A case study of a principal's leadership style and its relationship with the school climate / Anne Langkan

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the principal's leadership style and school climate. The population sample of the study involved a total of 100 teachers and the school principal of SM Bandar Sri Aman in Sarawak. Data was collected using two main research instruments, namely, The Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire (OCDQ-RS) and the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire Form XII (LBDQ). The quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 for Windows. The validity and reliability of the instruments was established through experts' views and the overall reliability was established at alpha level of 0.5 or less. The questionnaires were administered on the teachers whilst the interview was conducted with the school principal. The findings of the study indicated that there was significant relationship existed between the teachers perceptions of the school principal leadership style and school climate, but some were found to be weak and negative. However, the analysis also depicted that there was statistically significant relationship existed between the two variables, leadership style and school climate and most of the teachers agreed that the principal exercised his leadership role rather than surrendering leadership to others. The high performing school leaders in every school as announced recently in fifth shift of Malaysia Education Blueprint was among the challenges faced by the school principal. These findings imply that school leaders must be highly principled person, friendly and caring who can manage the school effectively and one who can set himself/herself as a role model. Most importantly, additional training for school leaders and highly qualified candidates for school leaders should include instruction pertaining to foster positive school climate. It may serve as an insight to produce high performing school leaders in every school who can foster positive school climate for teaching and learning to take place.