A Preliminary Study to Understand Leadership Style of Senior Teachers Through Their Perceptions and Contexts in Formal Schools in Mumbai

Abstract

Transformational leadership behaviors of school principals and vice principals may have a significant contributions to their professional commitments, including moral obligations to students and society at large. However, it is assumed that any discretion in instructional leadership activity may require substantial support from the existing administrative system and schools’ context. Inadequacy of indigenous literature in the related domain makes it difficult, either to define or to understand the phenomenon and related factors. The present preliminary study was planned and conducted to explore how far senior teachers in formal schools had been able to transform learning experiences of students and to effectively engage them in the learning process, including activities. Through an interview guide, authors engaged the selected respondents in conversation and understood through their perceptions and narratives that they are mostly engaged in transactional operations. As it has been perceived by them, the existing pattern of formal education is not adequately conducive for transformational leadership activities in schools.