ABSTRACT
This phenomenological research project was conducted to explore the leadership practices and professional development needs of secondary school principals. It aimed to articulate the lived experiences and characteristics of school principals as curriculum leaders and school managers.
The participants for this study were the 5 (five) Secondary School Principals of Secondary Schools of Division of Siargao who already have 5 (five) years and above experience in handling a school. The participants were chosen by purposive sampling.
The methods utilized in this study include: direct observation, interview and document analysis. Also important in this study was the utilization of triangulation. Mertler (2006) describes triangulation as an invaluable aspect of qualitative research, allowing the researcher to connect various sources of data and establish trustworthy findings with as little bias as possible.
This study was guided by the three grand tour questions. The first grand tour question which had three sub-questions divulged the lived experiences that secondary school principals encompass in leadership practices. The second grand tour question revealed the professional characteristics and professional needs of the secondary school principals in their role as curriculum leaders and school managers. The last grand tour question was able to expose the emerging themes that can be drawn from the prevailing codes of the lived experiences of the successful school principal.
The researcher identified six thematic patterns that were relevant to the research topic. The six predominant themes that emerged were: school principals focused on managing teachers and improving school’s feature, school principals created a motivating and engaging learning environment for teachers and students, school principals established sustainable linkages and partnerships with stakeholders, school principals utilized results of assessment in managing performance, school principals exhibit mutual understanding of an effective school leader and school principals expressed the need for professional development.
Based on the findings, school principals may consider the emerging themes that were drawn from this study to be applied in their respective administrations. These themes were claimed effective by the seasoned school principal participants hence they are believed to be reliable and significant. Moreover, future research could also be conducted which will replicate this study that would determine how well the findings of this study hold up under different demographic circumstances. It would be especially interesting to conduct a similar study in an area of the country with a larger sample size to allow future researchers to gather richer, varied and comprehensive data of successful school principals.