In this specialist work, current knowledge about management in education, styles of school leadership and instructional school leadership is presented, starting from the assumption of the application of instructional school leadership as an important factor in effective teaching and learning. Instructional school management combines the activities by which the head of an educational institution influences effective teaching and better educational achievements. For the purposes of this work, a research question was defined. The question gathers information on the activities that a principal of the elementary school applies in instructional school leadership, in relation to teachers and students, viewed from the perspective of educational workers. The research was conducted in an urban elementary school. The results of the research confirm that the headmistress applies the activities of instructional school leadership, to a greater extent those directed at teachers, and to a lesser extent those oriented towards students. The contribution of this work lies in the formulation of proposals for the implementation of instructional school leadership in Croatian elementary school with the aim of improving school leadership, greater teaching effectiveness and better educational achievements, and in opening new research questions about instructional school leadership within the Croatian educational context.