Female Principals’ Leadership Roles and Their Impact on School Culture Regarding Gifted Students’ Classrooms

Abstract

The leadership role of school principals has been receiving much attention in most educational systems, especially when such schools contain gifted students’ classrooms. Thus, this study sought to identify the types of leadership that female principals of gifted students’ classrooms have, and how such roles impact teachers and school culture. This study, which took place in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia, adopted a qualitative approach represented by a multi-case study. To achieve the objectives of the study, the researchers used a semi-structured interview method to collect data from the sample of four principals of gifted students’ classrooms, selected by the available method. Qualitative data were analyzed by the traditional manual method. The study revealed that the roles played by the leadership were wise, transformative, and cultural, regarding the skills of the principals of gifted students’ classrooms. The study, in addition, concluded that the wise educational role raised the level of teachers’ satisfaction and adaptation to the school environment, although there were some negative points, such as dictatorship of dealing and dealing with superiority. The results also unveiled the contribution of female principals, within a transformative role, to solve the problems of teachers and their environment. Additionally, it was found that each principal has a unique method that reflects the vision she adopts and tries to consolidate in school culture. There are some differences in some female principals’ traits towards gifted students.