COMPARING THE ORGANIZATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE FOR INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP IN NATURAL SCIENCES TEACHING AMONG FORMERLY SEGREGATED SCHOOLS IN GAUTENG

Cynthia B Malinga, Loyiso C Jita, Abiodun A Bada

Abstract


School organizational conditions influence teaching and learning. Instructional leadership is context-based, and the practices of the leader are contingent upon the school’s organizational context. In this paper, we examine how different schools create the organizational infrastructure for teaching and learning natural sciences (NS) and the adequacy thereof in providing a supportive environment for the teachers and students in the subject. Using a mixed methods approach, we compare the extent to which the organizational infrastructures in schools enable and/or constrain NS instruction and its leadership. We use survey data on NS teachers and their heads of department on school conditions and infrastructures, management and administrative processes, and subject leadership practices. A total of 77 schools and 15 participants responded to the questionnaire and participated in the interview/observation respectively, from 4 districts in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. The findings showed that schools sharing similar socio-economic contexts have similar organizational infrastructures and arrangements around which the core work of teaching and learning was organized. The study concludes that school organizational infrastructures (shaped by contexts) may either promote or constrain effective instructional leadership for NS. We recommend that schools need to review their organizational arrangements and infrastructures to support instructional leadership and enhance their capacity to strengthen NS instruction more effectively.

  

Keywords


Head of department; Instructional leadership; Natural sciences; Organizational infrastructure; Subject department

Full Text:

PDF

References


Angelle, P. S., & DeHart, C. A. (2011). Teacher perceptions of teacher leadership: Examining differences by experience, degree, and position. NASSP Bulletin, 95(2), 141-160.

https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0192636511415397

Barnett, D., & Aagaard, L. (2007). Developing leadership capacity within the teaching ranks: One district’s approach. International Electronic Journal for Leadership in Learning, 11(9), 1-16. https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/iejll/index.php/iejll/article/view/665/326

Bennett, N., Wise, C., Woods, P. A., & Harvey, J. A. (2003). Distributed leadership: A review of literature. National College of School Leadership.

Branson, N., & Lam, D. (2010). Education inequality in South Africa: Evidence from the national income dynamics study. Studies in Economics and Econometrics, 34(3), 85- 109.

Brodie, K., Shalem, Y., Sapire, I., & Manson L. (2008). In the interface: Mathematics teachers “finding the curriculum?” A paper presented at the Kenton Education Association Conference, Broederstroom, Gauteng.

Burch, P., & Spillane, J. P. (2003). Elementary school leadership strategies and subject matter: Reforming mathematics and literacy instruction. The Elementary School Journal, 103(5), 519-535.

Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE). (2015). Teachers in South Africa: Supply and demand 2013-2025. The Centre for Development and Enterprise.

Collier, J., Dinham, S., Brennan, K., Deece, A., & Mulford, D. (2002). Perceptions and reality of the work of the secondary head of department. International Studies in Educational Administration, 30(2), 17-26.

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oakes, CA: Sage.

Creswell, J. W., & Plano-Clark, V. L. (2011). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Department of Education (DoE, 1999). Personnel Administrative Measures. Pretoria. Government Printers.

De-Lima, J. A. (2008). Department networks and distributed leadership in schools. School Leadership and Management: Formerly School Organisation, 28(2), 159- 187.

Ghamrawi, N. (2010). No teacher left behind: Subject leadership that promotes teacher leadership. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 38, 304-320.

Glickman, C. D., Gordon, S. P., & Ross-Gordon, J. M. (2011). Supervision and instructional leadership: A developmental approach (8th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Guthrie, J. W., & Schuermann, P. J. (2010). Successful school leadership: Planning, politics, performance, and power. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Hendricks, M., & Steen, R. (2012). Results from school leadership effectiveness studies (2005-2010). In J. Scheerens, School leadership effects revisted: Review and meta- analysis of empirical studies (pp. 65-129). Springer.

