Headmasters leadership style and instructinal variables affecting the performance of hign schools at hai phong city, viet nam

HEADMASTERS’ LEADERSHIP STYLE AND INSTRUCTIONAL
VARIABLES AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCE OF HIGH
SCHOOLS AT HAI PHONG CITY, VIETNAM

___________________________

A DISSERTATION
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School
Southern Luzon State University, Lucban, Quezon, Philippines
in Collaboration with
Thai Nguyen University, Socialist Republic of Vietnam

___________________________

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management

___________________________

By
NGUYEN KIM PHA (HENRY)
October 2014
i


APPROVAL SHEET

The Dissertation of
NGUYEN KIM PHA
entitled

HEADMASTERS’ LEADERSHIP STYLE AND INSTRUCTIONAL
VARIABLES AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCE OF HIGH
SCHOOLSAT HAI PHONG CITY, VIETNAM
Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT
A program offered by Southern Luzon State University,
Republic of the Philippines in collaboration with
Thai Nguyen University, Socialist Republic of Vietnam
has been approved by Oral Examination Committee

SUSANA A. SALVACION, PhD
Expert

APOLONIA A. ESPINOSA, PhD
Expert

RICARYL CATHERINE P. CRUZ, EdD
Expert

BELLA R. MUELLO, EdD
External Panel

CECILIA N. GASCON, PhD
Chairman
Endorsed by:

Recommended by:

TERESITA V. DE LA CRUZ, EdD
Adviser

SUSANA A. SALVACION, Ph.D.
Dean, Graduate School

Accepted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management

WALBERTO A. MACARAAN, Ed.D.
Vice President for Academic Affairs

_____________________
Date
ii


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

iii


ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The researcher wishes to convey his gratitude to the following persons
who wholeheartedly devoted and helped make this piece of work a reality:
DR. TERESITA V. DE LA CRUZ, his adviser for the guidance, supervision,
suggestions and precious time in enthusiastically reading and checking
the manuscript, providing the researcher useful materials;
DR. CECILIA N. GASCON, President of the Southern Luzon State University
in the Republic of the Philippines, for her support and incomparable
contribution to the development of post graduate education program in

Thai Nguyen University;
DR. NGUYEN VAN BINH, Director of the International Training Center, Thai
Nguyen University of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, for his enormous
pursuit to provide Vietnamese people an opportunity to grow through
education;
DR. RICARYL P. CRUZ, DR. APOLONIA A. ESPINOSA, DR. SUSANA A.
SALVACION, and DR. BELLA R. MUELLO, panelists, for their support
and constructive criticisms to improve this dissertation;
HEADMASTERS of high schools atHai Phong City, for their cooperation in
the conduct of the study;
The Director of Hai Phong City Education and Training Department, and
theEducation Specialist, for the support during the conduct of the
survey.

iv


Teachers-respondents, for their active involvement and participation for
without their cooperation, the result of this thesis might not be possible;
His family and friends, for the love and support in one way or another; and to
all who have contributed to make this study a success.

NKP

v


DEDICATION

This research is whole-heartedly dedicated to my family and to all my

relatives, my colleagues and friends, and to all classmates, all headmasters
and teachers of high schools of Hai Phong for giving the researcher the nonstop guidance and sources of everything.

NKP

vi


TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
TITLE PAGE ………………………………………………………………..

i

APPROVAL SHEET ……………………………………………………….

ii

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY ………………………………………..

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT …………………………………………………..

iv

DEDICATION ………………………………………………………………

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………..

vii

LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………….

ix

LIST OF FIGURE ……………………………………………………….....

x

ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………

xi

CHAPTER
I

II

III

INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………

1

Background of the Study …………………………………..

3

Objectives of the Study …………………………………….

5

Hypothesis of the Study ……………………………………

6

Significance of the Study …………………………………..

6

Scope and Limitation of the Study ………………………..

7

Definition of Terms ………………………………………….

