Instructional leadership for quality learning: an assessment of the impact of the primary school management development project in Botswana

Abstract

A descriptive study using questionnaires was conducted in 2004 to assess the effectiveness of instructional leadership displayed by primary school management teams following the implementation of the Primary School Management Project in Botswana. Leadership skills, Coordination of instructional activities, management of curriculum and quality of learners were key variables that guided the study. Respondents were 240 primary school teachers including school heads and 575 learners. Data were analyzed descriptively through the use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program using frequencies and percentages. The results reveal school management teams' lack of interpersonal skills necessary for classroom supervision, inability to mobilize parents to participate in school instructional improvement activities, teachers' unauthorized use of corporal punishment and lack of creativeness and innovativeness for management of curriculum change. Regarding quality of learning, the study identifies learners' inability and lack of freedom for self-expression and inadequate acquisition of basic literacy skill at varying degrees between rural and urban schools.