals are not leading innovation properly and effectively. Innovation is important for mental development of children in school. If it is not lead properly by school principals, the overall objective of the school would not be fostered. As some perceptions of the respondents, agreed that school principals lead innovation. This shows that there are some ideas to lead innovation but it is not enough. An interview held with principals and vice principal revealed that schools were unable to reduce the challenges that faced the school from achieving their objectives. These challenges as the supervisors inform, low involvement of principals in improving the awareness of the community, low activities in motivating teachers to do their work effectively and alike. All these lead to students drop out and repetition in school. The implementation of school vision through strategic planning is less. The reason they mentioned are lack of budget, skilled human power and knowledge by the school leaders and concerned bodies. The participation of parent teacher association in school planning is too low. To this end, the expressed reason by the majority of the members represent that the parents had their own work that interfere with their willingness to participate in school meeting.

The above also indicates, 502(63%) of the respondents‟ were in strongly disagreement that principal communicate the school mission and vision to the staff. The results implies that principals‟ were inactive in communicating school mission and vision to staff and shaping members‟ beliefs, values and attitudes to develop options for the future.

At the last, respondents were asked their personal agreement that school leaders utilize appropriate strategies to reduce the resistance of change. Accordingly, 441(55%) of teachers were disagree, this shows that there was limitation on the side of school leaders in driving strategy and implementing the change resistance.

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Table 5 Respondents‟ Concept on Motivation of Teachers

No Items Respon SDA DA NS A SA Total Mean Std. dents Dev. n=800

1 Teachers are Freq. 163 533 0 60 44 800 2.11 0.99 motivated by their effective work. % 20.4 66.6 0 7.5 5.5 100% 2 The accomplishments Freq. 226 234 78 139 123 800 2.62 1.44 of teachers in the % 28.3 29.3 9.8 17.4 15.4 100% school are recognized and celebrated 3 Principals encourage Freq. 157 466 18 91 68 800 2.31 1.16 teachers to evaluate their practices and refine % 19.6 58.3 2.3 11.4 8.5 100% 4 Principals motivate Freq. 212 369 59 87 73 800 2.43 1.13 the staff members to participate in school instructions. % 26.5 46.1 7.4 10.9 9.1 100% 5 Principals promote an Freq. 193 346 54 115 92 800 2.46 1.30 atmosphere of caring and trusting among % 24.1 43.3 6.8 14.4 11.5 100% staff. Note: SD=strongly disagree DA=disagree, NS= Undecided, SA= Strongly, Agree=agree, Std. Dev. =Standard deviation and mean

The majority 696 (87%) of the respondents were in disagreement that principal motivate teachers as well. This shows that teachers are not importantly given place for their good work. And this implies that teachers are not working effectively it resulted in lower the quality of teaching and learning given in class due to lack of interest and initiatives. Because motivation brings change in education as it strengthens the holistic participation of teachers. In the same table‟ the opinions were investigated on whether principal encourages teachers to evaluate their practice and refine or not. Information reveals that 623 (77.9%) respondents disagree with the view that principals encourage teachers to evaluate their practice and refine. Refining practices are important to enhance the teaching and learning process that was an ultimate goal of education. In the same way, 581 (72.6) of the respondents opinion was disagreed with the view that principal motivate the staff members to participate in school instruction. This indicates that most school instruction is done by principals. The interview result made with school principal and vice principal indicated that the criteria that the schools used to reward the teachers who perform well through selecting, appreciating and making exemplary to other teachers may improve teacher‟s

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motivation to work effectively. But due to insufficient budget the school was unable to cover the whole good performing teachers. Except one person all do not have training on educational leadership and other related training to motivation that has an impact on their work performance. So, this result shows that the ability of principals to encourage commitments of teachers through shared values is low. From the principals and vice principals interview responses some teachers are not voluntary to help others and being helped in different activities of professional development.

The above table also establishes the respondents‟ opinions on principals promote an atmosphere of caring and trusting among staff or not. Accordingly, 539 (67.4%) of the respondents were disagreed in their opinion that the principals promote an atmosphere of caring and trusting among staff. From this one can conclude that principals are not promoting atmosphere of caring and trusting among staff. This means that teachers are not satisfied for their work in the study area; because they are not given place by principals in arranging a good atmosphere among staff. In another hand, there is awareness by some teachers as school principal arrange a good atmosphere for teachers. Even if this is not satisfactory, somehow the principal are working to promote trust and caring among teachers.

