Date of Award

2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Master of Education (MEd)

First Supervisor/Advisor

Dr. Jane Rarieya

Department

Institute for Educational Development, East Africa

Abstract

Instructional leadership practice has become a widely acknowledged leadership approach in the 21st century which is said to have impressive effect in improving academic achievements of learners. This study sought to explore primary school head teachers’ views of their instructional leadership practices in Kitgum Municipal Council, Uganda. The study employed a qualitative research approach and adopted a case study design in which purposeful sampling of four primary school head teachers was done for investigation from four primary schools in Kitgum Municipal Council, Uganda. Data collection methods included one on one semi structured interviews, document analysis and observations. The findings revealed that some primary school head teachers understand instructional leadership as provision of materials provided by the school administration in order to facilitate teaching and learning programs in schools. In contrast to the above, other participants had not heard of the term, ‘instructional leadership.’ Nonetheless, they appeared to engage more actively as instructional leaders in their daily leadership roles. In enactment of instructional leadership, the findings revealed that teachers and other education stakeholders are usually brought closer in running schools administration together with the head teachers. Findings also show that factors which facilitate instructional leadership include team work, open discussions, mentorship, delegation and responsibility allocation to staff. However, lack of human resource and learning resources were found to be inhibiting factors to instructional leadership practices. Furthermore, the findings revealed the benefits attributed to instructional leadership to include; teachers’ commitment and good academic performances amongst learners, improved discipline amongst staff and learners, reduced school dropout rates and unwanted early pregnancies amongst school girls. Finally, the study makes recommendations to various education stakeholders for collaboration so that school leaders better understand and practice the current leadership approaches relevant to the 21st century and the learning needs of learners. That is to say; Ministry of Education and Sports and policy makers should from time to time schedule leadership trainings for school leaders, Periodic checks for school leaders to assess their leadership competencies and Head teachers should have personal convictions in updating their knowledge and understanding of current leadership approaches

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