THE CORRELATION BETWEEN INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP AND EFFICACY AMONG THE CAMBODIAN PUBLIC LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

: Researchers have explored instructional leadership's correlation with teacher efficacy in developed countries, yet there is no research to broadly study in developing country contexts, especially in the public schools of Cambodia. Hence, the research objective is to find a significant correlation between the instructional leader and the efficacy of Cambodian public lower secondary school teachers. The researcher uses a quantitative method to collect data through a survey questionnaire. Also, the researcher uses the Pearson Correlation coefficient, a tool in SPSS version 23, to find the correlation between the instructional leader and teacher efficacy. There were 100 participants who were public lower secondary school teachers who participated in the data collection process. The key finding points out that the instructional leader has a high positive correlation with teacher efficacy, which is statistically significant. Thus, the instructional leader certainly correlates with efficacy among Cambodian public lower secondary school teachers. The result is significant for instructional leaders and relevant stakeholders in improving teachers' efficacy to fulfill their tasks better than before. Besides, future studies should focus on similar topics with different theories and a larger sample size at other institutions across the country. Finally, future studies should also emphasize qualitative and mixed-method designs.

In developing educational quality, teacher efficacy is one of the most significant factors in maintaining that teachers fulfill their teaching tasks well (Butts, 2016;Jillson, 2020).Teacher efficacy refers to the confidence of teachers in their abilities to bring about the desire to complete the tasks (Butts, 2016;Goddard et al., 2000).Teacher efficacy has a stronger relationship to the learning outcome, resulting in a better quality of education in the institution (Williams, 2015).Furthermore, teacher efficacy is vital in achieving an organization's goal because highly efficacious teachers plan, organize, and reflect more effectively.
Research has revealed that teacher efficacy effectively implements and assesses instruction (Horton, 2015).Similarly, teacher efficacy influences the achievement of each institution (Lawrence & Sanders, 2012).Moreover, the higher the teacher efficacy, the more resilient and persistent teachers become during their careers (Adu & Olantundun, 2007;Akiri & Ugborugbo, 2009;Yost, 2006).Teachers with high efficacy do not avoid the challenges that affect their public schools but are more likely to be determined to face them and complete actions for school improvement (Bandura, 1997;Kempf, 2019).
The improvement of teacher efficacy depends critically on effective leadership from the instructional leader (Hallinger, 2011;Ovando & Ramirez, 2007).Researches show that the instructional leader has commonly been the most popular figure in each educational organization (Hallinger, 2010;Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005;Rwelamila, 2019).The instructional leader actively provides and supports high morals and values in his or her subordinates (Sallis, 2014).He or she provides teachers to build new answers and information for teacher education and national education policy.Also, he or she is commonly crucial for teachers' beliefs to perform their duties well (Tweed, 2013).In addition, highly efficacious teachers often receive good guidelines from their instructional leaders (Williams, 2015).Consequently, the instructional leader can foster teachers' efficacy in improving the ability, behavior, and ethic to implicate their tasks well (Caprara, Barbaranelli, Steca, & Malone, 2006;Sarfo, Amankwah, Sam, & Konin, 2015).
Previously, researchers have proved that teacher efficacy is one of the most crucial aspects of improving teacher performance in educational organizations.The necessity for handling teacher efficacy is considered a foundation of educational quality (Ball, 2010;Butts, 2016).On the other hand, in Cambodian public lower secondary schools, teachers have insufficient beliefs and poor ability, and they do not know how to behave well in their workplace (Seng, Carlon, & Cross, 2020;Tan & Ng, 2012).The teachers are not confident about their task performances which cause low quality in educational organizations (Dibapile, 2012;Gallante, 2015;Lasauskiene & Rauduvaite, 2015).The researcher identifies the knowledge and population gaps based on several prior studies in the literature review part.
Jurnal As-Salam Vol. 6 No. 2 Juli -Desember 2022: 163 -180 Sopheng Tep | 165 To fill the gaps that have been no prior studies researched in the Cambodian context, the researcher decides to find the correlation between the instructional leader and the efficacy of Cambodian public lower secondary school teachers.Furthermore, the research hypothesis declares (H0 1): The instructional leader has no significant correlation with teacher efficacy.There are 8 more sub-hypotheses to support the research hypothesis, which will be mentioned in the findings and discussion section.