Ismail, S. N., Don, Y., Husin, F., & Khalid, R. (2018a). Instructional leadership and teachers’ functional competency across the 21st century learning. International Journal of Instruction, 11(3), 135-152. https://doi.org/10.12973/iji.2018.11310a

Ismail, M. Z., Mansor, A. N., Iksan, Z., & Nor, M. Y. N. (2018b). Influence of principals’ instructional leadership on science teaching competency. Creative Education, 9, 2234-2244. https://doi.10.4236/ce/2018.914164

Jita, L. C., & Mokhele, M. L. (2008). Capacity for (quality) instruction: A framework for understanding the use of resources to promote teaching and learning in schools. Africa Education Review, 5(2), 253-273.

Klar, H. W. (2012). Fostering department chair instructional leadership capacity: Laying the groundwork for distributed instructional leadership. International Journal of Leadership in Education: Theory and Practice, 15(2), 175-197.

Koh, H. H. D., Gurr, L., Drysdale, L., & Ang, L. L. (2011). How school leaders perceive the leadership role of middle leaders in Singapore primary schools? Asia Pacific Education Review, 12(4), 609-620.

Lachlan-Hache, L. (2017). Instructional leadership: Definitions and evidence. Presentation for the Texas Education Agency. American Institute for Research.

Lai, E., & Cheung, D. (2013). Implementing a new senior secondary curriculum in Hong Kong: Instructional leadership practices and qualities of school principals. School Leadership and Management, 33(4), 322-353.

Malinga, C. B., & Jita, L. C. (2015). Science HODs’ capacity to lead instruction: An exploratory survey across four districts in Gauteng, South Africa. University of the Free State, Bloemfontein.

Reference, (2020). What is organisational infrastructure. www.reference.com/business- finance/orhanisatioanl-infrastructure-97e7c99c62eb6764

Robinson, V. M. J. (2010). From instructional leadership to leadership capabilities: Empirical findings and methodological challenges. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 9, 1-26.

Spillane, J. P., & Coldren, A. F. (2015). Diagnosis and design for school improvement: Using a distributed perspective. Teachers College Press.

Spillane, J. P., Diamond, J. B., Walker, L. J., Halverson, R., & Jita, L. C. (2001). Urban school leadership for elementary science instruction: Identifying and activating resources in an undervalued school subject. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38(8), 918-940.

Spillane, J. P., Parise, L. M., & Sherer, J. Z. (2011). Organisational routines as coupling mechanisms: Policy, school administration and the technical core. American Educational Research Journal, 48(3), 586-620.

Spillane, J. P., & Hopkins, M. (2013). Organizing for instruction in education systems and school organizations: How the subject matters. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 45(6), 721-747.

Stephenson, A. (2010). An examination of the issues facing heads of departments in New Zealand secondary schools. [Master’s thesis]. Unitec Institute of Technology.

Teddlie, C., & Tashakkori, A. (2012). Common core of mixed methods research: A review of critical issues and call for greater convergence. American Behavioural Scientist, 56(6), 774-788.

Teddlie, C., & Yu, F. (2007). Mixed methods sampling: A typology with examples. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 1(1), 77-100.

Timperley, H. S. (2005). Distributed leadership: Developing theory from practice. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 37(4), 1-26.

Umalusi. (2008). Learning from Africa: Science. A report of Umalusi’s research comparing science syllabuses and examinations in South Africa with those in Ghana, Kenya and Zambia. Pretoria: Umalusi.

Vogel, L. R. (2018). Learning outside the classroom: How principals define and prepare to be instructional leaders. Education Research International, 1-14.

https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/8034270

Wanzare, Z. O. (2013). Skills and attributes of instructional supervisors: Experience from

Kenya. Educational Research and Review, 8(24), 2270-2280.

Winn, K. M. 2016. Instructional leadership in elementary science: How are school leaders positioned to lead in a next generation science standard era? [Doctoral thesis]. University of Iowa.

York-Barr, J., & Duke, K. (2004). What do we know about teacher leadership? Findings from two decades of scholarship. Review of Educational Research, 74(3), 255-316.

Zepeda, S., & Kruskamp, B. (2007). High school department chairs: Perspectives on instructional supervision. The High School Journal, 90(4), 44-54.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.31258/ijebp.v6n1.p1-29

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2022 International Journal of Educational Best Practices

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.