The impact of form six senior assistants’ instructional leadership on teachers’ self-efficacy at rural secondary schools in Segamat, Johor/ Nur Farhah Amirah Hisham

Instructional leadership of a form six senior assistant is seen as the answer to sustain teachers’ self-efficacy and improve students' achievement. However, an observation conducted by Ab Aziz, Said, Pudin & Kamlun (2021) found that many teachers in rural schools struggle with the seemingly insuperable difficulties associated with their teaching performances, claiming that things do not work the same within the context of their counterparts in urban schools (p. 2). Moreover, previous studies showed that form six senior assistants’ instructional leadership practices that influence teachers’ selfefficacy are not given enough attention, especially in the settings of rural secondary schools. Hence, this study investigated the impact of form six senior assistants’ instructional leadership practices and teachers’ self-efficacy at rural secondary schools in Segamat, Johor. The study used a quantitative research method involving 63 form six teachers from all rural secondary schools in Segamat, Johor. A questionnaire combining two different scales, Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale by Hallinger (1985) and the Teacher Self Efficacy Scale by Tshannen-Moran and Hoy (2001), was used to obtain quantitative data. The result of the study discovered that both form six senior assistants’ instructional leadership practices and teachers’ self-efficacy were perceived by the form six teachers at a high level. The correlation result also indicated a strong positive significant relationship between form six senior assistants’ instructional leadership practices and teachers’ self-efficacy at rural secondary schools in Segamat, Johor. Regression coefficient analysis also showed a significant and positive influence of instructional leadership styles on teachers’ self-efficacy. The findings led to several implications, including contributions to the literature on instructional leadership of form six senior assistants, their best practices, and providing an insight view to the rural school to improve their instructional leadership skills and the related departments to develop a training program for school administrators and teachers. The researcher also recommended that school administrators should develop instructional leadership programs and continuous professional development programs for teachers to enhance their self-efficacy.