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Improving Teaching and Learning in Selected Mauritian Secondary Schools: an Exploration of the Instructional Leadership Narratives of Principals

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Improving Teaching and Learning in Selected Mauritian Secondary Schools: an Exploration of the Instructional Leadership Narratives of Principals Improving teaching and learning in selected Mauritian secondary schools: an exploration of the instructional leadership narratives of principals A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Professional Doctorate in Education University of Brighton, England Submitted by Guy Jean-Noël Geneviève July 2020 Abstract The study explores issues of the quality of teaching and learning and instructional leadership, as experienced by principals in selected state secondary schools in Mauritius. Five principals were purposively chosen, representing a range of variations that can be found in the population of principals of state secondary schools. The narratives collected were analysed in three ways. A narrative portrayal of each participant was first produced. The narratives were also analysed collectively to evidence common structures and themes. Finally, the narratives were analysed using theoretical frameworks describing various dimensions of quality teaching and instructional leadership. The principals tended to focus on short-term, high-visibility objectives, usually unrelated to academic performance. They appeared to be strongly guided by considerations of risk minimisation, avoidance of conflict and loss of reputation, all of which need to be understood in the context of their professional experiences. They are very careful to avoid situations that they felt could escape their control. Despite this inhibiting factor, they showed concern for quality by using a combination of approaches to improve on academic achievement and various aspects of school life. Direct intervention on teaching is, more often than not, enacted when quality of teaching falls below a threshold. The key indicator is constructed within a quantitative frame, determined by the number of complaints received. The data thus gestures strongly towards leadership as control, risk mitigation and maintenance of routine school activities. This research contributes to educational policy by indicating that support for the principals should be reviewed to provide them with risk management skills. The support system should also ensure that right from their initial career stages, the instructional leadership practices of principals are better aligned with the official quality of education policies of the Government. Page | ii Table of Contents Improving teaching and learning in selected Mauritian secondary schools: an exploration of the instructional leadership narratives of principals i Abstract ii Table of Contents iii List of Tables vii List of Figures viii List of Acronyms ix Acknowledgements x Author’s declaration xi Chapter 1 The Research Problem 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 The Problem 2 1.3 The Research Question 8 1.4 Rationale for research 9 1.5 Organisation of the thesis 10 1.6 Chapter Summary 11 Chapter 2 Foregrounding the Research Problem 12 2.1 Introduction 12 2.2 The Mauritian context 12 2.3 Mauritius as a small island developing state 16 2.4 Myself as a researcher 16 2.5 Working with narratives 19 2.6 Chapter Summary 19 Chapter 3 Literature Review 20 3.1 Introduction 20 3.2 The nature of quality teaching and learning 21 Page | iii 3.3 The nature of school leadership that improves student outcomes 23 3.4 Focusing on instructional leadership 27 3.5 Conceptualising teaching in the Mauritian context 30 3.5.1 Looking at models of teaching 30 3.5.2 Conceptualising a reference teaching framework in the Mauritian context 33 3.6 Conceptualising instructional leadership in the Mauritian context 36 3.6.1 Introduction 36 3.6.2 Looking at models of instructional leadership 38 3.6.3 Identifying the dimensions of an effective instructional leadership framework 40 3.6.4 Validating the dimensions of an effective instructional leadership framework 45 3.7 Discussion 52 3.7.1 Leading instructional improvement 52 3.7.2 Leading in the school context 52 3.7.3 The principals’ leadership style 53 3.7.4 The isolation of teaching 54 3.7.5 Workplace learning and the teacher 55 3.7.6 Workplace learning and the principal 55 3.7.7 How my positionality impacted the literature review 56 3.8 Chapter Summary 57 Chapter 4 Methodology 58 4.1 Introduction 58 4.2 My philosophical position 58 4.3 Working with narratives 60 4.3.1 Reviewing commitments towards narrative research 60 4.3.2 Methodological implications of commitments concerning narrative research 61 4.3.3 Navigating the continuum of narrative analysis 63 4.4 Research design 64 4.4.1 Introduction 64 4.4.2 Sample and Sampling strategy 64 Page | iv 4.4.3 Sources of data 67 4.4.4 Interview protocols 67 4.4.5 Transcription of interviews 69 4.5 Analysis overview 70 