School Principals’ Reflective Leadership Skills through the Eyes of Science and Mathematics Teachers

Abstract

Reflective leadership plays a key role in successfully maintaining the operation in organizations and in achieving their far and near objectives. In order to enable this success in school organizations, each employee in the school should make an effort for development and effective operation of the school organization. A reflective school leader is effective in enabling and sustaining this success by utilizing their reflective leadership traits. The aim of this research is to determine the reflective leadership levels of school principals by science and math teachers' viewpoints. Sample of the research is composed of a total of 147 volunteer teachers 68 of whom serve as science teachers and 79 as math teachers in high schools in Çorum city center. Data have been collected through "reflective leadership" scale adapted to Turkish language by Ersozlu and Castelli (2016). According to the research findings, it is understood that science and math teachers consider school principals' reflective leadership traits to be at middle level. With regard to gender, age, branch and years of experience; no difference is found in teachers' perceptions on reflective leadership of school principals.

Reflective Inquiry Practices of Instructional Leaders in Public Schools in Manila, Philippines

“…To improve the quality of instruction, teachers with the guidance of their supervisors must engage in the process of reflection which will allow teachers to explore their teaching practices, evaluate performance of students, and apply strategies or methods that will increase the students' academic performance (Disu, 2017). Reflection is a process that involves deep thinking about action and experience that may influence conceptual knowledge, ethical and moral belief, and future courses of action (Ersozlu, 2016;Weiss & Weiss, 2001;Yip, 2006). Daudelin (as cited by Ersozlu, 2016) states that a person who undergoes reflection must take a step back and think critically the past and present events to acquire the right knowledge, skills, and attitude.…”

“…Reflection is a process that involves deep thinking about action and experience that may influence conceptual knowledge, ethical and moral belief, and future courses of action (Ersozlu, 2016;Weiss & Weiss, 2001;Yip, 2006). Daudelin (as cited by Ersozlu, 2016) states that a person who undergoes reflection must take a step back and think critically the past and present events to acquire the right knowledge, skills, and attitude. Lunenburg and Ornstein indicated that reflection enables the teacher and the supervisor to think about their own work by planning, evaluating, and improving their professional practice (Ersozlu, 2016).…”

“…Daudelin (as cited by Ersozlu, 2016) states that a person who undergoes reflection must take a step back and think critically the past and present events to acquire the right knowledge, skills, and attitude. Lunenburg and Ornstein indicated that reflection enables the teacher and the supervisor to think about their own work by planning, evaluating, and improving their professional practice (Ersozlu, 2016).…”

“…Dewey pioneered the philosophy of reflective methods and the theory of inquiry, which paved the way for reflective practice to be applied in educational administration (Willower, 1994). According to Rogers, engaging in reflective practice will help an individual to be in a system of change that will help develop his/her thought processes (Ersozlu, 2016). Reflective thinking is a process that allows learners to undergo cognitive inquiry to understand better and resolve conflicting situations (Weiss & Weiss, 2001).…”

Secondary pre-service teachers’ reflections on their micro-teaching: Feedback and self-evaluation

“…Reflection has been used at various levels in the education sector. For example, reflection has been an important source of learning and improvement at the pedagogical level (Loughran, 2010b), at the student self-regulation level (Bonner & Chen, 2019;Cowie, 2005;Dayal et al, 2017;Hattie & Timperley, 2007;Klenowski, 2002), and at the leadership level (Ersozlu, 2016). The power of reflection at the classroom teaching level offers teachers the opportunity to identify their own strengths and weaknesses in light of the criteria and standards for teaching evaluation.…”