Examining the Relationship Between School Culture and Leadership Behaviors of Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationships between school culture and leadership behaviors of teachers in state secondary schools. A total of 230 teachers employed in secondary schools in Kastamonu participated in this study. The research was designed using a correlational model. Data was collected via “Teacher Leadership Scale,” developed by Beycioglu and Aslan (2010), and the “School Culture Scale,” developed by Terzi (2005). Arithmetic mean, standard deviation, ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients, and multiple linear regression were conducted to analyze the data. Results revealed that teachers’ perceptions of teacher leadership behaviors are at a high level, and teachers exhibit such behaviors usually in terms of professional improvement subscale. Task-oriented culture is more dominant than support-oriented, success-oriented, and bureaucratic culture in secondary schools. Teacher’s leadership behaviors of institutional improvement, professional development, and cooperation with colleagues are significantly associated with support-oriented, success-oriented, bureaucratic, and task-oriented culture subscales of school culture. Results of regression analysis showed that support-oriented and task-oriented culture dimensions are significant predictors of all subscales of teacher leadership. Furthermore, success-oriented culture significantly and positively predicts institutional improvement and professional development subscales, while bureaucratic culture significantly and negatively predicts professional development and cooperation with colleagues subscales. Success-oriented culture is not a significant predictor of cooperation with colleagues, and bureaucratic culture is also not a significant predictor of institutional improvement subscales of teacher leadership. Results are discussed with respect to improving leadership behaviors of teachers and school culture.