4.5.1 Introduction 70 4.5.2 First tier: analysis of individual principals 71 4.5.3 Second tier: cross-analysis of five participants narratives 73 4.5.4 Third tier: analysis of the instructional leadership perspectives 73 4.5.5 Fourth level: synthesis and presentation of findings 74 4.6 Methodological issues 74 4.6.1 Introduction 74 4.6.2 Looking at credibility 74 4.6.3 Looking at transferability 75 4.6.4 Looking at dependability and confirmability 76 4.6.5 Looking at positionality 76 4.6.6 Looking at ethical responsibilities 79 4.6.7 Looking at social responsibilities 81 4.7 Chapter Summary 82 Chapter 5 Stories from the field 83 5.1 Introduction 83 5.2 Stories from the field 83 5.2.1 John 84 5.2.2 Jenny 96 5.2.3 Ben 109 5.2.4 Tim 125 5.2.5 Tina 135 5.3 Chapter Summary 149 Chapter 6 Stories talking 151 6.1 Prelude to a dialogue 151 6.2 Stories ‘talking to each other’ 152 6.3 Stories talking back 173 6.3.1 What stories about quality teaching and learning tell us 173 Page | v 6.3.2 What stories of instructional leadership learning tell us 177 6.3.3 Stories of teaching and instructional leadership ‘talk to each other’ 186 6.4 Around the day in five schools 190 6.4.1 What we learn from the principals’ narratives 190 6.5 Chapter Summary 198 Chapter 7 Conclusion 199 7.1 Introduction 199 7.2 Talking back to the research problem 200 7.2.1 “How does the school context affect the principals’ understanding of quality of teaching and learning?” 200 7.2.2 “What do principals do to improve or maintain the quality of teaching and learning in their schools?” 201 7.2.3 “How does the instructional leadership practice of principals relate to their pedagogical knowledge and beliefs”? 201 7.2.4 “What are the implications of the principals’ instructional leadership for educational policy?” 202 7.3 Pushing back the boundaries 203 7.4 Limitations of the study 208 7.5 Looking at the research process 209 7.6 My EdD journey 211 7.7 Conclusion 213 References 216 APPENDIX A Scheme of service of principals of state secondary schools I APPENDIX B Sample transcription from participant John V APPENDIX C Contact with participants and informed consent XII APPENDIX D Approximate location of schools of participants XVI APPENDIX E Cross-comparison of participants’ narratives XVII APPENDIX F Analysis of principals’ narratives using frameworks for Quality Teaching and Quality Instructional Leadership XXXVI Page | vi List of Tables Table 1: Comparison of the Devine et al. (2013), Danielson (2007) and Stronge (2007) models of good teaching 31 Table 2: Reference teaching framework, adapted from Devine et al. (2013), Danielson (2007) and Stronge (2007) 35 Table 3: Comparison of Qian et al. (2017), Hallinger et al. (2017) and Robinson et al. (2009) models of instructional leadership 39 Table 4: Comparison of the reference teaching framework to Qian et al. (2017), Hallinger et al. (2017) and Robinson et al. (2009) models of instructional leadership 43 Table 5: Instructional leadership framework, adapted from Qian et al. (2017), Hallinger et al. (2017) and Robinson et al. (2009) 51 Table 6: Selection frame for participants 66 Table 7: Interview dates for participants 66 Table 8: Advantages and disadvantages of insiderness 78 Table 9: Characteristics of participants 83 Page | vii List of Figures Figure 1: Professional life stages of a principal 152 Figure 2: Becoming a principal 164 Figure 3: Living the life of the principal 166 Page | viii List of Acronyms EHRSP Education and Human Resources Strategic Plan 2008 -2020 1 ISO 9001 International Standards Organisation: standard 9001 151 MOEHR Ministry of Education and Human Resources 1 PGCE Post Graduate Certificate in Education 15 PRB Pay Research Bureau 3 SIDS Small Island Developing State 16 Page | ix Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank Mr. R. Bhowan, who was my lecturer at the University of Technology Mauritius, as I was still completing my MSc in Educational Administration. His mentoring sparked in me the desire to go for further studies. I would also like to thank Mr. C. Toolsee, former Director of Quality Assurance and Inspection Division of the MOEHR , for his support and his encouragement during the early stages of this EdD. I am grateful to all my lecturers during my EdD journey, especially Dr Hyleen Mariaye and Prof. David Stephens for their support and their invaluable comments. I wish to heartily thank the five principals who agreed to be interviewed for this study, and who welcomed me to their schools despite their heavy schedules. Finally, I am grateful to my wife for her understanding and her unflinching support. Page | x Chapter 1 The Research Problem 1.1 Introduction Around the world, there is considerable current policy concern with the improvement of teacher quality (Garm & Karlsen, 2004; Smith, 2008). Simultaneously, there is a marked increase in emphasis on performance measurement and audit cultures in the educational systems of many countries (Apple, 2006; Lynch et al., 2012).
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