At the end, the respondents‟ opinion on whether the accomplishments of teachers in the school are recognized and celebrated or not were issued. In the result 460(57.6%) of the respondents disagreed. The accomplishment of teachers in the school are not recognized and celebrated. This means that school leaders are not playing their role in empowering teachers and getting out their effective leadership work. Due to this teachers could not work morally because they may lose trust for education.

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Table 6:Respondents‟Concept on School Decision Making N Items Respo SDA DA NS A SA Total Mean. Std. o ndents dev N=800

1 Principals ensure Freq. 145 497 25 72 61 800 2.26 1.09 participation in decision making in % 18.1 62.1 3.1 9.0 7.6 100% the school improvement. 2 There is well Freq. 115 551 12 67 55 800 2.25 1.02 established procedures in the % 14.4 68.9 1.5 8.4 6.9 100% school regarding how to solve problems 3 Principal create Freq. 151 400 25 133 91 800 2.52 1.28 shared decision making structures. % 18.9 50.0 3.1 16.6 11. 100% 4

4 Principals ensure Freq. 206 424 42 73 55 800 2.18 1.12 adequate involvement of % 25.8 53.0 5.3 9.1 6.9 100% teaching staff in decision making Note: SD=strongly disagree DA=disagree, NS= Undecided, SA= Strongly, Agree=agree, Std. Dev. =Standard deviation and mean

The opinions on whether there is established procedure in the school regarding solving problem or not were investigated. Accordingly, 666 (83.3%) respondents disagreed with the idea. This means that the school problems are solved unconsciously. However, 67(8.4%), 55(6.9%) of the respondents agree and strongly agree with the issue respectively. The left 12(1.5%) respondents were undecided in their opinion. Problem solving culture is a crucial issue in secondary schools. It needs skill and knowledge to handle the problem properly. Because in schools a little problem can be seen as bold and become sensitive. Regarding to the respondents‟ opinion on whether principals ensure in decision making in the school improvement or not, the majority 642(80.2%) of the respondents disagree with the issue. If the school community is not participated in school decision making, the effectiveness of the school is under question. The determinant factor is participation of all school teachers in decision making; participation of a few teachers in decision making cannot guarantee school change.

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In the same way, opinions on whether principal ensure adequate involvement of teaching staff in decision making or not has been issued. As the result, most 630 (78%) of the respondents gave their opinions in disagreement that the principal could not ensure adequate involvement of teaching staff in decision making. On the other hand, 73 (9.1%), 55(6.9%) respondents were agreed and strongly agreed with the question respectively. The left the minority 42 (5.3%) respondents were undecided about the issue. The researcher further examined the respondents‟ opinions on whether principal create shared decision making structure or not. The result revealed that 551 (68.9%) respondents disagreed with the question. Accordingly, shared decision making was not exercised in the study area.

Table7: Professional Skill Development of Teachers No Items Respon SDA DA NS A SA Total Mean Std. dents Dev.

1 School leaders mentor to Freq. 224 259 68 139 110 800 2.57 1.40 improve teachers‟ quality.

% 28.0 32.4 8.5 17.4 13.8 100% 2 School leaders have self Freq. 200 351 55 91 103 800 2.43 1.32 confidence in dealing with others in and outside % 25.0 43.9 6.9 11.4 12.9 100% school. 3 Freq. 200 290 92 133 85 800 2.52 1.31 School leaders take an active role in facilitating % 25.5 36.3 11.5 16.6 10.6 100% teacher‟s engagement in CPD. 4 School leaders encourage Freq. 170 437 53 79 61 800 2.28 1.13 teachers to participate in experience sharing % 21.3 54.6 6.6 9.9 7.7 100% School leaders are directly Freq. 267 253 103 108 69 800 2.45 1.48 5 involved in helping % 33.4 31.6 12.9 13.5 8.6 100% teachers address instructional issues in their classroom Note: SD=strongly disagree DA=disagree, NS= Undecided, SA= Strongly, Agree=agree, Std. Dev. =Standard deviation and mean

The respondents‟ view whether School leaders encouraging teachers to participate in experience sharing or not were undertaken. In the result 607(75.9%) of the respondents were disagreed that school principals are not encouraging teachers to participate in experience sharing. This data shows school principals is not caring about experience sharing In the above table investigated the respondent‟s opinions on whether school leader have self confidence in dealing with other in

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and outside school or not, accordingly, 551 (68.9%) respondents disagreed with the idea. However, 79(9.9%), 61(7.7%) of the respondents were agreed and strongly agree as there was experience sharing initiated by school principals. Even if this small numbers could not represent the whole teachers view, there is some awareness about experience sharing among staffs. Schools can be effective if experience sharing among teachers is practiced because it develops the culture of trust and working together in staffs.

