THE INFLUENCE OF LEADERSHIP ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF LEARNER
PERFORMANCE
Instructional and Distributive Leadership
1. Introduction & Background
Leadership in schools is one of the fundamental principles that drives the functionality of
schools, as well as an academic improvement of learners. As stated by (Hallinger, 2010), there
have been numerous research relating to principal leadership in schools and its impact on the
overall success of the school.
2. School Leadership
Nevertheless, it is imperative to heed that school principals cannot singlehandedly improve
learner performance and development, they need to provide guidance and leadership that will
transcends in an environment that aids an increased productivity (Makgato & Mudzanani,
2019). They further state that a positive rapport between the principal and staff is linked with
a positive learner performance, as well as with teachers’ fulfilment in their work (Makgato &
Mudzanani, 2019). Furthermore, a principal with firm leadership skills can actively be involved
in all situations that need to be addressed in order to have an increased learner performance.
Instructional Leadership3
Among numerous obligations expected from school principals, instructional leadership has
been one of the subjects that received increased interest dating back from the 1980s and remains
dominant in literature presented in the present (Costello, 2015). According to (Costello, 2015),
instructional leadership can be referred to as any action taken by leaders to ensure efficient
teaching and learning. Furthermore (Costello, 2015) criticized the definition and argued that
the given definition could be sufficient only if instructional leadership was that uncomplicated
and based on one concrete way, he further states that the processes of instructional leadership
are multifaceted and they fluctuate throughout different situations, depending on distinct
leadership styles, the context of the school, and constituents. Despite the multifaceted qualities
of instructional leadership, research shows that a common goal concerning the concept is
teaching and learner achievement (Costello, 2015). Research also indicated that there were
resemblances in what researchers considered as facets of instructional leadership, which
includes establishing instruction that is authentic and has quality, thriving towards a desired
teaching and learning setting, intensifying learner performance, and even more recent,
constructing a shared instructional leadership proficiency which according to (Costello, 2015)
is a move from an old viewpoint of a ‘leader as manager’ to a more recent viewpoint of a
‘leader as a facilitator’.
Distribution Leadership
(Mestry, 2017)
3. Conclusion
(Hallinger, 2010)