LITERATURE REVIEW Definition of Instructional Leadership
Instructional leadership refers to the authority, power, ability, motivation, communication, behavior, and self-confidence of the instructional leader (principals, headmasters, directors, rectors) in leading subordinates (teaching and non-teaching staff) to perform the tasks in reaching the goals (Day, Gu, & Sammons, 2016;Hallinger & Lee, 2014;House, 1977;Şişman, 2016).

Definition of Teacher Efficacy
Teacher efficacy (TE) is the teacher's confidence to perform tasks responsibly based on the good roles of other individuals or social activities (Bandura, 1977;Van Dinther, Dochy, & Segers, 2011;Woolfolk & Hoy, 1990).

Roles of the Instructional Leader
The instructional leader is the role model to represent effective leadership performances in developing school goals (Loyce & Victor, 2017).He or she is an active participant and communicator since He or she actively collaborates in the improvements in the workplace, even exerting influence on such purposes (Bolden, Hawkins, Gosling, & Taylor, 2011).In addition, the instructional leader is the main factor in the growth of teacher efficacy, planning, coordinating, and evaluating teaching and learning performances at educational levels (King, 2018).

Lower Secondary School Teacher in Cambodia
A teacher refers to a formal occupation with noteworthy involvement in society.Each nation may regard the development of this profession as a key concern (Nasution, 2017).Teacher education differs in duration and substance.Teacher education for lower secondary school teachers lasts for two years and occurs in several training sites (Em, Chin, Khan, & Nun, 2022).Based on the Sub-Decree on Teacher Professional Ethics: 2008, 2016, the word "Teacher" refers to the education staff who teach at public and private educational institutions with educational licenses.They teach from kindergarten to high school (Article 4).Also, lower secondary school teachers are the licensed teaching staff whom the Ministry of Education trains, Youth and Sport, and teach in the grades 7 th to 9 th of secondary school (Bunlot, 2016;Kruger, 2003).

Instructional Leadership Practice in the Cambodian Context
Currently, the duties and accountabilities of the instructional leader as a principal, director, or rector in Cambodian schools have become a decentralized education sector.The Instructional leader requires the oversight, management, organization, and leading of Jurnal As-Salam Vol. 6 No. 2 Juli -Desember 2022: 163 -180 Sopheng Tep | 166 effective teaching services at public schools in the designated areas, the addition of multidisciplinary tasks, and the use of contract teachers.The Provincial Education Officer and the Director of the District Education Office have the responsibility and accountability to monitor and control the implementation of school management work within their jurisdiction (MoEYS, 2015).Furthermore, in a decentralized education system such as Cambodia, the instructional leader is given full responsibility for the traditional management of the facility and is required to ensure effective teaching services (King, 2018).Therefore, leadership from the instructional leader is very important at educational levels.He or she is the role model representing effective leadership performances in developing school goals (Loyce & Victor, 2017).Furthermore, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport stressed that instructional leadership is the main factor in the growth of teacher efficacy, planning, coordinating, and evaluating teaching and learning performances at educational levels (King, 2018, MoEYS, 2015).The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport is flexible in implementing top-down policy and implementation.For example, schools are at the boundaries both geographically (distance from Phnom Penh) and psychologically.The hierarchical or top-down approach in Cambodian education includes the Council of Ministers/Supreme Education Council, Ministry of Education, Youth & Sport, Provincial Offices of Education, and District Offices of Education Schools (Jones, 2020).

