IJECE Published Articles

Abstract This study examined the relationship between collaborative leadership practices and teachers’ professional competence among public secondary school teachers in the Division of Dinagat Islands, Philippines. Anchored on Distributed Leadership Theory, Transformational Leadership Theory, and Human Capital Theory, the study used a quantitative predictive-correlational design involving 246 teachers from 36 public secondary schools. Collaborative leadership was measured in terms of shared decision-making, open communication and feedback, collaborative goal-setting and planning, professional support and mentorship, and teamwork and collective problem-solving. Teachers’ professional competence was assessed using IPCRF-based domains: content knowledge and pedagogy; learning environment and diversity of learners; curriculum and planning, assessment, and reporting; community linkages and professional engagement; and personal growth and professional development. The instrument demonstrated excellent reliability, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging from .948 to .973 across collaborative leadership dimensions. Results showed that collaborative leadership practices were highly practiced overall (M = 3.61, SD = 0.51), with teamwork and collective problem-solving receiving the highest mean (M = 3.66, SD = 0.48). Teachers’ professional competence was rated excellent overall (M = 4.30, SD = 0.51), with content knowledge and pedagogy receiving the highest mean (M = 4.37, SD = 0.46). Correlation results showed no significant relationship between the collaborative leadership dimensions and overall teacher competence. However, domain-specific analysis revealed significant but weak relationships between professional support and mentorship and curriculum planning, assessment, and reporting (r = .126, p = .049), and between shared decision-making and personal growth and professional development (r = .153, p = .017). Regression analysis showed that collaborative leadership did not significantly predict overall competence, although collaborative goal-setting and planning and professional support and mentorship significantly predicted curriculum-related competence, while collaborative goal-setting and planning significantly predicted community linkages and professional engagement. The findings suggest that collaborative leadership has selective, domain-specific, and context-dependent effects rather than a broad direct influence on overall professional competence.