Leadership, Professional Development and Teachers’ Practice in Bedouin High Schools

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the Bedouin educational system from the leadership context and its relation with professional development and to test professional development impact on teachers' practice. The research relies on the theory of full range leadership model and professional development and teaching practice.Design/methodology/approach-the questionnaires assessing the variables of interest were completed by 306 teachers in 22 Bedouin high schools in the Negev in south of Israel, in addition to an interview with 10 principals.As results of the study, hypotheses which expect a positive relationship between transformational and transactional leadership and professional development have been rejected. On the other hand hypothesis that expects no relationship between laissez-faire leadership and professional development and hypothesis which expects a positive relationship between professional development and teachers practice have been accepted.Keywords: Bedouin, leadership, professional development, teachers practice IntroductionThe Bedouin society today is in the transitional process from traditional social life to the life of a modern society, although about a half of them lived in temporary villages.In modern life, the education is one of the main and essential aspects for the cultural design, personal and group development, social, economic, stratification and politics in any society.There are two key factors influencing effective education: The first major aspect of school management is leadership, because leadership is a main factor that contributes significantly to the overall well-being of organizations and nations. The second important factor is professionalism of teachers. School effectiveness and professional development are closely related. It is within this context that the importance of leadership in improving the quality of schools is identified as a crucial element therefore; there is a place to explore and to analyze the educational system from a leadership context and its relation with professional development and the professional development impact on teachers' practice. Theatrical Literature-Leadership Styles Transformational LeadershipTransformative leaders are characterized as managerial leaders who focus on supervising, organizing, and performing staff. The changes that are made on the subordinates by the transformative leader are changes of a Salih Alasad, Ph.D., School of Business Administration, West University of Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania. Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Salih Alasad, P.O. Box 161, Lakia 8499100, Israel. higher status and may include a change of values and beliefs. The transformative leader (designer) has the ability to shape the expectations of the people and make them new expectations which they did not have before from themselves at the beginning of interaction with the leader. Transformational leadership is the leader's ability to generate enthusiasm, emotional involvement, and commitment from subordinates and organiza...