The researcher further investigated the respondents‟ opinions on whether school leader are directly involved in helping teachers address instructional issues in their class room or not. The result in above table indicates 520(65%), of the respondents disagreed that School leaders were not directly involved in helping teachers address instructional issues in their classroom. This means that in the study area school principals functions little in helping teachers. In addition to this, the principals‟ interview response revealed that Lack of leadership training may seriously hamper school leaders to invest their full potential and make in confidence of dealing with in and outside stake holders. Towards this, the interview conducted with principals and vice principals indicated that: Absence of interest by the teachers to take training at school level was one of the strong challenges that influenced the leadership practice.

In another way, 490 (61.8%) of teachers were disagreed that school leaders are not taking an active role in facilitating teacher‟s engagement in CPD. This means that CPD is not well done in the study area. This may be lack of awareness about CPD. As in table 7 establishes the respondents‟ opinions on whether school leaders mentor to improve to improve teachers‟ quality or not, 483(60.4%) of the respondents were in disagreement with the issue. This is due to principal‟s lack of giving attention to develop teachers‟ education quality. This shows that the majority of teachers should not be given attention to improve their profession.

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Table 8: School Communication Practice

N Items Respo SDA DA NS A SA Total Mean Std. o ndents Dev. n=800

1 Principals maintain Freq. 236 267 54 132 111 800 2.52 1.41 smooth communication with school stakeholders % 29.5 33.4 6.8 16.5 13.9 100% 2 School leaders Freq. 242 242 90 171 55 800 2.44 1.30 establishing smooth communication % 30.3 30.3 11.3 21.4 6.9 100% among teachers 3 Principals clarify Freq. 218 321 6 145 110 800 2.51 1.31 issues of disagreement % 27.3 40.1 0.8 18.1 13.8 100% among staff 4 Principals work Freq. 164 363 37 139 97 800 2.55 1.31 through PTA in mobilizing community to build % 20.5 45.4 4.6 17.4 12.1 100% the capacity of school

Note: SD=strongly disagree DA=disagree, NS= Undecided, SA= Strongly, Agree=agree, Std. Dev. =Standard deviation and mean

As the above table established whether the principals clarify issue of disagreement among staff or not, the result in table 8 indicates that the 539(67.4%) of the respondents were in disagreement with the issue. This means that the conflicts that can be raised among staff is not be solved properly. If the conflicts between staffs escalated, the situation of school or school system can be dissolved. Contrary to this, 145(18.1%), 110( 13.8%) of the respondents‟ were in agreement and strongly agreement with the asked question. This is one of the challenges of the principals to handle every situation properly and wisely.

The researcher further investigated the respondents‟ opinions‟ on whether principal work through PTA in mobilizing community to build the capacity of the school or not. The result in the above table indicates that 527(65.9%) of the respondents disagreed that principals could not working through PTA in mobilizing community to build the capacity of school. This means that the relationship between school community and school is not functioning. The participation of 43

school community is not proper in the study area. Principals are expected to mobilize the community with PTA to make their school effective.

Information in table 8 indicated that 503 (62.9%) of the respondents‟ opinions were in disagreement that principals are not maintaining smooth communication with school stakeholders. This means that the relationship between school principals and stakeholders are low. If there is no communication between stakeholders and the school principals teaching and learning process become ineffective. Furthermore the above table explores that the opinions of the respondents whether school leader establishing smooth communication among teachers or not, revealed in 484(60.6%) of the respondents were in disagreement that School leaders were not establishing smooth communication among teachers. This means that school communication is very low in the study area. Principals should encourage school communication among staffs and the superintendents otherwise the teaching and learning process can be hindered.

Furthermore, principals‟, vice principals‟ and supervisors‟‟ interviews point that: Some teachers resist changes that were designed by school leaders. In the same manner, some of them lack integrity in performing their responsibility among the staff.

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Table 9 Evaluation of Performance

No Items Respo SDA DA NS A SA Total Mean Std. ndents Dev. n=800

1 Team evaluation Freq. 200 285 79 181 85 800 2.51 1.27 is practiced in our school. % 25.0 35.6 9.9 18.9 10.0 100%

2.36 1.05 2 School leaders Freq. 90 539 19 97 55 800 have the capacity

to appraise % 11.3 67. 2.4 12.1 6.9 100% teachers frequently. 1.95 0.76 3 School leaders are Freq. 182 527 55 19 17 800 aware of the % 22.8 65.9 6.8 21.2 15.2 100% details regarding activities of the school. 2.73 1.40 4 School leaders Freq. 175 279 55 170 121 800 provide an ongoing % 21.9 34.9 6.9 21.3 15.1 100% assessment of progress. 2.71 1.38 School leaders Freq. 187 249 85 170 109 800 5 demonstrate the support of % 23.4 31.1 10.6 21.3 13.6 100% authentic teaching and learning.

