26. Educational Leadership
Paper
Principal-Teacher Gender (dis)Similarity as a Moderator between Paternalistic Leadership and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Relationship in the Israeli Arab Minority
Misaa Nassir, Pascale Benoliel
School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Presenting Author: Nassir, Misaa;
Benoliel, Pascale
Principals play a critical role in promoting a positive school environment, student academic performance, and school development (Liu and Hallinger, 2018). However, study has shown that leadership styles that are successful and effective in one culture may not be so in another (Bahadur-Bhujel, 2021). Cultural expectations, stereotypes, and generalised beliefs shape group members’ expectations about the personal characteristics, traits, and qualities inherent to a successful and effective leader, affecting individuals’ perceptions and responses to leaders (Walker and Hallinger, 2015). The present study focuses on teachers’ perceptions of paternalistic leadership and the influence on teachers’ behaviours and attitudes toward their work in the Arab ethnocultural minority in Israel.
Leadership in Arab sector in Israel rests on a clear authoritarian structure characterised by hierarchy, high power distance, and a tendency towards conservatism and collectivism (Arar and Abu-Nasra, 2019). Paternalistic leadership (PL), defined as authoritative, moral leadership, with elements of appreciation, respect and obedience to the leader (Cheng et al., 2004), was found to be an effective leadership style with positive implications for collective societies with high power distance (Walker and Hallinger, 2015). However, the Arab minority is undergoing a broad and continuous modernisation process due to its contact with the Jewish population, which has intensified over the years (Abu-Asba, 2014). This process has involved a gradual transformation from a traditional patriarchal and collective local personality to a more individualised identity (Arar and Abu-Nasra, 2019).
The present research aims to highlight principal-teacher gender (dis)similarity as a significant factor in explaining the emergence and implications of PL for teachers’ organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) in Arab sector in Israel. Our purpose is twofold. First, relying on the similarity attraction paradigm (Byrne, 1971) and self-categorisation theories (Turner, 1987), the present study examines how principal-teacher gender (dis)similarity affects the degree of PL as perceived by teachers. Second, the study examines the intervening influence of principal-teacher gender (dis)similarity on the relationship between PL and teacher OCB.
We focus on principal-teacher gender (dis)similarity for several reasons. First, gender is considered a key visible demographic characteristic likely to induce social categorisation in leadership processes (Kark and Waismel-Manor, 2016). Second, research has shown that the principal-teacher dyadic relationship plays a significant role in shaping important teachers’ perceptions, attitudes and behaviours (Author2 and Colleagues, 2021). Third, societal values and expectations perpetuate cultural gender role stereotypes (Kark and Waismel-Manor, 2016). Thus, although the Arab sector is characterised by gender inequality; Arab women have recently begun to achieve a balance between family and career demands (Oplatka and Arar, 2016). For instance, a growing number of Arab women attain higher education, and they constitute in increasing percentage of employees in the Arab education system (CBS, 2018).
This study may inform the educational management literature both theoretically and practically. First, to date most studies conducted in Arab sector in Israel have focused on gender differences in the perceptions of leadership (Arar and Abu-Nasra, 2019). Few studies, if any, have examined an integrative model for the effects of principal-teacher gender (dis)similarity on the relationship between principal leadership and teacher OCB in this sector. This is important because there is growing literature on the role of teacher OCB in promoting school improvement (Karadağ and Dulay, 2021), as well as teachers’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction (Huda, Chairunnisa and Utami 2020). Second, most studies have explored the differential impacts of the subcomponents of PL on school effectiveness (Bahadur-Bhujel, 2021); yet, few have focused on the relationship between PL and teachers’ behaviours. Finally, this study can contribute to the development of training programs for school administrators and principals better suited to the specific ethnocultural context of the Arab minority in Israel.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedParticipants and procedure
Data was collected from a sample of 180 randomly chosen teachers and their principals from elementary Arab schools in Israel (180 dyads) with an average school enrolment of 499.61 students (SD=162.11).
