INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP PRACTICES OF PRINCIPAL IN VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE: TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION

Abstract

Instructional leadership is an important strategic aspect of educational administration which leads to students’ learning improvement and quality education. The main role of instructional leader in an educational institution includes: setting clear goals and objectives, managing curriculum, monitoring lesson plans, allocating resources and evaluating lecturers’ performance regularly. To achieve the goal of quality education, instructional leaders should play their role and responsibility efficiently and effectively. The main purpose of this study was to identify the factors affecting instructional leadership practices of principals in vocational and technical colleges from the teachers’ perceptions. A quantitative method was used to collect data. Accordingly, a survey questionnaire was distributed randomly to the total of 80 teachers from vocational and technical colleges in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As perceived by the teachers, findings show that four domains are the most effective factors in practicing instructional leadership role by the vocational and technical college principals: (a) professional leadership, (b) shared mission and clear goals, (c) continuous monitoring of teachers’ progress, and (d) professional growth of the teachers. The results of this study can be beneficial for policy and decision makers in the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Youth and Sports, educational institutions’ administration, school principals, and the teachers in realizing their instructional leadership role.