title: School Leadership, Culture, and Teacher Stress: Implications for Problem Students
Creators: name: Quinn, Andrea Jean
Publisher: name: Griffith University
Year: 2005
Subjects: subject: Problem students
subject: educational leadership
subject: organisational culture
subject: aggressive-defensive culture
subject: passive-defensive culture
subject: school culture

description: Contextual factors linked to behaviour problems in schools include leadership, organisational culture (within individual schools), and levels of teacher stress. Efforts to improve the school environment, reduce teacher stress, and improve student outcomes often have a singular focus on behaviour management policy. The aim of this research concerns the direction of effects from these variables, and offers an alternative perspective on the environment-behaviour equation. That is, while student misbehaviour is viewed as a 'producer' of teacher stress, it may also be perceived as a 'product'. An initial qualitative investigation (Study 1) invited behaviour management staff (N = 23) to participate in focus groups, where three questions were posed in relation to the overall research aims. Content analysis was performed on the transcribed focus group data, and revealed that the hypothesised direction of effect between the variables of interest appeared probable. Participants for the main studies (Studies 2 and 3) were teaching staff (N = 136), school administrators (N = 17) and students referred for behavioural problems (N = 1432) at seven Brisbane metropolitan schools. Teachers and school administrators completed both the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and the Organisational Culture Inventory, while teachers also completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Student data was collated from school records, and grouped according to categories of referral frequency per student. In Study 2, high referral rates were associated with transactional leadership, and the Oppositional aspect of Aggressive-Defensive culture. Low and medium referral rates were associated with transformational leadership and the Dependent, Approval, and Avoidant aspects of Passive-Defensive culture, and the Affiliative aspect of Constructive culture. Regression tests found further support for the proposed path model and the hypothesised direction of effects. Transactional leadership and the Passive-Defensive and Aggressive-Defensive culture types were most influential in prediction of referral rates for student misbehaviour. Unexpectedly, teacher stress was non-significant in explanation of referral rates for student misbehaviour. Study 3 examined hypothesised differences in perception between school administrators and teaching staff, according to the leadership and organisational culture dimensions. Both groups endorsed transformational leadership as the dominant style, although results differed by degree for each group. In terms of school culture, differences between groups were again evident, as teachers' perceptions of school culture were significantly more negative compared to school administrators. Overall, qualified support was found for the hypothesised direction of effects from school environment variables on referral rates for student misbehaviour. Leadership style and school culture emerged as most important for the student outcome variable, and may be important in consideration of school-based approaches to behaviour management. Additionally, teacher stress, while related to school leadership style and organisational culture, appeared to have no effect on student referral rates.