The impact of school leadership on school level factors: Validation of a causal model

Abstract

This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the antecedents and effects of educational leadership, and of the influence of the principal's leadership on intervening and outcome variables. A path analysis was conducted to test and validate a causal model. The results show no direct or indirect effects of educational leadership on student commitment; instead a reciprocal relationship was found between student commitment and strategic leadership. A range of antecedent variables appears to have more effects on the school culture than educational leadership has. Finally, the principal's vision has a substantial impact on his or her educational leadership behaviours. The findings suggest the importance of cognitive processes in order to understand the complex chain of variables through which principals have an impact on school effectiveness and school improvement. The results also underline the importance of conceptualizing leadership from a contingency approach.

An Exploratory Study on Principals' Conceptions about Their Role as School Leaders

“…So far, literature on the cognitive perspective of educational administration has mainly focused on principals' thinking about practical problems and how to solve them, and summarized findings on how expertise is developed and on how novices and experts display their knowledge in a school setting (Hallinger, Leithwood, & Murphy, 1993;Leithwood & Steinbach, 1992Stager & Leithwood, 1989). More recent studies (Wassink, Sleegers, & Imants, 2003;Krüger, Witziers, & Sleegers, 2007) have analyzed the impact of the principals' vision and tacit knowledge on their activities. These activities can play a salient role in shaping the school climate.…”

“…Principals are faced with both administrative and educational leadership tasks. It is important to know what their vision is on the combination of both tasks and how they consider what has priority in these tasks (Krüger, Witziers, & Sleegers, 2007). Several authors have attempted to define leadership in terms of a portfolio of roles (Mintzberg, 1973;Yukl, 1981).…”

“…Several studies have analyzed the indirect effects (Witziers, Bosker, & Krüger, 2003). They have indicated that educational leadership is related to school organization and school climate (Krüger, Witziers, & Sleegers, 2007). However, little is known about how educational leaders influence school climate.…”

Benefits of Transformational Leadership in the Context of Education

“…After 1999, studies have been based on the examination of relationship between transformational leadership and numerous variables and showed that this style has positive impact on: satisfaction (Griffith, 2004;Leithwood & Jantzi, 2008;Bolger, 2001) motivation (Griffith, 2004;Kruger, Witziers & Sleegers, 2007), commitment (Geijsel, et. al., 2003;Yu, et.…”

“…al., 2003;Yu, et. al., 2002; professional growth (Kruger, et. al., 2007), eISSN: 2357-1330 Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of the conference 500 organizational conditions (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2000), school learning culture (Barnett, McCorminck & Conners, 2001;Kruger, et.…”