Leadership Styles, Organizational Climate, and School Climate Openness from the Perspective of Slovak Vocational School Teachers

Abstract

The aim of the proposed study is to present the partial results of a research study on the organizational climate in vocational schools as perceived by teachers. Special attention is paid to the applied leadership style by school leaders, and the existence of associations between school leaders’ and teachers’ behaviour in schools. Organizational climate was measured by the standardized OCDQ-RS adapted to the conditions of the Slovak educational environment on the sample of 474 vocational schoolteachers. The scale measures five dimensions: Supportive principal behaviour; Directive principal behaviour; Engaged teacher behaviour; Frustrated teacher behaviour; and Intimate teacher behaviour, allowing for calculation of the Index of school climate openness, which is an indicator of the quality of the organizational climate. The obtained results confirmed the existence of associations between teacher and principal behaviour and school climate openness. It can be assumed that the applied leadership style in an institution can affect the quality of interpersonal relationships and teacher behaviour both in positive and negative directions. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to building favourable organizational climate in schools, which represents a challenge for school leaders and educational systems that should provide school leaders with sufficient learning opportunities in the field of school leadership.