Abstract:

This research aims at determining to what extent primary school principals carry out instructional leadership behaviours according to the primary school teachers’ perceptions. The research sample consists of 48 primary school principals and 697 primary school teachers working in 48 primary schools in the central districts of Izmir (Buca, Bornova, Konak, Karşıyaka) in 2011-2012. ‘Personal Data Form’ and ‘Instructional Leadership Scale’, developed by Şişman (2004) were used to collect the data for the research. 11 research questions were answered in the research. Arithmetic mean, standart deviation, t-test, One Way ANOVA (F), Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal Wallis Test and Scheffee Test were used to analyze the data. The results of the research are summarized below: Teachers’ perceptions of their principals’ instructional leadership behaviours do not vary in terms of such variables as their age, branch, the duration of service at school, the duration of service as a principal, having ‘Education Management’ education. The principals graduated from 2/3 year institution perform instructional leadership behaviours better and more efficiently than the principals graduated from four-year faculty in terms of teachers’ assessments. According to teachers, principals working in upper socio-economic environment are better instructional leaders than those who work in middle and low socio-economic environment. Within the framework of the scale and in all other respects, teachers assess principals working in medium-scale schools more favorably than principals working in small-scale and large- scale schools. Except for the dimension of ‘Evaluation of Teaching Period and Students’, within the framework of the scale and in all other respects, teachers working in private schools perceive their principals’ instructional leadership behaviours as being at a more primary rank than teachers working in public schools.

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