ERIC Number: EJ1282243
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Sep
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1052-6846
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Ensuring Teachers' Job Suitability: A Missing Component of Instructional Leadership
Shaked, Haim
Journal of School Leadership, v29 n5 p427-447 Sep 2019
Instructional leadership can be defined as an educational leadership approach whereby the school principal is involved in a wide range of activities aiming to improve teaching and learning for all students. Surprisingly, the literature about instructional leadership practices has not mentioned school leaders' practices for hiring appropriate teachers and for determining whether existing teachers are the "right people" for the job. This suggests that instructional leaders are not necessarily expected to ensure that the right people are on board. The current study's goal was to explore principals' perceptions regarding their role in ensuring teachers' job suitability and its relation to instructional leadership. Data collection included interviews with a diverse sample of 59 Israeli principals. Data analysis revealed that school principals perceived the issue of teacher hiring/firing as complicated. Therefore, they often regarded related tasks--such as deciding which attributes are most important for effective teachers, determining how such effective teachers can be proficiently screened for hire, and executing dismissal of ineffective teachers--as impossible or impractical. The current study suggests that this perception led principals to refrain from considering the activities involved in ensuring teacher suitability as means to improve teaching and learning. Practical implications and further research are discussed.
Descriptors: Instructional Leadership, Teacher Selection, Teacher Dismissal, Personnel Management, Teacher Effectiveness, Role Perception, Principals, Administrator Attitudes, Middle Schools, High Schools, Elementary Schools, Difficulty Level, Knowledge Level, Self Efficacy, Ambiguity (Context), Tenure, Foreign Countries
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2814
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education; High Schools; Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Israel
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A