How do male and female Headteachers evaluate their authenticity as school leaders?

Catherine Lee

doi:10.1177/0892020621999675

Abstract

This article utilises the model of authentic leadership by Bill George et al. to explore the extent to which gender influences teacher leader authenticity in the school workplace. Four male and four female Secondary Heads of School were asked to complete George et al.’s authentic leadership self-assessment tool and provide a written commentary reflecting on and contextualising their performance in five key areas identified by George et al.: Purpose – Passion; Values – Behaviour; Heart – Compassion; Relationships – Connectedness and Self-discipline – Consistency. The responses of the four male teacher leaders were compared with those of the four female teacher leaders and the results show that the male teacher leaders rated themselves more positively than female counterparts in all areas except Relationships – Connectedness. In all five categories the written reflections suggest that male and female leaders have gendered approaches to the notion of authenticity and conceive of school leadership in markedly different ways.

Highlights

Authenticity has a history that can be traced back to ancient Greece where it had at its roots phrases such as ‘know thyself’ and ‘to thine own self be true’
Subscribing to the belief that people are most effective in leadership roles when they are able to be themselves, George et al created a model of authentic leadership consisting of five dimensions, each associated with an observable characteristic of leadership behaviour
Exploration of the results sought to determine whether the gender identity and associated expected behaviours of the teacher leaders had any bearing upon the way in which they conceived of their own authenticity as leaders

Summary

Introduction

Authenticity has a history that can be traced back to ancient Greece where it had at its roots phrases such as ‘know thyself’ and ‘to thine own self be true’. George et al.’s authentic leadership self-assessment tool was completed by four male and four female Secondary Heads of School They were asked to provide free text comments reflecting on the reasons for their scores in each of the five key areas identified by George et al.: Purpose – Passion; Values – Behaviour; Heart – Compassion; Relationships – Connectedness and Self-discipline – Consistency. Fassinger et al (2010) observes that followers, motivated by selfinterest, are rewarded, praised or punished for specific behaviours determined by the leader This transactional interplay model of leadership is contingent upon leaders being beyond reproach themselves, emanating power and not presenting perceived weaknesses that followers may take advantage of (Fassinger et al, 2010). Despite a teaching population in the UK that is overwhelmingly female, the traditional notion of the Headteacher, is a trope in which the masculine white male, continues to prosper

Literature

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Discussion

Concluding comments