Positive School Leadership Behaviors

To introduce and define the core behaviors of positive school leadership (PSL), we explore six positively anchored sets of work (supporting, developing relationships, establishing values, acting authentically, modeling, and enabling or empowering) that move us beyond the deeply ingrained negative and deficit roots that have defined schooling for over a century. The exploration of research primarily on positive organizational scholarship (POS) accomplishes this, showing that POS attends to the growth of others and helps grow and reinforce relationships that focus on personalization, trust, and caring. Additionally, PSL produces important outcomes, enhancing the cultural climate in schools in particular; however, it is also important to note that the current structure and culture of schooling create significant barriers to the implementation of PSL.

Emotional reframing as a mediator of the relationships between transformational school leadership and teachers’ motivation and commitment

Purpose Empirical evidence links transformational school leadership to teachers’ autonomous motivation and affective organizational commitment. Little empirical research, however, has focused on the emotional mechanisms behind these relations. Following the argument in the literature that transformational leadership can transform followers’ emotions, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether teacher’s experience of emotional reframing by principal mediates the relationships between transformational school leadership and these work-related outcomes (i.e. teachers’ motivation and commitment). Design/methodology/approach Questionnaires were used to collect information from 639 primary school teachers nested in 69 randomly sampled schools. The data were analyzed using multilevel path analysis software. Findings The results indicated that the effect of transformational school leadership behaviors on teachers’ autonomous motivation was fully mediated by emotional reframing, and that the effect of transformational school leadership on affective organizational commitment was partially mediated by it. The authors further found an indirect relationship of transformational school leadership with affective organizational commitment through emotional reframing and autonomous motivation. Originality/value The present study makes a unique contribution to the literature by confirming that teachers’ sense of emotional reframing is a key affective mechanism by which school leaders influence teachers’ motivation and commitment.