Note: SD=strongly disagree DA=disagree, NS= Undecided, SA= Strongly, Agree=agree, Std. Dev. =Standard deviation and mean

The majority 629 (78.3%) of the respondents were disagreed that school leaders have not the capacity to appraise teachers frequently. This shows that the capacities of the schools, to appraise the teachers are limited. Teachers need appraisal for their good work. But as the data confirms the capacity of the school could not allow this situation. Due to this teachers may be displeasured. The respondents were asked about their agreement on evaluation. Accordingly, 45

485 (60.6%) of teachers disagreed with the asked question. This means that team evaluation is not practiced in the study area. This also confirms that team evaluation is not exercised in the study area. . In another hand 181(18.9%),85(10%) the respondents agreed and strongly agreed that team evaluation is practiced in their school. This confirms that somehow team evaluation is exercised in the study area.

The respondents‟ opinions on whether school leaders are aware of the details regarding activities of the school or not. Result in table 9 indicates that the majority 454 (56.8%) of the respondents were strongly disagree with the asked question. In the same way, the same table investigated on whether school leaders provide an ongoing assessment of progress or not, the result in table above shows that 454(56.8%) of teachers disagreed that school leaders are not providing an ongoing assessment of progress. This shows that the works of the school or the effectiveness of the organization is not identified well. On the other hand, investigated the respondents‟ opinions on whether school leader demonstrate the support of authentic teaching and learning or not. Result in above table indicates that 436 (54.5%) respondents were in disagreement with the issue.

From the principals‟, vice principals „and supervisors‟ interview point of view school leaders were not trained in supervision and also there is no guiding manuals that helps the school leaders to support teachers.

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Table 10 Fostering teaching learning process

No Items Respond SDA DA NS A SA Total Mean Std. ents Dev. N==800

1 Principal maintain Freq. 151 412 84 103 50 800 2.36 1.11 close contact with stake holders in % 18.9 51.5 10.5 12.9 6.3 100% instructional process. 2 Establish Freq. 79 479 96 85 61 800 2.46 1.05 collaborative work with % 9.9 59.9 12.0 10.6 7.6 100% teachers, and parents in relation to instruction. 3 Develop school Freq. 127 491 6 109 67 800 2.69 1.27 level policies to interact parents % 15.9 61.4 0.8 13.6 8.4 100% with student‟s achievement. 2.53 1.30 4 There is a culture Freq. 151 401 24 121 103 800 of trust between instructional 18.9 50.1 3.0 15.1 12.9 leaders with % 100% teachers. 5 Teachers feel free Freq. 233 233 44 175 115 800 2.63 1.45 to ask and get assistance from % 29.1 29.1 5.5 21.9 14.4 100% their leaders.

Note: SD=strongly disagree DA=disagree, NS= Undecided, SA= Strongly, Agree=agree, Std. Dev. =Standard deviation and mean

As the above table indicates that 618(77.3%) of the respondents were disagreed that principals are developing school level policies to interact parents with student‟s achievement. This indicates that in the study area there is no school developed policies those are implemented by the school. Contrary to this, 109(13.6%) 67(8.4%) of the respondents agreed and strongly agreed that principals are developing school policies respectively.

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Consequently, the respondents were asked on issue of principals whether they maintain close contact with stake holders in instructional process in the study area. Result in table above indicates 563(70.4%) of the respondents were disagreed that principals are maintaining close contact with stake holders in instructional process. Having close contact or relationship with stake holders fosters school growth. But as we see on the above data principals are not aware of making strong contact with the concerned body or school community as well.

This may be emerged from the attitude of the principals as the stake holders bring no change to the school. But the improvement of the school cannot be confirmed without the participation of the stake holders. Contrary to this, 103(12.9%),50(6.3%) of the respondents agreed and strongly agreed as school principals have close contact with stake holders respectively. This shows that a few teachers observed school and stakeholders relationship. Additionally, 558(69.8%) of teachers disagreed that school principals are establishing collaborative work with teachers, and parents in relation to instruction. Strong relationship is needed for improvement of one school. In the study area this issue is loosely seen by the school principals. Due to this it is unquestionable that school work cannot be effective without involvement of the society.

