Toward a framework of servant leadership among kindergarten administration in Taipei

The purpose of this study was to analyze the leadership styles and skills of selected administrators of public kindergartens in Taipei County, Taiwan, and correlate these with their practice of servant leadership. The researcher then developed a framework of servant leadership among these public kindergarten administrators based on the findings of this study. Data on these variables were collected using three survey instruments distributed to one hundred and thirty four (134) administrators and two hundred and fifty nine (259) teachers in kindergartens in Taipei. The study first two part of instruments were utilized two survey questionnaires, the first was the Leadership Style Survey where the styles were categorized as authoritarian, participative or delegative (Clark, n.d.). The second was the Leadership Skill Survey which identified five performance objectives of effective administrators: promoting collaborative problem solving and open communication collecting, analyzing and using data to identify school needs using data to identify and plan for needed changes in the instructional program implementing and monitoring the school improvement plan and using systems thinking to establish a clear focus in attaining student achievement goals (Seremet, et al, n.d., p. 1). The third instrument used by the researcher was the Servant-Leadership Inventory of Ang (2002) to find out the extent of the administrators practice of servant leadership focusing on four components: servant-first orientation, receptive responsive caring, other-centered service, and instructive-transformative relating. The self-ratings of the administrators and the teachers ratings of their administrators in the three survey instruments were determined through Likerts Five-Point Rating Scale. v The data were then collated, organized and analyzed using the appropriate statistical tools: mean, percentage, t-test, and canonical correlation. They were interpreted by determining which among the leadership styles and skills of the administrators could be correlated with the effective practice of servant leadership. Based on the findings of this study, a theoretical framework of leadership for administrators in kindergartens in Taiwan was developed. The findings of this study are as follows: The administrators manifestation of leadership styles in selected kindergartens in Taipei as perceived by the administrators themselves and the teachers in terms of the authoritarian style is rated seldom true and occasionally true, respectively. The manifestation of the participative and delegative styles is rated frequently true and occasionally true, respectively. There is no significant difference in the leadership styles exhibited by administrators in selected kindergartens in Taipei as perceived by themselves and the teachers with respect to being authoritarian, participative and delegative. The manifestation of the administrators leadership skills in selected kindergartens in Taipei as perceived by the administrators themselves and the teachers in terms of all the skills is rated frequently true. There is no significant difference in the self-ratings of the administrators and the teachers of all the administrators leadership skills in selected kindergartens in Taipei. The administrators practice of servant leadership in selected kindergartens in Taipei as perceived by the administrators themselves and the teachers in terms of servant-first orientation is rated occasionally true; in terms of receptive-responsive caring, most of the time; and in terms of Instructive-transformative relating, most of the time. vi The administrators practice of servant leadership in terms of other-centered service is seen most of time by the respondent -administrators and occasionally true by the teachers. There is a significant difference in the administrators practice of servant leadership selected kindergartens in Taipei as perceived by the administrators themselves and the teachers based on the component of servant-first orientation. However, there is no significant difference in their administrators practice of servant leadership based on the components of receptive-responsive caring, other-centered service and instructive-transformative relating. There is a slight correlation between the administrators manifestation of the authoritarian leadership style and the practice of servant leadership in selected kindergartens in Taipei as perceived by the administrators themselves and the teachers. There is a low correlation between their administrators manifestation of the participative leadership style and the practice of servant leadership based on the respondent-administrators ratings; among the teachers, the correlation is moderate. There is a high correlation of their manifestation of the delegative leadership style with practices of servant leadership as perceived by the administrators themselves; among the teachers, the correlation is moderate but almost high. The overall correlation between leadership styles and practice of servant leadership as perceived by the administrators themselves and the teachers is moderate. There is a low correlation between the manifestation of leadership skills and the practice of servant leadership among the administrators in selected kindergartens in Taipei as perceived by the administrators themselves and the teachers in terms of promoting collaborative problem solving and open communication. There is a low correlation between their manifestation of leadership skills and the practice of servant leadership as perceived by the administrators themselves in terms of collecting, analyzing, and using vii data to identify school needs; among the teachers the correlation is slight but close to low. There is a low correlation between the manifestation of leadership skills and the practice of servant leadership among the administrators as perceived by the administrators themselves in terms of using data to identify and plan for needed changes in instructional program; among the teachers the correlation is slight. There is a slight correlation between the manifestation of leadership skills and the practice of servant leadership as perceived by the administrators themselves in terms of implementing and monitoring the school improvement plan, among the teachers the correlation is low. There is a moderate correlation between the manifestation of leadership skills and the practice of servant leadership as perceived by the administrators themselves in terms of using systems thinking to establish a clear focus on attaining student achievement goals; among the teachers the correlation is low. The overall correlation between leadership skills and practice of servant leadership as perceived by the administrators themselves and the teachers were high and moderate, respectively. Based on the results of this study, the framework of servant leadership among selected kindergarten principals in Taipei is hereby presented