The Impact of Different Styles of Educational Leadership - Research Paper Example

Educational Leadership Styles Name: Lecturer: Course name: Course code: Date: Abstract Recent academic literature has focused on the impact of different styles of educational leadership styles. This paper discussed the theories behind educational leadership, analyzed various leadership models and focus on the leadership style of the disposal of the head teacher. This paper showed what those differences were and the possibility that a school head could have a preference of a leadership style over another. There has been a considerable change in responsibilities of a school head. Leadership styles came into vogue in the 20th century when there was growing concern over complexity of leadership roles, professional status, remuneration and legal constraints. The key focus of this research project was to establish the role of various leadership styles in British schools. To achieve this goal, a qualitative survey was carried out. The study sample in this investigation was obtained from teachers of a school in Britain. 10 teachers from the school were chosen to respond to a questionnaire. A review of the results given in this investigation indicated that there are statistically significant differences in school leadership styles. In relation to the implications for the development of British education, the results give a significant insight into the benefits of adopting transformational leadership in schools. Introduction The aim of this study was to establish and compare leadership styles and determine their preferred status in schools. It essentially sought to evaluate and analyze significant difference of leadership styles applied in educational institutions. It also reiterated the relationship between the different management styles and whether a school head can choose a certain style and apply it effectively. Recent academic literature has focused on the impact of different styles of educational leadership styles. This paper discussed the theories behind educational leadership, analyzed various leadership models and focus on the leadership style of the disposal of the head teacher. Nationally, some British head teachers do not seem prepared in totality to take up roles simply because they spent more years in similar positions but not necessarily same as head teachers. Leadership styles have been the greatest concern of key stakeholders in the education sector who strongly support the pursuit of excellence. This study borrowed from the broad research into the leadership in academic and social institutions all over the world. It has fascinated readers with crucial knowledge and learning experience to the researcher and general readers. In Britain, education is supervised by the Department of Educational and Employment. A prospectus was released by the then government of Tony Blair, outlining the leadership and vision of the schools. This was made possible through adoption of a Teachers Green Paper through the National College for School Leadership (NCSL). Most schools in the country have stabilized teaching courses on policy management and people leadership. They comprise quality and management performance, education and law, and effective leadership. In summary, the study looked into leadership inspiration like vision, coherence, status and direction. Sectors on motivation, refining plans and setting objectives, responsiveness, communication, and being adaptive to turbulence in schools are emphasized. These factors helped to make conclusions of the findings where the results showed that the head teacher preferred transformational leadership. Literature Review The past century has pointed out to several lessons of analyzing educational organizations. One predominant model is the traditional approach, which assumes that organizations as a hierarchical system where intelligence and power, emanated at the top and trickled down by commands and control to the basic levels of the system prior being practiced. As opined by Chrispeels, Burke, Johnson and Daly (2008), substantial gains in student learning have taken place, though a top-down leadership approach may slow down organizational learning by obstructing flexibility or teacher discretion in satisfying the requirements of variety of learners. A newer perspective on the perception of organizational leadership is the thinking of organizations as epitome of cooperation, collegial and collaboration in which the belief in excellent ideas exist at each level of the organization. Some of these ideas can be demonstrated when the leaders of those in the lead perform in ways to reward subordinates to maximize on their capabilities (Owens & Valesky, 2007). For the past twenty years, the public and the legislators have exerted external pressures to motivate schools to create and change platforms of education. School restructuring and leadership have been in the lead of school reform in the desire to look into school performance and student attainment (Goker, 2006). In investigating school growth and student performance, individuals should comprehend leadership and administration refers working with and among other individuals to attain organizational goals. Toiling towards attaining organizational goals, school leadership has to consider organizational behavior. Organizational behavior from the perception of Owens and Valesky (2007) is outlined as “a discipline of social-scientific research and use in the administrative practice that endears to comprehend and apply knowledge of human behavior based on a social and cultural setting for the growth of organizational performances” (p. 259). It is hypothesized that school leadership and academic attainment depends on leadership type (Crum, & Sherman, 2008). Leadership has influence on student attainment by playing a key role in developing the intrinsic conditions for creating school instruction, as well as sustaining positive school and community associations. Types of Leadership