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Stress experienced by elementary teachers is common, and teachers often discover that stress reduces job satisfaction, performance, and overall well-being. A record number of teachers feel marginalized and leave the profession due to high levels of stress in schools. The current study employed a phenomenological research design and gathered qualitative data from 12 elementary teachers and three corresponding principals who are considered self-sacrificing servant leaders as a possible source of reducing their perceived stress through dyadic relationships. The four attributes of servant leadership conceptually outlined a deductive framework to include an administrator's ability to communicate servant leadership through expressions of humility, empathy, autonomy, and altruism which were categorized into broader themes. The current study organically identified the complex human experience of teacher stress to stimulate new dialogue holistically, produce rich descriptions of stress among teachers, and give rise to unheard voices. The results identified six themes of teacher stress. The themes identified include fatigue, anxiety, frustration, burnout, insecurity, and coping. Teachers interviewed in this study generated 234 significant statements, concluding seven themes relevant to reducing teachers' perceived stress. Servant leaders who convey a perception of reduced stress: prioritized time, were proactive, led by example, valued staff, were approachable, "had my back," and most significantly, did not micromanage were perceived to reduce the stress of subordinates. The strongest servant leadership attributes aligning with reducing the stress of teachers were those of altruism at 37% and empathy at 28%. Although significant, humility at 21% and autonomy at 15% were found to be less influential in reducing perceived stress, and autonomy was found to be a source of stress in some instances. The results may apply to the perspectives of elementary teachers; however, it can be implemented in any organization that applies high standards and seeks to improve the well-being of their subordinates. While servant leadership is not the only leadership style that can reduce stress, themes produced may give rise to a healthier, happier workforce.
Stress is one of the major factors in teacher attrition, a continuing problem in education. Further contributing to teacher stress are state and federal accountability measures, which put added pressure on schools and teachers to increase student performance. School leaders must navigate not only how to keep pace with these accountability practices, but how to do so in a manner that does not increase the stress on their teachers. To seek answers in how this might be accomplished, this paper investigates the relationship between perceived principal servant leadership characteristics and occupational stress in teachers. Data was collected using the Wilson Stress Profile for teachers (Luh, Olejnik, Greenwood, & Parkay, 1991) and a servant leadership scale adapted from leadership research in the business literature (Ehrhart, 2004) from elementary teachers in schools in Virginia not meeting state accountability benchmarks. Findings demonstrate that having higher levels of perceived servant leadership was associated with lower levels of reported stress after controlling for several demographic and behavioral covariates. These results indicate that developing servant leadership characteristics in principals could be a means to alleviate some of the occupational stress teachers feel, particularly in schools that are struggling to meet accountability benchmarks.
The purpose of this qualitative study was to construct a theoretical framework explaining the connection between principal leadership practices and the phenomenon of teacher morale. The study also focused on principal leadership practices and the perceived effects that style has on how teachers feel about themselves and their jobs. First, a review of extant literature defined what constitutes effective leadership in school related environments. Second, the researcher defined teacher morale, both high and low, and how it relates to work performance. Third, the researcher attempted to explore how teacher morale and the leadership style of their principals relate. This qualitative study was conducted using interviews of teachers from 7 public elementary schools. Post interview journaling was also conducted by the researcher to capture immediate author perspective. The teachers were interviewed to gain their perceptions of leadership practices that motivate them to enjoy their jobs and work beyond status quo. With information gleaned from teachers, the desired outcome of this research was for principals to self-evaluate their leadership strategies and style and to find importance in building high teacher morale for the betterment of everyone. The researcher coded transcripts into themes, patterns, and the following theoretical constructs: (a) change, (b) leadership practices, (c) mandated testing, (d) stress, (e) communication, (f) acknowledgment, (g) professionalism (h) identifying with teachers, and (i) building community.
This quantitative case study examined teacher perceptions within one rural, public East Tennessee school district of principal leadership styles based upon Kouzes and Posner's five domains: challenge the process, enable others to act, encourage the heart, inspire a shared vision, and model the way to determine if a dominate domain existed within teacher perception of the principal's leadership style. Principals who understand the effectiveness and impact that different leadership styles have upon the school environment, specifically teacher perceptions, generally identify with a particular style allowing the creation of a positive educational environment (Rowland, 2008). Teacher understanding of principals' leadership styles increased self-awareness and job satisfaction the teacher achieved. Effectively decreasing the chances of teacher burnout and job-related stress (Meador, 2016).
This study confirmed that public school principals are likely to perceive themselves as servant leaders, and the study operationalized the construct of servant leadership by identifying and categorizing 60 specific actions that principals take in order to lead their schools to success. It is recommended that future research examine the success of servant leadership for other public school leaders including teachers. Future research could also focus on further defining the 60 servant leader actions established in this study.