Furthermore, 552 (69%) of teachers were disagreed that there is no a culture of trust between instructional leaders and teachers. Having culture of trust between the leaders and teachers is a crucial issue. But in the study area there is no trust as the above data confirms. School improvement needs trust between the school communities otherwise it cannot bring change. In the study area the problem was seen and needs change of attitude among school community.

At the last, the respondents were asked about the issue of freedom the teachers have to get assistance from school leaders. Accordingly, 466(58.2%) of teachers were disagree that teachers are not feeling freedom to ask and get assistance from their leaders. Unless communication between teachers and school leaders exist, the schools cannot be improved. The school teachers need to be free to get assistance from their leaders.

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Table 11 Believes Regarding Benefits (opportunities) of Instructional leadership

No Items Respond SDA DA NS A SA Total Mean Std. ents Dev N=800 1 Students can Freq. 35 75 131 244 315 800 3.91 1.44 benefit from instructional leadership % 4.4 9.4 16.4 30.5 39.4 100% 2 School Freq. 34 76 133 242 315 800 3.91 1.14 communities can benefit from % 4.3 9.5 16.6 30.3 39.4 100% instructional leadership 3 Students‟ learning Freq. 67 115 55 224 339 800 3.82 1.33 has improved as a result of leadership % 8.4 14.4 6.9 28.0 42.4 100% 4 Instructional Freq. 103 30 85 370 212 800 3.7 1.26 leadership increase students learning % 12.9 3.8 10.6 46.3 26.5 100% and community relationship. Teachers are Freq. 97 109 127 193 274 800 3.55 1.39 5 beneficiary to develop their professional skills % 12.1 13.6 15.9 24.1 4.3 100 when they are supervised regularly. Note: SD=strongly disagree DA=disagree, NS= Undecided, SA= Strongly, Agree=agree, Std. Dev. =Standard deviation and mean

The data confirms school leaders should get leadership quality to equip with the current school change. As table above shows that 582 (72.8%) of the respondents were agreed that the opportunity of instructional leadership is to increase students learning and community relationship. However, 115 (14%),67(8.4%) of the respondents were in disagreement and strongly disagreement. This shows that there is still lack of awareness in some groups about leadership.

In the same way, 563 (70.4%) of the respondents agreed that training school leaders in leadership quality is important for school change. This shows school leadership training is important for school change and serves the society.

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In addition, respondents were asked about the benefits or the opportunities of instructional leadership. Results in the above table reveals that 559(69.9 %) of the respondents were agreed that Students are opportunistic if the school leadership functions properly. This indicates instructional leadership is beneficiary if it is implemented properly in the schools. This has its own impact on implementation of leadership.

The researcher further investigated the respondents‟ opinions whether communities can benefit from the proper function of school leadership or not. As the result 557(69.7%) of the respondents were agreed that School communities can benefit from the proper functioning of school leadership. This confirms that instructional leadership engages the learner with quality education. So, its implementation is crucial for the improvement of the school.

At the end, the respondents‟ opinions on whether teachers are beneficiary to develop their professional skills when they are supervised regularly or not were asked. Accordingly, 467(58.3) of the respondents agreed that teachers are beneficiary to develop their professional skills when they are supervised regularly.

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CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter deals with the summary of the major findings, the conclusion data from the findings and recommendations.

5.1 .Summary of Major Findings

The main objectives of this study were to examine the practices, challenges and opportunities of instructional leadership in secondary schools of West Wollega zone.

The research has answered thefollowing basic questions of the study.

1. What is the current practice of instructional leadership in secondary schools of West Wollega Zone?

2. What are the major challenges of providing instructional leadership in Secondary schools of West Wollega Zone?

3. What Opportunities or benefits are there in providing instructional leadership in secondary schools of West Wollega Zone?

To this effect, among the 80 secondary schools found in the zone, 14 of them were selected randomly as sample schools. From these sample schools, 800 (30%) teachers were included as a sample through availability sampling technique. Additionally, 14 principals, 13 vice principals, 13 supervisors have participated in the study through availability sampling technique. Accordingly, 800 copies of a questionnaire were prepared and 800 copies distributed for teachers for questionnaires. The return rates were 100% because through the given time the researcher visited the respondents‟ repeatedly. To obtain the qualitative data, interview sessions were conducted with the school principals including vice principals as well as supervisors. Moreover, documents were analyzed.

