THE INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL PRINCIPAL LEADERSHIP ON TEACHER

PERFORMANCE IN PRIVATE VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS IN BIAK NUMFOR

REGENCY, PAPUA PROVINCE

 

Mahdi1, Yulius Mataputun2

Universitas Cenderawasih, Papua, Indonesia

 

[email protected]1, [email protected]2

 


ABSTRACT

Achieving national education goals heavily relies on the effectiveness of teachers, who serve as the cornerstone of educational excellence. However, the variance in teacher performance remains a challenge, necessitating exploration into influential factors. Among these, principal leadership emerges as a significant determinant. This study endeavors to examine the influence of principal leadership on teacher performance within private vocational schools in Biak Numfor Regency, Papua Province. Employing a quantitative correlational approach, data was collected from 115 teachers through questionnaires and document analysis. Utilizing simple linear regression, the analysis revealed a substantial positive correlation between principal leadership and teacher performance, accounting for 31.4% of the variance. The findings underscore the pivotal role of principal leadership in enhancing teacher performance, underscoring the imperative for cultivating effective leadership within educational institutions. These insights hold profound implications for educational policymakers, administrators, and stakeholders, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions to bolster leadership capabilities and thereby elevate overall educational outcomes.

 

Keywords: Principal Leadership, Teacher Performance, School.

 



Corresponding Author: Yulius Mataputun

E-mail: [email protected]

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INTRODUCTION

Law No. 14/2005 states that teachers are professional educators with the main task of educating, teaching, guiding, directing, training, assessing, and evaluating students in early childhood education in formal education, primary education and secondary education (Matnuh, 2017). This regulation means that teachers play a very important role and an urgent component in the overall effort of the education process and the quality of education. The seven main tasks are integrated between components and carried out continuously. That is why professional and qualified teachers are needed. In other words, the position and role of teachers is increasingly strategic in preparing quality Human Resources (HR) in facing the global era (Pandipa, 2020).

The mandate of the teacher regulation above is expected to be a reference for every teacher in carrying out their duties, both at school and outside school, Law Number 20 of 2003 Article 18 states that vocational education is a secondary education that prepares students to work in certain fields (Pandipa, 2020). The presence of SMK is expected to prepare students: (1) enter certain jobs and develop a professional attitude, (2) have the provision and ability to choose a career, be able to compete, and be able to develop themselves, (3) become an independent middle-level workforce and/or fill the current and future needs of DU/DI (Munthe & Mataputun, 2021). What has been outlined in the regulation requires educators to work well, so that their graduates can benefit many people. However, in several references there are still many teachers who have not carried out their duties properly, such as the results of research reported by (Helmi, 2015) that teacher performance shown in planning, implementation and evaluation is categorized as still lacking, even the results of the study (Munthe & Mataput, 2015).� (Munthe & Mataputun, 2021) said that in general, SMK negeri 3 Jayapura has collaborated with Du/Di in improving the quality of graduates, but not maximally. The results of this empirical study provide a note that principals and teachers are not optimal in preparing, implementing the learning process expected of every SMK graduate, namely schools need to establish partnerships with the Business and Industrial World (DUDI).

�� The portrait of educators who have been certified also provides a record of not optimal performance, as reported by (Kartowagiran, 2011) that the performance of most professional teachers (post-certification) in Sleman Regency is not good. Of the 17 indicators studied, 7 were good and the other 10 were not good, especially in relation to writing articles; research; creating works of art/technology; writing questions for the National School Examination (UNAS); reviewing books; attending English courses; attending education and training; and participating in scientific forums; although some teachers were persistent in seeking information on training or scientific forums that might be attended.

The results of the researcher's observations found that some teachers have not completed their tasks properly, this is indicated by the discovery of symptoms such as some teachers coming late and even not attending school every day with various reasons given to the daily picket or principal, and there are teachers who do not complete the lesson material until the end of the semester. These symptoms are a sign that efforts to improve the quality of education are still encountering difficulties. That professional teacher performance will not happen automatically, but rather is a process and requires a change in the attitude of the teacher himself and others including school leadership figures. In building leadership capacity, it is necessary to interact with the team and increase cooperation and even exchange resources.

Based on the above explanation, it shows that there is a gap between what is expected in education regulations and the real conditions carried out by teachers, even those who have been certified, have not shown optimal performance in carrying out their main duties. Various factors influence this condition, one of which is the leadership of the school principal. Research results (Unicef, 2012) �provides empirical evidence that schools with good principal leadership can reduce teacher absenteeism. Thus, principal leadership affects teacher performance, at least teacher attendance in the learning process at school.