Theories Related to Instructional Leadership and Teacher Efficacy 1. Charismatic Leadership Theory for Instructional Leadership
Charismatic leadership refers to the leaders' authority, ability, and behavior, which is publicly formed and authenticated by followers' attributions (Drake & Roe, 2003;Sparks, 2014).This leadership has courage, beliefs, and the enthusiasm to face subordinates with different views of society or the organization (Aydin, Sarier, & Uysal, 2013).The researcher uses charismatic leadership theory for instructional leadership as the independent variable for many reasons.First, this theory is popular and reliable for leadership in educational organizations since it has a constructive relationship with the performance of subordinates who work in the organizations (Brinkman, 2015;Ozgenel, 2020;Özgenel & Aksu, 2020).Second, the charismatic theory has broad characteristics such as power and ability, motivation and communication, and behavior and confidence, which can be applied well in the educational context (House, 1977).Similarly, scholar Robert House addressed that charismatic leadership emerged from Max Weber in 1947 (House, 1977).He pointed out that charismatic leaders need power, ability, motivation, communication, behavior, and confidence (House, 1977).
-Power and ability: Power refers to the leader's options, authorities, or rules leading and managing the subordinates to perform their tasks well, and the ability focuses on the leaders' skills to perform the tasks to reach the goals.-Motivation and communication: Motivation focuses on the leaders' inspiration of subordinates to perform the tasks well, and communication is the leaders' method for sharing or receiving guidelines or news from each other effectively.
Jurnal As-Salam Vol. 6 No. 2 Juli -Desember 2022: 163 -180 Sopheng Tep | 167 -Behavior and confidence: Behavior is the leader's norms or ways of responding to a particular situation, and confidence focuses on the leader's beliefs in performing tasks to reach the goals.Therefore, the researcher uses charismatic leadership theory to help the instructional leader motivate teachers.

Social Cognitive Theory for Teacher Efficacy
The researcher uses Social Cognitive Theory for efficacy to assist the instructional leader in improving teachers' performance.Social cognitive theory is directly related to others in the context of social interactions, experiences, activities, and influences.The theory is that when individuals observe patterns that reflect behaviors and consequences of behavior, they remember the sequence of events and use this information to guide subsequent behaviors.Observation can also motivate viewers to engage in behaviors.Mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasion, and physiological arousal are the four sources of efficacy (Bandura, 1997;Pajares, 2006).(a) Mastery experience is an individual experience and increased overcoming contests through struggle.So, teachers gain experience through effective and successful teaching activities (Bandura, 1997).(b) Vicarious experience relates to classic behavior after looking at other people performing stick tasks.Thus, people need to observe the jobs in society (Bandura, 1977;Lankard, 1999;Pajares, 2006).(c) Social persuasion requests ideas from fruitful people who have successful lives.Teachers can gain strengths or weaknesses through comments or advice on their tasks from instructional leaders and other relevant sectors (Pajares, 2006;Shaukat & Iqbal, 2012).(d) Physiological arousal is the physical and emotive feedback that returns to individuals to perform their tasks in efficacy.So, teachers can get physiological arousal when they are enthusiastic about tasks (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2007;Pajares, 2006).