The quantitative data gathered through questionnaires were analyzed with frequency and percentage. The qualitative data gathered through the closed-ended questionnaire and interview was analyzed by narration. On the basis of the analysis and interpretation of the data, it was possible to come up with the following major findings. 51

1. The overall assessment of school leadership practice in developing shared vision and mission by the school leaders under the study revealed that leaders attempt to develop school culture was found unsatisfactory, leaders were inactive in communicating school mission to staff; were unable to drive strategy and implement to reduce the resistance of change; participation of parent teacher association in the preparation of school planning and supporting its implementation is low; even though school leaders provide vision based strategic direction, they did not implement the vision through strategic planning and clarify the themes of the school‟s mission in terms of its practical implications and create environment where teachers and school leaders work to common educational goal.

2. As far as motivation by the school leaders is concerned, majority of teachers who worked hard were not identified and rewarded. School leader‟s ability to encourage commitments of teachers through shared values, the recognition of individual teacher‟s accomplishment, encouragement of teachers to evaluate their practices, and motivation of the staff members to participate in school instructional issues were found to be limited.

3. From the analysis of data, school leaders are not playing active role in facilitating teachers‟ professional skill development, in promoting the practice of caring and trusting, in practicing of encouraging teachers experience sharing. The majority of teachers pointed out that they were not encouraged by the school leaders to evaluate their practice, no confidence to deal with stakeholders within and outside to overcome the school problems and challenges.

4. Concerning communication, the data obtained revealed that the role of the principal in communicating with teachers, helping teachers to address instructional issues in the classroom, developing means for teachers to communicate with each other, in arguing disagreement in staff and mobilizing community were not practiced adequately. Furthermore, principals expressed that some teachers resist changes that were designed by school leaders and also lack similarity in performing their responsibility. From the finding, thus, it is possible to say that communication practice was unsatisfactory.

5. It was also identified that school leaders had low capacity in monitoring and evaluation, in monitoring the effectiveness of the teaching learning process, in demonstrating effective teaching learning, in evaluating quality of teaching and learning, and not well aware of in the daily running activities of the school. School leaders were not using different mechanisms to evaluate

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teachers‟ performance as well as their own performance; they also did not provide feedback. Thus, it is safe to say that there is inadequate performance evaluation system in the study schools.

6. Challenges in school leadership practices identified that absence of training in educational leadership and no similarity among teachers in having strong commitment over the day to day teaching learning and leadership practices and shortage of human power such as the supporting staff.

7. The study showed that school leaders were less committed to encourage strengthen participatory decision making; did not empower the staff to involve in decision making; failed to communicate problems and no shared decision making structures in the study schools. School leaders have low confidence in decision making or taking measures.

8. The opportunities of instructional leadership were also discussed. School leaders are useful for both teacher‟s development and school improvement if it functions properly. School communities are also beneficiary due to this it is important to train school leaders in leadership qualification to cope with the current school practice and to solve challenges. The benefits or opportunities of instructional leadership is also to increase students learning and develop teachers‟ professional skills.

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5.2. Conclusions

Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn:

1. Most principals were found to be having the educational qualification below the standard. In light of this idea, to allow leaders to play their role more effective, there is a need to upgrade their qualifications while teachers aspiring to become principals will receive special training.

2. Successful school leaders develop vision and set direction, understand and develop people, redesign the organization and manage the teaching and learning program. Besides, they are expected to engage with staff and other stakeholders to produce higher levels of commitment to achieve the goals of the school which, in turn, are linked to the vision. However, the findings somehow showed that school leaders encourage the development of school mission and shared vision but the practical implications to common educational goal are insufficient, which can affect the quality of education and the implementation of school improvement program in general and students‟ achievement in particular.

3. The purpose of motivation is to generate enthusiasm, to communicate expectations and to demonstrate a commitment to goal and shared vision. Successful school leaders understand the needs of teachers and, subsequently, apply perception and influence their commitment to good performance of teaching learning. Accordingly, leadership cannot succeed without motivation. The study findings revealed that due to budget insufficiency and school leader‟s inactive role, the practice motivation was unsatisfactory. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that teachers were not adequately motivated in secondary schools of West Wollega zone. They were less motivated, had less contribution for the high improvement of pupils‟ achievement and the provision of quality education.

4. Principals are expected to provide opportunities for teachers, staff members, students, parents and community members to participate in school decision making. However, the finding of the study showed that principals failed to practice teachers in the process of decision making, incompetent in establishing measures regarding how to communicate problems and lacked confidence in decision making. As a result school principals‟ role in encouraging participatory decision making was inadequate and this, in turn, may limit expectation in goals of decisions.

