SCHOOL AS A SELF RENEWING LEARNING COMMUNITY: ROLE OF PRINCIPALS AS LEADERS
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Date
2013
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University of Management and Technology
Abstract
As cultural, economic, political changes are being brought, each school is expected to continue to become a self- renewing learning community. School has been an agency of the society to implement its agenda through its staff and head as one of its leaders. The school as self-renewing learning community seeks for school internal capacity to improve the learning capability of students and teachers. The purpose of the study seeks to find the importance of professional development activities of teachers for turning a school into a self-renewing learning community. The principals are responsible for the professional development of their staff and they manage the school as learning community using development as a school change agent. The researcher studies the role of the secondary school principal as a facilitator for reform efforts and changing the school into self-renewing learning community. The focus is not just on individual teacher's professional learning but of professional learning within a community context – a community of learners, and the notion of collective learning.
A principal's role in school renewal demands for creating and facilitating the conditions under which the staff can reflect upon existing learning and teaching through collaboration and training programs. All secondary schools of both genders i.e. girls and boys and both sectors i.e. public and private in the city Kasur (urban area) constituted the population for this study. Sample comprised of 295 teachers (120 from public sector and 175 from private sector, male: 182; female: 113) and 35 principals (male: 20, female: 15). The survey method was used and data was collected with the help of questionnaires as research tool.
The findings of this quantitative research suggest that the majority of the high school principals in city Kasur, encourage teachers to develop collaborative learning environment and that they feel an obligation to offer the opportunities for professional development of staff. The findings also suggest that teachers are working under the headship of the school principals who promote culture of instructional improvement, provide opportunities for peer observation, encourage staff to work well together and arrange for the activities aligned with school goals. For all schools, in urban areas, there is need to build and sustain sufficient and strong capacity to self-renew to meet the emerging challenges over time through professional development activities and collaborative teamwork by the principal as a leader.
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M.Phil Thesis, Education