The results of the researcher's observations during his time as a vocational high school teacher in Biak Numfor Regency found that the decline in teacher performance in learning was strongly influenced by the principal's leadership factor, this was characterized by the discovery of symptoms, namely: (1) the habit of the principal when monitoring is only around the class but does not try to ascertain the condition of the class, so that there are some teachers who teach without using a Learning Implementation Plan (RPP), (2) Some principals are less responsive to problems faced by teachers and students at school so that it seems that the principal is less wise in making decisions, (3) There are principals who feel indifferent and do not carry out assistance to teachers who have not been able to develop learning tools. On average, the syllabus and lesson plans used are the result of adoption of syllabus and lesson plans downloaded from the internet, and (4) There are principals who often do not go to school on the grounds of official duties, so at school usually more teachers spend time sitting telling stories in the teachers' room.

The principal as a leader in an educational institution needs to have certain strategies to improve teacher performance by increasing teacher professional competence and teacher work motivation. (Hartanti & Yuniarsih, 2018). It is said (Mataputun, 2022) school principals play a role in leading, guiding, controlling feelings and behavior towards others who are under their supervision. In short, the principal's leadership has an impact on the performance of teachers who have high commitment will give maximum effort voluntarily for the advancement of the organization, participate, and be actively involved in advancing the organization and be responsible for the tasks entrusted to them. (Hayati et al., 2020) .

Principals as leaders in an organization should be aware and responsive to techniques to be able to maintain teacher achievement and performance, among others, by providing encouragement to teachers to carry out their duties in accordance with applicable rules. It is said� (Wakini et al., 2021) school principals are expected to have skills (1) a principal must have the expertise to communicate both orally and in writing. (2) The principal must manage vertical, horosontal and diamental communication to the school in carrying out task coordination,

The competencies are listening, facilitating, questioning, using judgment, and directing with the teachers' council or school committee so that the school achieves the set goals.� It is further argued that all these competencies are proven to influence the improvement of teacher performance in schools to achieve education and learning goals.

One of the principal's duties is to create professional teachers so that they can work in accordance with the assigned duties and responsibilities. Principal leadership has a significant relationship with teacher performance (Benu, 2018). This means that the principal's leadership can affect the high and low performance of a teacher, even the results of the study (Iskandar, 2018). (Iskandar, 2018) states that principal leadership has a significant influence on teacher performance both internally and externally. Every leader is responsible for directing what is good for his employees, and the leader himself must do good. It is said (Azhar, 2017) that leadership is also the process of influencing the activities of a person or group in an effort towards achieving goals in certain situations.

Teacher performance is the result of work and progress achieved by teachers in carrying out their duties and obligations. This high teacher performance will have a strong influence on the success of students in achieving their competency level. As stated (De Cooman et al., 2007) that interpersonal motivation strongly influences teacher performance. However, teacher performance is also related to the leadership of the principal, communication between teachers and principals can be said to be not going well, the principal does not provide full motivation for teachers so that sometimes teachers are still reluctant to develop their professional level. This is inseparable from the influence of the principal's leadership in carrying out his leadership. To prove empirically the phenomenon described earlier, it is necessary to study the extent to which the principal's leadership is recommended. (Mulyasa, 2003) namely aspects of personality, knowledge, understanding of the school's vision and mission, and communication skills affect teacher performance as determined by the Ministry of National Education, namely planning learning programs, implementing learning, and evaluating/assessing teacher learning in private vocational schools in Biak Numfor Regency, Papua Province. Thus, the purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of principal leadership on teacher performance in private vocational schools in Biak Numfor Regency, Papua Province. Through this study, it is expected to be useful for the scientific development of educational leadership/principals in an effort to improve teacher performance.

 

METHOD

This research uses a quantitative descriptive approach, correlational cause and effect type. Correlational research has the main characteristic of connecting 2 variables and the magnitude of the relationship is based on the correlation coefficient and does not carry out manipulation as in experimental research, the data is quantitative on an interval scale. Researchers want to examine the relationship between phenomena related to school principal leadership and their influence on teacher performance. It is said (Arikunto, 2014) that causal correlational research is also called influence research.