Instructional Leadership and Teacher Efficacy
Özdemir, Sahin, and Öztürk (2020) conducted a study on "Teachers' Self-Efficacy Perceptions in Terms of School Principal's Instructional Leadership Behaviours".In their study, a mixed method, quantitative and qualitative, was used to survey 435 public school teachers in Turkey.Also, they used a hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis involving control variables to analyze the data.The results showed that instructional leadership has a slight positive correlation with teacher efficacy (r = 0.15; p < 0.001).So, this identifies that instructional leadership influences teacher efficacy.Özdemir and colleagues recommended that future studies use different models on the role of instructional leadership in improving student academic success.
Similarly, Hosseingholizadeh, Amrahi, and El-Farr (2020) researched "Instructional leadership and teacher's collective efficacy, commitment, and professional learning in primary school" which surveyed 230 participants who are principals and primary school teachers in Iran.The result stated that instructional leaders influence teachers' efficacy, which can lead to professional learning and teaching development.They suggested that further quantitative research on instructional leadership and teacher efficacy should be applied.The finding identified that instructional leadership influences teacher efficacy.Also, Al-Mahdy, Emam, and Hallinger (2018) researched "Assessing the contribution of principal instructional leadership and collective teacher efficacy to teacher commitment".They used a quantitative method that surveyed 188 primary school teachers in Oman.There was a slight positive correlation between instructional leadership and teacher efficacy (r = 0.26; p < 0.01).They further suggested future research to find the relationship between instructional leadership and teacher efficacy in other areas.In addition, Derrington and Angelle (2013) researched "Teacher Leadership and Collective Efficacy: Connections and Links".The quantitative research study surveyed 44 teachers in the United States through a questionnaire.They used a tool called Pearson correlations to examine the relationship between leadership and teacher efficacy.The result shows that instructional leaders have correlated with teacher efficacy (r = 0.62, p < 0.01).Furthermore, they suggested that future studies should examine leaders' and teachers' professional development in other areas.Besides, Calik, Sezgin, Kavgaci, and Cagatay Kilinc (2012) researched "Examination of Relationships between Instructional Leadership of School Principals and Self-Efficacy of Teachers and Collective Teacher Efficacy".These 328 instructors and managers working in public primary schools in the center of Ankara from 2010-2011 responded to the questionnaire.The finding showed that the instructional leaders have a slight correlation with teacher efficacy (r = 0.27, p < 0.01).They suggested that a new model or theories be tested in future research.
Based on the previous research mentioned above, the researcher decided to research the correlation between the instructional leader and the efficacy of Cambodian public lower secondary school teachers.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Design
The researcher selects the quantitative research design since it examines the relationships between variables, it focuses on numerical data collection.In addition, it is fast and reliable, which is attractive to many researchers.This calculating equipment analyzes the data quickly, even with large sample sizes (Yilmaz, 2013).

Participants of the Research
The researcher chose the simple random sampling technique since Lavrakas (2008) and Mayers (2013) identified the technique as an important convenience for a complete survey design in quantitative research.Also, the researcher uses the sample size calculator by Qualtrics to estimate the necessary sample size.When the population is 501, the sample size is 100 based on ±0.9% of the desired level of precision (Israel, 1992;Smith, n.d.).Also, the simple random sampling technique is applied in this study.The researcher randomly selected 100 respondents who were Cambodian public lower secondary school teachers.They are studying for bachelor's and master's degrees in one of the best private universities in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Data Collection
The researcher used a survey questionnaire as an instrument.The questionnaire contained two sections.The first section is the demographic data, and the second includes Jurnal As-Salam Vol. 6 No. 2 Juli -Desember 2022: 163 -180 Sopheng Tep | 169 the instructional leader and teacher efficacy.In addition, the questionnaire is administered in both languages (Khmer and English).The researcher suggests respondents read each statement and circle the number that applies to them based on the rating scales such as 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, and 5 = strongly agree.There are no correct or incorrect answers since the information gathered from the individual questionnaire will only be analyzed for research purposes.The questionnaire, which contains twenty-three statements, was personally distributed to the respondents physically in a real setting based on Standard Operation Procedures required by the Ministry of Health.

Validity and Reliability
For the reliability of the pilot study, the researcher tests the questionnaire with two main sections.Teacher demographic data is in section A, and the instructional leader (leadership of the instructional leader) and teacher efficacy are in section B. In addition, the researcher determines whether each item of the questionnaire is accepted or rejected based on Cronbach's alpha () Value/Ranks, which was adopted from Sharma (2016); Leech, Barrett, and Morgan (2014), as shown in Table 1.The result of the alpha value in the pilot study is 0.81.It states that the reliability of the items "the instructional leader" (items 1-10) is good.Also, the value of Cronbach alpha of teacher efficacy in the pilot study is 0.89.It addresses the reliability of instructional leaders, and teacher efficacy (items 11-20) is good.Overall, the results of the Cronbach alpha from the pilot study displays that all item in the questionnaire is reliable in collecting the data for the whole research.

Data Analysis
The researcher analyzed data by running the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS v.23).The researcher applied descriptive statistics and the Correlation Coefficient to measure the relationships between the instructional leader and teacher efficacy.The Correlation Coefficient (r) addresses between -1 and +1, i.e., -1 ≤ r ≤ +1 is adopted from Kothari (2004); Mukaka (2012); Schober, Boer, and Schwarte (2018).