Research has shown that various leadership styles have different impacts on leader outcomes such as satisfaction, extra effort, and effectiveness. Specifically, researchers have found that transformational leadership positively impacts follower perceptions of satisfaction, extra effort, and leader effectiveness (Avolio, Bass, & lung, 1995; Philbin, 1997; Yammarino, Spangler, & Bass, 1993). However, research has shown that not all leaders display transformational leadership. In fact, Eagly, Karau, & lohnson (1992) and their colleagues have shown transformational leadership in education to be linked to the extent to which male and female principals carry out their gender roles - referring to role congruity. Currently, not much is known empirically about the relationship between the role of the elementary school principal leadership and gender roles and its combined effects on teachers' perceived satisfaction, perceived effectiveness of their principals, and their assessment of extra effort put forth towards their job. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between leadership style (transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire) and psychological gender role group (masculine, feminine, undifferentiated, androgynous) of elementary school principals. Exploration of this topic filled a void in empirical investigations of the psychological gender perspective of school leadership. Multivariate Analysis of Variance techniques were used to examine the relationships between and among principal psychological gender role, biological gender, principal effectiveness, teacher satisfaction, and teacher extra effort. Additionally, canonical correlation was used to examine the relationship between leadership factor variable set and psychological gender role variable set. Results detected one relationship exists between psychological gender role and leadership behavior variable sets. Specifically, findings suggest femininity, masculinity, idealized influence attribute, idealized influence behavior, inspiration-motivation, intellection stimulation, individual consideration, contingent reward, and laissez-faire provide the best linear combinations of Pearson correlations between the leadership behavior and psychological gender role variable sets. In addition, results indicated statistically significant differences in perceived principal effectiveness, teacher perceived satisfaction, and teacher extra effort based on teacher perceived level of principal psychological gender. Teachers who perceived their principals as androgynous and feminine reported higher levels of extra effort, satisfaction, and principal effectiveness. Leadership behavior did not appear to have a significant influence on extra effort, satisfaction, and principal effectiveness. Additionally, the interaction effect between perceived principal psychological gender role group and principal biological gender was not statistically significant.
The purpose of this exploratory case study was to explore teacher perceptions of the servant leadership characteristics of one principal and how that correlated with their job satisfaction. Thirty-two full-time elementary school teachers in one district located in the Southwestern United States participated in the study. Laub's Organizational Assessment (OLA) was used to measure their perceptions of the servant leadership characteristics of one principal, while the Mohrman-Cooke-Mohrman Job Satisfaction Scale (MCMJSS) was utilized to measure their job satisfaction. Interviews were conducted with eight participants to gain more information related to the teacher's perception of this one principal and job satisfaction. Overall statistical analysis indicated no correlation between the teachers' perceptions of servant leadership characteristics of one principal and job satisfaction. The majority of the r values generated from the correlation of the OLA and the MCMJSS were greater than the level of significance of .05 (p value > ©Ł), indicating an acceptance of the null hypothesis. However, some domains of the teacher's perceptions of the servant leadership characteristics of one principal had significant, negative correlations to teacher job satisfaction. These included Displays Authenticity, Values People, Provides Leadership, and Shares Leadership. Findings from the in-depth interviews indicated that teachers wanted transparent and consistent leadership, and a principal who is approachable, authentic and who values the staff. Furthermore, teachers indicated they valued a comfortable and consistent school environment. The study may enhance principals' understanding of the perceptions teachers have about the way principals lead.
This study focused on the relationship between teacher stress and burnout and the leadership styles of elementary school principals as perceived by elementary school teachers. The topic of stress is one that has been ongoing for hundreds of years but the teaching profession has seen an increase in this condition over the past four decades. Teacher stress and burnout is a condition that can impact teacher health, job retention, teaching performance, and beyond. Therefore, this topic is important as the findings could serve to help minimize this condition. It could also inform educational leaders about leadership styles and their relation to stress and burnout. Sosik and Godshalk's (2000) model of leadership style, mentoring functions received, and job related stress, was the theoretical framework that guided this study. The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used to analyze statistical data via the Maslach Burnout Inventory: Educator's Survey (MBI) and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire - Form 5X - Rater Form (MLQ). The results of this study revealed that there is a statistically significant relationship between the leadership styles of elementary school principals and teacher stress and burnout, which aligned with the majority of the literature on this topic.
"Sergiovanni documents cases of schools that have successfully reinvented themselves in order to establish a sense of 'community' as the foundation for all curriculum and instruction decisions. . . . Teachers, administrators, teacher educators, and communities seeking advice and motivation for restructuring schools for the 21st century would be well advised to consult this work." --Choice "Provides the practitioner with both a theoretical blueprint with which to build learning communities and a rich supply of benchmark illustrations to use as prototypes. . . . thought-provoking and challenging." --NASSP Bulletin Both in and out of schools, people are experiencing a loss of community. In this book, Thomas J. Sergiovanni explains why a sense of community is so vital to the success of any school and shows teachers, parents, and administrators what they can do to rebuild it. Filled with case studies and other school examples, Building Community in Schools provides the necessary intellectual framework for understanding the need to create communities that are inclusive, meaningful, and democratic.
This descriptive research study was conducted to determine the state of perceived teacher morale and student academic performance as measured by fourth-grade reading and math scores among four elementary schools defined by the servant leadership score of each principal in this Florida elementary school district. While related research from other geographical areas was identified and published, the aim of this study was to describe the current state of these variables in the southeastern United States. Four elementary principals and 153 elementary teachers participated in this study. The Revised Servant Leadership Profile 360 survey (RSLP 360) was used to obtain the principals' perceptions of servant leadership based on the criteria from the survey to categorize the four schools as servant or non-servant leadership-led schools, and the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire survey (PTO) was used to collect the teachers' perceptions of morale. Fourth-grade Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) scores in mathematics and reading were retrieved from the Florida Department of Education database and used as the third variable in this study. The intent of this research was not to define relationships between servant leadership, teacher morale, and student test scores, but to describe the extent to which these variables existed based on the perceptions of the survey participants and state test scores for this school district in Florida. The results from this study may be used for future research and practices to further examine the active and potential status of servant leadership, teacher morale, and student academic performance outcomes in PreK-12 education.