The Influence of Elementary School Leadership in Promoting a Learner-Centered Classroom

Abstract

This is a qualitative study which investigated how teachers demonstrate "learner-centered" classroom instruction and how they are influenced by the school principal as a transformational leader in promoting a learner-centered classroom. The respondents were eight participants who were chosen based on their purposive experiences and had been teaching at the Elementary School of Silliman University. Face to face interviews provided the primary method of data collection with the selected teachers comprising the primary source of data. This study shows that teachers' opinions concerning their principal's transformational leadership behaviors are positive in general. The results revealed that the teachers perceive their principal as transformational leadership influential in creating or maintaining a classroom with a "learner-centered" instruction. The findings signify that there is a shift among the teachers from positional leadership to fluid, teamwork, collaborative, and emergent leadership that is spread across teachers. This was evident from the teachers' perspective, which described the leadership as cooperative, supportive, trusting, participatory, democratic decision-making, empowering, shared management, and professional learning communities. In school, therefore, teachers and principal work together to develop effective learner-centered classroom practices, and they study together what things work useful in the classroom.