Of the teachers who participated in the study, 85% were women, with an average age of 38.63 years (SD=7.61). They had an average of 15.73 years of experience in the teaching profession (SD=7.62). With respect to education, 45% held a Master’s degree, 26.7% held a B.Ed. (bachelor's degree with teaching credentials), 25% held a Bachelor's degree, and 3.3% held a “professional” degree (equivalent to a junior college diploma with teaching credentials).
Of the principals who participated in the study, 56% were women. They had an average of 12.80 years of seniority as principals (SD=7.82).
The teachers completed validated questionnaires on: paternalistic leadership (Pelelgrini & Seandura, 2006); and on Organisational Citizenship Behaviours (Somech & Drach-Zahavy, 2004). The participants were assured of maintaining the anonymity of the answers and confidentiality so that the results will be reported only as group averages, and it will not be possible to identify any individual school or employee. In addition, both principals and teachers provided demographic information. School Socio-Economic Status (SES) were provided by the National Authority for Measurement and Evaluation in Education.
As for the level of analysis, generally, the OCB variables emerged at the individual level, as opposed to the group level, and were therefore examined as individual-level variables (Riggs & Knight, 1994). However, PL behaviours were assessed as a group-level variable. Using aggregate perceptions creates a reliable assessment because aggregate measures are generally more reliable than individual evaluations (Lenzi et al., 2012). Therefore, each teacher was assigned a single PL measure, accordingly to the study design, based on the average for each PL (an average of 5 teachers per school) within the school.
As for the data analysis, to investigate the differences in PL appraisal by principal-teacher similarity, MANCOVA and ANCOVA analyses were used, controlling for school SES, school size, and teacher education and seniority. To test the model investigating the moderating role of principal-teacher gender (dis)similarity on the relationship between PL and teachers’ organisational citizenship behaviour in the Arab society in Israel, hierarchical regression analyses were used, using the SPSS macro-PROCESS. Additionally, the integrative theoretical model was tested with structural equation modelling (SEM, using the AMOS 21.0 software).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe findings are consistent with the main argument of this study, that the sociocultural context influences teachers' cognitive and mental perception of leadership and the resulting behaviours. Specifically, the results indicate that principal-teacher gender dissimilarity affects the emergence of PL and its influence on teacher OCB. Benevolent and moral leadership were positively correlated with OCB (and subcomponents) in the case of principal-teacher gender dissimilarity. However, no moderating influence of gender (dis)similarity on the relationship between authoritarian leadership and OCB was found. Research indicates that benevolent and moral principals consider it an obligation to provide quasi-parental, father-like protection to their teachers and understand their needs (Dimmock and Tan, 2013). However, authoritarian leaders accentuate control over subordinates, and unquestioning obedience (Pellegrini & Scandura, 2008). Therefore, it seems that Benevolent and moral components meet the aspirations of the new generation of teachers for less hierarchical and less authoritarian leadership styles. Importantly, growing numbers of Arab women have recently succeeded in breaking through the “glass ceiling” and becoming principals, and finding new ways to grow and succeed at work (Arar and Abu-Nasra, 2019). This finding is encouraging and points to an improvement in the status of women in Arab society. However, despite the impressive rise in the number of women school principals, the numbers of Arab women students third-year university students in areas such as health (15%), law (3%), engineering (4%), business and economics (6%) and sciences (3%) remains very low (Taub Center, 2018). Perhaps this is because the education field still allow women a work-family balance (Arar and Abu-Nasra, 2019). Therefore, continue to promote women’s professional engagement, career development, and promotion to leadership positions should be promoted in education. Practically, training programmes should be established for principals to provide them with awareness and skills to help improve leadership practises.
ReferencesAbu-Asba Kh (2014) Arab education in a society in crisis. Jat: Massar Institute for Social Research. [Arabic].
Arar K and Abu-Nasra M (2019) Leadership style, occupational perception and organizational citizenship behavior in the Arab education system in Israel. Journal of Educational Administration 57(1): 85–100.
Author2 and Colleague (2021)
Bahadur-Bhujel C (2021) The role of principal in improvement of school performance: A qualitative study in community school of Nepal. Research Journal of Education 7(1): 1-10.
Byrne D (1971) The Attraction Paradigm. Academic Press: New York.
