Headteachers’ Instructional Leadership Practices as Predictors of Teachers’ Continuous Professional Development in Ghanaian Public Basic Schools: Structural Equation Modelling Approach

The study sought to examine the causal effect of headteachers’ instructional leadership practices on teachers’ continuous professional development in Ghanaian public basic school context. The study employed the causal-comparative research design within the positivist quantitative framework, involving 127 headteachers and 643 teachers who were selected through census and proportionate stratified random sampling techniques respectively. Questionnaires were used to collect data, which was analysed through the covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM). Analysis of the path coefficients revealed that instructional leadership practices predicted a statistically significant 41.3% to teacher continuous professional development. Further examination of the path coefficients established that instructional leadership practices accounted for a statistically significant 41.7% to teacher knowledge, 45.4% to teacher professional values and attitudes as well as 42.2% to teacher professional practice respectively. Consistent with these findings, it was concluded that the headteachers’ instructional leadership practices were good predictors of teachers’ continuous professional development in the public basic schools in Ghana. Therefore, the study recommended that the headteachers should be supported and oriented to intensify their instructional leadership practices so as to enhance the continuous professional development of the teachers in public basic schools in Ghana.