An action research on leadership skills of school administrators

The effect of the leadership styles of school administrators on schools and teachers is very important. The leadership styles of the school administrators are thought to contribute positively to the success, effectiveness, climate, and culture of the school, and to the job satisfaction, motivation and performance of the teachers. In this sense, this study aims to implement action plans to meet the identified needs after performing a needs analysis to determine the leadership skills that school administrators should possess in the Turkish education system and to develop the leadership style skills of the school administrators through training as a part of the framework of these action plans. Action research, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. In sample selection, "criterion sampling", one of the purposive sampling methods, was adopted. The study group consisted of seven school administrators and a total of 25 teachers, five from each school, in five elementary schools in Elazığ and its districts in 2021-2022 academic year. The data were collected through trainer observation reports and outside observer reports, video recordings and Web 2.0 tools. Content analysis method was used to the analyze obtained qualitative data. In the study nine leadership styles (Transformational, Entrepreneurial, Strategic, Empowering, Visionary, Autocratic, Principled, Servant, Interactional) expected from school administrators were revealed. On the basis of the opinions of the participants it was decided to develop eight of these leadership styles (Transformational, Entrepreneurial, Strategic, Empowering, Visionary, Autocratic, Principled, Interactional). Then, the behaviors that these eight leadership styles aimed to improve were determined by detailed needs analysis. After the analyzes, action plans were developed to improve behaviors and training practices were conducted in three cycles. Teachers' opinions revealed that the leadership style behaviors of school administrators described in the training practice developed positively.