An Exploratory Study on Principals' Conceptions about Their Role as School Leaders

Abstract

This inquiry, by means of the case study method, explored how principals' conceptions about their role as school leader contribute to a better understanding of their leadership behavior and how this is related to school climate. The results indicated that differences of how principals conceive their leadership role are related, indirectly through their leadership practices (i.e., initiating structure and supportive leadership), to the school climate (unity in vision, collegial relations, collaboration, innovativeness). We distinguished three types of school leader profiles: (1) the “people-minded profile” with a strong emphasis on educational leadership and the mentoring role as a school leader and with the necessary skills to implement a shared vision; (2) the “administrative-minded profile” with the focus on administration and the coordinating leadership role, lacking a vision and feeling unable to develop a vision; and (3) the “moderate-minded profile” with an emphasis on educational leadership but having difficulty to involve all teachers in the school's vision. Drawing on three prototypical cases we discuss in depth that these types of principals work under different school climate conditions.