The population in this study were all teachers at Private Vocational Schools, Biak Numfor Regency, Papua Province, totaling 115 teachers. Because the population is relatively small, a saturated sample is used. To obtain data on variables X and Y, a closed Likert interval scale questionnaire was used and supported by document checking. Preparation of questionnaires based on research instrument grids including types of variables, sub-variables (indicators), then a grid is made with positive items and negative items, then a construct test is carried out where the finished questionnaire is sent to 4 lecturers to examine the suitability of the statements with the indicators. principal leadership variables and teacher performance by paying attention to good editorial and grammar. After the questionnaire was declared feasible, a trial was carried out to determine the level of reliability of the research instrument.

As a result of the trial, feedback was obtained that there were several statements that were invalid. For the principal leadership variable (X) of the 40 items, there are 7 statements that are categorized as invalid. Meanwhile, for the teacher performance variable (Y), of the 40 items, there are 7 items in the invalid category. These statements, both variables X and Y, were excluded and not used in the research questionnaire because the indicators to be achieved were already represented by other statements. Statements that are declared valid are followed by a reliability test. The results of reliability testing show that the 33 items of variables X and Y which have been declared valid, are in fact reliable. For the principal leadership and teacher performance variables, each has a Cronbac's Alpha (0.938 & 0.951) where the value is > 0.60.

For more details, see the Reliability Test Results table below:

Table 1. Reliability Test Results

Variable

Cronbach's Alpha

Criteria

Information

Principal Leadership

0.938

0.60

Reliability

Teacher Performance

0.951

0.60

Reliability

Source: Primary Data, processed 2022

So, in conclusion, the variable instruments for principal leadership and teacher performance meet the requirements for validity and reliability. Before carrying out a simple linear test, the requirements are first tested, namely normality and linearity tests. The normality test uses the Kolmogorov-Smirnov analysis technique with test results of sig (2-tailed) 0.200 > 0.05 indicating normal distribution. The results can be seen in the normality test results table below.


 

Table 2. Normality Test Results

Kolmogorov-Smirnov

Sig (2-tailed)

Criteria

Information

0.108

0.200

>0.05

Normally distributed

Source: Primary Data, processed 2022

Meanwhile, the linearity test uses Deviation from linearity, as in the linearity test results below:

Table 3. Linearity Test Results

Relationship between Variables

Deviation from linearity. Sig

Criteria

Information

Teacher performance and principal leadership

0.111

> 0.05

There is a linear relationship

Source: Primary Data, processed 2022

The result is sig 0.111 > 0.05, meaning there is a linear relationship. Data analysis techniques use parametric inferential statistics (simple linear regression) with the help of SPSS version 25.0 software.

 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Based on the results of simple linear regression analysis using a significance level of 0.05, it can be seen that the significance value obtained is 0.000 < 0.05, so that H0 is rejected and Ha is accepted. This shows that the hypothesis which states that there is a significant influence of principal leadership on teacher performance in private vocational schools in Biak Numfor Regency, Papua Province is "accepted." To find out the magnitude of the influence of the principal's leadership variable (X) on teacher performance (Y), the R Square column shows the influence of the principal's leadership on teacher performance of 0.314 and has a positive value (+), which means that every time there is an increase in the principal's leadership variable (X) will also increase teacher performance by 31.4% (low category). For more details, see the table below:

Table 4. R Square Testing Results

Model Summary

Model

R

R Square

Adjusted R Square

Std. Error of the Estimate

1

.560a

,314

,306

11.76769

a. Predictors: (Constant), Principal Leadership

Source: Primary Data, processed 2022

So testing the hypothesis which states "there is a positive and significant influence of principal leadership on teacher performance in private vocational schools in Biak Numfor Regency, Papua Province" is proven to be true.

The results of hypothesis testing show that the principal's leadership variable tested significantly positive on teacher performance. The meaning of the results of this research illustrates that the higher the level of leadership of the school principal, the more the teacher's performance will increase. The results of this research also prove that the principal's leadership is able to contribute 31.4% or is in the low category to teacher performance. Another meaning provides an illustration that the principal of a private vocational school in Biak Numfor Regency, Papua Province has implemented the principal leadership indicators proposed by (Mulyasa, 2013) , namely having personality, knowledge, understanding of the school's vision and mission, the ability to make decisions and the ability to communicate in his leadership in efforts to improve the performance of private vocational school teachers in Biak Numfor Regency, Papua Province in planning learning programs, implementing learning and evaluating learning.

If we look at the strength of the contribution of this research to previous research, the percentage is relatively the same (low) as reported (Benu, 2018) that the principal's leadership has a significant effect on teacher performance in learning at 42.7%. Likewise (Setiyati, 2014) there is a positive and significant influence between the principal's leadership on teacher performance with an effective contribution of 18.22%. This can be interpreted to mean that in an effort to improve teacher performance, the principal is only one of many factors, such as motivation factors, facilities and infrastructure, qualification background, and socio-economic background, all of which contribute to improving teacher performance.

