Educational Leadership for Parental Involvement in an Islamic Boarding School in Indonesia

Parental involvement yielded positive outcomes for students academically and non-academically. In this case, a school principal holds a significant role in maintaining and increasing parental involvement quality at schools. Nonetheless, research on school principals and parental participation in Indonesia, particularly in boarding schools, is still deemed limited. This paper, therefore, aims to deepen understanding of school leadership in dealing with parental participation in the Islamic Boarding school context. This study used a qualitative approach. It used semi-structured interviews and observations as the main data resources. Using six parental involvement models by Epstein, this study analyzed the school leadership models that are mostly used in a boarding school context. This study found that school leaders have a significant role in promoting the practice of parental involvement at school. There are at least three primary roles of the school principal found in an Islamic Boarding school in this study: instructional leader, administrative leader, and community leader. Keywords: educational leader; leadership; parental involvement.