Styles Transformational Leadership Literature review on some of the leadership styles that bring success within educational organizations unraveled that transformational leadership was highly effective when compared to transactional Leadership. According to Ross and Gray (2006, p. 800), transformational leadership is multidimensional in construct and involves three clusters; charisma like identifying and maintaining an organization vision, stimulation of members intellectually, and individual choices. Transformational leadership promotes an organization by developing the values of members, raising their spirits and assisting them to go beyond self-interest so as promote organizational goals, and redefining their needs to be in tandem with organizational choices (Chrispeels, Burke, Johnson, & Daly, 2008). In contrast, transactional leaders usually try to meet organizational goals by not desiring to elevate the motives of followers or the human resources inside the organization. Transactional leadership does not comprise a organization culture but transformational leadership does. It requires a change in the organization culture for it to be effective. In considering the influence of transformational leadership on student achievement, Ross and Gray (2006) pointed out that school heads are often perceived as responsible for student achievement, though researchers discovered that head teachers have dismal direct impact on attainment. The researchers inferred that head teachers indirectly contributed to student attainment by teacher commitment and beliefs on their collective capacity. In addition, Ross and Gray revisited data obtained from a database to test the connection between leadership and student attainment (Dinham, 2005). In total, 202 schools in two districts and 3,040 teachers were used for the research. Student attainment was tested in grades three to six, while data collection was carried out using Likert items with a 6-point response scale varying from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Results show that that the key effects on achievement essentially occur by leadership contributions to teacher perception of abilities, adherence to professional values and holistic teacher efficacy (Barker, 2007). The indirect effects of leadership influence on student attainment were limited. Results show that every 1.0 standard deviation rise in transformational leadership made a 0.212 SD rise in student achievement. The results inferred that the achievement levels of leadership seem to be indirect, as the line from leadership to student achievement owing to a standardized regression weight 0.112, p=0.504 which was statistically insignificant. Besides, the path from holistic teacher efficacy, standardized regression weight of 0.212, p = 0.119 was statistically insignificant, indicating that the effect of holistic teacher efficacy on attainment likely mediated by teacher adherence to professional values. The research shows that head teachers who chose a transformational leadership style posses a stronger effect on teachers’ adherence to the school mission, which can indirectly influence the school process and student achievement. Organic Leadership According to by Miller and Rowan (2006, p. 219) organic leadership is a shift away from standard, hierarchical procedures of bureaucratic control. This follows what has been mentioned before as a network control pattern in which line employees are participated in organizational decision making, cooperation of staff (Goldring & Pasternak, 1994). Supplant collegiality in the hierarchy is a way of arranging work flows and troubleshooting technical uncertainties, and pedestal forms of administrative leadership comes to facilitate line employees’ engagements. The researchers established the relationship between organic management and rise in student achievement by employing two large scale data arrays of longitudinal data (Goker, 2006). The congressionally mandated paper, with Educational Opportunity, constituted longitudinal exercise on student achievement with growth in both reading and speaking. The study evaluated two different Cohorts in speaking and reading which constituted over 2000 students and up to 123 schools. Subjects were rated by use of a 6-point Likert scale varying from strongly agrees to strongly disagree. The results show that at the basic level, when looking into all the variables researched none of the measures of organic management of cooperation among staff, teacher control or supportive leadership had any influence on attainment status. At the high school level which are grades 8-12, results show that the only variable to point out any association with organic management is teacher control in relation to reading and speaking achievement. Instructional Leadership Aside from this connection, there were no linear effects in attainment of growth or achievement retardation (Castangno, 2008). Results indicate that organic management is not a strong determinant of student attainment at neither the basic nor the high level and the rates of academic improvement among schools was highly due to random school reasons such as attendance, SES, race or some other random effects. The idea of instructional leadership theory’s empirical basis studies came about in the 1970’s and 80’s in slum communities where students had made through despite the odds. According to Robinson, Lloyd and Rowe (2008) such schools ordinarily had powerful instructional leadership, which constituted an atmosphere free of distraction, a system of candid teaching objectives and high teacher anticipations for students. The researchers did meta-analysis in which they scanned at 22 of the 27 studies participating in the comparison of transformational and instructional leadership on student attainment. The researchers obtained that on the mean, instructional leadership on student attainment was three to four times compared to transformational leadership (Hallinger & Heck, 1996). Also, Robinson, Lloyd and Rowe