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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 8, No. 7

Publication Date: July 25, 2021

DOI:10.14738/assrj.87.10594. Amakyi, M. (2021). Instructional Leadership Practices of Heads of Senior High Schools in Ghana. Advances in Social Sciences

Research Journal, 8(7). 424-435.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Instructional Leadership Practices of Heads of Senior High

Schools in Ghana

Michael Amakyi

Institute for Educational Planning and Administration

University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

ABSTRACT

A non-experimental survey was conducted to investigate the instructional

leadership practices of senior high school heads in Ghana. Data were collected using

a closed-ended Likert type items from a simple randomly selected sample of a

defined population of school heads of senior high schools in Ghana. Data collected

were analysed using rank-ordered means and independent samples test of

differences of means. The study findings revealed that the school heads frequently

adopt major key practices of instructional leadership. However, the school heads

most frequently adopt the practice of communicating the school’s goals. The study

further revealed that differences exist the frequency at which heads of high

performing schools and those of non-high performing schools adopt instructional

leadership dimensions of defining the school’s goals and promoting a positive

school learning climate.

Key words: instructional leadership, effective schools, school improvement, learning

outcomes

INTRODUCTION

Schools in the 21st century are expected to create a culture of learning that connects students

with relevant and authentic learning to make them globally competent for the future. The

schools should equip learners with varied competences – knowledge, abilities, and skills to

become global citizens who are responsible stewards for the world and anticipate the

consequences of their actions. Schools must understand the importance of relevant, authentic

learning that prepares a student for the future world. Preparing students for the future requires

that schools teach students to be globally aware, communicate well, be adaptable, be creative,

be innovative, have information processing skills and be able to use technology to solve

problems. Amakyi (2017) opines that schools should inform and form, and transform learners

to cope with an ever-changing society as they educate the learners to become critical and

analytic thinkers, problem solvers, and good citizens. Such schools are created and they do not

just happen. According to Kowalski (2013), effective school leaders are required to superintend

over such schools that will equip learners with essential qualities to embrace complex

challenges as well as valuing common prosperity, sustainability, and wellbeing of society.

School leaders need to be aware of how to develop new skills, competencies or literacies that

are required by students when entering the workforce of the future. It is expected that school

leaders will foster practical knowledge and transformative change in their leadership.

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Amakyi, M. (2021). Instructional Leadership Practices of Heads of Senior High Schools in Ghana. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(7).

424-435.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.87.10594

Horth and Vehar (2014) suggest leaders demonstrate effective creative leadership to first get

in touch with their own creative thinking skills and develop a creative leadership culture that

will promote and sustain innovative thinking. It behooves on school leaders to lead schools to

produce the learning outcomes that focus on preparing students to be competent, creative,

analytic thinkers, and problem solvers.

It is imperative therefore on school leaders to lead schools to prepare students for such

responsibilities and for teachers to understand how to do this. It is the role responsibility of the

school leader to set the standards, expectations, and the context for success for the school,

particularly both teachers and students. School leaders are to understand and articulate what

is required to be effective and successful in these responsibilities. According to Day, Leithwood,

and Sammons (2008), school leaders in discharging their duties are to evaluate teachers on

their effectiveness, establish professional growth opportunities, evaluate the effectiveness of

curriculum, and develop the academic culture of the school. School leaders need to understand

and articulate what is required to be effective and successful in these responsibilities.

Cunningham and Cordeiro (2012) suggest that the school leader should empower others,

especially build trust and confidence in the school community, highlighting the school’s vision

and mission, and creating enthusiasm and optimism for stakeholders to work together in

creating future directions for the school.

Literature is replete with examples of how the normative role of the school leader has gone

through different transitions from primarily manager to instructional leader (Hallinger & Heck,

1998; Fink & Resnick, 2001) with emphasis on being an inspirer (Hallinger, 2009), facilitator

(Hall, Negroni, & George, 2013), and communicator (Kowalski, 2010).

