Teachers` perception on Principal`s roles in managing curriculum and instruction at Banda Aceh vocational schools

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to identify the roles played by the Principals of Banda Aceh Vocational schools in managing curriculum and instruction. Further, this study explores the extent of assistance for teachers offered by school Principals. Besides that, it also seeks to differentiate between male and female teachers’ perceptions on the roles employed by their Principals in managing curriculum and instruction at their schools. The roles of Principal in curriculum and instruction proposed by Murphy (1990) were used as the guideline for this study. In addition, the concept of Islamic curriculum by Hashim (1999) became the framework for the role of Principals in promoting Islamic curriculum in Banda Aceh Vocational schools since Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that applies Islamic law (shariah) in every aspect of life. This present research used an instrument adapted from the original Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS) which was developed by Hallinger (1982). This quantitative research employed a cross – sectional survey approach with 186 teachers as the respondents. Result of the descriptive analysis found that the Principals of Banda Aceh Vocational schools played moderate roles in managing curriculum and instruction with giving extensive assistance to their teachers being the most frequent involvement. The dominant role played by Principals is promoting content coverage, followed by coordinating curriculum, supervising and evaluating instructions, promoting quality instruction, monitoring students’ progress, allocating and protecting instructional time, and promoting Islamic curriculum. Lastly, the study concluded that in general there is no statistical difference between male and female teachers’ perception on principal’s roles in managing curriculum and instruction at Banda Aceh vocational schools (SMK).