The principal's praxis of pedagogical leadership in nurturing teaching and learning in Cambodian primary school

This study was undertaken to explore the strategies which has used to exercise pedagogical leadership through building social, academic, intellectual and professional capital which based upon Sergiovanni's model (1998). Specifically, it encompasses five particular objectives determined in the form question. Firstly, in what way do principals develop social capital? This question put emphasizes on the strategies through which the principals have adopted to deepen engagement with communities, particularly families and neighbours as good partners in improving children's learning. Secondly, in what way do principals build academic capital? It stresses the ways in which principals have tried to promote focused communities, cultivating a strong and clear commitment towards developing a deep culture of teaching and learning. Thirdly, in what way do principals develop intellectual capital? It focuses mainly on how the principals have created learning communities within which the teachers are able to develop their knowledge and experiences so that they are able to use this technique to transform classroom into learning communities. Fourthly, in what way do principals develop professional capital? This question underlined the cultivation of communities of practice as a way to promote professional development. Fifthly, which are dimensions of the pedagogical leadership achieved and not achieved? This question aimed at exploring what the principals practice successfully and unsuccessfully. Methodologically, the exploratory sequential mixed design synthesized by holistic multiple case study in the first and survey design in the second phase was employed because this study aims at seeking the experiences of the principals in applying the pedagogical leadership for nurturing teaching and learning in their schools. Paradigmatically, subjectivist approach of investigation in interpretivist paradigm was dominant on functionalist or positivist paradigm. Thus, the priority was put in the qualitative methods. Two districts of Punhea Lueu and Kandal Steung in Kandal province of Cambodia were chosen as study areas while four school principals from Punhea Lueu district were selected purposively as participant for in-depth interview. Then, the results were used to design a questionnaire for survey data collection. 38 principals from both districts were randomly selected as questionnaire completers. Analytically, contend analysis supported by Nvivo software was applied with qualitative data whereas percentage of descriptive statistical analysis was computed. As results, fifteen themes were founded for building social capital such as adhering to non-violence, being transparent, being honest, building and maintaining trust, exchanging information, expectation for developing school, following work routine, helping each other, keeping good relation with both inside and outside the school, promoting equality, spending own pocket money if necessary, spending time to talk with colleagues and students, tolerating each other and well planning daily activities. For academic capital, the principals encourage the teachers to assign regular homework, ask the students to help each other, build trust among students, design moderate curriculum, encourage students to be hardworking, create conducive school environment, find external support, ask students to keep good relation with teachers, make group discussion, motivate students, take care of underperforming students, play game, provide enough material resources, promote learning link to real life problem, promote self-preparation and student cooperation, encourage sharing knowledge among students, set up student councils, set up study clubs. In order to build intellectual capital, the principals have created an open environment, designed clear regular plan, promoted lifelong learning, provided teacher autonomy, increased general knowledge, promoted sharing knowledge, freedom of expression, mental training, professional ethics, and teacher participation in discussing and decision making, and trained enough pedagogical skill. For professional capital, principals have promoted evidence-based teaching strategies, provided enough pre-service and in-service. Furthermore, academic and professional capital were practice most successfully. However, they have faced some challenges in pedagogical practice such as lack of ICT skill, and financial as well as material resources, and parent involvement, power competition, student's home mobility, maternal leave and disable students. Keywords: Pedagogical leadership, Social, Academic, Intellectual and Professional Capital