Variation of Perceptions of Teachers on Administrative Ability of the Principal-Teacher of Physical Education According to Their Demographic Characteristics

IntroductionResearch on the most efficient principal was done in various, consecutive stages. Oriented by the general question "how the principal contributes to school's operation", the present study tried to clarify the relations among the principal's attitude on specific efficiency criteria by using as efficiency indicators the perceptions of teachers on the school's administration or the level of their job satisfaction. This is the reason why there are so many studies abroad that study the perceptions of teachers as a procedure for the localization of the quality of school administration and administrative efficiency of principals (Saitis & Eliophotou, 2004 ; Linn, Sherman, & Gill, 2007, Saiti, 2007, Rhodes & Brundrett, 2009). The present study proves that the perception on efficient administration of Principals-Teachers of Physical Education varies intensively on whether they serve at a high school or a lyceum and less intensively on the area of the school while no affect was found based on their sex.Many researchers adopt the view that the success of the efforts done for the upgrading of the school depends highly on the nature and quality of the principal's school leadership (Fullan, 2007), that contributes significantly on the efficiency of the school unit (Hoy & Miskel, 2005). The term "school efficiency" includes complex concepts and multiple characteristics due to which even up to date it has not been completely clarified. The factors of school efficiency are multidimensional constructions and can be measured against specific dimensions existing in each school ( Creemers & Kyriakides, 2008)The indirect but powerful influence of school leadership on ensuring and improving of the performance of students is documented in many studies. Parallel to the quality of the teacher, leadership and school culture seem to influence and determine the levels of student performance due to the decisive effect they have on the motivation of teachers and therefore the quality of teaching (Manzano, Waters, and McNulty, 2005). It is important that school leaders own the abilities needed in order to be able to improve teaching and learning and through them, the achievements and growth of students (Supovitz, Sirinides and May, 2010 ; Lumby, Crow & Pashiardis, 2008). Hoy & Miskel (2008) classify the features of an efficient school leadership in three categories: a) personality, including self esteem, integrity, stress endurance and emotional growth, b) work motivation including duty, interpersonal needs and expectations, and c) competence including technical, interpersonal and administrative competencies.In an effort to measure administrative efficiency of Teachers of Physical Education as Principals of school units and "school efficiency" the present study adopted the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale - PIMRS (Hallinger, 2008, 2013) questionnaire, an instrument for the measurement of efficiency for school administration based on the teachers' perceptions. This instrument covers the factors mentioned above which affect the perceptions of teachers on the efficient operation of their school. More specifically, the PIMRS questionnaire evaluates three dimensions of school leadership: a) the determination of school goals and mission, b) the curriculum and c) the promotion of a positive environment of teaching in school. The dimension of "determination of goals" refers on the operations of the role of the Principal in cooperation with teachers in order to ensure that the school's mission is clear and focused on the academic proficiency of students. The second dimension "the management of the curriculum" includes the supervision and assessment of directions, the coordination and observation of the students' progress. The third dimension "the promotion of a positive climate in teaching" includes various operation of leadership such are the promotion of professional development of teachers, motivation as well as the creation of a culture of continuous improvement through the development of high specifications and expectations. …