DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS' LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS: A TURKISH CASE

In today's business world, although the terms "management" and "leadership" are used interchangeably, there are main differences between the two concepts. Leadership is associated with taking an organization into the future, about empowerment and, most of all, about producing useful change. (Kotter, Harvard Business Review, 2013). Leadership studies in the late years show great evidence that school leadership has an impact on student outcomes next to the influence of teachers in the classroom (Day et al, 2010; Barber et al, 2010). A recent report found that nearly 60% of a school's impact on student achievement is attributable to leadership and teacher effectiveness, with principals accounting for 25% of a school's total impact on achievement. Furthermore the report found that, while effective teachers have a profound effect on student outcomes, this effect soon fades when the student moves on to another teacher. (New Leaders for New Schools, 2009). In order for students to have high-quality learning every year, whole schools must be high functioning, and this means they must be led by effective principals (Day et al, 2010; Barber et al, 2010). The aim of this study is finding the impact of school principals' leadership behavior on teachers and if there is a difference in the perceptions of school principals (self-perceptions) and teachers' perceptions about the impact and the styles of the leadership. The survey is distributed in ten public elementary schools in Istanbul, Turkey. The sample consisted of thirty principals; of which eleven were female principals and nineteen were male principals and one hundred teachers; of which sixty-four were female teachers and thirt-six were male teachers. Principals and teachers were given the same questions with different instructions. Both questionnaires consist of two parts: demographic information and questions about the perception of leadership behavior. The scales were adapted by Demiray & Akdag (2008) and validity and reliability tests proved that questionnaires were reliable and valid. Analyses support our hypotheses that there are differences in the self-perceptions of school principals and perceptions of teachers about various aspects of the principals' leadership styles and behavior such as communication, teamwork, creativity and honesty. As to the gender differences, female principals believe they have better communication styles than male principals. Furthermore the results also provide evidence that the teachers believe they are not recognized for their achievements by their school principals. This case study will be the groundwork for a more comprehensive research about the teachers' expectations of educational leadership.