This quantitative case study examined teacher perceptions within one rural, public East Tennessee school district of principal leadership styles based upon Kouzes and Posner's five domains: challenge the process, enable others to act, encourage the heart, inspire a shared vision, and model the way to determine if a dominate domain existed within teacher perception of the principal's leadership style. Principals who understand the effectiveness and impact that different leadership styles have upon the school environment, specifically teacher perceptions, generally identify with a particular style allowing the creation of a positive educational environment (Rowland, 2008). Teacher understanding of principals' leadership styles increased self-awareness and job satisfaction the teacher achieved. Effectively decreasing the chances of teacher burnout and job-related stress (Meador, 2016).
The purpose of this study was to examine how the participants perceived their principal's transformational and transactional leadership style and whether differences existed in their perceptions based on the demographic variables of age, gender, experience, educational attainment and ethnicity. Transformational leaders were considered influential, change agents who motivated teachers to work collaboratively as a team to achieve defined goals. On the other hand, transactional leaders developed impersonal relationships and motivated teachers according to their personal self-interest. They focused on social and economic exchanges, using contingent rewards to reinforce positive behaviors and administered punishment to reform negative behaviors. One hundred and thirteen participants from six elementary schools participated in this study. The Multi-Leadership Questionnaire was used to collect data. Cronbach alpha was used to establish internal reliability consistency of the instrument. The data were analyzed using mean scores, percentages, chi-square, t-test and ANOVA. The research findings indicated that perception scores at both school levels were higher for transformational leadership than transactional leadership. According to the mean score interpretation (Table 2) and the participants' mean scores, 92.9 % of participants perceived their principal as fairly often a transformational leader and 7.1% of participants perceived their principal as frequently a transformational leader. Ironically, 100% of participants perceived their principal as sometimes a transactional leader. The research findings further indicated that overall, teachers at both levels perceived their principal as fairly often a transformational leader and sometimes a transactional leader. Based on the demographic findings, an ANOVA revealed statistically significant differences in teachers' perceptions of their principal's transformational leadership style based on years of experience. Participants with more years of experience perceived their principal with significantly higher mean scores than those with fewer years of experience. Recommendations include: (a) conducting further research to determine the impact that principals' leadership style have on student performance from a national perspective, (b) conducting a Longitudinal Research study to determine the impact that leadership styles have on student performance, and (c) exploring leadership styles extensively to identify the leadership traits exhibited by both public and private elementary school principals.
This study addresses the challenge principals face in retaining highly qualified and effective teachers in their schools. Although efforts to recruit new teachers have proven successful, teachers are leaving education at alarming rates, especially in the first four years of their careers. The purpose of this study was to identify what school principals can do to increase teachers' job satisfaction and retention. To do so, 12 veteran teachers from four schools were interviewed from February to April 2009. The participants answered questions concerning their levels of job satisfaction, their perceptions of their principals' leadership styles, and their reasons for continuing to teach. The data revealed that principals can increase teachers' job satisfaction and retention rates by encouraging positive and respectful relationships among teachers and their students and among the faculty, staff, and administration; treating teachers as professionals and providing them with opportunities for professional growth; providing teachers with positive feedback; being accessible and listening to teachers; establishing high expectations for student achievement and teacher performance; and supporting the efforts of teachers. This data will increase principals' awareness about what leadership styles and practices can increase the job satisfaction of their teachers and help them retain highly qualified and effective teachers in their schools.
The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of principal leadership styles on teacher morale. Two high schools in Pennsylvania participated in the study. A researcher-designed online survey with Likert-style rating scale, and open-ended questions were utilized to collect information. In addition, ten individual interviews were used to triangulate the data. The results of the study indicated that there was a relationship between certain principal practices and their ability to positively impact teacher morale. Participants reported the most influential principals were excellent communicators, trustworthy, knowledgeable in education matters, led by example, inspired their faculty and were highly visible throughout the day. These results imply that a principal's daily leadership practices play a vital role in positively impacting teacher morale at the high school level.
This quantitative study addressed the idea that a middle school principal could possibly impact teacher effectiveness in the classroom through the relationship of the teacher- perceived leadership style of the principal to teacher job satisfaction and efficacy. The sample consisted of 142 certified teachers from 8 public middle schools in an East Tennessee school district. Teachers completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, (Bass & Avolio, 2004) and the Job Satisfaction Survey, (Spector, 1994). Findings from this study suggest that the middle school teachers' perceptions of their principal's leadership did not have a statistically significant relationship to teacher job satisfaction. A new insight from this study suggests that principals should find ways to lead beyond teacher perceptions to address the needs of teachers in order to promote and encourage higher levels of teacher job satisfaction. Furthermore, findings from this study suggest that the middle school teachers' perceptions of their principal's leadership style had a statistically significant relationship to teacher efficacy. Findings from the exploratory question at the end of the surveys further validated this study by indicating teachers perceived their need for principal leadership to help them become more effective in the classroom by incorporating elements of both transformational and transactional leadership. This research may assist in developing leadership style training for principals desiring to indirectly influence academic achievement by influencing teacher job satisfaction and efficacy within their schools.
