UNIVERSIDAD DE MANILA Mehan Garden, Manila

GRADUATE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

SUBJECT: Organization and Management TOPIC: A Proposed Management Program for Our Lady of Lourdes College, Valenzuela City Current and Innovative Practices of Instructional Leaders in Improving Teachers Quality Discussant: Kristel Ann E. Nabor Professor:

INTRODUCTION

Effective leadership is vital to the success of any educational institution. Research and practice confirm that there is a slim chance of creating and sustaining high quality learning environment without a skilled and committed leader to help shape teaching and learning. According to Glickman, Gordon, and Rose-Gordon We need effective leaders in our educational system who will give positive effect on the holistic growth of institution.

An educational institution will not prosper at the same time without dedicated and quality teachers. According to Fullan, Instructional leadership is an active, collaborative form of leadership where the Principal works with the teachers to shape the school as a work place in relation to shared goals. Ingrid Veira in her work The Role of Teachers in the 21 st Century said that the common roles of teachers are: a) controller where the teacher is in complete charge of the class, what students do, what they say and how they say it, b) prompter where the teacher encourages students to participate and makes suggestions about how students may proceed in an activity, c) resource where the teacher is a kind of walking resource center ready to help if needed, d) assessor where the teacher assumes this role to see how well students are performing, e) organizer where the success of many activities depends on good organization and on the students knowing exactly what they are to do and f) participant where his role improves the atmosphere in the class when the teacher takes part in an activity. Students always need teachers, both inside and outside of the classroom. Teachers need to take their role as both a resource for students and as a guide through the difficulties of life seriously, and should make a huge effort to foster healthy relationships with their students. Thus, instructional leaders must help and develop the faculty

and staff to enhance their quality so that they can do their responsibilities as teachers in the 21st century. In this project proposal, the researcher will attempt to identify the current and innovative practices of instructional leaders in improving the teachers quality. Efforts will be exhausted to determine the possible problems to be encountered should these practices are applied in the educational setting.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This researcher will attempt to determine the current and innovative practices of instructional leaders in improving the teachers quality. Specifically, it will seek answers to the following questions: 1. How important is effective leadership in instructional

improvement? 2. How does teachers quality influence instructional

improvement? 3. What are the current and innovative practices of

instructional leaders in improving the teachers quality? 4. How important are these practices in instructional

development?

5.

What are the possible problems to be encountered in the

implementation of such practices?

OBJECTIVES

The proposed Educational Management Program for Our Lady of Lourdes College, Valenzuela City has the following objectives: 1. To stress the importance of effective leadership in

instructional improvement. 2. To maximize the use of effective and current practices applied by instructional leaders to improve the teachers quality. 3. To formulate remedial measures to solve problems that may be encountered in the implementation of such practices.

METHODOLOGY

This proposed management program for Our Lady of Lourdes College, Valenzuela City will deal with the effective and current leadership practices of instructional leaders in improving the teachers quality. The survey questionnaire, observation, and unstructured

interview will be utilized in order to prove the expected findings of the program. PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION

1. How

important

is

effective

leadership

in

instructional

improvement? Effective leadership may be considered a catalyst towards the improvement of instruction in the educational setting. Its importance is summarized as follows: Effective leadership sets a clear sense of purpose, and vision. If instructional leaders help to develop among their staff members a shared understanding of the organization and its goals and activities, this understanding becomes the basis for a sense of purpose or vision. Having such goals help members of the school make sense of their work and enable them to find a sense of identity for themselves within their work context. Effective leadership understands direction setting.

Effective instructional leaders know that an investment of time is required to develop a shared understanding of what the school should look like and what needs to be done to get it there.

Effective leadership develops and motivates people. The leaders personal attention to educational institution through employees capacities, any members of the

the utilization of the the employees

increases

enthusiasm and optimism, reduces frustration, transmits a sense of mission and indirectly increases performance. Effective leadership reinforces the use of collaborative processes among teachers. Given sufficient time and consistent messages about the value of collaboration, teachers learn to trust their colleagues and are more willing to share their best practices and challenges.

2. How does teachers quality influence instructional improvement? Instructional improvement is influenced by the quality of teachers: A quality teacher creates positive effect on student learning and development through a combination of content mastery, command of a broad set of pedagogic skill, and communication/interpersonal skills. A quality teacher is a life-long learner and teaches with commitment and is reflected upon his teaching practice.

A quality teacher transfers knowledge of his subject matter and the learning process through good communication, diagnostic skills, understanding of different learning styles and cultural influences, knowledge about child

development, and the ability to marshal a broad array of techniques to meet student needs. A quality teacher establishes an environment conducive to learning, and leverage available resources outside as well as inside the classroom.

