Personality and resilience characteristics of preschool principals: an iterative study

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-46
Author(s):  
Angeliki Lazaridou
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
Big Five ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Big Five Inventory ◽  
Primary School Principals ◽  
Professional Development Needs ◽  
Successful School

PurposeThis article reports findings from an investigation of the personality traits and resilience of a sample of preschool principals in Greece. It parallels an earlier investigation of primary school principals and compares the findings. As before, the investigation was designed to search for relationships between respondents’ personality characteristics and resilience strengths, and also for differences associated with sex, age, and years of service in the principalship. Once again, the “Big-Five Inventory” and the “Leadership Resilience Profile” were used. These outcomes, together with the demographics of the sample, suggested that Greek preschool principals may have unique dispositions, and therefore, may have unique professional-development needs and leadership preferences.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative survey was used to gather the data from a sample of 100 pre school teachers. The “Big Five Inventory” and the “Leadership Resilience Profile” were the instruments used.FindingsIt was found that the sample’s personality characteristics and resilience strengths differed somewhat from norms reported in the literature. Furthermore, the findings concerning relationships between resilience and personality did not align clearly with other researchers’ findings.Originality/valueResilience and personality characteristics as determinants of successful school leadership.

Time management profiles of Cypriot school principals: a mixed-methods approach

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 492-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgia Kouali ◽  
Petros Pashiardis
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Management Style ◽  
Leadership And Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Use Of Time ◽  
Primary School Principals ◽  
Management Techniques

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a piece of research concerning the time management of Cypriot primary school principals. Time management refers to the interrelation of five independent variables: the various tasks principals perform, their frequency, the degree of accomplishment of those tasks, the use of time management techniques and time management style (from monochronic to polychronic). Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative methods were used (questionnaire) together with qualitative methods (observation, interviews, collection of artifacts), in order to obtain richer, deeper data and view multiple angles of the same phenomenon. Findings – The results of cluster analysis indicated three different time management profiles/types of principals: The Centralized Monochrons, the Procrastinative Managers and the Decentralized Polychrons. One basic conclusion is that the principals who adopt the practices of the Decentralized Polychrons manage better their time. Practical implications – The three time management profiles of principals are described, analysed, and discussed in order to reach conclusions about the selection, training, and placement of school principals. Through the description of the everyday practice of Cypriot principals useful information concerning school leadership and management are also provided. Finally, the conclusions of this research may prove useful for principals, because they are provided with the opportunity to rethink and evaluate their own time management and effectiveness of their daily practices. Originality/value – The creation and description of the three time management profiles is the main contribution of this piece of research, since there are not any time management types-profiles registered in the bibliography, which were produced with the use of scientific instruments and procedures.

Heroic leadership in Australia, Sweden, and the United States

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 785-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrie Drysdale ◽  
Jeffrey Bennett ◽  
Elizabeth T. Murakami ◽  
Olof Johansson ◽  
David Gurr
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Success ◽  
School Principals ◽  
The United States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
School Communities ◽  
The Usa ◽  
School Principalship ◽  
Successful School

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to draw from data collected as part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) and present cases of democratic and heroic leadership from three countries, discussing to what extent successful school principals in each of their research sites (Melbourne, Australia; Umeå, Sweden; Arizona and Texas in the USA) carry old and new perspectives of heroism in their leadership. In particular the paper explores two questions: first, how do school principals describe aspects of heroic and post-heroic leadership in their practices? and second, how do these heroic and post-heroic leadership practices meet contemporary demands such as accountability standards and build inclusive and collaborative school communities in challenging contexts? Design/methodology/approach – Multiple-perspective case studies involving semi-structured individual and group interviews with principals, teachers, students, parents and school board members were used to understand the contribution of principals and other leadership to school success. Findings – The definitions of heroic and post-heroic leadership are inadequate in defining successful principal leadership. The Australian, Swedish and American principals showed characteristics of both heroic and post-heroic leadership. They showed heroic qualities such as: inspiring and motivating others; challenging the status quo; showing integrity in conflicting situations; putting duty before self; taking risks to champion a better way; showing courage to stand up to those in authority; advocating for students in struggling neighbourhoods under the scrutiny of both district and public expectations; and, showing uncommon commitment. Yet our principals showed post-heroic leadership such as involving others in decision making and recognising that school success depended on collective effort, and being sensitive to community needs through a deep respect for the local culture. Originality/value – The research shows that we may need to redefine and recast our images of who school principals are today, and what they do to generate academic success for students. Both heroic and post-heroic images of leadership are needed to explain successful school leadership.

