31-05-2012, 05:11 PM
ATTRIBUTES OF SCHOOL PRINCIPALS- LEADERSHIP QUALITIES & CAPACITIES
ATTRIBUTES OF SCHOOL PRINCIPALS- LEADERSHIP QUALITIES & CAPACITIES.pdf (Size: 126.57 KB / Downloads: 182)
Abstract
Successful leadership is not the result of simply obtaining a position, but rather possessing the
knowledge and understanding of successful leadership skills along with the personal ability to
effectively implement those skills. Hence, "School leaders need impressive skills to provide
effective leadership in our diverse school environments”. However Leadership is not a concept
for self but it should be rightly perceived by followers. The study examines the relationship of
teachers’ perception of the Leadership Capacities of their Principals to the Leadership Qualities
of Empathy, Decision making, Time Management, Comfort etc. Three Hundred School teachers
from Malaysia participaed in the study. Self Developed Questionnaire on Leadership Capacities
and Qualities was given to the sample. The findings showed that the Principals were perceived to
be having Moderate leadership Capacities and Moderate level of Leadership Qualities. However
there is strong and positive correlation between perception of teachers on leadership capacities
and leadership qualities of principals.
Key Words: School Principalship, Leadership Capacities, Leadership Qualities, Leadership
attributes
INTRODUCTION
Leadership plays an indispensible role in effectiveness of an educational institution, right from
the setting of goals to accomplishment of goals. Various researches have linked the school
effectiveness with the leadership. In absence of leadership goal accomplishment and school
effectiveness is never guaranteed. In view of Cheng and Townsend (2000) for education change
and effectiveness, the role of principal is often crucial to their success. The principal is
challenged to create the culture of quality that penetrates to the smallest elements, processes and
the systems of an institution. It is common experience that under the same set of rules and
regulations, with same set of teaching staff and students from similar background, an educational
institution degenerates or maintains status quo, or rises to prominence with a change of principal.
This is also borne out by large number of research studies on management of change in
education, Mukhaopadhyay (2001)
LITERATURE REVIEW
Various researchers have tried to interpret school leadership in different manner. Peretomode (1991)
stated the importance of Leadership in school for accomplishment of school programmes, objectives and
attainment of educational goals. Cheng (1994) proposed that leadership in educational institutions
compose of five major dimensions, namely: structural leadership, human leadership, political leadership,
cultural leadership and educational leadership. These five dimensions describe the role and functions of
school leader. However the functions of principal put a variety of demands and challenges for the
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principal Mestry and Grobler (2004). In an attempt to explain the requirements of a competent principal,
Cranston (2002) explained the skills and capacities which principals are expected to possess.
Principals’ competencies can be measured from various dimensions; from the perceptions of students,
teachers, parents, communities and their employers. For instance, Scotti Jr. and William (1997) agreed
that teachers’ perceptions of their principals’ leadership is one of the many variables, which affect a
school’s productivity. Teachers’ perception of principals’ leadership behavior is also positively related to
teachers’ morale Hunter-Boykin and Evans (1995). Luo (2004) further contended that perceptions about
principals as leaders by their teachers indicate an important dimension to evaluate the leaders capacities.
According to him, understanding how teachers perceive their principals leadership capacities has a great
significance and providing evidence for improvement of school leadership. Research has also
demonstrated that teachers’ perceptions of their principals’ capabilities and their working conditions will
determine the organizational climate and culture of the school. Such perceptions will also impact on the
performance of the school .In a study in America, Hunter-Boykin and Evans (1995) found that majority of
the principals were rated as ineffective by their teachers. This reflects that there is a big discrepancy
between what the principals’ are and how they are perceived by the teachers. And in Hong Kong, the
images of the principal in the mind of pre-service primary teachers were found to be negative. Lee,
Walker and Bodycott, (2000). A study by Luo and Najjar (2007), investigated Chinese principal
leadership capacities as perceived by master teachers. Unlike in many developed countries where studies
on principals’ competencies are available in multitude, such studies are still at its low in Malaysia.
Keeping in mind the importance of role of the principal as a leader within the secondary school system, it
is imperative to examine the leadership attributes of school principals. This is particularly so because of
the fact that schools in this country serve for the large section of national students. Most studies in this
country have focused on leadership styles, rather than leadership attributes. The study therefore intends to
fill this gap by investigating the perception of teachers on the leadership attributes of their principals in
terms of leadership capacities and leadership qualities.
Objective of the Study
The objective of this study is to examine perceptions of senior teachers regarding the leadership attributes
of their principals. It tries to answer the following questions
1. What are the perceptions of Teachers on the Leadership Attributes (Capacities and Qualities) of
their principals?
2. Is there any correlation between Leadership Capacities and Leadership Qualities of Principals as
perceived by the teachers?
Methodology
Sample
Three hundred teachers from thirty national schools participated in study. All the teachers have over six
years of experience with same principal.
Research Instrument The instrument used for the teachers was titled “Attribute of My Principal”
comprising two parts; Part I- My Principals’ Leadership Capacities (MPLC) to measure the leadership
capacities of Principals. The questionnaire included twenty seven items classified into six dimensions of
school vision, instructional leadership, organizational leadership, community leadership, moral
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dimensions and political concept, which were developed from the statements of ISLLC standards. The
first three dimensions (school vision, instructional leadership, organizational leadership) are considered as
School based potentials while the last three (community leadership, moral dimensions and political
concept) as out of school potentials. Part II- Leadership qualities of My Principal.The questionnaire has
eight dimensions comprising five items each, total items being forty. These dimensions are
Communication skills, Comfort, Empathy, Decision Making, Influence, Self Management, Time
management and Commitment