research looked at more in-depth in the following section of the literature review. Individuals affirmed that head teachers cannot manage alone due to complexity and the set of leadership skills needed to carry out the task of leadership cannot successfully be attained by a one individual. High levels of student attainment are possible when schools and districts develop as coordinated units of change. Head teachers have a hard time with leading solely and school leadership teams are a basic part to the school growth process (Chrispeels, Burke, Johnson, & Daly, 2008). Over the event of the past forty years, the UK has seen a range of changes in school reform. From the 1960’s, funds were assigned to support teachers who guided high needs students, to the present reform changes in which the school holistically looks at the school and classroom effectiveness created into a range of models like the Accelerated Schools, Success for All and School Development Model. These models executed leadership team methods like comprising teachers, head teachers and parents to perform key roles in the structure of the organization, its curriculum and instruction. Chrispeels, Burke, Johnson and Daly (2008), who did a case study comprising one K-8 school in Leeds that serve 3,456 students in 19 basic, five middle class and one special needs center, discovered that when school leadership teams and the central office work together and when the mental models are fully executed, they have demonstrated a potential for increasing student achievement (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2008). The authors depict school leadership as mutual therefore; school leaders need not have a direct influence on student achievement. School leaders perform an indirect role by giving the elements of professional growth, clear anticipation and safe space for School Leadership Teams. In order to promote their aspirations with the key office, which can enable organizational effectiveness and goal achievement? In considering the influence of collective leadership on student attainment, Leithwood and Mascall (2008) used more than 12years of studies on organic management by Miller and Rowan (2006). The researchers indicated that “the key effects are feeble and positive effects seem to be contingent on numerous other conditions” (p. 220). However, organic management seem not to have a direct impact on student attainment, data tends to correlate with studies from a range of other studies, which shows effect leadership studies seldom detect significant effects on students, as opposed to what indirect studies have (Hallinger & Heck, 1996). Leithwood and Mascall identified eight states, 38districts and 165 schools to research when adopting the framework for their correlational research of collective leadership. The study presumed indirect leadership effects and conceptualized those teacher performance indicators like motivation, capacity and work circumstances that would be variables which intervened the employee performance and student attainment. An 89-item survey was carried out, which measured holistic leadership and teacher performance. A six-point scale was employed which demanded the participants to rate the degree of the direct effect on school decisions. Student attainment was measured by pointing at the results from state-mandated tests of language and speech at various grade levels in a three year period (Kruger, Witziers, & Sleegers, 2007). Teacher surveys at School-level individual were linked with the school-level attainment results and SPSS was applied to find out the results. In identifying the impact of collective leadership influence on teachers and students, ability, motivation, setting and holistic leadership became variables. Results show that collective leadership is connected to all three teacher variables. The firm one is with leadership and teachers work setting and teacher motivation. All variables besides teacher capacity relate to student attainment (Leithwood & Mascall, 2008). The work setting, teacher motivation and collective leadership showed that collective leadership is significantly, directly linked to all three teacher variable of motivation, ability and work conditions. The results also points out that collective leadership has fair but significant, indirect influence on student attainment by affecting teacher motivation and work setting, which in turn greatly affects student achievement (Miller & Rowan, 2006). It should be pointed out that collective leadership did not pose a huge effect on teacher capacity and that the teacher ability variable was not essentially linked to student attainment. Early studies on school effectiveness of head teachers was carried out using the direct-effect models, which hypothesized that a school leader’s deeds will have a direct effect on the school’s results. As seen in Kruger, Witziers and Sleegers (2007) some studies have discovered that school leadership is significant (Goldring & Pasternack, 1994; Sammons, Hillman & Mortimore, 1995). On the contrary, the empirical foundation of this statement is feeble. The researchers now points out that “leadership is no longer suggested as having a direct effect on learning outcomes, but as possessing an indirect effect on the way it has influenced on instructional organization and culture” (p. 3). Strategies and Method Employed Data collection The principal focus of this research project was to determine the relationship between various leadership styles on the outcomes of students studying at various levels in the UK. To attain this objective, a quantitative design survey was applied. The survey design variables that were used in the investigation assisted in assessment of the intermediaries (Gravetter & Forzano, 2008). Though this type of research inhibits the researcher to assess changes in variables, it does not permit causality assignment (Gravetter & Forzano). Hence, in the current research, it was possible to evaluate changes in the subjects in relation to specific variables; it is not fathomable to argue that the leadership concept was the definitive starting point for these changes. The head of the picked school were taken through one week training on leadership styles. Sampling method and procedure The study sample for this investigation was obtained from teachers of one school in Britain. 