Perceptions of Assistant Principals’ and Principals’ of Bahrain Government Schools about the Impact of the Bahrain Teachers College Educational Leadership Program on Their Performance
Abstract
This article examines the perceptions of school assistant principals and principals who completed the Bahrain Teachers College higher diploma of education leadership program about its impact on their performance. The study sample consisted of 141 program graduates from 9- cohorts. A multilevel concept in measuring the impact of the educational leadership program on the graduates’ performance was employed. The framework consisted of 4 levels: self-learning, changing others, embedding changes in school practices and sustainability of change and scaling up the school performance. The study questionnaire was designed on the basis of this framework. Results show that the Educational Leadership program positively affected its graduates’ performance in the 4 levels. The majority of the program graduates agreed that the program positively affected their personal qualities, leadership styles and practices to support school development, school staff, students’ performance and school ranking. The majority of the program graduates also agreed that the program positively affected their skills in dealing with curriculum innovations, professional development, research, strategic planning, staff appraisal, communication with community, using ICT, improving students’ learning and applying educational ethics.
Keywords: Education Leadership, School Principals’ Performance, Leadership Styles, School Practices, Leadership Skills
References
[1] Barber, M., Whelan, F., & Clark, M. (2010). Capturing the leadership premium: How the world’s top school systems are building leadership capacity for the future. London, UK: McKinsey & Company
[2] Barton, L.T. (2013). Knowledge of effective educational leadership practices. International Journal of Leadership Preparation, 8(1), 93-102.
[3] Bush, T., Briggs, A., & Middlewood, D. (2006). The impact of school leadership development: evidence from the ‘new visions’ program for early headship. Journal of In-Service Education, 32(2), 185-200. DOI:10.1080/13674580600650948
[4] Bush, T. (2009). Leadership development and school improvement: contemporary issues in leadership development. Educational review, 61 (4), 375–389.
[5] Cotton, K. (2003). Principals and student achievement: What the research says. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
[6] Darling-Hammond, L., LaPointe, M., Meyerson, D., Orr. M. T., & Cohen, C. (2007). Preparing School Leaders for a Changing World: Lessons from Exemplary Leadership Development Programs. Stanford, CA: Stanford University, Stanford Educational Leadership Institute, downloaded from http://seli.stanford.edu or http://srnleads. org. on July 23, 2014.
[7] Davis, S., Darling-Hammond, L., LaPointe, M., & Meyerson, D. (2005). School leadership study: Developing successful principals. Stanford Educational Leadership Institute, Learning from Leadership, the Wallace Foundation.
[8] Fluckiger, B., Lovett, S. & Dempster, N. (2014). Judging the quality of school leadership learning programs: an international search Journal of Professional Development in Education, 40(4), 561-575.
[9] Fullan, M. (2007). Change the terms for teacher learning. Journal of Staff Development; Oxford 28(3), 35-36.
[10] Leithwood, K. Duke, D. (1999). A century’s quest to understanding school leadership. In J. Murphy & L. Seashore (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Educational Administration. 2nd ed. (pp. 45-73). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
[11] Leithwood, K. & Jantzi, D. (2006). Transformational school leadership for largescale reform: Effects on students, teachers, and their classroom practices. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 17(2), 201-227.
[12] Leithwood, K., Seashore-Louis, K., Anderson, S., & Wahlstrom, K. (2004). How leadership influences student learning (Learning from Leadership Project Executive Summary). New York: The Wallace Foundation.
[13] Marzano, R.J., Waters, T., & McNulty, B.A. (2005). School leadership that works: From research to results. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development; and Aurora, CO: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.
[14] Nicolaidou, M., & Petridou, A. (2011). Evaluation of CPD programs: challenges and implications for leader and leadership development. School Effectiveness and School Improvement: An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice, 22(1), 51- 85.DOI:10.1080/09243453.2010.547344
[15] Osterman, K. F., & Hafner, M. M. (2009). Curriculum in leadership preparation: Understanding where we have been in order to know where we might go. In M. D. Young, G. M. Crow, J. Murphy & R. T. Ogawa (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of school leaders (pp. 269-317). New York: Routledge
[16] Pont, B., Nusche, D., & Hopkins, D. (2008). Improving School Leadership: Case Studies on System Leadership (Volume2). Paris, France: OECD.
[17] Silins, H.C., Mulford, W.R., & Zarins, S. (2003). Organizational learning and school change. Educational Administration Quarterly, 38(5), 613-642.
[18] Williams, H.S. (2009). An evaluation of principal interns’ performance on the interstate school leader licensure consortium standards. National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision Journal, 26(4), 1-7.
[19] Yan, W. & Ehrich, L. (2009). Principal preparation and training: a look at China and its issues. International Journal of Educational Management, 23(1), 51-64.