A study of the leadership approach that facilitates adoption of school councils

Devereaux, Lorraine (1995) A study of the leadership approach that facilitates adoption of school councils. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF (Migrated (PDF/A Conversion) from original format: (application/pdf)) - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (7MB) [English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. (Original Version)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the leadership approach that facilitates adoption of school councils. The project was accomplished in two different contexts by utilizing a combination of quantitative and qualitative research approaches. This study was conducted through the participation of fifteen schools. There were thirteen schools selected from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada for the quantitative approach to the study. From this participant group, seven schools were involved in the implementation of school councils and six were not involved. In addition, two European schools were selected for the qualitative approach to the study based on a long history of site-based management and a recent more advanced form of site-based management having been introduced there. -- This study examines the attitudes of school council members toward power sharing, with particular emphasis on the degree of principal dominance the stakeholders feel should exist. It also highlights the leadership approach that is best suited to successful implementation of school councils in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. -- The findings show that in the European environment the degree of principal dominance that school council members feel should exist is different than the principals' viewpoint. It appears, from the European case studies, that feelings toward dominance can be affected by leadership approach. The study conducted in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador reveals that school council members and teachers perceive those principals who are involved in school councils as having a leadership approach that is more highly developed than principals who are not involved. Involved principals are perceived to be more transformational in their leadership approach - more open to change - and therefore more open to adopting this new site-based management theory as their own. -- These findings have implications for the continued training of principals who are involved in school council implementation and their school council members. Even more importantly, however, this study highlights the need for training noninvolved potential school council implementers, principals and school council members, who will also, undoubtedly, be charged with the responsibility for effective school council implementation in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Actions (login required)

View Item