10 colleagues (teachers) from all the school underwent random selected to complete the questionnaire, implying that one respondent in every five in the school was picked. The respondents were voluntarily involved in the study to find out conception and understanding of leadership exercises by their heads (Printy & Marks, 2006). To allow confidentiality of the teachers’ identity to be retained, demographic data for the teachers was not collected. Teachers who were willing to participate in the study got their applications to be included in the convenience sample in this research and were considered appropriate to be selected. Research Instrument These entail 14 statements put into consideration for this study. It was prepared for different aspects of leadership styles and practice. The instrument was made based on important variables depicted in the literature as significant to successful leadership practices. The survey was undertaken using 10 teachers teaching in each of these schools. Data from the study provided insight into the depth of the statements. Statements which were seen as hard to answer by the respondents were re-structured to increase the clarity of the statements. The instrument used a four-point Likert scale to determine participant opinions: 1 = Highly Disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 =Agree and 4 = Highly Agree. Any scores appearing on the lower ends instrument were associated with the subject’s opinion of a high state of competence on individual leadership. Procedures During the start of the exercise, all the participants were provided information relating to online survey to assess their opinions on skills and competence linked to their leadership. The information was provided through a flyer and via oral performance of the experiment. The respondents were given one week to respond to the survey and later again be asked to fill a survey at the end of the practice. On finalizing of the exercise, teachers were again provided with survey flyers and those who were involved in the pre-test were requested to subsequently log on to surveymonkey.com to complete the post-test questionnaires. They were given two weeks to complete the post-test questionnaire. Data Analysis Data analysis for this researched used descriptive statistics, which is a powerful measure of central tendency and dispersion. This gives an overall review of the survey scores for each individual item and for the whole survey. In addition, t-tests were used in determining mean scores comparisons for the entire instrument and for each individual item. In association with the t-test results, it was more likely to determine the choice of a leadership style in the happened in the survey time periods. However, t-tests do not give a discrete measure of causality; but it does show there was a statistically significant deviation in the data set. Statistical level of confidence was established at α < 0.05 level. Ethical Considerations Basic research is carried out more regularly. In this leadership research, it works to the basic means of analyzing data and its findings. In various academic or professional setting, it needs awareness of the ethics under the research activity. The essential points that were used here were to get the permission of the people who were taking part in completing the objectives of the study. In was seen that the subjects to the study were significantly valuable and thus, care was taken not to run in anything that would cause physical, mental or emotional harm to them. This involved taking considerable care on wording of sensitive or hard questions during the interviews (Robinson, Lloyd& Rowe, 2008). The research took objectivity as significant outcome. Care was taken not to bring in own personal biases and opinions in the path of the research and thus non-partisanship was provided to both objective and subjective view. This type of research entailed using a survey and was carried out under the assumption that the results would be kept anonymous. The subjects were made to know the anonymity of the findings by being taken through. In the event of conducting this research, confidence was inculcated among the respondents. The teachers were not taken to be easy-to-access groups of people who would feel that the research was taking advantage of them. Subjects were identified based on what best would most advantage this research. This research was done in a school setting that needed Institutional management Approval. Therefore, the research was to be approved by an ethics review committee of the school and ensured that no violations concerned any of the above considerations. During the reporting, the results ensured precise representation on what was seen or told. Any interview responses were not made out of the known and were not discussed while still in miniature parts of observations until they were put into considerable context. Findings and Outcomes Results for this study were laid out in prose format as shown below. The first 8 statements are related to transformational leadership, the following 8 statements represent transactional leadership while the third set of 8 statements featured instructional leadership. The t-test results obtained showed that transactional leadership had lesser scores since the mean figures for transformational leadership (5.276) were outstanding and exemplary, SD=1.33 and a correlation of 0.0736. This indicated that, at α= 0.05, the respondents conceded that transformational leadership informs excellent student achievement, which gave good results. Regarding transactional leadership, mean values for those in concordance was low, 1 with SD= 3.02 and t-test