Enhancing virtual instructional leadership of primary school principals: An assessment and strategy development study

In the context of the informatization reform of education, teachers and principals are faced with new requirements to enhance their teaching abilities and virtual instructional leadership, respectively. This study focuses on primary school principals in Chongqing, aiming to construct a virtual instructional leadership structure model through a comprehensive literature review. A self-designed survey questionnaire was developed to investigate the relationship between primary school principals' virtual instructional leadership and teachers' teaching abilities, in order to accurately assess the current status of virtual instructional leadership among these principals. We collected a total of 210 valid questionnaires. The results revealed that while over 85% of principals excelled in teaching supervision and evaluation, several issues persisted, including 12.9% of principals failing to set and explain school goals effectively, 13.1% demonstrating insufficient proficiency in using information technology equipment, 13.5% being unable to establish incentive systems for teachers and students, and 11.7% struggling to seek support from the external environment. Based on these findings, enhancement strategies were developed to address the identified problems. Overall, this study contributes to effectively enhancing the virtual teaching leadership of primary school principals and provides a theoretical foundation for promoting the development of primary education.