Findings Demographic Result
There are two sections in the questionnaire.The first section contains three questions that seek demographic data from respondents.The second section encloses the instructional leader as the independent variable and teacher efficacy as the dependent variable.The following descriptions are the details of data collected from respondents.Table 2 shows the respondents' demographic data according to gender, age, and degree.One hundred (100) respondents participated in the research.Based on the table, among 100 respondents, 52% or 52 respondents are male, and 48% or 48 respondents are female.The age group includes 20 to 24 years old equals 25 respondents or 25%; 25 to 30 years old equals 28 respondents or 28%; 31 to 35 years old is 25 respondents or 25%; the age of 36 and over is 22 respondents or 22%.Thus, most respondents are between 25 and 30 years old, which equals 28 respondents or 28%.Moreover, the table also indicates associate degree (or 12 +2) is 15 respondents or 15%; a bachelor's is 61 respondents or 61%; a master's is 24 respondents or 24%.There is no Ph.D. respondent teaching in public secondary schools.So, the majority degree of respondents is a bachelor's degree since 61 respondents are equal to 61%.

Research Findings
Here is the result of the research paper based on the research hypotheses: H0 1: The instructional leader does not have any significant correlation with teacher efficacy.The hypothesis (H0 1) in Table 3 determines that the instructional leader has a high positive correlation with teacher efficacy.The value of r = 0.83 is a high positive correlation or a marked relationship with a strong statistically significant level of 0.01 (p < 0.01).4 proves the moderate correlation between the power and ability of the instructional leader and the teacher's vicarious experience.The value of r = 0.59 is a moderate correlation or a sustainable relationship with a statistically significant level of 0.01 (p < 0.01).H0 1.2:The power and ability of the instructional leader do not have any significant correlation with teacher social persuasion.

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Table 5.The correlation coefficient between the power and ability of the instructional leader and teacher's social persuasion Variables Correlation Coefficient P-Value Power and ability of the Instructional Leader Teacher Social Persuasion 0.60 0.00 Note: Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) Table 5 shows a moderate correlation between the instructional leader's power and ability and the teacher's social persuasion.The value of r = 0.60 shows a moderate correlation or a sustainable relationship with a statistically significant level of 0.01 (p < 0.01).Table 8 shows a high positive correlation between the instructional leader's motivation and communication and the teacher's social persuasion.The value of r = 0.73 displays a high positive correlation or a marked relationship with a statistically significant level of 0.01 (p < 0.01).As shown in Table 9, it proves a high positive correlation between the motivation and communication of the instructional leader and teacher efficacy.The value of r = 0.76 shows a high positive correlation or a marked relationship with a statistically significant level of 0.01 (p < 0.01).Table 10.The correlation coefficient between behavior and self-confidence of the instructional leader and teacher's vicarious experience

Variables
Correlation Coefficient P-Value Behavior and self-confidence of the Instructional Leader Teacher Vicarious Experience 0.69 0.00 Note: Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) Table 10 demonstrates a moderate correlation between behavior and self-confidence of the instructional leader and teacher vicarious experience.The value of r = 0.69 is a moderate correlation or a sustainable relationship with a statistically significant level of 0.01 (p < 0.01).H0 1.6: Behavior and self-confidence of the instructional leader do not have any significant correlation with teacher social persuasion Table 11.The correlation coefficient between behavior and self-confidence of the instructional leader and teacher's social persuasion Variables Correlation Coefficient P-Value Behavior and self-confidence of the Instructional Leader Teacher Social Persuasion 0.71 0.00 Note: Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) Table 11 shows a high positive correlation between the instructional leader's behavior and self-confidence and the teacher's social persuasion.The value of r = 0.71 shows a high positive correlation or a marked relationship with a statistically significant level of 0.01 (p < 0.01).Table 12 shows a high positive correlation between the behavior and selfconfidence of the instructional leader and teacher efficacy.The value of r = 0.75 exhibits a high positive correlation or a marked relationship with a statistically significant level of 0.01 (p < 0.01).Table 13 reveals a high positive correlation between the instructional leader and the teacher's vicarious experience.The value of r = 0.75 exhibits a high positive correlation or a marked relationship with a statistically significant level of 0.01 (p < 0.01).
H0 1.8:The instructional leader does not have any significant correlation with teacher social persuasion Table 14.The correlation coefficient between the instructional leader and teacher's social persuasion

