Elementary School Principals’ Instructional Leadership Practices to Retain Novice Teachers in the Philippines

Elementary school principals at the study site were inconsistently implementing instructional leadership practices to retain novice teachers in the Philippines. The purpose of this basic qualitative research design was to explore the instructional leadership practices implemented by elementary school principals that help retain novice teachers. The conceptual framework was the instructional leadership model characterized into three dimensions: (a) defining the school mission, (b) managing the instructional program, and (c) promoting a positive school learning climate. The research question was about what instructional leadership practices are implemented by elementary school principals to retain novice teachers in their job. Purposeful sampling was used to select 15 elementary school principals. Data were collected via interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview data for emergent themes. The participants implement instructional leadership practices to support the retention of novice teachers through (a) PD for novice teachers to improve their teaching practices, (b) instructional support for novice teachers to improve their teaching practices by visiting these teachers in their classrooms, (c) classroom observations to identify their instructional needs, and (d) communication via collaborative discussions during classroom observations or staff meetings and with memos and announcements. Findings of the study can lead to positive social change by helping elementary school principals to better apply instructional leadership practices to retain novice teachers to stay in the school to help students graduate from school.