Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to explore the link between the visionary leadership behaviours of school principals and school effectiveness, based on teachers' perceptions. Descriptive and relational survey model was used in the study, which was designed according to the quantitative research method. The population of the study consisted of teachers working in public schools in the Western Black Sea Region, Turkey. The study was conducted through the convenience sampling method, and the data were obtained from 232 teachers in the 2020-2021 academic year. Two scales, namely, ‘Visionary Leadership Scale’ and ‘School Effectiveness Scale’, were used as data collection tools in the study. Descriptive statistics were performed for assessing the opinions of the teachers participating in the study about the visionary leadership behaviours of school principals and the efficiency of the schools where they work. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test results were evaluated to determine whether the data were normally distributed. Independent samples t-test was applied to determine the difference between the variables including teachers' gender, educational background, length of working time with the same principal, and the levels of school effectiveness and visionary leadership. Further, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine the difference between the variables of teachers' length of working time at the same school and professional seniority, and levels of perception on school effectiveness and visionary leadership. Consequently, we concluded that the teachers who participated in the study perceived the visionary leadership competencies of school principals and the effectiveness levels of their schools as high. The results also indicated a significant difference between the teachers’ working time at the same school and their perceptions of visionary leadership. In this regard, teachers working in the same school for 0-5 years appeared to perceive the visionary leadership levels of school principals as higher than the teachers working for 6-10 years. Finally, it was determined that there was a significant relationship between visionary leadership and its sub-factors, and school effectiveness.

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