MIDDLE LEADERSHIP CAPACITY AND CURRICULUM DELIVERY QUALITY IN PAKISTANI SECONDARY SCHOOLS:A QUANTITATIVE STUDY WITH GENDER AND EXPERIENCE AS MODERATORS

Abstract

This study was an effort to explore the relationship between leadership capacity of the department head and subject coordinator with the quality of teaching and learning of the curriculum in secondary schools of Pakistan. It also investigated whether this relationship can be accounted for by teacher professional development, and whether gender, leadership experience and school sector (public or private) affects the strength of this relationship. The data were gathered from 264 department heads and teachers of 32 secondary schools in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The results indicated that the quality of delivery of curriculum and the capacity of middle leadership had a strong positive correlation (r = .66), and middle leadership capacity explained 44% of the variance in curriculum quality between departments. A large proportion of this relationship (42%) could be attributed to teacher professional development. The strongest findings were from female department leaders and leaders with more experience, and a slightly stronger relationship between leadership capacity and curriculum innovation for private schools than public schools. The results indicated that investing in leadership skills of department heads could be a meaningful effort to enhance teaching of the curriculum in secondary schools of Pakistan.