Various authors have pointed to instructional leaders in schools as creating a shared sense of

purpose in the school; developing a climate of high expectations that focuses on the

improvement of teaching and learning; and having a visible presence in the school modeling

the values that are being fostered in the school. The authors identify instructional leadership as

when those in a leadership position focus their efforts on the implementation of practices that

will positively impact student learning. For example, DeWitt (2020) describes instructional

leadership to be the type of leadership that leads to the most significant impact on student

success and the successful creation of a culture of learning. DeWitt identifies implementation,

focus on learning, student engagement, instructional strategies, efficacy, and evaluation of

impact as the key driving forces of instructional leadership.

Also, Ng (2019) sees instructional leadership to include all leadership activities that affect

student learning, both directly or indirectly. Reflecting on the seminal work of Hallinger and

Murphy (1986), Ng (2019) identified three broad dimensions of the instructional leadership.

First, the school leader defines the school’s mission, which includes establishing and

articulating a clear school vision with the focus on enhanced student learning. Second, the

school leader manages the instructional programme of the school engaging in supervising,

monitoring, and evaluating instruction and curriculum-based activities in the school. Third, the

school leader promotes a positive school climate that supports teaching and learning practices

and stakeholder engagement. Similarly, Kowalski (2013) commenting on leading a school

effectively, posits that the instructional leader creates and shares a vision of success with

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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 8, Issue 7, July-2021

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

stakeholders empowering them and holding them accountable to the vision. Again, the

instructional leader creates a professional learning community embracing change and

innovation and pursuing opportunities for protracted school improvement.

Jenkins (2009) intimates that the instructional leader makes the core business of schooling,

which is teaching and learning, the top priority of the school and attempts to bring that vision

to realization. According to Lashway (2002), the instructional leader is expected to possess

planning; interpersonal; instructional observation; and research and evaluation skills to enable

them to effectively carry out the tasks of an instructional leader. The planning skills enable the

instructional leader to have clear identification of goals or a vision to attain and determine the

strategies to get to the preferred future. The interpersonal skills allow the instructional leader

to build relational trust, give empowerment, and enhance collegiality to promote ownership

and commitment to planned activities in the school. Instructional observation skills are to

create a reflective practice environment to provide teachers with feedback to consider and

reflect upon. Research and evaluation skills allow the instructional leader to support evidence- based practice in the school through action research and project-based learning (Fullan, 2014;

Lashway, 2002).

Student learning outcomes that meet stakeholder expectations dictate the discussions around

school leadership. Brolund (2016) observes that when all is said and done, the goal of

instructional leadership is for the school head to work closely with teachers in order to increase

student achievement. Bush (2016), citing Leithwood et al. (2006), makes a profound statement

about the relationship between school leadership and student outcomes, postulating that

school leadership is second only to classroom teaching as an influence on pupil learning. The

goal of the instructional leadership model is to promote student learning (Carraway & Young,

2014)

Waters, Marzano, and McNulty (2003) posit that there is a significant relationship between

school leadership and student achievement. They argue that effective leaders not only know

what to do, but how, when, and why to do it. These leaders are able to choose the appropriate

strategy from a list of proven strategies and apply it to optimize student achievement. Waters

et al. proffer that effective leaders produce effective schools, which in turn produce competent

students.

Sergiovanni and Green (2015) are of the firm belief that there is a strong relationship between

the type of school and the type of principal in the school. The authors argue that quality

schooling does indeed lead to quality learning, and the key to quality schooling is the amount

and kind of leadership that the school principal provides directly and promotes through and

among teachers and supporting staff. In an era of heightened stakeholder interests in school

learning outcomes and increased accountability from schools, the works of authors establishing

that leadership accounts for learning outcomes are significant. Specific effective leadership

practices when identified can be replicated and sustained for protracted school improvement

practices.

PROBLEM STATEMENT AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS

A member of the task force on “Reinventing the Principalship” constituted by School Leadership

for the 21st Century Initiative, Institute for Educational Leadership, Washington, DC in 2000, is