8

REVIEW OF LITERATURE ……………………….……….

12

Theoretical Framework ………………………….…….……

35

Research Paradigm ……………………………...….………

36

METHODOLOGY
Locale of the Study ………………………….………………

39

Research Design …………………………….………………

39

Population and Sampling …………………….……………..

39

Research Instrument ………………………...…….…….….

40

Data Gathering Procedure ………………………………….

41

Statistical Treatment …….…………………………………..

42

vii

IV

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ……………………….….

44

V

SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary…………………….……………………………….

75

Findings ………………………………………………………

76

Conclusions …………………………………………………

78

Recommendations …………………………………………

79

REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………..

80

APPENDICES ……………………………………………………………...

83

A. Communications ……………………………………..………....

84

B. Instrument .............................................................................

85

CURRICULUM VITAE …………………………………………………….

90

viii


LIST OF TABLES
TABLE

PAGE

3.1

Frequency Distribution of Respondents by School ………...

40

4.1

Frequency and Weighted Mean Distribution on
Headmasters’ Leadership Styles as to Authoritative Style ..

45

Frequency and Weighted Mean Distribution on Headmasters
‘Leadership as to Democratic Style …………

46

Frequency and Weighted Mean Distribution on
Headmasters’ Leadershipas to Delegative Style ………….

48

Frequency and Weighted Mean Distribution of Instructional
Variables as to Self-regulated Learners …………………….

50

Frequency and Weighted Mean Distribution of Instructional
Variables as to Teacher Characteristics …………………….

52

Frequency and Weighted Mean Distribution of Instructional
Variables as to Classroom Climate………………………….

54

Frequency and Weighted Mean Distribution of Instructional
Variables as to Technology and Learning…………………..

56

Frequency and Weighted Mean Distribution of Instructional
Variables as to Motivation in Diversity………………………

58

Correlation of Authoritative Leadership Style to Instructional
Variables …………………………………………

60

Correlation of Democratic Leadership Style to Instructional
Variables ………………………………………………………..

62

Correlation of Delegative Leadership Style to Instructional
Variables ………………………………………………………..

64

Hai Phong City, Viet Nam High Schools’ Performance from
2008-2013 ………………………………………………………

66

Predictor of High Schools’ Performance as to Instructional
Variables in terms of Motivation in Diversity ………………..

67

Predictor of High Schools’ Performance as to Instructional
Variables in terms of Classroom Climate ……………………

68

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

4.6
4.7

4.8
4.9

4.10

4.11

4.12

4.13

4.14

ix


LIST OF FIGURE
FIGURE
1

PAGE
Schematic Diagram on the Influence of Principals’
Leadership Styles and Instructional Variables to Hai Phong
High Schools Performance as Basis for Strategic Action
Plan……………………………………………………………….

x

37


ABSTRACT
Title of Research

: HEADMASTERS’ LEADERSHIP STYLESAND
INSTRUCTIONAL VARIABLES AFFECTING THE

PERFORMANCE OF HIGH SCHOOLS AT HAI
PHONG CITY, VIETNAM

Researcher

: NGUYEN KIM PHA (HENRY)

Degree Conferred

: DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN EDUCATIONAL
MANAGEMENT

Name and Address
of Institution

: Southern Luzon State University Lucban, Quezon,
Philippines and Thai Nguyen University, Socialist
Republic of Vietnam

Adviser

: Dr. Teresita V. de la Cruz

Year Written
: 2013 - 2014
______________________________________________________________
This study sought to determine the principals’ leadership styles and
instructional variables affecting the performance of high schools and with an
endview of developing a strategic action plan at Hai Phong City, Vietnam, for
school year 2012-2013. The descriptive method of research was employed to

