UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEADTEACHERS’ LEADERSHIP STYLES AND SELF- EFFICACY WITH TEACHERS’ SELF- AND COLLECTIVE EFFICACY: A MIXED METHODS APPROACH Paper presented at the 2008 CCEAM Conference "Think Globally Act Locally: A Challenge to Education Leaders" ICC Durban, 8-12 September 2008 Ioannis Savvides & Petros Pashiardis

CCEAM 2008 Conference 2 Presentation outline  Introduction  Literature review  Aim of the study-Research questions  Theoretical model  Methodology  Discussion and conclusions

CCEAM 2008 Conference 3 Introduction  Which aspects of the individual determine work and other behaviours of headteachers and teachers in schools?  What motivates such behaviours?

CCEAM 2008 Conference 4  Multiple answers can be given to these questions because  individuals are complex personalities and  human behaviour is multidimensional and can be the object of multidisciplinary study Introduction  Exploration of their beliefs and motivations "If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning." (Mahatma Gandhi)

CCEAM 2008 Conference 5 It is argued that teachers’ beliefs  are more important than their directly observed behaviours  have been linked with high student achievement  are the key in every effort for change and school improvement Introduction Importance of efficacy beliefs

CCEAM 2008 Conference 6 Introduction: Definitions Self-efficacy A person’s belief in his/her capabilities to carry out certain tasks successfully Collective efficacy An individual’s judgment on the collective capabilities of a group (e.g. faculty of a school) to structure a particular course of action in order to produce desired outcomes (in their schools)

CCEAM 2008 Conference 7 Efficacy beliefs are decisive for  the goals set by individuals,  the effort they expend,  the length of their perseverance in the face of difficulties and  their resilience to failure. Efficacy beliefs determine the level of motivation. Introduction Why efficacy?

CCEAM 2008 Conference 8 Literature review So far, research on self-efficacy has shown  its importance on teachers’ performance and student achievement  the important role that school headteachers can play in creating the necessary conditions for increased levels of self-efficacy  judgment of personal efficacy affects one’s choice of activities  beliefs about self-efficacy determine the level of motivation

CCEAM 2008 Conference 9 Literature review ü Self-efficacy and collective efficacy: important constructs for the study of organizational behaviour. Inadequately addressed within the context of educational organizations ü Prior research focused on teachers’ and students’ efficacy beliefs. ü Just a few attempts to explore the issue of headteachers’ self-efficacy ü Studies that examine the relationship between headteachers’ self-efficacy and their leadership behaviours are totally absent from the literature

CCEAM 2008 Conference 10 Literature review A RESEARCH GAP STILL REMAINS Do leadership behaviours of headteachers determined by their own efficacy beliefs, contribute to the formation of self-efficacy and collective efficacy beliefs of teachers in their schools?

CCEAM 2008 Conference 11 Aim of the study To investigate the relationship between headteachers’ leadership styles and self-efficacy with teachers’ self- and collective efficacy by developing and testing a theoretical model by quantifying the relationships among its constituent variables

Research questions 1.Are there valid and reliable instruments for assessing headteachers’ leadership styles, headteachers’ and teachers’ self and collective efficacy beliefs within the specific context of public primary schools in Cyprus? 2.Which multilevel structural equation model can be developed and validated in order to map the relationship between headteachers’ leadership styles and self-efficacy with teachers’ self- and collective efficacy? 3.What relationships exist among headteachers’ leadership styles and self-efficacy with teachers’ self- and collective efficacy within each level and across levels? CCEAM 2008 Conference 12

13 The theoretical model structural style human style political style symbolic style teachers’ self-efficacy teachers’ collective efficacy headteachers’ self-efficacy School level Teacher level Leadership styles

CCEAM 2008 Conference 14 Sequential Explanatory Strategy (Creswell, 2003 ) Collection and analysis of quantitative data Collection and analysis of qualitative data 12 Interpretation of results 3 Straightforward design, easy implementation, description and reporting of results Methodology

CCEAM 2008 Conference 15 StagesActions 1 st Development and validation of heads’ and teachers’ self and collective efficacy instrument Development of interview (heads and teachers) and observation protocols 2 nd Formulation of two questionnaires (one for headteachers, one for teachers) Face and content validity checks Pilot administration of questionnaires- Generalizability and construct validity checks Pilot test of interview (heads and teachers) and observation protocols 3 rd Finalization of questionnaires, administration and data collection Methodology