The mandate of Permendiknas Number 13 of 2007 in relation to the managerial competence of school principals in managing teachers and staff in order to optimally utilize human resources has been taken into account and implemented by the heads of private vocational schools in Biak Numfor Regency, Papua Province, but the percentage is relatively low. This could happen because the principal as a leader does not properly understand the knowledge aspects of the educational staff in his school, such as: (a) the personal needs of each teacher sometimes escape the attention of the principal. This can be an obstacle to teacher performance because a teacher Usually prioritizing personal needs when carrying out tasks will cause teacher performance to be less than optimal. (b) there are still teachers who do not fully understand their duties and obligations. Coaching carried out by school principals is very important to solve problems faced by teachers in carrying out their duties so that coaching is expected to be sustainable and can help the teacher's duties run smoothly which will result in increased teacher performance.

Proof result (Hasim S et al., 2020). shows that the Principal's leadership is in the good category 61.90%. positive and significant effect on the performance of teachers of State Vocational Schools in Pangkep Regency by 6.5%. Likewise (Setiyadi & Rosalina, 2021) reported that: (1) the Principal's leadership in improving Teacher Performance at SMA Negeri 11 Jambi City is quite good in fostering teacher performance, supervising teacher performance, providing motivation and evaluating teacher performance. It was further reported that what the principal did was proven to be able to improve his performance quite well in preparing lesson plans, managing learning activities, and evaluating learning.

The results of the Saalino study, & Yulius (2022) expand the responsibilities of principals as previously reported by implementing learning leadership which is realized through various activities including providing key support in learning; monitoring the implementation of the learning process; facilitating teacher coaching in the PKB program.

Based on the results of this study and the results of empirical studies and regulations as previously described, it can be interpreted that in order to improve teacher performance, especially planning learning programs, implementing learning, and evaluating learning, it is necessary to have a principal who has a personality, is knowledgeable, understands the vision and mission of the school, has the ability to make decisions and communicate with everyone, especially partners at school and outside school. Because the results of this study prove that the principal's leadership influence on teacher performance is still in the low category, it requires a number of activities to strengthen the principal's leadership both in personality competence, knowledge insight, ability to make decisions, and in communication, which can be done in various ways as reported in (Lobo et al., 2021). The results of the study say that in general the head of SMK Negeri 2 Business Management Jayapura, has implemented entrepreneurial competencies (creating innovation, working hard, having strong motivation, giving up, and having entrepreneurial instincts) well, which is realized in various forms of activities, including SMK Mart and travel, teamwork through the ISO 9001-2015 mechanism, environmental structuring, increasing the competence of teachers and students, and collaborating with DUDI.

Other efforts by optimizing the role of the Education Office, school supervisors, and peer organizations, the Principal Work Conference (MKKS) on an ongoing basis can even be recommended to develop further study qualifications at the Masters and Doctoral program levels in the fields of education in general and Education Management / Administration in an effort to support Permendiknas 13 and 19 of 2007 which have been carried out which have been updated with Permendikbudristek Number 47 of 2023 regulates education management standards including planning educational activities, implementation of educational activities, and supervision of educational activities carried out by educational units in early childhood education, basic education levels, and secondary education levels by implementing MBS and supported by information system management.

Interpreting the regulation of education unit management is a mandate that needs to be the basis and reference for every leader of the education unit in order to improve school quality, which can be seen from the readiness of teachers in planning, implementing and evaluating learning. It is expected that school principals plan, implement and evaluate these management standards in various ways, such as conducting academic and managerial supervision to teachers on an ongoing and sustainable basis.

 

CONCLUSION

Based on the results of the analysis and the previous discussion, it can be concluded that the principal's leadership has a significant positive effect on teacher performance in private vocational schools in Biak Numfor Regency, Papua Province in the low category. This illustrates that the better the principal's leadership, the better the teacher's performance. So, if you want to improve teacher performance in planning learning programs, implementing learning, and evaluating/assessing learning, you need a principal who has the personality, knowledge, and ability to make decisions and communicate well. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the leadership of school principals in various scientific activities and involve related parties, because whether the performance of teachers at school is good or not depends on how the principal's ability to influence teacher behavior in carrying out their duties, especially the tasks of planning, implementing, and evaluating learning.������������

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