Studying Characteristics of Successful Educational Principals: Towards Developing a Standard Scale for Research on Successful School Principalship

Subject Areas : Education

KH. GH ¹ , N. SH ² , Y. صیادی ³

1 - استادیار دانشگاه کردستان، دانشکده علوم انسانی و اجتماعی، گروه علوم تربیتی
2 - دانشیار گروه علوم تربیتی دانشگاه کردستان
3 - دانش آموخته کارشناسی ارشد مدیریت آموزشی دانشگاه کردستان

Received: 2014-02-02 Accepted : 2014-02-02 Published : 2013-11-22

Keywords: Educational Administration, educational leadership, Principals, Successful school principals, Successful School Principal Scale, exploratory factor analysis,

Abstract :

The main purpose of the present research was to identify the basic components of successful educational principals in order to develop a scale to measure characteristics of successful school principals. The main research approach in this exploratory study was quantitative. The target population involved teachers of all three levels of schooling (elementary, secondary and high schools) in Kermanshah province.  Using stage sampling strategy 356 teachers were selected to participate in the study. The main data collection instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire developed based on the qualitative stage of the study with a Cranach’s alpha of 0.94. Exploratory factor analysis was utilized to analyze data. The results suggested, according to the teachers’ opinions, that the Successful Educational Principal Scale has five basic sub-scales: developing social capital in school, personal capability and manner, relationship, professional development of staff, and self-orientated and close vision. The reliability indexes of the sub-scales ranged from 0.78 to 0.90 based on Cronbach’s alpha.