Leadership for change in an all grade school

Vincent, Aubrey (1993) Leadership for change in an all grade school. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This study investigated the interactions between an administrator and the staff in a school characterized by the following: (1) a reputation for innovative teaching methodologies; (2) a reputation for dealing with multiple changes; (3) a principal who demonstrates the characteristics of a transforming leader. -- The study focused on: selected components of transformational leadership; power relationships; and conditions that encourage the building of a collaborative culture that is supportive of change. To achieve this, the study investigated change, shared decision making, teacher empowerment, evidence of collegiality, power relationships and administrator support. -- The school was selected based on the reputation of the school and the recommendation of school improvement personnel within the District. -- The study used three major sources of data collection: interviews, a questionnaire and a collection of artifacts from the school. -- A questionnaire has been constructed by modifying an existing questionnaire from the "Leadership for Change Project" directed by Dr. Kenneth Leithwood at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education, with additional questions on facilitative power. The questionnaire was administered to all the staff members in the school to be studied with a response rate of 65%. -- Interviews were completed with the principal, the assistant principal and four other members of the staff who were regarded as leaders within the school improvement process. -- A mean score was calculated for each of the 137 items in the questionnaire. The data B was collated and the means of the various constructs were determined. After items were categorized within the various constructs, appropriate tables were created. -- Pearson r correlation coefficients were established to determine the relationship (if any) between facilitative power, transformational leadership and transactional leadership. -- The case study determined that in this school there was strong evidence of all aspects of transformational leadership and facilitative power. -- One construct of transactional leadership, contingent reward, was present in the leadership. A correlation coefficient of .79, at the .01 significance level was established between transformational leadership and facilitative power. -- One incidental finding in the study was that there was more teacher collaboration in the primary and elementary levels than in the junior high and high school levels of the school.

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