ABSTRACT
This research examines the relationship between three leadership types exhibited by principals (instructional, distributed, and transformational leadership) and teacher academic optimism in order to reveal the differential effects of these leadership models on teachers’ perceived academic optimism. The participants of the study included 225 elementary school teachers working at 20 schools across two provinces of Turkey. Several multiple regression models with OLS assumptions were employed in the analysis of the data. The results showed that all three leadership types were significantly related to teachers’ academic optimism, yet distributed leadership explained the largest proportion of the total variation. When other leadership types were controlled, only distributed leadership emerged as a significant predictor of teacher academic optimism.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Neşe Börü
Dr. Neşe Börü is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Sciences at Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University, Turkey. Her main research interest is educational leadership in K–12 settings. The author is also interested in the effect of disadvantaged conditions on student learning outcomes in K-12 settings.
Mehmet Şükrü Bellibaş
Dr. Mehmet Şükrü Bellibaş is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Sciences at Adıyaman University, Turkey. His main research interest is comparative and international educational leadership in K–12 settings and aims to provide an understanding of how various leadership types might influence teacher behaviors, professional learning and practices, as well as student learning outcomes.