Exploring the relationships between instructional leadership and teacher competences: Singapore primary school teachers’ perceptions

ABSTRACT

This article presents part of the findings drawn from a larger study on school leadership in 28 Singapore primary schools. This article discusses the perceptions of 224 key personnel (i.e. teachers with formal leadership titles) and 462 teachers (i.e. classroom/subject teachers without a formal leadership position) of their school leaders’ enactment of instructional leadership and the predictive relationships between instructional leadership and teacher competences. The key findings were (i) Singapore school leaders were perceived to adopt a selective instructional leadership approach and (ii) instructional leadership practices that focused on promoting professional development and positive school climate were strongly associated with teacher competences. The article contributes to the growing knowledge base on the enactment of instructional leadership in non-Western settings and specifies the relationships between instructional leadership and teacher-level variables.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dong Nguyen

Dong Nguyen is Lecturer in educational leadership and research at the University of Glasgow, United Kingdom. His research interests include educational leadership, organisational education, and comparative education.

David Ng

David Ng is Associate Professor and Head of Office of Academic Quality at the National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Wenshu Luo

Wenshu Luo is assistant professor with the Policy, Curriculum and Leadership Academic Group at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her primary research interest is in investigating school process from a motivational perspective.

Syifaa’ Mansor

Syifaa’ Mansor is research associate with the Office of Strategic Planning and Academic Quality at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her primary interest is in investigating a culture of continuous self-improvement and the adoption of best practices to aid leadership in institute-wide planning.