Perspectives on principal instructional leadership in Vietnam: a preliminary model

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Hallinger ◽  
Allan Walker ◽  
Dao Thi Hong Nguyen ◽  
Thang Truong ◽  
Thi Thinh Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Leadership ◽  
Primary School ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Instructional Leaders ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Primary School Principals ◽  
Preliminary Model ◽  
Principal Instructional Leadership

Purpose Worldwide interest in principal instructional leadership has led to global dissemination of related research findings despite their concentration in a limited set of western cultural contexts. An urgent challenge in educational leadership and management lies in expanding the range of national settings for investigations of instructional leadership. The current study addressed this challenge in the context of Vietnam, a nation with a very limited formal knowledge base in school leadership (Hallinger and Bryant, 2013b; Hallinger and Truong, 2014). The purpose of this paper is to describe the perspectives of Vietnamese primary school principals toward their role as instructional leaders, illuminate instructional leadership practices perceived as important by the principals, and develop a preliminary model of instructional leadership within the Vietnamese education context. Design/methodology/approach This study was a qualitative inquiry that sought to illuminate the perspectives of Vietnamese principals toward their role as instructional leaders. The research employed semi-structured interviews with 27 primary school principals. Data analysis employed grounded theory in order to synthesize results gathered from the principals into a preliminary conceptual model. Findings The study yielded a preliminary model of principal instructional leadership in Vietnam. The authors’ model evidences similarities to western models of instructional leadership by including dimensions focusing on setting direction, managing curriculum and instruction and developing the school learning climate. Differences also emerged in terms of two additional constructs, building solidarity and managing external relationships. Other distinctive practices of Vietnamese instructional leaders also emerged in the findings which the authors suggest can be linked to the institutional, political and socio-cultural context of education in this society. Research limitations/implications Key limitations arise from the focus on primary schools, small size of the sample, absence of data from the Northern region of Vietnam, and lack of verification of principals’ perspectives with data from other stakeholders. Originality/value This study is one of the first empirical studies of Vietnamese school leadership submitted for publication in international refereed journals and the first study that has that sought to conceptualize the instructional leadership role of principals in Vietnam. Moreover, the study illustrates how conceptualizations of school leadership are shaped by features of specific societies. This lends credence to scholarly admonitions concerning the lack of universality of leadership theories.

School leadership, teacher’s psychological empowerment and work-related outcomes

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 1501-1514
Author(s):  
Kersti Kõiv ◽  
Kadi Liik ◽  
Mati Heidmets
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
Indirect Effect ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Psychological Empowerment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Perceived Leadership ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of teacher’s psychological empowerment between school leadership style and teachers’ work-related outcomes. Design/methodology/approach A total of 711 teachers from 31 Estonian schools were surveyed with a questionnaire measuring four dimensions of psychological empowerment (competence, meaning, self-determination and impact), school leadership characteristics (leadership style, leader’s empowering behavior and trust in leader) and teacher’s work-related outcomes (job satisfaction and workplace attachment). AMOS path analysis was used to investigate the direct and indirect relations between the teachers’ perceptions of school leadership, their psychological empowerment and their workplace attachment and job satisfaction. Findings This study found that psychological empowerment (subscales meaning and impact) mediates the relationship between perceived leadership empowerment behavior and teachers’ work-related outcomes. Also, the psychological empowerment (meaning and impact) mediates the relationship between perceived leadership style and teachers’ work-related outcomes. Trust in the principal has direct and indirect effect (through psychological empowerment) on job satisfaction, whereas there only seems to be indirect effect on workplace attachment through two components of psychological empowerment. Practical implications The mediating role of psychological empowerment includes an important message for school principals – in order to empower employees it is not sufficient to merely delegate formal power and decision-making rights. To facilitate the development of psychological empowerment, it is important to provide employees with an opportunity to experience agency, to experience that their voice and opinions are taken into account (perceived impact) and the purpose and targets of the whole organization are discussed with the employees and formulated in collaboration with them (perceived meaning). Originality/value Psychological empowerment as a mediating variable has not been widely researched, especially in school environment. The results will provide important signals for school principals, where and how to find leverage to improve teachers’ job satisfaction and workplace attachment.

scholarly journals Hitchhiking: Associations With Big Five and Emotional Competences

2020 ◽  
pp. 003329412095355
Author(s):  
Sylvain Laborde ◽  
Sebastian Gerlach ◽  
Robert Vaughan
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Longitudinal Studies ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Big Five Inventory ◽  
Study Participants

After a decrease in its practice, the interest in hitchhiking is currently renewed. However, so far, very little is known about the personality characteristics of hitchhikers. Consequently, the aim of this study was to investigate the associations between hitchhiking and personality traits, with the Big Five and emotional competences. Five hundred and seventy-eight travellers (452 hitchhikers, Mage = 28.4 years old; and 126 non-hitchhikers, Mage = 27.7 years old) took part in the study. Participants completed an online survey including hitchhiking behaviour, the Big Five Inventory, and the Profile for Emotional Competences. After controlling for sociodemographic factors, hitchhiking was found to be positively associated with openness, and negatively associated with neuroticism. No associations were found with emotional competences. These findings improve our understanding of the personality characteristics associated with hitchhiking, however longitudinal studies are required to understand how hitchhiking is related to personality.

