Teacher perceptions of parent leadership

The research was designed in descriptive survey model in order to reveal the perceptions of secondary school teachers related to parent leadership. The target population of the research is composed of teachers working at secondary schools in Nazilli district of Aydın province in the 2019-2020 academic year. The study was conducted with 233 teachers who were selected with random sampling method and participated in the study voluntarily. Data was collected by "Personal Information Form" and "Parent Leadership Scale" developed by Kıral (2019) in the study. Descriptive and evidence-based statistical techniques were used in data analysis. According to the findings of the research, teachers' perception of parent leadership was at the highest level in transformational leadership dimension followed by servant, visionary and instructional leadership dimensions respectively. Teachers' general perception of parent leadership was at medium level. Although teachers' perceptions of parent leadership didn't show a significant difference according to their seniority and branch; a significant difference was seen in favor of those who work at private schools in all dimensions according to the type of school they work. In transformational leadership dimension teacher perceptions of parent leadership made a significant difference in favor of men according to gender variable but no statistically significant difference was found in terms of visionary, servant, instructional leadership dimensions and general parent leadership.While teacher perceptions differed in terms of visionary, servant, transformational leadership dimensions and general parent leadership according to their tenure at school, no significant difference was seen in instructional leadership dimension. In visionary, servant leadership dimensions and general parent leadership, the mean scores of the teachers whose tenure at school are 3 years or less were higher than those with a tenure of 4-6 years at school and 7 years or more. In transformational leadership dimension, it was observed the mean scores of the teachers whose tenure are 3 years or less at school were higher than those whose tenure are 7 years or more. Teachers' ages did not affect their perceptions of parent leadership in servant, transformational, instructional leadership and general parent leadership. However, the mean scores of the teachers who are 30 years old and below were found higher than the teachers who are 41 years old and above in visionary leadership dimension. Based on the findings obtained in the research, various suggestions were offered to practitioners and researchers, such as providing leadership training (working groups, workshops, etc.) to parents who are interested in the subject, and conducting qualitative research to identify the underlying reasons for female teachers' low perceptions of transformational parent leadership. KEY WORDS: Leadership, Parent, Teacher, School