Instructional Leadership Role Of School Principals In Promoting The Professional Development Of Secondary School Teachers In Anambra,Nigeria

The overall teaching performance of secondary school teachers in Nigeria is relatively below standard.This is evident in the overall performance of students in national examinations.Concerns have been raised concerning this trend in poor teacher performance and how this problem can be solved.The school principals who are directly involved with the teachers are at the forefront of teacher professionalism in discharging their leadership duties.Through the instructional leadership style,teachers are actively engaged in professional development as a means to improve their instructional practices.Teachers benefit from professional development in a number of ways,including increased self-assurance,expanded subject expertise,new teaching strategies,and expanded pedagogical perspective.Principals as the teachers’ direct superiors are responsible for encouraging professional development of teacher with the goal of improving students’ academic outcomes and accomplishing school goals.This study focused on examining the principal’s role in promoting the professional development of secondary school teachers in Awka,Anambra state,Nigeria.The study involved 304 teachers and 19 principals from the nineteen public secondary schools in Awka South.The study employed the Instructional leadership theories and the system theory as the framework guiding the research.A structured interview and a validated questionnaire titled “Principal’s Instructional Leadership Practices and Teachers’ Professional Development”(PILPTPD)was used to collect data for the study.Cronbach’s alpha was utilized to calculate item reliability,and the coefficient index was0.923.The study adopted a sequential explanatory mixed method design.The quantitative data is analyzed both descriptively and by inferential statistics.To answer the study’s research objectives,the means and standard deviations of teacher and principals’ responses were used at a cut-off point of 2.50.The hypotheses were tested using the t-test and linear regression at the 0.05 level of significance.The interview data was analyzed thematically to explore themes from the phenomena being investigated.The findings of the research showed a direct positive effect of instructional leadership on teachers’ professional growth(β = 0.86,t(317)=30.26,p= 0.00(p< 0.05)and accounted for 74%(R2 = 0.74).The findings indicate that the instructional leadership role and practices of the school principal positively impacted the professional growth of the teachers.These impacts included improving their teaching method,improving their classroom management,and having better student engagement.Instructional leadership practices of the school principals enabled teachers to build confidence in their teaching practice and increased teacher motivation.Teachers also reported that they have acquired more innovative teaching methods such as utilizing Information Communication and Technology(ICT)in their instructional delivery,which is paramount to their profession.These impacts are evident in the teachers’ teaching behavior and students’ academic achievements.The result showed no significant difference in the perception of teachers and principals regarding principals’ instructional Leadership roles at a(P-value of 0.07).The research further revealed that “Providing Professional Learning Opportunities” for teachers is the best Instructional Leadership role of school principals that promotes teachers’ professional development in the study context of the study(PPLO(B = 0.65,t(311)= 20.48,p < 0.05).The research identified specific instructional leadership roles of the school principals in the study area such as,classroom supervision and providing feedback,mentoring,and coaching to novice teachers,encouraging teachers for self-development,organizing school-based seminars and workshops,inviting experts to lecture teachers,encouraging action research among teachers,building a professional learning community for teachers,among others.The study also showed that principals in Nigeria are averagely competent in their instructional leadership practice.The research also identified a number of factors that promoted and hindered the successful achievement of teachers’ professional development such as funds,the attitude of the teacher,time,the leadership skill of the principal,and the learning style of the teacher among others.Furthermore,the research stresses the significance of building school-wide leadership skills to facilitate teachers’ professional development.School principals revealed that their leadership skills were a major factor in the achievement of teachers’ professional development in the school.The study recommends that principals should make effort to acquire more leadership training and skills needed to pilot the affairs of the school and the Government should live up to their responsibilities in providing resources for the effective promoting of teacher’s professional development.The findings of this research have both theoretical and practical implications for the improvement of instructional leadership practices for school based and regional professional development in Nigeria secondary schools.Therefore,this study will expose the Ministry of Education,Nigeria to initiatives towards increasing the leadership skills of school principals through leadership programs as well as measures to improve teachers’ professional development in schools.The study contributes to a growing body of literature that supports a relationship between principal instructional leadership and teacher professional development and highlights the mediating function of teacher commitment in influencing teacher’s professional development and their instructional practices.