Title: Transformational leadership and innovative climate in the administration of the school unit: the case of high schools of northern domain of Athens - ordinary and model schools

Authors: Kyriaki Mystakidou; Vasiliki Brinia

Addresses: Athens University Experimental School, Athens, Greece ' Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece

Abstract: The present article examines the degree in which the school principals, in the secondary education, apply transformational leadership and investigates their contribution in cultivating and forming an innovative climate in the school unit. This is the major objective of the study in transforming the centralised management system of the school unit. The innovation of this research lies on two axes, that have not yet been sufficiently studied in Greece: (a) on teachers', vice principals' and principals' beliefs on subjects related to the administration of a school unit and (b) on the comparison of two school types, the ordinary ones and the model ones. A qualitative methodology was adapted in the research for reasons of immediacy and accuracy. The findings show that the role of the principal is crucial to the school's effectiveness and its smooth operation. Principals' lack of vision and inability to change, create resistance to a decentralised school management system. In conclusion, the transformational leadership style and innovation appear mostly in model schools.

Keywords: transformational leadership; innovative climate; school organisational culture; school organisation; secondary education; model high schools.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2022.125486

International Journal of Management in Education, 2022 Vol.16 No.5, pp.554 - 568

Received: 27 May 2021
Accepted: 21 Aug 2021
Published online: 12 Sep 2022 *

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