The Role of School Leadership in Implementing the Primary Years Program (PYP)

Abstract

The school pedagogical leadership team as a vital role in setting direction, creating a positive and inspiring school culture, empowering teachers, and promoting their efficacy to ensure the effective implementation of the primary years program (PYP). The purpose of this study is to examine the ways leaders coach and support the implementation of the IB Primary Years Program standards and practices. To investigate the role of the leadership team in the PYP, the ways the PYP pedagogical leadership team coach and support PYP implementation, the challenges faces in this implementation, and how the school leadership team overcome these challenges, this research used a case study approach in two private schools in lebanon, which are authorized to implement the PYP in their elementary divisions. The findings indicated that the school leadership team is accountable for creating a culture of support, communication, and collaboration among the different stakeholders as well as empowering teachers in terms of distributing leadership task and assigning formal and informal leadership roles. Moreover, this study showed that the PYP philosophy impacts the role of leadership and allows it to expand in terms of formal and informal leadership roles. Besides, the IB standards and practices, which are international success criteria for IB PYP implementation, guide leaders in their implementation and planning for school improvement and professional development. With the limitations in mind, it is recommended that further research tackles how the cultural factors of the Lebanese context allow the adoption of distributed leadership and empowers teachers by assigning opportunities for formal and informal leadership positions within the learning communities. In addition, it is recommended that researchers examine how the role of the principle and that of the PYP Coordinator collaborate in schools that implement the PYP.