CCEAM 2008 Conference 16 StagesActions 4 th Statistical analysis of quantitative data for reliability checks of the questionnaires and the development of structural equation models 5 th Four case studies (observation and semi-structured interviews) 6 th Qualitative data analysis 7 th Comparison of quantitative and qualitative data analysis for interpretation purposes Methodology

CCEAM 2008 Conference 17 Methodology Headteachers’ Questionnaire: Headteachers’ Questionnaire:  Headteacher demographics (sex, years of headship, years at present school, qualifications, number of students, number of non-native speaking students, availability of educational materials, quality of school infrastructure, parent support, staff support, in-service training satisfaction)  Headteacher self-efficacy (14 items, interval scale 1-7)

CCEAM 2008 Conference 18 Teachers’ Questionnaire: Teachers’ Questionnaire:  Teacher demographics (sex, years of service, years at present school, qualifications, number of students, number of non-native speaking students, availability of educational materials, quality of school infrastructure, support by others, job satisfaction)  Teacher self-efficacy (9 items, 1-7 interval scale)  Teacher collective efficacy (9 items, 1-7 interval scale)  Headteacher’s leadership style (6 questions X 4 items [one for each leadership style], ordinal scale) Methodology

CCEAM 2008 Conference 19 Methodology: Sampling Teachers and headteachers of public primary schools (with 10+ teachers) in Cyprus Stratified sampling (quantitative data) 114 (113) heads 1697 (1177) teachers Purposeful sampling for the selection of cases (qualitative data) 4 primary schools- Case studies

CCEAM 2008 Conference 20 Methodology: Data analysis Quantitative data analysis: Quantitative data analysis:  Descriptive and inferential statistics (Mean, Standard deviation, correlations, t-test, ANOVA, Kendall’s W, Factor Analysis: Exploratory- Confirmatory)  Multilevel SEM Qualitative data analysis: Qualitative data analysis:  Constant comparative method  Within-case & cross-case analysis

CCEAM 2008 Conference 21 AimMethod Validation of questionnaires (generalizability, construct validity and reliability) One-way ANOVA, Kendall’s W, Exploratory - Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Cronbach alpha (SPSS, EQS) Test of the theoretical modelMultilevel SEM (EQS, MPLUS) Methodology: QUAN data analysis

CCEAM 2008 Conference 22 Scale psychometric properties VariablesMSD Cronbach Alpha No. of items Headteachers’ self-efficacy * (single factor) Teachers’ self-efficacy * (single factor) Teachers’ collective efficacy * (single factor) Structural leadership style** Human leadership style** Political leadership style** Symbolic leadership style** * Scale 1-7**Scale 1-4

CCEAM 2008 Conference structural style human style political style symbolic style School level Teacher level teachers’ self-efficacy headteachers’ self-efficacy teachers’ collective efficacy Leadership styles Results: Parameter estimates for the multilevel structural model x 2 =4.55 df = 13 x 2 /df =0.35 p =0.55 RMSEA =.007 CFI = 0.992

CCEAM 2008 Conference 24 Discussion and conclusions A high, positive correlation between teachers self and collective efficacy. Finding in line with the result of previous research (Goddard & Goddard, 2001) A significant positive relationship between teacher and collective efficacy was expected. Teachers ‘‘are not social isolates immune to the influence of those around them’’ (Bandura 1997, p. 469). Teachers in schools with high collective efficacy set more challenging goals, are more persisting in their efforts to achieve them, are more resilient in cases of failure and they hold themselves more responsible for student achievement. In this way powerful collective efficacy beliefs improve teachers’ performance and influences the shared beliefs of teachers.

CCEAM 2008 Conference 25 Discussion and conclusions Headteachers’ self-efficacy has nothing to do with teachers collective efficacy The context of the Cyprus Educational System Small variance- absence of a self- evaluation culture (Kyriakides & Campbell, 2004) The negative relationships among the four leadership styles : A “competing styles” approach

Discussion and conclusions Structural and political style: effect on headteachers’ self-efficacy. Symbolic style and collective efficacy Transformational leaders use symbolic actions to emphasize key values (Yukl, 2002).- Collective efficacy (Ross & Gray, 2006) Further interpretation: results of QUAL analysis in progress CCEAM 2008 Conference 26

27 Self- efficacy in action! Thanks for being attentive … Contact at: