Evidence of empirical study on successful headteacher leadership

The following are empirical studies that were conducted by some researchers on schools in respect of the impact of headteacher leadership on the performance.

Southworth (2002) looks at successful schools in England and highlights five key characteristics of successful headteacher leadership: working hard, determination, positive disposition, approachability and teamwork.

Working Hard: the study shows that headship is demanding. The heads acknowledged that they worked hard, but did so without complaining and regarded their work as a matter of headship, rather than something they might be able to avoid or change.

Determination: the study shows that the headteachers were determined individuals who were resolute about the schools doing well and therefore worked tenaciously towards increased levels of success. According to Southworth (2002) sometimes the headteachers‟

ability to secure additional learning resources was seen as another sign of their commitment to the school and not prepared to tolerate poor teaching and learning conditions.

Positive Disposition: To Southworth (2002) all the ten headteachers were positive people. He claims that each headteacher believed the school could improve and achieve more because the children and the staff deserved to be successful. They acknowledged successes in the school and described them as resulting from the children‟s or the staff‟s efforts. The heads were also remarkably optimistic about the future and their schools‟ prospects.

Approachability: the study shows that the heads knew that their schools‟ successes were dependent on everyone pulling their weight, supporting one another and working together. This Southworth (2002) claims applied to all staff, including office and classroom support, and more importantly, on the teaching staff functioning as a combined teaching unit with the heads orchestrating teacher and staff collaboration.

According to Southworth (2002) for some of the headteachers it was due to the school under-performing, while for others it was a case of enhancing already high level of success. Whatever the context, according to Southworth (2002) none of the heads were satisfied with the school‟s performance levels and all the heads wanted to improve on their previous results.

Cotton (2003) in his study of successful schools concludes that the following types of behaviours by a principal have a significant impact on pupil achievements:

 Establishing a clear focus on pupil learning by having a vision, clear learning goals, and high expectations for learning for all students

 Maintaining good interactions and cordial relationships with relevant stakeholders and ensuring effective communication, emotional and interpersonal support, visibility and accessibility, and promoting effective parent/community participation;

 Developing a school culture conducive to effective teaching and learning through shared leadership and decision-making, collaboration, risk taking leading to continuous improvements;

 Providing instructional leadership through discussions of instructional issues, observing classroom teaching and giving feedback, supporting teacher autonomy and protecting instructional time; and

 Being accountable for affecting and supporting continuous improvements through monitoring progress and using pupil progress data for program improvements

Cheng (1994) in his studies into headteacher leadership and students‟ achievement concludes that strong leadership shows that a headteacher can be:

a. Supportive and foster participation of teachers.

b. Able to develop clear goals and policies and hold people accountable for results. c. Persuasive at building alliances and solving conflicts.

d. Inspirational and charismatic

e. Able to encourage professional development and teaching improvement

Cheng argues that strong leadership is associated with high organizational effectiveness; strong organizational culture; positive principal-teachers relationship; more participation in decision-making; high teacher esprit and professionalism; less teacher disengagement and hindrance; more teacher job satisfaction and commitment; and more positive pupil performance, particularly, on attitudes and learning. These attributes that can be controlled by the headteacher leadership contribute significantly to pupil learning (Cheng, 1994).

Leithwood, et al, (2004) in their studies on headteacher leadership and students‟ achievement concluded that three sets of practices make up the basic core of successful leadership practices that account for students‟ high achievement: (1) setting directions; (2) developing people; and, (3) redesigning the organization. They suggest that setting directions account for the largest proportion of a leader‟s impact aimed at developing a clear vision focused on students‟ academic progress. Such goals and vision help

headteachers to make sense of their work and enable them to find a sense of identity for themselves and the context in which they work.

According to Leithwood et al (2004), developing or motivating people is a practice that is considered essential to the leader‟s effect on learning. To them, while clear and compelling organizational directions contribute to members‟ work-related motivations, such motivations are influenced by the direct experiences organizational members have with those in leadership role. They suggest experiences such as offering intellectual stimulation, providing individual support and providing appropriate models of best practices and beliefs as being fundamental to the organizational success. They also argue that successful educational leaders develop their schools through practices that are associated with the redesigning of the organization. These practices to them include: strengthening school culture; creating productive relations with parents and communities; connecting the school to its wider environment; providing incentives for learning; and fostering shared beliefs, sense of community and cooperation. Others are: modifying organizational structures; building collaborative processes; recognizing and celebrating school accomplishments and acknowledging failures; and involving teachers in design and implementation of important decisions and policies.

These practices as elaborated by Leithwood et al (2004) bring to the forefront the need for leaders to build a new culture to create a school climate that could guarantee strong community of learning aimed at establishing an environment conducive to effective teaching and learning. As the empirical studies show, there is enough evidence to presume that the role of headteacher leadership is critical in creating an environment conducive to effective teaching and learning. It is evident that with headteacher leadership at the center of change, school improvement strategies might be exercised in our schools to improve performance from the different perspectives.

3.7 Summary

School effectiveness and school improvement research has identified various characteristics and features that contribute to improved students‟ learning outcomes. As

clearly demonstrated, an effective school should not only be concerned about the learning outcome that is measured by the value added concept but also the overall improvement that provides for an effective learning environment. It is in this regard that the school, parents and the community playing their different complementary roles are critical in contributing to the children‟s education. The characteristics of effective schools as listed by the various researchers though are not a panacea for solving the numerous educational challenges; they help shape the school improvement strategies. School leadership has also come out strongly in the literature as key to transforming schools to create positive school environment conducive to effective teaching and learning. The role of school leadership and community participation in education delivery therefore has implications for quality education and should be given attention in developing educational policies for school improvement.