result of 0.0437. On the contrary, many respondents were of the view that the head teacher was capable using transactional leadership in the absence of transformational styles. Those who certainly agreed that good leadership can be instructional had a mean1=2.94 and mean2=3.58; SD=0.523 and 2.120 respectively. The t-test result for this category was 0.541. Those who disagreed showed mean1=0.45, mean2=0.67, SD1=0.034, SD2=1.05. The corresponding t-test=0.004375. For those who highly disagreed their mean1=0, mean2=0 while SD1=0, SD2=0. Their t-test result was 0.000001. The overall group t-test result =1.67. At D.F. =69, the obtained values are within than the t-test values implying that the null hypothesis that there is no relationship between educational leadership styles are accepted. The results review in this study indicated that there are statistically significant differences in adapting to one leadership style. Although, there is are possibilities that there are situations where school heads blend many characteristics of the leadership styles. It is not possible to categorically assign these polarities to the leadership styles per se. The results show that the head teacher is an outstanding, visionary and accommodative leader. However, does not possess the necessary instructional skills. Many respondents believed that head teachers should have a blend of all leadership qualities to be good leaders. The heads displays effectiveness in carrying out operations, supports the teaching fraternity and endeavors to involve all in decision making. It is also known that such teachers build high performance teams when opportunities arise through motivation and fairness. They also inspire, motivate staff, lead by example and celebrates success. However, they fail to criticize constructively but consider schools performance to be at the top of the agenda. They are also accommodating to others suggestions; demonstrate active commitment to communication and success. In addition, they do communicate with staff regularly and enjoy the work atmosphere. Such is the contrary for outstanding leaders who also happen to be good personal managers. The study also showed that there was an average agreement that the head teacher with outstanding leadership qualities to be supportive and decisive. This therefore, offers room to those heads who would want to give instructional leadership to change the face of their failing school performance. Conclusions From the above results, teachers express strong opinions on the leadership styles of their heads. The aspect of transformational leadership is highly emphasized with a bias in skills recognition, capacity to support and provision of the opportunity to make and participate in making decisions. Head teachers especially in Britain have resorted to transformational leadership owing to the teacher oriented concerns (Owens & Valesky, 2007). What present teachers prefer to see their head teachers become, include; teamwork, motivation, respect and consideration, accessibility and clear communication with external forces. Some aspects of transactional leadership like behaving with integrity and consistency is the perpetual admiration of school heads in the present academic dispensation. It is unanimously agreed that all the qualities mentioned above strongly affect the way teacher react to their needs and consequently channel their happiness or frustrations to their students. Teachers love working with heads that provide an enjoyable atmosphere that encourages them to participate in development and improvement of their departments (Ross & Gray, 2006). A highly tempered and critical head will scare teachers who in turn will not be free to carry out their teaching activities. Heads in the current times are being called upon to be accommodative and listen to the requirements of every department. Instructional leadership demands that the school head recognizes the power in teachers to change situations of both weak and average students. Poor performing students can easily improve when teachers devote their energies to challenge their weaknesses and pursue lines of tutorship and instruction (Ross & Gray, 2006). Transactional leadership demands that one believes in values and consistencies in teaching. The staff will see the heads commitment and follow his/her lead. Personal leadership is the reason that brings forth the positive tension that provides the environment for teachers and students to align their lives along those values they believe. The increased regularity of school heads affirms faith in the school community and other stakeholders. The subjects in a properly-structured and unified environment share range of similar characteristics. These features exude a positive learning environment that is safe for learning among student. Major stakeholders are team players and are willing stay above and beyond their normal responsibilities to attain success. With recognition of the educational vision, the aim becomes a driving force for the whole educational community. This provides the educational body to internalize this vision in their current practice. The vision constituted desired values then becomes an ally, as opposed to being an enemy. A value system demands that belief of working with the change forces allows a positive environment. Change resistance leads to dissension and a difficult educational environment (Sammons, Hillman & Mortimore, 1995). A circumstance lacking cohesive values, beliefs and goals will result poor student learning. Teachers and students with values are highly inquisitive. They are devoted to their values and consistently work on attaining the desired positive outcomes. A link is felt when individuals work towards the common goal. When the teaching fraternity is working to achieve a shared vision, there is a sense of a huge creative process (Waters & Cameron, 2007). The team can influence one another but are unable to solely control the outcome. When working as a team, their belief and commitment gives each educator the ability for delayed gratification only if the vision has been attained. A group agreement for a value or vision determined for an educational system gives commitment by the stakeholders, demands initiative by the school head, and the head will have an in depth and wider sense of obligation in their work environment (Waters, Marzano & McNulty, 2004). A unified, vision driven school community along the entire stakeholders value driven will engender a quality work environment that allows students to learn with ease. References Barker, B. (2007). The leadership paradox: Can school leaders transform student outcomes? School of Effectiveness and School Improvement, 18(1) 21-43. Castangno, A. (2008). Improving academic achievement, but at what cost? The demands of diversity and equity at Birch Middle School. