Professional Development of Instructional Coaching for Middle Leaders in Malaysian Secondary Schools: A Need Analysis

Abstract

Instructional coaching is a vital professional development strategy to be mastered by middle leaders (ML) in facilitating teachers’ pedagogical improvement and professional growth as well as enacting effective instructional leadership collaboratively with other leaders in schools. The main aim of this study is to determine the need for the implementation of instructional coaching professional development specifically for ML in Malaysian schools. Utilising a convergent mixed method research design, the effectiveness of ML's instructional coaching practice was examined from the perspectives of 377 academic teachers in Selangor (representative samples) via a statistical survey (Survey A) and thirteen School Improvement Specialist Coaches Plus (SISC+) officers nationwide via an open-ended survey (Survey B) respectively. The descriptive data findings of Survey A generated by Statistical Package for Social Science Version 26 (SPSSV26) reported that the level of ML’s instructional coaching in secondary schools is at moderate level with the average mean value of 3.69 (SD.781) while the qualitative findings of Survey B analysed via Atlas.ti Version 9 revealed that instructional coaching practice of ML is ineffectively practiced by ML due to the lack of knowledge and technical skills in applying the approach during coaching sessions with teachers. Both findings have demonstrated the critical necessity for the implementation of instructional coaching professional development specifically tailored to ML in Malaysian schools in order to empower and equip them with the essential knowledge and skills for supporting and fostering continuous pedagogical improvement among teachers in schools.