896 respondents drawn from 14 high schools in the city. The instrument used
for the types of leadership styles was adapted from the questionnaire of Clark
(2002), and instructional variables from that of Mentilla (2011). It was found
out that the leadership styles of the respondent principals are authoritative
with 3.34 AWM (sometimes carried out); democratic (3.81, oftentimes carried
out); and delegative (3.52, oftentimes carried out). The instructional variables
that may affect high schools’ performance are self-regulated learners with
2.93 AWM (agree); teacher characteristics (2.74, agree); classroom climate
(2.76, agree); technology and learning (2.35, disagree), and motivation in
diversity (2.60, agree). With an average of 66.4, there are nine high schools

xi


above the average and five (5) below average level of performance where the
highest mean is obtained by Ngo Quyen High School with 94.8 and is
consistently leading while the least is Phan Dang Luu High School with 36.3.
Motivation in diversity can predict school performance up to 1% while the
classroom climate by up to 0.5% which indicates a negligible correlation.
Hence, most headmasters practice shared decision-making, participative and
permissive leadership. The democratic and the delegative leadership styles
are mostly related to some areas of instructional variables. However, it is still
recommended that a balance of the authoritative, democratic and delegative
leadership stylesmay be constantly practiced by the headmasters, since each
holds benefits to the organizations they serve.Technology in learning may be
improved by the department to further boost the performance of the high
schools in Hai Phong City.

xii

Chapter I
INTRODUCTION

Education is counted on as the important aspect of the human life. The
ways how one translates it after receiving into the daily life is dependent
largely upon the way the form of education gets passed on. The topic of
educational leadership has been taught for a number of years in the education
management institutions to address long-standing concern of all educators,
students and the entire society. As the requirement to understand the style
which would work best, in combination or alone, it is imperative to understand
all types individually regarding what these types offer and their methods.
The purpose of utilizing different types of leadership styles in education
is mainly to improve the quality of teaching, that of learning, and to create a
unique and effective combination of both. As the competitiveness in the world
of education increases, implementation of these leadership styles becomes
more and more important. The role of every individual starting from principal,
to the teachers, to the students is important and the ultimate goal remains the
enhancement and upkeep of teaching-learning relationship.
The job of every individual in educational leadership, is to create the
necessary conditions for teachers to develop and execute their own teaching
styles and methods, in a manner that is simple and most effective for all the
students. Also, the development of other aspects of educational framework,
such as association with external groups that facilitate better teaching and
learning, the care of infrastructure and others all come up under the purview
of educational leadership.


2

With the eye for reformation, a great number of educators either have
criticized or supported some of the education management leadership styles,
however, which style works and suits best is subjected to a matter of opinion.
The educational leadership styles are basically built on the understanding
which contains characteristics like social interaction and/or physical energy
play a part in the method the education is imparted. The theory of effective
leadership is all about adding the performance of all the education leaders,
basically the educators, in order to improve the achievement of the students.
Hence, the effective leadership is very much important for both the students
and the teachers to enhance the performance at highest level.
As mentioned by Buckner (2006), the type of leadership style is one of
the major factors that determine the performance of school besides others
such as school traditions and policies. This is because a principal might find
that deviating from the traditional leadership style of the school might result in
management crisis. None can deny the fact that there is no single way to
inspire and lead in the education field. Every educator and the schools as
well, view all the leadership strategies in different ways, as in some situations,
actions and features seem much more favorable than the others at different
times and levels. In the broad ways, there are different types of leadership
styles that may be applied in educational management. To mention few, most
popularly used in the field of education is Lewin’s leadership styles as to
authoritative, democratic, and delegative. Others that areused in versatile
combination or individually are transformational, facilitative and hierarchical.
Meanwhile, performance of schools may not only be attributed to the
schoolheads’ leadership styles but may also be looked into another factor like


3

the instructional variables. There are studies citing that instructional variables

like classroom climate, teacher characteristics, class structured self-regulated
learners, and educational technology could be factors in uplifting the school
performance as a whole (Pierce,2006; Acikgoz, 2005;Liao,2009).
Considering leadership styles and instructional variables as a whole,
school performance can be viewed in a clearer and more precise perspective.
Quality school performance requires competent and well-skilled teachers and
administrators in reconstructing and implementing school plans, policies and
rules to strengthen learning. Based from the above premise, this study was
conceived.

