School Principal’s Vision and Relationships among Teaching Staff: Hearters, Managers, and Survivors Cover Image

Ředitelská vize a vztahy v učitelském sboru: srdcaři, manažeři a přežívači
School Principal’s Vision and Relationships among Teaching Staff: Hearters, Managers, and Survivors

Author(s): Irena Smetáčková, Ida Viktorová, Veronika Pavlas Martanová, Petra Topková
Subject(s): Educational Psychology
Published by: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Nakladatelství Karolinum
Keywords: principals; vision; relationships; leadership styles; school culture; grammar school

Summary/Abstract: Principal’s vision along with the style of school leadership are important factors influencing school culture and thus also relationships among the teaching staff. The aim of the present paper is to present a part of the results from a series of 12 case studies of elementary schools focusing on principals’ visions, the resulting leadership styles and their reflection in ways of fostering relationships among the staff. Each case study consisted of a combination of data collection methods: questionnaire survey among teachers, interview with school management, interviews with selected teachers, analysis of school documents, and observation of school life, while the main source of data for the current contribution were 58 interviews with directors, deputy directors and teachers from 12 case schools. Relationships among teaching staff have emerged as a key value in principal’s vision. Consequently, school management uses various practices to promote professional and/or personal relationships among teachers. Based on the case studies, we identified three basic types of principals’ visions, which differ in the roles that leadership assigns to relationships among teachers. The types of visions were labeled “hearters,” “managers,” and “survivors.” The length of the time in management function and the specificity of the school compared to the others shoved both as significant factors influencing principal’s vision.

  • Issue Year: 53/2018
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 59-75
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: Czech