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5. School leaders play a key role in providing and promoting in-service professional development programs for teachers and deliver trainings to all teachers of the school. Through the training, teachers could share useful ideas and experiences, acquaint with new teaching methodologies and curriculum innovations, develop mutual support and stand for common goals. The result of the study, however, revealed that school leaders were not playing active role in facilitating teacher‟s professional development and there was no staff training to create a spirit of cooperative working atmosphere. In addition, school leaders did not encourage teachers to collaborate with and share experience. Thus, this guides to the conclusion that most of school leaders were not aware of the responsibility they had for professional development of teachers, and failed to play their role in creating conducive environment to bring professional competence of teachers

6. School leaders communicate with parents, teachers, and community members to mobilize supportive initiation. Their efforts broadly focused reaching out to parents and community to strengthen the ties between local school professionals and the clientele they are to serve, and to direct resources toward enhancing the quality of instruction. The result of the study, however, revealed that school leaders do not have good communication with teachers to create smooth working atmosphere that help to build a culture of sharing and open discussion on what really matters in schools. The majority of the communities are not mobilized to extend their capacity to contribute in building the capacity of the school. Therefore, it is possible to say that communication was not adequately practiced in secondary schools of West Wollega Zone and as a result, this may retard the realization of educational goal and, in turn, adversely affect the quality of education.

7. With regard to the practice of monitoring and evaluation, school leaders have the role and responsibilities to regularly monitor and observe teaching classroom activities to improve achievement. They prioritize to strength teachers to spend more of time on teaching and learning and interacting with students. The results of the study, however, showed that even if team evaluation of work activities in the departments were exercised, school leaders had no capacity to carry out the monitoring and evaluation did not monitor the effectiveness and quality of the teaching learning process. This may impede the quality of instruction and the students‟ achievement.

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5.3 .Recommendations

On the basis of the findings and the conclusions drawn, the following recommendations are forwarded:

1. The directives for selecting and assigning supervisors to their roles are prepared a regional level and implemented at woreda or school level. Effective and efficient implementation of the directives demands the availability of human resource that fulfils the prerequisite criteria. However the problem lies on the fact that the qualified human resources who fulfill the prerequisite criteria are not available at woreda or school level. For example, one of the prerequisite criteria to compete for the position of a secondary school principal is having an MA degree in educational leadership or any other subject. Because of the unavailability of such qualified teachers in woredas or schools, the woreda education office is usually obliged to invite first degree holders to the position by violating the directives set by the regional education bureau. Thus, the researcher recommends that the regional education bureau better assess the qualification of the existing human resource available in lower structures before setting and sending directives which cannot be operational at lower structures such as zones, woredas and schools.

2. The findings revealed that, teachers did not gain effective and constructive professional support to improve their instructional skills. Therefore, it can be suggested that, instructional leader must; support teachers on the preparation of instructional materials for teaching learning effectiveness; advice teachers to use model effective teaching methods and encourage them to motivate students in the classroom and create competition among teachers by coordinating evaluation programs on the matter of pedagogical skill gaps of teachers.

3. To make teachers professionally competent, different strategies of professional development like continuous professional development (CPD), experience sharing within and with the surrounding schools and in-service trainings are recommended to be carried out in the schools.

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However, the study showed that the professional skill development program of principals rarely carried out. Therefore, the researcher recommended that the schools and concerned education offices need to make strong effort to improve the practice of in-service trainings, continuous professional development (CPD) and experience sharing both within and across secondary schools in the Woreda and/ or the Zone.

4. Finally, to better address the problems, it is suggested that further studies need to be conducted in this area with regard to the role of school leaders in motivating of good performance, school participatory decision making, in professional skill development, in communication and evaluation of performance.

An interview held with principals revealed that: the opportunity of school leadership is wide. When instructional leadership implemented well all the school community are beneficiary in upgrading education professionals, participating in decision making and providing appropriate feedback for school leaders etc…

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Appendix A ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND

BEHAVIORAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATONAL PLANNING

AND MANAGEMENT

Questionnaires for Teachers

The purpose of this questionnaire is to assess “Practices, challenges and opportunities of Instructional leadership” in secondary schools of West Wollega Zone and propose possible recommendation. I would like to request you to give concise and clear answers to the questions provided in this questionnaire. Thank you in advance for your cooperation for giving your personal opinion to this questionnaire.

Instruction: Please, you are required to put mark for strongly disagree, disagree, not sure, strongly agree, and agree in the spaces provided after each statement by putting a mark (√) in the appropriate boxes.

