Dr Alan M. Barnett

Alan M. Barnett is the principal of a Kindergarten to Year 12 independent school and who has completed his PhD at the SELF Research Centre. He has led large-scale, educational innovations, including the implementation of a curriculum delivery system (vertical semesterisation), and the establishment of a primary school and an evening college.

Qualifications

BA, DipEd (Macquarie), MEdAdmin (UNSW), PhD (UWS)

Thesis Title

The Impact of Transformational Leadership Style of the School Principal on School Learning Environments and Selected Teacher Outcomes

Abstract

Much of the recent literature on effective schools has intuitively connected the leadership role of the school principal, and school learning environment, to the achievement of organisational outcomes such as those related to teacher performance. Transformational leadership theory has cast these relations in a new perspective, where advocates have claimed that transformational leaders are more able to manipulate environmental contexts so as to achieve their organisational objectives compared to transactional and laissez-faire leadership styles.

This study examines the effects of different types of secondary principals’ leadership behaviours on aspects of a school’s learning environment, and selected teacher outcomes. Study 1 involved a quantitative analysis of teachers’ perceptions of principals’ leadership style, school learning environment and selected teacher outcomes, using an instrument administered in 52 randomly selected schools and involving 458 teachers from across New South Wales, Australia. Study 2 involved a qualitative analysis of data collected from 12 respondents in three schools, examining those leadership practices that enhanced or eroded teachers’ perceptions of school learning environment and teacher satisfaction. Specifically, the qualitative phase of the study was used to investigate those specific principal leadership behaviours that enhance both teacher outcomes and perceptions of school learning environment.

A synergy was achieved by undertaking two studies drawing upon a multi-method approach. While some transformational leadership behaviours of vision building were demonstrated to be effective in influencing school learning environment and teacher outcome variables, it was a combination of transformational and transactional leadership styles that demonstrated the most impact in relation to school learning environment and teacher outcomes.

These results are significant for those who exercise leadership authority in schools, and are contrary to the findings suggested by transformational leadership literature. Practitioners will welcome the opportunity to tailor leadership behaviours  to achieve specific school learning environment and teacher outcome objectives, while those involved in principal training will recognise the potency of the behavioural aspects of the transformational and transactional paradigms.

Thesis submission date

2006 

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