Background of the Study
High schools functions are far different from the primary schools since
the former are of relatively high independence. Hence, the possible role of
management is extremely important for principals. School heads as leaders if
they fulfill the necessary strength and run the rail track will definitely reach the
target in all aspect of management professional groups. However, the type of
leadership they adhere impacts the quality of the outcomes they want. In the
present study, the leadership styles were confined to authoritative, delegative
and democratic which the researcher personally believes to be universal that
it encompasses the other types of leadership supposed by different leadership
experts, educators and theoreticians.
However, the quality of teaching staff of a school being still inadequate
in terms of number of teachers, structural mismatches, professional capacity
of teachers not timely responding to the increasing demands of the innovation


4

education today.Before these shortcomings, the development of the teaching
staff of the school have become urgent tasks that need solutions to fix right

away to improve the quality of teaching and learning to meet training needs of
human resources for quality local country.
Active professional groups in Hai Phong High School have still many
problems that needed to be overcome. For the objective reasons emerge still
human mechanisms and programs, the content is not compatible with each
other. On the other hand, the supply conditions for the human needs and
activities have too many contradictions especially the management team for
many years has not been mentioned in the argument, the head professional,
the direct leadership of base unit in the school management training; should
direct process practical observation.
On the other hand, classroom climate is very important for high school
students to develop their behavior toward people who live around. Twenty-first
century is a century for technology, there are a lot of software to manage to
work better so each person has to take the chance to use technology. If not,
then one is out of date. Moreover, students in high school are improving their
behavior, so they must be encouraged to study better. Discussing
therealityofstudentlearninghigh school, besides the delight of students,
passion for learning, there is also a small partofpupilsfeelschoolbored, caused
by lossof interestin learning. Lazy pupils increase which affect learning
outcomesofstudentsin particular andinthe quality ofhigh schooleducationin
general, especially that high school agers arepreparing forbiggestturning
pointincollege, and the loss of interest inlearningto makethemlosemotivation.


5

The lazy pupils say that many of them upon seeing the books feel headaches,
dizziness, snapped just want to push them aside for free.
The management of the center and the role of principals is huge. If the
principal does not renew, it is difficult to reform school. Practice has

proventhat the most influential in the industry management system to learn
results of school's students. The style of principal work affects operating
environment of the school. In addition to capability to design programs and
plans, principals must have thought of suggestive referendum and decide the
goals to remedy the inconsistent management solutions, lack of scientific
institutions from the direct innovation programs, teaching and learning
methods, and the use of information technology to manage and improve
teachers. This prompted the researcher to conduct the study on the principals’
leadership style and the instructional variables affecting the performance of
high schools at Hai Phong City in Vietnam.

Objectives of the Study
This study determined the principals’ leadership styles and instructional
variables affecting the performance of high schools and with an end view of
developing a strategic action plan at Hai Phong City, Vietnam, for school year
2012-2013.
Specifically, it sought to attainthe following objectives:
1. Determine the leadership styles of the respondent principals as to:
1.1 Authoritative
1.2 Democratic
1.3 Delegative


6

2. Find out the instructional variables that may affect the performance of
high schools in terms of:
2.1. Self-regulated learners,
2.2. Teacher characteristics,
2.3. Classroom climate,

2.4. Technology and learning, and
2.5. Motivation in Diversity.
3. Analyze if there is a significant relationship between the leadership
styles of principals and the instructional variables.
4. Determine the level of performance of the respondent high schools.
5. Find

out

which

of

the

instructional

variables

predict

school

performance.
6. Develop a strategic action plan.

