Schools principals' leadership styles and school image according to teachers' opinions

Image of the schools, which are responsible for nurturing next generations, is related to their relations with both social and physical environment. Therefore, how they to be perceived should be administrated well. Because principles are as responsible as academic achievements for image management, it is clear that transformist leaders are more needed in this rapidly-changing world. Schools that have successful leaders and public support and thrust will both achieve their purposes and create a successful image. In this sense, this study was done in order to figure out the relationship between how the teachers view their schools' principles' leadership styles and the school image in the 28 public elementary schools, 4 Anatolian high schools and 8 vocational high schools with 350 participants in Ataşehir, İstanbul. The data was analyzed by PASW 18.0 software. It is concluded that: a) School principals are perceived as transformist leaders instead of transactional leaders. b) In both school types, teachers' opinions about their school is fair. c) It is revealed that there is a fair relationship between principles' transformist leadership styles and the schools' image. d) By demographic characteristics, men teachers tend to see the principles as transformational leaders more than women ones. e) When school image and teachers demographic characteristics were analyzed, it is revealed that men teachers and the teachers who serve more than 21 years have more positive school image perception. Keywords: Organizational Image, School Principals' Leadership Styles, Elementary, Anatolian and Vocational High Schools' Organizational Image.