School principals’ evaluations of their instructional leadership behaviours: realities vs. ideals

The purpose of the current study was to examine primary and middle school principals’ evaluations of their own instructional leadership behaviours, and thereby pay closer attention to the ideal instructional leadership behaviours suggested in the related literature and the realities of principals’ instructional leadership behaviours. Although studies in the instructional leadership literature have vastly examined instructional leadership and its relationship with various variables, few studies have focused on school principals’ evaluations of their instructional leadership behaviours using a qualitative approach. This study was framed to contribute to gain an insight into the essential characteristics of instructional leadership in Turkey and to suggest some educational implications for school leadership in a Turkish context. The researchers conducted a qualitative case study in a large city in South-eastern Turkey in the academic year of 2012–2013. The study group consisted of 11 primary and middle school principals chosen via a maximum variation sampling technique. It was found that some of the school principals painstakingly tried to improve school-related factors which may potentially increase positive student outcomes. However, they were not able to display some instructional leadership behaviours such as change management, promoting teachers’ professional growth, collaborating with teachers and forming a positive learning environment due to multifarious reasons. The study concludes by presenting implications for the development of school principals as instructional leaders in Turkey.