Secondary Education Principals/Superintendents
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived principal leadership behaviours and teacher engagement in public secondary schools in Barbados. METHODOLOGY There are 22 secondary schools in Barbados, comprising of a target population of 1,320 teachers and this study drew its data from a random sample of 120 teachers in eight public secondary schools, of which 113 participated. Participants completed the Leadership Practices Inventory and the Utrecht work engagement scale (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2003). Cronbach alpha in a pilot study (N=12) was .95 for the overall LPI. The typical teacher was female (57%), with nearly 16 years on average of teaching experience, a college degree (63%), and teacher-trained (71%).
KEY FINDINGS Total teacher engagement was significantly correlated with total principal leadership (LPI), and the five leadership practices explained 22 percent of the variance around teacher engagement (multiple regression analysis). Model the Way by principals was the most significant predictor of teacher engagement. Teacher gender did not make a significant difference in regards to assessments of principal behavior for any of the five leadership practices. The author concludes:
Principals should become more knowledgeable about the five leadership practices promoted by Kouzes and Posner (2002) since these practices are indicators of effective principal leadership behaviours (p. 61).