scholarly journals Leadership as Sustainability: Context and Primary School Principals in Jamaica

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-149
Author(s):  
Paul Miller ◽  
Veronica Gaynor ◽  
Collington Powell ◽  
Shernette Powell ◽  
Eugenie Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Principals ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Parental Engagement ◽  
Single Individual ◽  
Primary School Principals ◽  
New Form

School leadership is as challenging as it is rewarding. And, in a fast paced educational policy environment, school leaders sometimes are having to play catchup with the latest government mandate. This challenge is exacerbated in environments where economic and social problems and lack of parental engagement in education are a daily occurrence and a significant risk to the effectiveness of schools. While we recognize the notion of sustainable school leadership is continuing its evolution, we also acknowledge it is not a single act and nor is it enacted by a single individual. Reporting findings from a qualitative study of primary school leaders in Jamaica, we argue that sustainable school leadership is not a new form of leadership, but rather a type of leadership that combines multiple practices to produce long-term impacts on members of a school community that are “now” and “futures” oriented.

Assessing and strengthening instructional leadership among primary school principals in Vietnam

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 396-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hảo Thi Nguyễn ◽  
Philip Hallinger ◽  
Chia Wen Chen
Keyword(s):  
Educational Leadership ◽  
Instructional Leadership ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Leadership And Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Primary School Principals ◽  
Principal Instructional Leadership

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to add to an emerging literature on educational leadership and management in Vietnam by addressing several goals. First, the study sought to translate, adapt, and validate an existing measurement instrument, the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS) Teacher Form, for use in Vietnam. Next, it aimed to describe patterns of instructional leadership evidenced among a sample of urban and rural primary school principals. Then, the researchers examined if these patterns of principal instructional leadership could be linked to one or more “antecedent variables”: school size, school location (urban/rural), principal’s gender and prior teaching experience. Finally, the paper sought insights from principals and teachers on how instructional leadership could be strengthened in the Vietnamese education context. Design/methodology/approach Both quantitative survey and qualitative methods were used in this study. The sample consisted of 569 teachers and 117 principals working in 117 primary schools located in Ho Chi Minh province of Vietnam. Data collection employed a translated and adapted Vietnamese language form of the PIMRS Teacher Form. An open-ended question posed to both teachers and principals was included in the survey instrument to gather recommendations for strengthening instructional leadership in Vietnam. The research used Rasch analysis, Cronbach’s test of internal consistency, confirmatory factor analysis, t-tests, and analysis of variance in data analysis. Findings The research achieved a preliminary validation of a Vietnamese language Teacher Form of the PIMRS. The analysis of PIMRS data gathered from teachers found that the primary school principals were perceived to be exercising instructional leadership at a surprisingly high level. Consistent with international research findings, selected evidence indicated stronger instructional leadership from the female principals, though the pattern was not strong. None of the other antecedents evidenced a significant relationship with patterns of principal instructional leadership. A number of overlapping recommendations were made by teachers and principals for strengthening instructional leadership in Vietnam. Research limitations/implications Although a Teacher Form of the PIMRS Vietnam was successfully validated, follow-up studies should be conducted with both the Teacher Form and Principal Form of this instrument. More broadly, the high scores on the PIMRS accorded to the principals in this study were deemed “surprising” in light of the lack of prior policy focus and training on this role of the principal in Vietnam. Thus, the authors recommend that this research be extended to a larger cross-level study of schools from different parts of Vietnam in order to provide additional confirmation of these preliminary findings. Practical implications Feedback from principals and teachers indicated a need for system leaders to articulate instructional leadership more explicitly as part of the principal’s role set in Vietnam. Only then will it become part of the formal expectations that shape principals’ practice and the preparation and professional development programs in which they participate. The principals also suggested that instructional leadership could be strengthened by enabling model principals to share instructional leadership practices with colleagues. Finally, teachers and principals highlighted the need to broaden, legitimate, and strengthen sources of instructional leadership within the school beyond the principal. These suggestions are not only consistent with policy actions taken in other societies, but are also grounded in the context of education in Vietnam. Originality/value The first internationally published study of educational leadership and management in Vietnam only appeared in 2012. In the succeeding years, several qualitative studies have emerged describing principal leadership practices in a handful of schools. The current study represents the first published quantitative study of school leadership from Vietnam. Although the results are preliminary in nature, the study provides both baseline data on principal instructional leadership and a validated instrument that can be used in future research.

