The instructional practice of school principals and its effect on teachers’ job satisfaction

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a piece of research concerning the practice of Cypriot school principals’ instructional role and its effect on teachers’ job satisfaction, and also to investigate whether higher levels of teachers’ job satisfaction can be predicted when school principals deal with and accomplish their instructional tasks.

Quantitative methods were used (two questionnaires) together with qualitative methods (observation, interviews, informal conversations, and collection of artifacts).

The results of multiple regression analysis indicated that higher levels of teachers’ job satisfaction are not predicted when principals deal with and accomplish their instructional tasks. This result is rather unexpected, considering the trends of modern bibliography regarding the value and effects on teachers of principal’s instructional and transformational leadership. The triangulation of the results helped the authors to re-examine the research question and creates a deeper understanding of the practice of principals’ instructional role and the sources of teachers’ job satisfaction.

The results are analyzed and discussed in order to reach conclusions about the evaluation, selection, and training of school principals. Through the description of the instructional practice of school principals, useful information concerning teachers’ job satisfaction are also provided. Finally, the conclusions of this research may prove useful for educational policy makers, since they can guide them on the successful implementation of changes. Changes are needed in the evaluation and promotion system of Cyprus and in the content of principals’ training programs. School principals must be taught different leadership styles (e.g. transformational and transactional leadership) and learn to modify their leadership behavior according to the situation and the professional maturity of their teachers. In this way, they will be able to increase the level of teachers’ satisfaction as to become more effective in their teaching.

At a time when instructional/transformational leadership is presented to be a panacea for many educational issues, including raising teachers’ job satisfaction, this research with its mixed methodology highlights the complexity and the various interpretations of these concepts and also provides explanations on why many principals do not act as instructional leaders.