Hypothesis
1. There is no significant relationship between the principals’ leadership styles
and the instructional variables in high schools at Hai Phong City.
2. None of theinstructional variables predict the performance of high schools

at Hai Phong City.

Significance of the Study
This research would help the school leaders, teachers, students, and
future researchers.
School Leaders. This study would contribute to the school supervision
among school heads in the sense that they would be very informed in the new


7

dimensions of the modern leadership by knowing and understanding their own
leadership styles. They would understand how the types of leadership may
influence to the overall school performance. The output of this study which is
the proposed strategic action plan may be considered by school heads in their
school year planning for further improvement of their academic programs.
Teachers. They would be benefited in this study since they play an
important role in the delivery of knowledge. Knowing the different leadership
styles of their immediate heads would give them time to adjust to the different
situations in the school. They would be informed as well on various variables
that may affect students’ performance whereby they could plan and innovate
interesting classroom activities. The developed strategic action plan will guide
them to know what would be their role to raise the school performance.
Students. Since the heart of the teaching-learning process are the
students, they would be benefited for they are the main concern of both the
school heads and the teachers. A school with conducive environment, flexible
school heads with the good leadership styles, and committed teachers would
create better school performance as a whole.
Future Researchers. This study would give future references to those
researchers who wish to have a similar study and likewise develop a strategic

plan. Thus, knowledge on the leadership styles and important instructional
variables could serve for their future reading resources.

Scope and Limitations
This studywas conducted in Hai Phong City focusing only in the types
of leadership styles and the instructional variables that may affect the school


8

performance. There were 14 high schools involved in this study with a total of
896 respondents comprising of headmasters and teachers.
The types of leadership styles used in this study were based from
Lewin’sauthoritative, democratic and delegative styles. These were also the
leadership styles used by Mentilla (2011), since these are universal and were
evidently used by the principals in high schools of Hai Phong City, Vietnam.
Though there are varied leadership styles, the researcher delimited his choice
to the three aforementioned types. On the other hand, instructional variables
identified in this study were self-regulated learners, teacher characteristic,
technology and learning, motivation in diversity, and classroom climate. A
strategic action plan was developed based from the results of the study.
To gather the data, the researcher used the validated questionnaire of
Mentilla (2011) in determining the instructional variables that may affect the
school performance. It was composed of 50 statements that describe each
variable. The instrument to measure the leadership styles of respondents was
based from leadership styles survey instrument used by Clark (2010). It was
composed of 30 statements modified to suit to Vietnam High School setting.
The time frame of this study was from October 2012 to August 2013.

Definition of Terms

For clarity and better understanding of this study, the following terms
are defined both conceptually and operationally:
Authoritative Style is a type of leadership where the leader makes decisions
without consulting others (Lewin, 1939). Operationally, it is one of the
evident principals’ leadership style in Hai Phong City.


9

Chi-square Test of Independence refers to a statistical test applied to sets
of categorical data to evaluate how likely it is that observed difference
between the sets arose by chance (Chernoff, 2004). In the context of
the present study, this statistical measure was used to determine the
significant relationship between the principals’ leadership styles and
the instructional variables.
Classroom Climate is the combination of variables within a classroom that
work together to promote learning in a comfortable environment
(www.ehow.com/info_definition-classroom-climate.html). In the study, it
refers to a place where students are secured to learn to develop their
self-efficacy, competence, self-determination and task comprehension.
Delegative (or Laissez-fair) is another leadership style used in this study in
which leaders offer little or no guidance to group members and leave
decision-making up to the group members (Lewin, 1939).
Democractive (or Participative) Style refers to a type of leadership used in
this study by which leaders offer guidance to group members, but they
also participate in the group and allow input from other group members
(Lewin, 1939).
Instructional variables are one of the main variables in this study
whichcomprisethe

self-regulated

learners,

classroom

climate,

motivation in diversity, teacher characteristics, and technology and
learning.
Leadership styles are likewise a main variable in the study referring to the
manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and
motivating people (Lewin, 1939; Clark, 2010).


