THE IMPACT OF TRANSPORT STRESS ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS
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THE IMPACT OF TRANSPORT STRESS ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS
CHAPITRE ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Study’s Background
In the 1960s, instructional leadership (IL) evolved from the effective school literature. In the last three decades, two distinct threads have evolved. Evidence from the 1980s showed that IL improved school performance (Hallinger and Murphy, 1985). In the new millennium, a second wave of inquiry occurred, providing large-scale research that proved the positive influence IL has on school effectiveness and improvement (Hallinger, 2011).
Instructional leadership (IL) has a long history of improving student achievement, mainly in the United States (Hallinger and Murphy 2013). Scholars (e.g., Leithwood et al. 2008; Robinson et al. 2008; Bryk, Louis, Dretzkea, and Wahlstrom 2010) contend that IL has been the most durable leadership method during the last 30 years.
In the last decade, there has been a revived interest in IL, with many praising its usefulness in supporting sustainable teaching and learning in schools (Bryk, Sebring, Allensworth, Luppescu, and Easton 2009; Louis, Dretzkea, and Wahlstrom 2010).
Students are entitled to a high-quality education that allows them to develop cognitively, emotionally, spiritually, and physically (Deal & Peterson, 1999). Teachers are deemed valuable to society if they provide students with high-quality education.
However, creating a suitable environment for teaching and learning is frequently not possible due to the combination of internal and external forces that tend to mediate instruction and produce a bad impression of the teaching profession. According to Harris (2007), the community’s perceptions of the teaching profession in recent decades have been directly influenced by a variety of external influences that have fundamentally transformed the character and nature of teaching and learning. According to Bush (2007), leadership quality can greatly contribute to the transformation of teaching and learning.
Both the National Development and Education visions require instructional leadership to be realised. Within these frameworks, parents and society as a whole have high educational expectations and professional accountability. Schools and teachers are becoming more responsible to the public for the education they deliver (Bowora & Mpofu, 2000).
School leaders are supposed to supervise employees, discipline children, connect with parents, manage buildings, lead the instructional programme, ensure the safety of teachers and students, manage budgets, and participate in school reform, among other things, according to Chirichelo and Richmond (2007).
According to Grima (2016), principals are in an advantageous position since they know what is going on in their school and can identify areas for development due to increased interaction 3 with other entities. ―School Heads are supposed to be improvement managers, establishing the ideal environment in their schools for it to happen. They must have a clear vision for their schools and, in partnership with their employees, discuss and plan how to get there (p. 1).
The job of the principal is continually evolving. In most cases, a head teacher can only lead one school; in rare cases, head teachers must lead multiple schools. Job titles vary, including principal, executive, associate, and head of school, as do the governance structures to which head teachers report.
Head teachers hold a powerful position in society and shape the teaching profession all over the world. Head teachers, on the other hand, are expected to have good beliefs and goals to bring schools to higher levels because they are held accountable for the performance of the schools and pupils. The leadership of head teachers has a significant impact on the quality of teaching and the achievement of students in the classroom.
Head teachers set high academic standards and expectations for their schools and beyond. Spillane, Halverson, and Diamond (2004) define head teachers as instructional leaders who are responsible for identifying, acquiring, allocating, coordinating, and utilising the social, material, and cultural resources required to create the conditions for teaching and learning.
Instructional leadership comprises identifying, acquiring, allocating, coordinating, and using the social, material, and cultural resources required to create the conditions for teaching and learning (Spillane, Halverson, and Diamond, 2004). 4 According to Nkobi (2008), instructional leadership aims to increase teachers’ quality of classroom work with the ultimate goal of boosting learner accomplishment as well as their attitudes and behaviour towards schoolwork and personal life. Instructional leadership is a component that contributes to the enhancement of learner accomplishment.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Primary school principals are responsible for providing vision, leadership, and direction for the school, as well as ensuring that it is managed and organised to accomplish its aims and objectives MOE (Ministry of Education, 2012). Local educators must train kids to become global citizens. Efforts to improve student achievement can be overwhelmingly successful when school leaders appropriately exercise their instructional leadership roles (Darling-Hammond, 2005).
However, the quality of education and the competencies of school administrators are currently the focus of a heated national discussion. The subject taught, the teachers who deliver the curriculum, and the leaders who interact with teachers, students, and the community all play a role in this arena (Cunningham and Paula, 2009).
The research suggests that policy initiatives that focus purely on leadership and management have difficulty establishing more than a generalised influence on student learning. Rather, remarkable economic, demographic, technical, and worldwide upheaval has changed the role of school principals (Levine, 2005).
Despite the fact that they play a critical role in charting the course for successful schools, public primary school principals face a number of challenges in their current work environment.
Despite the fact that studies have been performed primarily to examine the difficulties confronting primary school leaders with the goal of advancing quality primary education (Oduro et al, 2007). However, research on the meanings teachers place on the job of principal in instructional leadership is desperately needed, given the importance of this role in students’ academic progress and the issues that primary schools in Abeokuta, Ogun state face.
1.3 Objective of the Study
The major goal of this study is to better understand and enhance instructional leadership practises in elementary schools. More specifically, the study wants to;
1. To measure teachers’ impressions of the roles of principals as instructional leaders.
2. To investigate the responsibilities of principals in improving primary school teaching and learning, and
3. To identify the obstacles that head teachers face when practising instructional leadership in elementary schools.
1.4 Research Proposal
1. What are teachers’ perspectives on the duties of principals as instructional leaders?
2. What are the duties of principals in improving primary school teaching and learning?
3. What difficulties do principals have while exercising instructional leadership in primary schools?
1.5 Importance of the Research
The outcomes of this study were expected to be valuable to researchers as well as other educational stakeholders such as educators, curriculum developers, parents, and policymakers, to name a few. For example, the suggested study’s findings revealed teachers’ attitudes towards instructional leadership and raised awareness among instructors (educators) about regarded practises for improving teaching and learning in primary schools.
The findings of this study clearly helped curriculum developers and policymakers deal with issues encountered by head teachers and academic staff in practising instructional leadership in primary schools and may identify methods for remedying.
(For example, the type and availability of elementary school teaching and learning materials, as well as what needed to be improved). Knowing what was lacking could help them conceptualise what was most needed for basic education.
1.6 Scope of the Study
This study would include primary school kids from four distinct primary schools in Abeokuta North LGA, Ogun State.
1.7 Delimitations of the Study
Obtaining funding for general research activity will be difficult during the course of studies. Correspondents may also be unable or unwilling to complete the questionnaires sent to them.
However, it is expected that these limits will be addressed by making the best use of available materials and devoting more time to study than is necessary. As a result, it is strongly considered that, despite these constraints, their impact on this research report will be small, allowing the study’s purpose and significance to be met.
1.8 Definitions of Terms
Many scholars have sought to define leadership, and the majority of them recognise it as the influence process that occurs between leaders and followers. According to Bush and Clover (2003), leadership is a process of influence that leads to the achievement of desired goals.
Spillane, Halverson, and Diamond (2004) describe instructional leadership as the identification, acquisition, allocation, coordination, and utilisation of the social, material, and cultural resources required to create the conditions for teaching and learning. According to Nkobi (2008), instructional leadership aims to increase teachers’ quality of classroom work in order to improve learners’ accomplishment as well as their attitudes and behaviour towards schoolwork and personal life.
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