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 11(1), 1-9. Crum, K. S., & Sherman, W. H. (2008). Facilitating high achievement high school head teachers’’ reflections on their successful leadership practices. Journal of Educational Administration, 46(5), 562-580. Chrispeels, J. H., Burke, P. H., Johnson, P., & Daly, A. J. (2008). Aligning mental models of district and school leadership teams for reform coherence. Education and Urban Society, 40(730), 1-22. Dinham, S. (2005). Principal leadership for outstanding educational outcomes. Journal of Educational Administration, 43(4), 338-356. Goldring, E. B., & Pasternak, R. (1994) Head teachers’ coordinating strategies and school effectiveness. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 5, 239- Goker, D. S. (2006). Leading for learning: Reflective management in EFL schools. Theory into Practice, 45(2), 187-196. Hallinger, P., & Heck, R. (1996). Reassessing the principal’s role in school effectiveness: A review of empirical research, 1980-1995. Educational Administration Quarterly, 32(1), 5-44. Kruger, M. L., Witziers, B., & Sleegers, P. (2007). The impact of school leadership on school level factors: Validation of a causal model. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 18(1), 1-20. Leithwood, K., & Jantzi, D. (2008). Linking leadership to student learning: The contributions of leader efficacy. Educational Administration Quarterly, 44(486), 1-34. Leithwood, K., & Mascall, B. (2008). Collective leadership effects on student achievement. Educational Administration Quarterly, 44(529), 1-34. Miller, R. J., & Rowan, B. (2006). Effects of organic management on student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 43(2), 219-253. Owens, R., & Valesky, T. (2007) Organizational behavior in education: Adaptive Leadership and School Reform. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc. Printy, S., & Marks, H. M. (2006). Shared leadership for teacher and student learning. Theory into Practice, 45(2), 125-132. Ross, J., & Gray, P. (2006). School Leadership and student achievement: The mediating effects of teacher beliefs. Canadian Journal of Education, 29(3), 798-822. Ross, J., & Gray, P. (2006). Transformational leadership and teacher commitment to organizational values: The mediating effect of collective teacher efficacy. Journal of School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 17(2), 179-199. Robinson, V. M., Lloyd, C. A., & Rowe, K. J. (2008). The impact of leadership on student outcomes: An analysis of the differential effects of leadership types. Educational Administration Quarterly, 44, 635-674. Sammons, P., Hillman, J., & Mortimore, P. (1995). Key characteristics of effective schools; A review of school effectiveness research. London: OFSTED Waters, J. T., Marzano, R. J., & McNulty, B. (2004). Leadership that sparks learning. Educational Leadership, 61(7), 48-51. Waters, T. & Cameron, M., A. (2007). The Balanced Leadership Framework. Connecting Vision with Action.1-64 Appendix I: Questionnaire I am a doctorate student carrying out a research in educational leadership and management. The aim of the study is to establish relationships between various leadership styles and whether school heads can assume many of the styles identified. Kindly tick the box that is appropriate. Your response will be held confidential. No. Statement Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree 1 The Head Teacher ensures that I am trained to do my job effectively         2 The Head Teacher enables and supports me to develop myself         3 The Head Teacher gives me the opportunity to participate in decision making         4 The Head Teacher delegates effectively and supports appropriately         5 The Head Teacher provides strong and decisive leadership when it is required         6 The Head Teacher is supportive in times of difficulty         7 The Head Teacher has effective working relationships with other managers         8 The Head Teacher encourages and responds to my ideas and suggestions         9 The Head Teacher supports and enables me to meet parents' and learners' expectations         10 The Head Teacher demonstrates an active commitment to open two way communication         11 The Head Teacher recognizes and celebrates the successes of others within the team         12 The Head Teacher recognizes and rewards good performance         13 The Head Teacher shows me respect and consideration         14 The Head Teacher motivates me         15 The Head Teacher helps to create an enjoyable working atmosphere         16 The Head Teacher accepts constructive criticism         17 The Head Teacher is always even tempered         18 The Head Teacher encourages me to participate in the development and improvement of the department         19 The Head Teacher is a good listener         20 The Head teacher understands the pecularitites of my department         21 The Head Teacher tackles poor performance         22 The Head Teacher understands and communicates the impact of external forces on the organisation         23 the Head Teacher operates with integrity and consistency         24 The Head Teacher is accessible         Read More