Gender: Male Female Age 20 -25

26-30

31-35

36-40 Above 40

Status: Degree Diploma MA

Work experience: 1-10years 11-20 years above 20

No Items Strongly Disagree No sure Stron Agree Disagree gly Agree Respondents view on shared vision and mission 1 School mission and vision is communicable in the staff by school leaders. 2 School leaders reduce the resistance to change. 3 School leaders implement the vision

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through strategic planning. 4 Parent teacher association (PTA) participate in preparation of the school planning 5 Principals lead innovations to take place properly and effectively Motivation of Teachers 6 Teachers are motivated by their effective work. 7 The accomplishments of teachers in the school are recognized and celebrated 8 Principals encourage teachers to evaluate their works in the school. 9 Principals motivate the staff members to participate in school instructions. 10 Principals promote an atmosphere of caring and trusting among staff School Decision Making and Management Practice 11 Principals ensure participation in decision making in the school improvement. 12 There is well established procedures in the school regarding how to solve problems 13 Principal create shared decision making structures. 14 Principals ensure adequate involvement of teaching staff in decision making Respondents’ View on Professional Skill Development 15 School leaders mentor to improve teachers‟ quality. 16 School leaders have self confidence in dealing with others in and outside school. 17 School leaders take an active role in facilitating teacher‟s engagement in CPD. 18 School leaders encourage teachers to participate in experience sharing 19 School leaders are directly involved in helping teachers address instructional issues in their classroom Respondents’ View on Communication

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20 Principals maintain smooth communication with school stakeholders 21 School leaders establishing smooth communication among teachers 22 Principals clarify issues of disagreement among staff 23 Principals work through PTA in mobilizing community to build the capacity of school Evaluation of Performance 24 Team evaluation is practiced in our school. 25 School leaders have the capacity to appraise teachers frequently. 26 School leaders are aware of the details regarding activities of the school. 27 School leaders provide an ongoing assessment of progress. 28 School leaders demonstrate the support of authentic teaching and learning. Fostering teaching learning process 29 Principal maintain close contact with stake holders in instructional process. 30 Establish collaborative work with teachers, and parents in relation to instruction. 31 Develop school level policies to interact parents with student‟s achievement. 32 There is a culture of trust between instructional leaders with teachers. 33 Teachers feel free to ask and get assistance from their leaders. Opportunities of instructional leadership/Supervisory work 34 Students are opportunistic due to the proper functioning of school leaders. 35 School communities can benefit from the proper functioning of school leadership. 36 It is important to train school leaders in school leadership qualification. 37 The opportunity of instructional leadership is to increase students learning and community relationship. 38 Teachers are beneficiary to develop their professional skills when they are supervised regularly.

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Appendix B ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND

BEHAVIORAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATONAL PLANNING

AND MANAGEMENT

An Interview Question for School Principals and vice principal

The main purpose of this interview question is to gather information on practices, challenges and opportunities of instructional leadership. Therefore, you are kindly requested to give necessary information on the issue related to the study. The successes of this study directly depend upon your honest and genuine response to the interview. The information that will be obtained from response to this interview will be used only for the purpose of the study. Your response will keep confidential and used for academic.

Interview Questions: 1. What are your qualification, age, work and experience? 2. Have you ever trained in school leadership? If no why? 3. Does the school have strategic plan? How is it developed? Who participated in its development? 4. How do you motivate the school community? 5. What practical activities are done in teacher‟s participation of decision making? 6. What professional development activities have been needed?

7. Do you follow every activity of teachers?

8. What challenges do you face to apply leadership in your school?

9. What mechanisms are used to solve these challenges?

1o. What communication did you have with the teacher before, during, and after the visit?

11. What opportunities the school community can get due to the existence of instructional leadership?

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APPENDIX C

ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND

BEHAVIORAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATONAL PLANNING

AND MANAGEMENT

An Interview Question for Supervisors

The main purpose of this interview question is to gather information on practices, challenges and opportunities of instructional leadership. Therefore, you are kindly requested to give necessary information on the issue related to the study. The successes of this study directly depend upon your honest and genuine response to the interview. The information that will be obtained from response to this interview will be used only for the purpose of the study. Your response will keep confidential and used for academic

Interview Questions:

1.What are your qualification, age, work and experience?

2. Have you ever trained in school leadership? If no why?

3. Does the school have strategic plan? How is it developed? Who participated in its development?

4. Do the principals motivate the school community?

5. What practical activities are done in participating teachers in decision making?

6. What professional development activities have been needed in the school?

7. Do principals follow every activity of teachers?

8. What challenges do you face to apply leadership in the school you supervise?

9. What mechanisms are used to solve these challenges?

1o. What communication did you have with the principals and teacher before, during, and after the visit?

11. What opportunities the school community can get due to the existence of instructional leadership?

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