Duties as Assigned: How Principals' Leadership Practices Influence their Vice-principals' Leadership Self-efficacy

This study examines the potentially critical role elementary school principals play in the leadership development of their vice-principals. A growing body of research supports the important role principals might assume in the leadership development of vice-principals. Reports from the field, however, indicate that the vice-principalship does not adequately prepare vice-principals to become school principals. This research attempts to resolve this apparent tension by asking: “How do principals’ leadership practices influence the leadership self-efficacy of elementary vice-principals?” Using self-efficacy as an indicator of vice-principals’ leadership development, this research examines the effects of specific leadership practices by elementary school principals (aligned with the four sources of self-efficacy: enactive mastery, vicarious experience, verbal feedback, and physiological states) on vice-principals’ leadership development in three domains: management, instructional leadership, and moral leadership. This study adopts a mixed methods, sequential explanatory, approach. An online survey of vice-principals in English school districts in Ontario was conducted. Then, 15 interviews of purposively selected participants (from the online survey) were completed based on the results of the initial phase of the research. The findings of the study illustrate a small but significant effect of principals’ leadership practices on vice-principals’ leadership self-efficacy. A strong relationship between principals’ leadership practices and vice-principals’ opportunities to lead within their schools suggests that principals’ leadership practices may also capture a certain style of leadership that is conducive to vice-principals’ leadership development. The qualitative phase of this research suggests that these elements are: autonomy, trust, collaboration, and respect. How these elements influence the working environment and relationship of vice-principals should be considered in future research. This research supports the importance of self-efficacy when considering leadership development in Ontario schools, both as a potential measure of leadership effectiveness and as a means of improving leadership performance in schools, particularly as formal school leadership influences school performance and student achievement.Ed.D