Variation of perceptions of Physical Education teachers on the principal’s level of effectiveness according to their age, gender, years of service in the same school and stage of service.

Abstract

Problem statement: There is an extensive amount of evidence regarding the role of school principals through the perceptions of teachers as its positive relationship with school efficiency factors has been highlighted. However, there are no studies to explore the perceptions of physical education teachers on the personality and leadership style of their principal. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine how age, gender, years of service in the same school and stage of service differentiate the perceptions of Physical Education (PE) teachers on the efficient performance of their school principal through the factors that express the main leadership functions. Approach: A total of 223 PE teachers (127 male, 96 female) who served during the school year 2017- 2018 in the school units of primary and secondary education of the prefectures of Pieria and Imathia of the Regional Directorate of Central Macedonia of Greece, participated in the survey. The perceptions of PE teachers about the efficiency of their principal were measured through the questionnaire of Paschiardis and Orphanou (1999). Results: All factors demonstrated acceptable internal consistency. Α one-way analysis of variance and post hoc test revealed that that the age of PE teachers differentiates the factor “cooperation with the ministry’s officials”, the stage in which PE teachers serve differentiates the factors “problem solving and decision making”, “relationships with parents and the local community”, “organization and administration”, “cooperation with the ministry’s officials” and “professional development of the principal” and the years of service in the same school differentiate the factors “problem solving and decision making” and “organization and administration”, while t test revealed that the gender differentiates the factor “human resources management”. Conclusions: PE teachers’ perceptions about effective school leadership are different depending on their demographic characteristics.