10

Level of Performance of High School Students pertains to the average
grades of the students in all their subjects in a school year. It is based
from the average performance from nine (9) high schools in Hai Phong
City, Viet Nam.
Motivation in Diversity operationally refers to the encouragement given to
the students to participate in the classroom activities, and interact with
their peers despite their individual differences.
Principal refers to the school headmaster who administers and supervises
the whole academic programs in high schools.
Self-regulated Learning (SRL) emphasizesthe autonomy and control by the
individual who monitors, directs, and regulates actions toward goals of
the information acquisition, expanding expertise, and self-improvement
(Paris & Paris 2001). In this study, it refers to students who can learn

by themselves and work without closed supervision by the teacher.
Strategic Action Plan refers to sequence of steps that must be taken, or
activities that must be performed well for the strategy to succeed. An
action plan has three major elements, viz: 1) specific tasks: what will be
done; 2) time horizon: when will it be done; 3) resource allocation: what
specific funds are

available

for

specific

activities

( />
is

the output developed based on the results of the study.
Teacher characteristics form part of instructional variables which refer to the
teacher’s personal and professional qualities. Personal qualities deal
with their attitudes and behavioral attributes while professional qualities
deal with how they deliver their teaching.


11

Technology and learning refers to how technology is used by the teacher in
teaching-learning process, and how students interact with this mode of
teaching delivery.

12

ChapterII
REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND STUDIES
This chapter presents relevant readings and related literature which
bear significance and similarities to this study. This also includes the
paradigm and the definition of terms that could help the readers fully
understand the context of the study.

Leadership Styles
Managers and leaders in any organization are expected to influence
the actions of their employees through the several channels. Some of these
include communicating with staff members, stimulating subordinates to work
hard and ensuring that all the resources within the company are allocated
well. Numerous researchers felt a need to come up with theories that govern
successful leadership. One of these is known as the contingency theory.
Fielder (2004) came up with this approach to leadership after realizing that
leaders can function well if they changed their styles to suit the situation at
hand. This is where the name contingency originates. Fielder conducted
several studies of effective and ineffective leaders. Thereafter he concluded
that the most successful approach would be to match organizational settings
with leadership styles. These two parameters form the basis of contingency
theory of leadership.
According to him, leadership style may be defined as the way leaders
and employees interact with one another. One cannot claim that a manager’s
leadership style changes from time to time. The leader's ability to lead is
contingent upon various situational factors, including the leader's preferred
style, capabilities and behaviors of followers and various situational factors.

13

He further stated that contingency theories are a class of behavioral
theory that contend that there is no one best way of leading and that is
effective in some situations which may not be successful in others. An effect
of this is that leaders who are very effective at one place and time may
become unsuccessful either when transplanted to another situation or when
the factors around them change. This helps to explain how some leaders who
seem for a while to have the 'Midas touch' suddenly appear to go off the boil
and make very unsuccessful decisions.
According to Gardner, in On Leadership, "Leadership is the process of
persuasion or example by which an individual (or leadership team) induces a
group to pursue objectives held by the leader or shared by the leader and his
or her followers." If we accept that definition, then leadership style is the way
in which that process is carried out ( />Leaders' styles encompass how they relate to others within and outside
the organization, how they view themselves and their position, and - to a very
large extent - whether or not they are successful as leaders. A task needs to
be accomplished, and how a particular leader set out to get it done. Much of
the material in this section looks at individual leaders, but leadership can be
invested in team, or in several teams, or in different people at different times.
Many - perhaps most - organizations have several levels of leadership, and
thus many leaders. Regardless of the actual form of leadership, however,
leadership style is an issue. Whether you're the leader of a large organization
or a member of a small group that practices collective leadership, the way that
leadership plays out will have a great deal to do with the effectiveness and
influence of your work. The style of an organization's leadership is reflected in