Dimmock C and Tan C (2013) Educational leadership in Singapore: Tight coupling, sustainability, scalability, and succession. Journal of Educational Administration 51(3): 320–340.
Huda SA, Chairunnisa C and Utami PP (2020) Analysis of organizational citizenship behavior in school. Jurnal Kependidikan 6(3): 356-364.
Karadağ E and Dulay S (2021) The effects of destructive leadership on organizational citizenship behaviour: The mediating role of psychological capital. Education and Science 46(208): 453-474.
Kark R and Waismel-Manor R (2016) Women in management in Israel. In Women in Management Worldwide. Gower, 297-316.
Lenzi M, Vieno A, Perkins DD, Pastore M, Santinello M and Mazzardis S (2012) Perceived neighborhood social resources as determinants of prosocial behavior in early adolescence. American Journal of Community Psychology 50(2): 37–49.
Liu S and Hallinger P (2018) Principal instructional leadership, teacher self-efficacy, and teacher professional learning in China: Testing a mediated-effects model. Educational Administration Quarterly 54(4): 501–528.
Pellegrini, E.K., & Scandura, T.A. (2008). Paternalistic leadership: A review and agenda for future research. Journal of Management, 34, 566-593.
Riggs ML and Knight PA (1994) The impact of perceived group success-failure on motivational beliefs and attitudes: A causal model. Journal of Applied Psychology 79(5): 755–766.
Somech, A., & Drach-Zahavy, A. (2004). Exploring organizational citizenship behavior from an organizational perspective: The relationship between organizational learning and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 77(3), 281-298.
Taub Center (2018) for the Study of Social Policy in Israel Herbert M. Singer Series State Status Report Society, Economy and Policy. Edited by A Weiss, Jerusalem.
Turner JC (1987) Introducing the problem: individual and group. Rediscovering the social group: A Self-categorization Theory, Oxford: Blackwell, 1–18.
Walker A and Hallinger P (2015) A synthesis of reviews of research on principal leadership in East Asia. Journal of Educational Administration 53(4): 554–570.
26. Educational Leadership
Paper
Principals’ Characteristics and their Influence on their Leadership Practices: A 3-year Study Carried out in Portugal
Maria A. Flores, Eva Lopes Fernandes, Irene Cadime
CIEC, Universidade do Minho, Portugal
Presenting Author: Flores, Maria A.;
Lopes Fernandes, Eva
Existing international literature highlights the critical role of headteachers in school development. Although the literature has focused on the extent to which classroom and school conditions influence student learning, less attention has been paid to how leadership can positively influence those conditions (Leithwood and Day 2007; Cruickshank 2017). Headteachers balance personal, strategic and operational leadership (Netolicky 2020) while drawing upon combinations of transformational and instructional leadership strategies to foster school improvement (Day, Gu and Sammons 2016; Cruickshank 2017). Effective transformational and instructional leadership have been closely connected with teacher commitment as well as school culture and ‘strongly linked to improved student outcomes’ (Cruickshank 2017, 121).
There is vast literature on leadership focusing on the challenges of instructional leadership by using student achievement information for instructional improvement (Temperley, 2005), on how school leaders enact policies in context managing tensions and balancing conflicting goals (Flores & Derrington, 2017), on the interplay of the relationships between school context, principal leadership and mediating variables in leadership for learning (Paletta, Alivernini, & Manganelli, 2017), and on school leadership focusing on values embedded in the biographies of principals of successful schools and how they influence their response to systemic policy reforms (Day & Gu, 2018).
Drawing on the work by Leithwood et al., (2006) and Day, Gu & Sammons (2016), this paper reports on findings from a 3-year research project aimed at investigating the impact of school leadership on teachers’ work and on pupils’ outcomes. The goal of this paper is to investigate to what extent biographical characteristics (e.g. gender, experience as principals, sector of teaching and leadership training of school principals impact on their leadership practices).
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis study is part of a wider research project funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology entitled ‘IMPACT - Investigating the Impact of School leadership on Pupil Outcomes’ (PTDC/CED-EDG/28570/2017). Drawing on work by Leithwood et al., (2006) and Day, Gu and Sammons (2016), it aimed to examine leadership practices and their impact on teachers' work and students' academic outcomes.
