Page 41 - Educational Leadership in a Changing World

Unearthing Context

h3 escs is positively associated with students’ science achievement.
h4 escs mediates the relationship between instructional leadership
and science achievement.
h5 escs mediates the relationship between school autonomy and
science achievement.
h6 escs moderates the relationship between instructional leadership
and science achievement.
h7 escs moderates the relationship between school autonomy and
science achievement.
The following section of the article describes the methodology used
to test these relationships.

Methodology
Data Source and Variables

This study examines the relationship between escs, school leaders’ in-
structional leadership, school autonomy, and students’ science achieve-
ment. The study uses secondary data analysis of the latest oecd pisa
2022 results. Based on available data, a total of 60 countries and regions
were included in the final analysis. These are countries that are mem-
bers of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development
(oecd) or oecd partner countries.

Independent Variables
In this study, we chose as independent variables two scales from the
oecd pisa 2022 cycle: Instructional Leadership (instlead), and
School Autonomy (schauto). Both scales are from the school lead-
ers survey. For instructional leadership (instlead), school leaders
were asked to rate (5-point scale) how often they or other members of
their school management team engaged in activities or behaviours re-
lated to teaching or instructional leadership during the last 12 months
(Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, 2024).
Higher scale score values indicate higher frequencies of engagement
by the school leader and school management team in instructional
leadership activities, and vice versa. Meanwhile, the school autonomy
(schauto) scale comprises 12 items (e.g. ‘Appointing or hiring teach-
ers,’ ‘Determining teachers’ salary increases’) and principals are asked
about who had the main responsibility for various decisions or activities

41