EDU404 - HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

OF EDUCATION

ARTICLE REVIEW:
Teachers of English Learners: perceived motivators
to becoming principals of high-need school

PREPARED BY: HAWA BINTI CHE AHMAD YUSRI

1.0 ARTICLE CITATION ............................................................................................................ 3

2.0 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................... 3

3.0 SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE ............................................................................................. 3

4.0 PERSONAL REFLECTION ................................................................................................. 4

5.0 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 5

6.0 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................... 6

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1.0 ARTICLE CITATION

Abdelrahman, N., Irby, B. J., Lara-Alecio, R., Tong, F., & amp; Elfarargy, H. (2022).
Teachers of English learners: Perceived motivators to becoming principals of high-needs
schools. Journal of Educational Administration. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/jea-04-2021-
0092

2.0 INTRODUCTION

The journal discusses how teachers of emergent bilingual students tend to seek
motivators to become principals of high-needs schools which mainly talked about the
reason behind those actions. It is beyond my imagination that the value of emerging
bilingual students can inspire teachers to change their career path and pursue a master’s
in educational administration and principalship, which piqued my curiosity enough to make
me choose this article. This journal's 2022 publication date makes it the most qualified
choice to discuss this subject in a study context and by glancing at all the above
references, I can assume that it has been thoroughly researched by the authors.

3.0 SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE

The purpose of the journal is to identify what drives the teachers of English learners
to become principles, both inside and externally. The study also mentioned the increase
of the enrollment of emergent bilingual students in the United States has soared over time.
These figures show that there is a demand for highly skilled leaders who can guide the
large number of emerging multilingual students which lead to the numerous experts being
confident that leaders with training in bilingual education can become more acquainted
and understand the higher expectations for teaching the children.

In the study, the authors used a qualitative phenomenological design which

Regarding to the study’s goal, one of the findings from the interviews with 28
emergent bilingual teachers from a different teaching experience, according to Hancock
et., (2019), is the teachers are motivated to participate the principal preparation program

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as they are determined to change the lives of students and teachers by learning how to
help them both professionally and instructionally. In addition, the interview revealed the
following intrinsic motivators which are to show the commitment to having an impact on
the entire campus, develop relationships with the school community, raise awareness of
the value of bilingual education, and encourage cultural awareness. On the other hand,
extrinsic motivators such as financial compensation, improved job security and career
prestige are the least motivators for the bilingual teacher.

Overall, I can honestly state that this study was well-done and all the data was
gathered from reliable sources as the authors are offering detailed descriptions on how to
conduct interviews in a methodical manner. All the responses from the interview
conducted were varied and valid as all the teachers from the interview are capable of
answering the questions, looking at each background.

4.0 PERSONAL REFLECTION

In my personal point of view, the article has skillfully provided a really justified
justification for every point to feed into the main objective of the journal regarding the
motivators of the teachers to pursue a principalship. However, I find that there is a certain
part of the research that is slightly contradicting from my point of view. It is about extrinsic
motivators, the money reward that was rated least among the teachers as their motivator
which I found to be very surprising. According to Fullard (2021), a teacher’s income
influences their desire and effort in working. I have seen that teachers who receive a salary
are more likely to feel appreciated and motivated. Nevertheless, in another instance that I
have seen, some educators continue to put money above everything else, and some of
them even pursue higher positions in the hopes of earning more money. However, as a
future educator this slightly affects me as I deem that the self- service motivators are
incompatible neither with the leadership task and efforts nor the simple tasks as a normal
teacher. For instance, the financial reward that is beneficial only to one self only. It has
been my belief that money and prestige will never be able to overshadow the integrity in
work such as helping to promote professional development for teachers and staff to
provide a better study environment for their bilingual students.

I also would like to add my own point based on my personal experience and my
self-observation to the objective of this study, many teachers are prompted to be a

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 principal because they want to get praise for their work and contribution. Although it does
not fully capture all the driving factors, it can be a significant milestone for the teachers
that are seeking to be a principal. When they get acknowledged for their valuable
contribution it is bound to give teachers and educators a sense of power and validation,
which is necessary considering their job consists of dealing with many kinds of students
including the troublesome pupils. Intrinsic motivators are linked to the activities, and the
enjoyment derived from the customized activity itself serves as a reward, said Deci and
Ryan,(2020). Overall, the majority of educators may not be solely motivated by recognition
since they see the principal role as an opportunity to have a bigger impact on the
educational system.

All in all, what I feel about this article generally is it gives me a wealth of knowledge
about the principalship as the topic that has been discussed is in my field of study as a
future teacher and educator. It also gives me some sort of motivation and a step up for
me to expand my capability as a future educator if one day I also think about expanding
my career considering I have an advantage as a bilingual student and as a TESL student.
It also helps me to look deeper and acknowledge all the qualifications in order to be a
good teacher. Apart from that, I would like to suggest that it is beneficial to give teachers
information and motivation to help them advance to the principalship through principal
programs. As a result, our educational system will be able to produce more competent
principals for our emerging students.

5.0 CONCLUSION

To sum everything up, even though this research happened outside of Malaysia
but as a future educator I firmly think that it can be directly implied in our education system
since our country has many students that are bilingual and multilingual. Our education
system is highly emphasized in learning Bahasa Melayu and English for the students, so
it is needed to have a capable principal who is knowledgeable in dealing with racial conflict,
interacting with those who have deeply ingrained negative attitudes, and human relations.
Thus, as a teacher-to-be who might potentially pursue a principalship, I genuinely feel that
in order to succeed in our goals—not just for ourselves, but for everyone—we must serve
others above and beyond our own desires and needs.

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References

Abdelrahman, N., Irby, B. J., Lara-Alecio, R., Tong, F., & amp; Elfarargy, H. (2022). Teachers
of English learners: Perceived motivators to becoming principals of high-needs schools.
Journal of Educational Administration. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/jea-04-2021-0092
Fullard, J. (2021). Relative wages and pupil performance, evidence from TIMSS. Institute for
Social & Economic Research. From
https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/publications/working-papers/iser/2021-07
Hancock, D.R., Mu€ller, U., Wang, C. & Hachen, J. (2019). Factors Influencing School Principals'
Motivation to become Principalsin the USA and Germany. International Journal of
Educational Research, 95, 90-96. doi: 10.1016/j.ijer.2019.04.004.
Ryan, R.M. & Deci, E.L. (2020). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination
theory perspective: definitions, theory, practices, and future directions. Contemporary
Educational Psychology, 61, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101860.