Title: School leadership practices of Portuguese principals: matching perceptions of principals and teachers

Authors: Ilídia Cabral; Maria Da Conceição Andrade Silva; Rosário Serrão Cunha; José Matias Alves

Addresses: Universidade Católica Portuguesa, CEDH - Research Centre for Human Development, Faculdade de Educação e Psicologia, Rua Diogo Botelho, 1327, 4169-005 Porto, Portugal ' Universidade Católica Portuguesa, CEGE - Research Centre in Management and Economics, Católica Porto Business School, Rua Diogo Botelho, 1327, 4169-005 Porto, Portugal ' Universidade Católica Portuguesa, CEDH - Research Centre for Human Development, Faculdade de Educação e Psicologia, Rua Diogo Botelho, 1327, 4169-005 Porto, Portugal ' Universidade Católica Portuguesa, CEDH - Research Centre for Human Development, Faculdade de Educação e Psicologia, Rua Diogo Botelho, 1327, 4169-005 Porto, Portugal

Abstract: This paper presents a study on teachers' and principals' perceptions of school leadership practices in Portuguese schools. Using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, perceptions about transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership practices and its consequences on leadership outcomes (followers' extra-effort, leaders' effectiveness and followers' satisfaction with leader) were collected from representative samples of Portuguese teachers (N = 21,082) and principals (N = 122). Results point to differences in the perceptions on leadership practices between principals and teachers: teachers tended to rate principals lower than the latter rate themselves in all transformational and transactional dimensions of leadership; most teachers did not perceive a dominant leadership style in their principals, whereas most principals see themselves as predominantly transformational. Also, for teachers, leadership practices have a higher impact on leadership outcomes than for principals. These results and their practical implications are discussed in the last sections of the paper.

Keywords: leadership practices; leadership outcomes; followers' and leaders' perceptions; school leadership; transformational leadership; transactional leadership; multifactor leadership questionnaire.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2020.109696

International Journal of Management in Education, 2020 Vol.14 No.5, pp.516 - 544

Received: 06 May 2019
Accepted: 20 Sep 2019
Published online: 21 Sep 2020 *

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