This study examined the relationship between principal leadership style and climate as perceived by teachers. Eleven elementary schools and 275 teachers participated in this study. The Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) assessed teachers' perceptions of principals' leadership styles. The Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire - Revised Elementary (OCDQ-RE) obtained climate data, measured as Open, Closed, Disengaged, and Engaged. Demographic data consisted of five categories: (a) Gender, (b) Years teaching, (c) Years with current principal, (d) Level of Education, and (e) SES and Star rating of each school. An analysis, utilizing Pearson's r correlations, indicated relationships existed between the five LPI and the six OCDQ-RE subscales for principal and teacher behavior. When teachers perceived exemplary principal behaviors, their perception of Collegial and Supportive climate indicators were very high and Disengagement low. Conversely, when teachers perceived low principal behaviors, their perceptions of Collegiality were low with high Restrictive climate indicators and high Disengagement. An analysis, utilizing MANOVA, indicated teachers who spent zero to two years with the principal or spent greater than six years with the principal perceived their principals in a similar manner. Teachers who spent three to five years with the principal scored the principal lower. An analysis of the SES and Star rating of the school indicated teachers from high SES schools with satisfactory achievement scored their principals higher than teachers from high SES schools with high achievement on four LPI subscales and one OCDQ-RE subscale. Findings support the proposition for continued research in the area of school climate and principal leadership.
This study examined the relationship of principal and assistant principal leadership style in shaping teachers' perceptions of their schools as professional learning communities. The researcher proposed that the traditional distinctions between the classic modes of leadership, ly, transactional and transformational modes of leadership, are difficult to interpret within the framework of professional learning community without considering the interaction of the principal and assistant principal leadership roles. Using Leithwood's (1992, 1993, 1994) definitions of leadership as transformational and management as transactional, empirical evidence from 81 schools is presented that supports the need for both leadership and management skills in the development of a professional learning community. The data also suggest that the principal alone need not be responsible for both. A leadership model for principals and assistant principals with complementary transactional and transformational modes of leadership styles is advanced.
Leadership of secondary schools is becoming more challenging in Tanzania as a result of the governments' to plan for the expansion of the secondary system in order, to accommodate the rising population of students. This study was conducted to find out the students and teachers perceptions on principals leadership styles in public secondary schools in Iringa District in Tanzania. Survey and naturalistic designs were employed, the sample size composed of 345 respondents. Fifteen secondary schools were randomly selected for the study. Questionnaires and interview guide were used to collect data.The study revealed that the students ' and teachers' perceived their principals as either having little, moderate or excellent leadership styles. The principals rarely involved students and teachers in solving instructional problems, the principals did not delegate responsibilities and principals were not transparent in financial management. It was recommended that principals should attend trainings on leadership, practice transparency of financial management, delegate of responsibility, and should foster a good working relationship in schools.
Since a building principal is the most important employee in a school building with regards to setting educational standards and creating culture, it is important for this leader to consider leadership style and to recognize the importance of teachers' perceptions on effectiveness. The purpose of this ex post facto study was to explore the relationship between the leadership style of building principals and perceived effectiveness of those leaders. Subtopics of this study considered the relationship that gender, leadership style, and educational level of the school building (elementary vs. secondary) have on perceived effectiveness of leaders. Data were collected via Bass & Avolio's web-based survey entitled the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) from a sampling of elementary and secondary building principals in Nassau and Suffolk County districts and at least five faculty members from each principal's school. In total, 38 building principals and 236 teachers participated in the study. Descriptive statistics were compiled on the demographic data obtained, and two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests and an Independent Samples t-test were run using SPSS to understand if there was any significant relationship between gender, type of school and leadership styles or between leadership style, gender, type of school and the perceived effectiveness of the building principal. Further, this study explored if there was a statistically significant difference between the perceptions about leadership style and effectiveness between principal participants and teacher raters. Results of the study revealed non-significant associations for all research questions; however, statistically significant simple main effects found that at the elementary level, female principals were considered significantly more transformational than male principals. Findings also indicated that teachers on both educational levels perceived their male principals to exhibit more laissez-faire leadership behaviors than female principals, and there was a statistically significant difference in effectiveness scores between elementary and secondary school levels for male principals with elementary school teachers rating their male principals as more effective. Through these findings, certain strategies can be ascertained to help current leaders reflect on practice, to better prepare future leaders, and to contribute to the discourse about gender, school type, and leadership in education.