Variables
Correlation Coefficient P-Value The Instructional Leader Teacher Social Persuasion 0.79 0.00 Note: Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) Table 14 displays a high positive correlation between the instructional leader and teacher social persuasion.The value of r = 0.79 is a high positive correlation or a marked relationship with a statistically significant level of 0.01 (p < 0.01).

Discussion
There is a high positive correlation or a marked relationship between the instructional leader (leadership of the instructional leader) and Teacher Efficacy (r = 0.83, p < 0.01, N = 100).According to empirical researches comprising Özdemir et al. ( 2020 2012) (r = 0.27, p < 0.01), the current finding shows similar result stating that instructional leadership of the instructional leader has significant effect on teacher efficacy.
Additionally, the results show that the power and ability of the instructional leader (r = 0.64) have the least correlation with teacher efficacy compared to motivation and communication (r = 0.76) and behavior and self-confidence (r = 0.75) of the instructional leader.The least correlation shows that the instructional leader's authority, rules, and skills in leading subordinates to perform their tasks do not have a high correlation with teacher vicarious experience and social persuasion.Relatedly, the behavior and confidence of the instructional leader have a high positive correlation with teacher vicarious experience and social persuasion.Hence, the behavior and confidence of the instructional leader are connected with teacher efficacy to boost teachers to perform their tasks to reach the goals.Besides, the motivation and communication of the instructional leader have the strongest correlation with teacher efficacy.
Furthermore, this result shows that each characteristic of the instructional leader is crucial in promoting teacher efficacy.In addition, the motivation and communication of the instructional leader is the most important factor in improving teacher efficacy.This result also shows that motivation from the instructional leader inspires subordinates to perform the tasks well, and communication is the method that the leader uses to share or receive information from each other effectively.Overall, the results of the current study pave the way in the research field in Cambodia related to leadership and efficacy.In addition, the current research results provide clear details of the significance of the instructional leader on teacher efficacy in improving teachers' performance in their teaching tasks.

CONCLUSION
The findings show that the instructional leader does have a high positive correlation with efficacy among Cambodian public lower secondary school teachers.All results in the 8 sub-hypotheses have a high positive correlation with a statistically significant pvalue.Furthermore, the result shows that there is a high positive correlation or a marked relationship between the instructional leader and teacher efficacy.Based on these results, the researcher can conclude that the instructional leader is a critical figure in the development of each educational institution.He or she supports teachers' efficacy in school and influences teachers in developing a teacher training program to meet the organization's needs.When the instructional leader has power and ability, motivation and communication, and behavior and confidence, they can surely promote the efficacy of public secondary school teachers to boost their performance in their teaching profession.
No. 2 Juli -Desember 2022: 163 power and ability of the instructional leader do not have any significant correlation with teacher vicarious experience.

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and self-confidence of the instructional leader do not have any significant correlation with teacher vicarious experience.

Table 1 .
Cronbach's alpha of the instructional leader (leadership of the instructional leader) and teacher efficacy

Table 3 .
The correlation coefficient between the instructional leader and teacher efficacy

Table 4 .
Correlation Coefficient Between Power and Ability of The Instructional Leader and Teacher Vicarious Experience

Table 6 .
The correlation coefficient between the power and ability of the instructional leader and teacher efficacy

Motivation and communication of the instructional leader do not have any significant correlation with teacher vicarious experience.
Table7demonstrates a moderate correlation between the motivation and communication of the instructional leader and the teacher's vicarious experience.The value of r = 0.67 shows a moderate correlation or a sustainable relationship with a statistically significant level of 0.01 (p < 0.01).

Table 9 .
The correlation coefficient between motivation and communication of the instructional leader and teacher efficacy

Table 12 .
The correlation coefficient between behavior and self-confidence of the instructional leader and teacher efficacy