Broken bridges: a social network perspective on urban high school leadership

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 562-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Hwa Liou ◽  
Alan J. Daly
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Social Network ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
High School Principals ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Urban High School ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Innovative Climate ◽  
The Social ◽  
Secondary School Leadership

Purpose Secondary school leadership provides multiple challenges in terms of the diversity of tasks, multiple demands on time, balancing communities and attending to instructional programming. An emerging scholarship suggests the importance of a distributed instructional leadership approach to high school leadership. However, what has been less thoroughly explored is how secondary school leadership is distributed leaders across a school district. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the social structure and positions urban high school principals occupy in the district system. Design/methodology/approach This study was conducted in one urban fringe public school district in southern California serving diverse students populations. The data were collected at three time points starting in Fall 2012 and ending in Fall 2014 from a district-wide leadership team including all central office and site leaders. All leaders were asked to assess their social relations and perception of innovative climate. The data were analyzed through a series of social network indices to examine the structure and positions of high school principals. Findings Results indicate that over time high school principals have decreasing access to social capital and are typically occupying peripheral positions in the social network. The high school principals’ perception of innovative climate across the district decreases over time. Originality/value This longitudinal study, one of the first to examine high school principals from a network perspective, sheds new light on the social infrastructure of urban high school principals and what this might mean for efforts at improvement.

Creating successful and unique schools: leadership, context and systems thinking perspectives

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Gurr ◽  
Fiona Longmuir ◽  
Christopher Reed
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
Systems Thinking ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
System Thinking ◽  
Leadership Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Community Factors ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
Systems Model ◽  
Successful School

PurposeThrough discussion of research about the leadership of two schools, this paper explores the complexity of school leadership and how various contextual elements interact with the work of principals in schools that are attempting to create inclusive, rich, worthwhile and unique schools. A systems thinking leadership and context model is developed to frame the exploration of the two cases, which, in turn, helps inform the veracity and development of the model.Design/methodology/approachThe research reported is broadly based on multiple-perspective case studies that have included individual and/or group interviews with school leaders, teachers, students, parents and/or school council members, observation and document analysis. The focus for this paper is on evidence from the cases that elucidate the model.FindingsA leadership and context view of schools helps to understand how school leaders work with, within and influence various contextual factors to develop schools that are both successful and unique. The cases demonstrated how individual leadership factors including career histories, personalities and values coalesced with school and broader community factors in reciprocal ways that resulted in school-specific improvements.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is limited by the nature of bounded, small number, qualitative case research. Nevertheless, the authors suggest that the school leadership and context systems model the authors presented captures much of the complexity of the successful leadership of these schools. The authors further suggest that this model provides a conceptual contribution to the study of successful school leadership that moves beyond more linear leadership views. Implications of this research and the conceptual contributions that the authors advance are that leadership and context should be considered in reciprocal and nuanced ways across a complex variety of contextual levels.Practical implicationsThese cases explore the growth and development of new school communities and capture the dynamic interactions between leadership and context within the complex arrangements of policy, system, history and community. The cases demonstrated how individual leadership factors, including career histories, personalities and values, coalesced with school and broader community factors in reciprocal ways that resulted in school-specific improvements. These findings and the system thinking leadership model help school leaders to consider their own work in developing successful and unique schools.Social implicationsSchool leadership is important for school success, and schools that meet student and community needs are important for society. The authors’ system thinking leadership model helps school leaders improve their practice in creating more interesting and successful schools that meet student and community needs.Originality/valueAt a time when international sharing of information and international testing of schools is pushing towards a uniformity of thinking about what good schools should be, the reality of leading schools is far different. This paper contributes to the knowledge about how school leaders navigate contextual complexities to create successful and unique schools that meet local needs.

Primary school principals in Ethiopia: Selection and preparation

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 651-681
Author(s):  
Tesfaye Gemechu Gurmu
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Primary School Principals ◽  
And Performance ◽  
And Training

The study is an explanatory qualitative research that seeks to investigate the processes of Ethiopian primary school principals’ selection and training for professionalising principals. The participants are seven faculty members, 11 school principals and five education officials. Data are collected through semi-structured interview, focus group discussion and document analysis that are analysed thematically. Findings of the study show that the denial of principalship to professional graduates and political affiliation lens are scenarios that inform principals’ selection for leadership positions. Selection criteria that give emphasis to university degree Grade Point Average (GPA), teaching experience and performance are deciding who is selected for postgraduate diploma in school leadership (PGDSL) training. These indicate the gap the selection processes have in selecting competent leaders for the training. The study also shows that the duration of the primary school principals’ training is short. Its curriculum lacks depth and breadth. Albeit the training helps trainees to be familiarised with school leading, it is deficient in informing principalship professionalisation. The Ministry of Education, therefore, needs to revisit the selection and training processes so that proper criteria and procedures, inform the selection and training of competent professionals needed in the area.

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