Teachers' Perceptions of Effective School Leadership

Purpose of the Study:\ud Effective school leaders ensure students receive an appropriate and successful education. Since teachers play a large role in the quality of education produced, positive interactions with teachers are one of the important components of the effective administration of a school. Developing an understanding of what teachers perceive as an effective leader is one way to initiate positive relationships with teachers. The purpose of this study is to determine which leadership traits, actions and characteristics are most valued by teachers.\ud Procedure:\ud To determine what teachers perceived as the essential characteristics of an effective\ud school leader, this study used a mixed method approach soliciting both quantitative and\ud qualitative data. Teachers were asked to identify the traits that they believe are essential\ud for the effective administration of a school as well as rank leadership tasks based on what they perceived were the most important for school leaders to less important items.\ud Findings:\ud Through the interviews conducted in this study, it was found that teachers perceived an\ud effective school leader to be someone who is visible, takes risks; encourages innovation, has a sense of humor, is empathetic of teachers, and knowledgeable of human psychological development. Furthermore, as demonstrated by the ranking results,\ud teachers believed effective school leaders focus on particular aspects of the school.\ud Conclusions:\ud The teachers in this study valued certain leadership traits or characteristics as necessary for the effective administration of a school, these traits were similar to ones identified by research as essential for successful school leadership