Review of conceptual models and methodologies in research on principal instructional leadership in Malaysia

Abstract

Purpose Over the past several decades, instructional leadership has gradually gained increasing currency as a key role of school principals throughout much of the world. This is also the case in Malaysia where educational research, policy and practice have brought the instructional leadership role of the principal front and center. The purpose of this paper is to assess the conceptual models, research methods, and foci of scholars in the study of principal instructional leadership in Malaysia over the past 30 years. Design/methodology/approach Systematic methods were used to identify all studies conducted in Malaysia that had used the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS) (Hallinger, 1982/1990/2015) as the data collection instrument. This search yielded a database of 120 studies completed between 1989 and 2016 written in both English and Bahasa Malay. Common data were extracted from the 120 research reports, coded and entered into a MS Excel spreadsheet for analysis. Quantitative methods were employed to analyze modal trends and synthesize patterns in the data across the studies. Findings The search identified 120 PIMRS studies, 90 percent of which had been conducted since 2005. This represented a surprisingly large corpus of studies. Over 75 percent of the Malaysian studies of principal instructional leadership had been conducted as graduate (master and doctoral) theses, relatively few of which had achieved publication in journals. The authors’ analysis found that most studies had used lower order (i.e. bivariate, direct effects) conceptual models and relied heavily on descriptive and simple correlational statistical tests. The lack of consistent results within the database of studies was attributed largely to limitations in research design and quality. Research limitations/implications The 120 PIMRS studies conducted in Malaysia comprise a surprisingly large corpus of research on principal instructional leadership. Indeed, the Malaysian corpus is second only to the USA in terms of the number of PIMRS studies of principal instructional leadership. Nonetheless, limitations in the research models and methods employed in these studies suggest a need for stronger methodological training before Malaysian scholars can achieve the goal of contributing useful knowledge to the local and global knowledge base. Specific recommendations are offered for strengthening the quality of research. Social implications The recent expansion of higher education in Malaysia – like other developing societies – has yielded progress in the scope of research production. However, numerous challenges remain in transforming the potential for useful knowledge production from graduate research into reality. Originality/value This is the first review of research on principal leadership conducted in Malaysia. The review follows efforts by scholars to systematically identify the boundaries of knowledge in educational leadership and management within East Asian societies (e.g. China, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan and Hong Kong). Moreover, this is the first review of research that examines the use of the PIMRS in a single society.

Teachers' Perception of Principals' Instructional Leadership Practices in Nigeria

“…This is especially so in recent times where there is high demand for principals to be accountable to happenings in the school environment and to keep abreast with educational goals. An essential instrument to attain the educational goals by the school principal is through leadership practices, in particular, instructional leadership [11,28,31,37,49].…”

Best Practices for Promoting Teachers’ Professional Development in Malaysia

“…The results showed that cluster school principals engaged a number of teachers in capacity building through inservice training and ongoing professional development. Although training is a particularly important mechanism for improving the quality of teachers (Hallinger, 2005;Hallinger, Adams, Harris, & Suzette, 2018), yet the age limit for teachers to join certified training programs became a major barrier in this case. It is recommended that such age limits must be removed so that school principals are successful in attracting sufficiently qualified candidates and allowing every teacher to maintain and enhance their skills set, including staying up-to-date with the latest developments in pedagogy (Wang, Wang, Li, & Li, 2017;Salleh & Khalid, 2018;Rashdi & Khamis, 2018).…”

Accompanying organizational innovation by research: The case for performance evaluation of Italian school principals

“…Concerning the role of SP in schools, besides the focus put by researchers on the so-called instructional leadership (Davis, Darling-Hammond, LaPointe, & Meyerson, 2005;Hallinger, Adams, Harris, & Suzette Jones, 2018;Purinton, 2013), since schools still are also organizations, many conceptual tools of organizational sciences are applicable. Following this line, one of the most relevant topic for Italian SPs is a possible responsibility-authority gap.…”