Determinants of instructional leadership: A survey of public secondary schools

Instructional leadership is central to teaching and learning processes and is undertaken by academic leaders to promote higher levels of student learning. Despite its recognized importance, students’ academic performance in public schools in Nepal remains persistently low, raising concerns about how instructional leadership is practiced in the schools. There is a need for a validated model to implement the required instructional leadership practices in schools. The existing instructional leadership models are primarily Western and not entirely suitable for implementation in Nepal. Therefore, it seemed essential to develop a model by identifying the determinants of instructional leadership in Nepal’s local context. Kathmandu, home to the country’s largest concentration of public schools, provides a critical context for examining instructional leadership practices. Given this, the present study examined the determinants of instructional leadership in Kathmandu, Nepal. The study employed a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional research design to examine those factors. The framework for this study is grounded in Hallinger and Murphy’s (1985) model of instructional leadership, which serves as the conceptual basis. Using the Classical Delphi method, the model was adapted to develop a measurement scale. At the same time, the study was situated within a post-positivist paradigm, considering that the reality of instructional leadership exists independently. Exploratory factor analysis was then conducted to extract the underlying factors. The findings reveal three major factors influencing instructional leadership: (a) planning, managing, and supervising instructional programs; (b) motivating and developing the competence of teachers and students; and (c) involving parents in the learning process. The inclusion of parental involvement emerged as a novel dimension in Nepal. These results provide meaningful insights for school head teachers, other educational stakeholders, government policymakers, and international researchers interested in instructional leadership.