Addressing the achievement gap. Exploring principal leadership and teacher professional learning in urban and rural primary schools in Thailand
| Pages | 717-734 |
| Published date | 04 September 2017 |
| Date | 04 September 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-12-2016-0142 |
| Author | Patnaree Piyaman,Philip Hallinger,Pongsin Viseshsiri |
| Subject Matter | Education,Administration & policy in education,School administration/policy,Educational administration,Leadership in education |
Addressing the achievement gap
Exploring principal leadership and teacher
professional learning in urban and rural
primary schools in Thailand
Patnaree Piyaman
Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
Philip Hallinger
Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development, College of Management,
Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand and
Department of Educational Leadership and Management, Johannesburg,
South Africa, and
Pongsin Viseshsiri
Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
Abstract
Purpose –Developing countries in many parts of the world have experienced a disturbing trend in the
differential pace of economic development among urban and rural communities. These inequities have been
observed in education systems in Asia, Africa, and Latin America where researchers have documented
differences not only in resource allocation but also in the academic performance among students in urban and
rural schools. Recently researchers have shifted their focus from examining financial and physical resources
to investigating the nature and impact of differences in human resources. The purpose of this paper is to
examine differences in school organization processes associated with learning-centered leadership and
teacher learning among urban and rural primary schools in Thailand. Teacher trust and teacher agency were
proposed as possible mediators of leadership effects on teacher learning.
Design/methodology/approach –This study employed a cross-sectional survey design. The authors
collected survey data from 1,011 teachers and 60 principals in 30 urban and 30 rural primary schools in
Thailand. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping were
used to analyze the proposed model of leadership and teacher professional learning. More specifically, data
analysis was aimed at determining the nature of relationships among the constructs in the conceptual model
and whether patterns of leadership and teacher learning differed in urban and rural primary schools.
Findings –The results affirmed a model whereby school leadership exerted significant indirect effects on
teacher learningin both urban and rural primaryschools. Data analysesdetermined that the path of leadership
effects movedthrough trust to agency andthen to teacher professional learning.Thus, while the authorsfound
a strong directeffect of leadership on teacher trust,there were only small direct effectsof leadership on teacher
agency and no meaningful direct effects of leadership on teacher professional learning. Thus, the research
affirmeda full mediation model of leadershipeffects on teacher learning.Finally, the study also affirmedthat the
measured variableswere perceived as significantly stronger in the urban schools than in the rural schools.
Social implications –The research expands on prior research on the “achievement gap”in Thailand by
demonstrating the existence of a similar “human resource gap”when comparing urban and rural school
leaders and teachers. This study implies that addressing the gap in student achievement will require action
aimed at building the capacity of the principals and teachers who work with the rural pupils.
Originality/value –These results suggest differences in the quality of human resources between urban and
rural primary schools in Thailand. There may be potential benefit to be gained from providing training
focused on “learning-centered leadership”for principals and middle level leaders, as well as expanding access
to quality professional development opportunities for rural teachers.
Keywords Instructional leadership, Thailand, Teacher learning, Trust, Agency, Urban rural
Paper type Research paper
An interest in strategies for improving schooling has long been shared across societies
throughout the world (Levin and Lockheed, 1993). This is also the case in developing
societies where increasing educational access and improving education quality have formed
Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 55 No. 6, 2017
pp. 717-734
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/JEA-12-2016-0142
Received 4 December 2016
Revised 15 May 2017
Accepted 16 May 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-8234.htm
717
Addressing the
achievement
gap
the foundation of national development strategies over the past 60 years (Sayed, 2010;
Stelmach, 2011; UNESCO, 2014). Nonetheless, even in developing societies that have
succeeded in improving educational access, new problems have arisen over the unequal
distribution of resources and educational quality (e.g. Hannum et al., 2008; OECD, 2014).
Thus, an unanticipated but common consequence of economic development in these
societies has been a gap in the achievement of urban and rural students (Lounkaew, 2013;
Sayed, 2010; Stelmach, 2011).
Internationally, numerous strategies have been proposed to address the urban-rural
achievement gap (Hannum et al., 2008; Sayed, 2010; Stelmach, 2011; UNESCO, 2014). Early
policy proposals focused on the reallocation of additional financial and physical resources to
rural schools (Kantabutra and Tang, 2006). However, more recent thinking has shifted
toward reducing inequities in the quality of human resources available to urban and rural
schools (Hallinger and Liu, 2016; OECD, 2014; Othman and Muijs, 2013). The rationale for
this shift was articulated by Othman and Muijs (2013):
Most literature on urban-rural schools in developing countries seems to concentrate on
physical resource differences, but research on school quality and effectiveness shows that this is
not the only pertinent factor. Therefore, there is a need for more research on urban-rural
differences in other school quality factors. Though there are some studies in developing
countries that included other quality factors besides educational resources […] the number
of such studies is limited, and they are infrequently concerned with urban-rural differences
(pp. 104-105).
These observations are relevant in Thailand where the past 30 years have witnessed a
large-scale migration of rural adults to the metropolis of Bangkok (Braddock, 2010;
Fang and Sakellariou, 2013). This has resulted in a widening gap in educational quality
and outcomes between schools in urban and rural areas (Fry and Bi, 2013; Lounkaew,
2013; OECD, 2014; Pattaravanich et al., 2005). For example, Bangkok Post (2016) asserted
that “most concerns arising from exam results were about inequality and discrepancies in
the Thai education system as seen in the wide gap between the scores of urban and rural
students”(Bangkok Post, 2016). Similarly, Nakornthap stated that “inequality in the
education system is the biggest issue. Poor scores are believed to be from small schools
mostly in rural areas, while most students in urban areas and from leading schools are
believed to have gotten higher scores”(Bangkok Post, 2016). Finally, Nieto and
Ramos (2013) concluded that among all relevant factors, principal and teacher quality
represent the most powerful alterable variables influencing differences in the student
achievement outcomes of urban and rural students.
This quantitative study examined how school leadership influences teacher professional
learning in urban and rural primary schools in Thailand. More specifically, we inquired into
whether there were differences in how the learning-centered leadership of principals
influences teacher engagement in professional learning in a sample of 60 urban and rural
primary schools. The study tested a conceptual model that proposed teacher agency and
teacher trust as mediators of school leadership effects on teacher engagement in
professional learning. We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation
modeling (SEM) to analyze survey data collected from 1,011 teachers in 30 urban and
30 rural primary schools.
In light of the urgency accorded to finding solutions for reducing the urban/rural
achievement gap (Lounkaew, 2013; The Nation, 2014), this research has implications for
policy and practice in Thailand as well as other developing nations. More broadly, the study
contributes to growing global (Geijsel et al., 2009; Hallinger, 2011; Thoonen et al., 2012),
regional (Hallinger, 2001; Hallinger and Liu, 2016; Li et al., 2016; Othman and Muijs, 2013)
and Thai literatures concerned with leading learning in the context of education reform
(Hallinger and Lee, 2011; Sakulsumpaopol, 2010; Somprach et al., 2017).
718
JEA
55,6
To continue reading
Request your trial