3.What are the current and innovative practices of instructional leaders in improving the teachers quality? James H. Stronge, Holly B. Richard, and Nancy Catano on their on Qualities of Effective Principals stated that instructional leaders should have the following current and innovative focus towards their goals such as: BUILDING AND SUSTAINING A SCHOOL VISION. To improve teachers quality, they must have full knowledge and deep understanding of vision-mission of the school. Instructional leaders should make sure that all activities to be undertaken by the teachers and students are anchored in the vision-mission of the school. Teachers must also

help in cascading clearly the school vision-mission to all stakeholders. SHARING LEADERSHIP. Instructional leaders should acknowledge that attaining school goals requires individual and shared efforts. Hence, they must create opportunities for teachers to work together, do share leadership to contribute sustainable improvements within the school organization particularly in improving instruction. LEADING leaders A LEARNING provide COMMUNITY. conditions Instructional faculty

should

through

development

that

manifests

successful

programs,

demonstration and practice of new skills, peer coaching, and use of action research focused on student data, and bring positive effect on students learning. MONITORING CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION.

Instructional leaders must spend time in classrooms to effectively monitor and encourage curriculum

implementation and quality instructional practices. Regular conferences with teachers must also be defined to enhance teachers quality and to have a fair judgment on the quality of teaching and share a deep knowledge of instruction with them.

3. How important are these practices in instructional development? The current and innovative practices of instructional leaders in improving teachers quality include building and sustaining a school vision, sharing leadership, leading a learning community, and

monitoring curriculum and instruction. Building and sustaining the schools vision-mission serves as foundation guides in the establishment of the schools objectives. In the same way if the instructional leaders cascade the school vision to their teachers and staff, they will have a sense of direction as a group and will enhance teachers quality by integrating it to their lesson and activities. Sharing leadership is also important for instructional

development. If instructional leaders practice shared leadership in their faculty and staff, there will be sharing of talents and gift among the members that maximize team effectiveness. An instructional leader also leads a learning community that nurtures and sustains a school culture and values and supports learning. They also work within the context of the school community as learners and leaders, thus will enhance the self-esteem of the teachers and help them to increase their quality as persons.

Lastly, monitoring of curriculum and instruction is also necessary to enhance teachers quality that may lead to development of instruction. Good curriculum plays an important role in forging life-long learning competencies and at the same time contributes to the development of thinking skills and the acquisition of relevant

knowledge that learners need to apply in the context of their studies, daily life and careers. 4. What are the possible problems to be encountered in the implementation of such practices? Neil Kokemuller on his work on the Organizational Strategies, identified problems that may be encountered in the implementation of the aforementioned current and innovative practices. These include: 1. Lack of funds for sustainability and enhancement of school vision-mission program. 2. Conflict of interest among instructional leaders that affects teachers development. 3. Slow continuity of the school vision-mission due to rapid change of teachers. 4. Indifferent attitudes of teachers toward school visionmission. 5. Lack of necessary teachers training and seminars for professional growth and development.

6. Inability of some instructional leaders to take risk in sharing leadership. 7. No clear scope of ones functions and responsibilities. 8. Insufficient training of instructional leaders to manage and implement faculty development. 9. Lack of necessary instructional materials and resources for the full implementation of the curriculum. 10. Lack of operational budget that enhance the faculty

development, curriculum, and instruction. CONCLUSION Based on the expected findings of this program, the following conclusions are drawn: Effective leadership is important in instructional

improvement because it sets a clear sense of purpose and vision, understands direction setting, develops and

motivates people, and reinforces the use of collaborative processes among teachers. Teachers quality influences instructional improvement in the sense that it creates positive effect on student learning and development and at the same time establishes an environment conducive to learning.

The current and innovative practices of instructional leaders in improving teachers quality include building and sustaining a school vision, sharing leadership, leading a learning community, and monitoring curriculum and

instruction. The current and innovative practices of instructional leaders are vital to instructional development. These may enhance teachers quality by integrating to the lesson and activities. There may be problems in the implementation of such current and innovative practices of instructional leaders. These include lack of funds, instructional materials, and teachers training, conflict of interest among stakeholders, and inability of some instructional leaders to take a risk in sharing leadership.

RECOMMENDATIONS In view of the findings of this research study and conclusions, the following recommendations are offered: 1. Instructional leaders are encouraged to plan carefully their program of activities and look for the possible sources of funds to sustain the programs. 2. Challenge all stakeholders to work hand in hand by sharing their talents and potentials for the attainment of objectives of the activities. 3. Develop a program that will minimize the change of teachers every school year. 4. Prepare a comprehensive faculty development program that may help improve teachers quality.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Hidalgo, Fe. Agenda Instructional Leadership: An Emerging Strategic for Improved Learner Achievement.

http://www.slideshare.net 2. Enhancing Teacher Leadership.

http://en.wikepedia.org/wiki/Richard Mitchell 3. Veira, Ingrid. Roles of Teachers in the 21 st Century.

http://www.pearsonclassroomlink.com/articles/0910/0910 4. Kokemuller, Niel. Importance of Mission Vission in Organizational Strategy data/25562_1204_Goldring 5. Leading a Learning Community. http://www.sagepub.com/upm-

http://georgeocouros.ca/blog/principal-quality-standard-alearning-community 6. Fullan,M.(1997). Whats worth fighting for in your school?(2 nd edition). New York:Teachers College Press 7. Sleeter, C. (1992). Restructuring schools for Multicultural

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