Data were collected according to three phases: i) exploratory interviews with 25 headteachers: ii) a national survey of headteachers and key staff; iii) case studies N=20. This paper reports on findings arising from the national survey of school principals (n=379). It seeks to explore how much variance in leadership practices, leaders’ internal states and leadership provision and impact in Portuguese state schools can be attributed to principals’ personal and professional variables, namely gender, years of experience, leadership training and sector of teaching.
The research project was approved by the Committee of Ethics for Research in Social and Human Sciences at the University of Minho (CEICSH 009/2020) and by the DGE/Ministry of Education (Ref.ª 0555900002).
In total, 379 Portuguese state school/cluster principals participated in this study (see Table 1 for sociodemographic characteristics). The population (i.e. the number of existing public school/clusters) was 809 school/school cluster principals, so the participants constitute a sample of 379 (46.8% response rate). The vast majority completed the questionnaire online using a link provided via e-mail while six participants completed the questionnaire in person. These procedures resulted from the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic which had implications for the way data was collected due to the closure of schools. The participants came from every region of mainland Portugal. The majority were male (56.2%), mostly aged over 51 years (77.3%). In addition, 3.2% of the participants were over 65 years old and 19.3% were aged between 61 and 65 years old. These figures are generally in accordance with the latest TALIS report (OECD 2019), according to which headteachers in Portugal are, on average, 54 years of age (higher than the OECD average of 52 years old) and 23% of whom are over 60 years old (broadly in line with the OECD average of 20%). The same report states that only 43% of headteachers in Portugal are female (as opposed to 47% in OECD countries) although the vast majority of teachers are female (74.0%) (as opposed to 68% in OECD countries).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThis paper aimed at examining whether headteachers biographies influence leadership, namely gender, years of experience, sector of teaching and training in leadership. These independent variables were considered to find out how they impacted on leadership practices, leaders’ internal states and leadership provision and impact. In general, setting expectations and setting directions for collaborative work are associated with headteachers’ experience, but the later was also associated with gender. Redesigning organisation and use of observations are associated with having leadership training. In turn, use of data is more frequent when the headteachers are female, are from preschool and/or 1st cycle (primary school) and have leadership training. A higher level of leader’s trust in teachers and openness to discuss feelings was observed in more experienced headteachers, as well as in headteachers from the preschool and/or 1st cycle (primary)and headteachers who had leadership training. Gender issues (female) also played a significant role in openness to discuss feelings with teachers. The efficacy for motivating teaching and learning and for sustaining personal motivation and commitment was associated with the sector of teaching and leadership training. These and other dimensions will be explored in the paper.
ReferencesCruickshank, V. 2017. ‘The Influence of School Leadership on Student Outcomes’. Open Journal of Social Sciences 5: 115-23. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jss.2017.59009
Day, C., Q. Gu, and P. Sammons. 2016. ‘The Impact of Leadership on Student Outcomes: How Successful School Leaders Use Transformational and Instructional Strategies to Make a Difference’. Educational Administration Quarterly 52 (2): 221-258. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X15616863
Flores, M. A., and M. L. Derrington. 2017. ‘School principals’ views of teacher evaluation policy: lessons learned from two empirical studies.’ International Journal of Leadership in Education 20 (4): 416-431. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2015.1094144
Leithwood, K. and C. Day. 2007. The Impact of Leadership on Student Outcomes. Sage.
Leithwood, K., A. Harris, and D. Hopkins. 2008. ‘Seven strong claims about successful school leadership’. School Leadership & Management, 28 (1): 27-42. doi: 10.1080/13632430701800060
Netolicky, D.M. 2020. ‘School Leadership During a Pandemic: Navigating Tensions.’ Journal of Professional Capital and Community 5 (3/4): 391-395. doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/JPCC-05-2020-0017
Paletta, A., Alivernini, F., Manganelli, S. (2017). Leadership for Learning: The Relationships between School Context, Principal Leadership and Mediating Variables. International Journal of Educational Management, 31(2), 98-117.
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