The relationship between participative leadership behavior of school principals and learning climate

The aim of this study is to determine the participative leadership behavior of school principals and the learning climate of the school, according to the opinions of teachers working in secondary schools; whether the participative leadership behavior of principals and the learning climate of the school differ according to various variables and the relationship between the participative leadership behavior of school principals and the learning climate of the school. A descriptive survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the research. The data was obtained using a personal information form, participatory leadership scale and learning climate scale. The sample of the research consists of 451 secondary school teachers working in 25 secondary schools in the central district of Niğde province, selected through random sampling. Data were interpreted using frequency, percentage, mean, t-Test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation and simple linear regression analysis. There is no difference in the participatory leadership behaviors of school principals according to gender, education level, branch and professional seniority variables. It was concluded that among the learning climate sub-dimensions, teachers perceived the freedom dimension as the highest and the harmony dimension as the lowest. According to the perceptions of teachers working in secondary schools, it has been observed that gender, education level, branch and professional seniority variables do not cause any difference in the learning climate of the school. While there is a positive significant relationship between the participative leadership behaviors of school principals and the sub-dimensions of the learning climate, namely leadership, freedom, evaluation and cooperation, there is no relationship between the harmony dimension. According to the results of the research, the participative leadership behavior of school principals working in secondary schools significantly positively predicts the learning climate. Keywords: School, Leader, Participative Leadership, Learning Climate