In search of transformational leadership: A (Meta) analysis focused on the Portuguese reality (original) (raw)

From a collegially elected council to a director: The evolution of Portuguese school management

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2011

School management in Portugal has been a singular case in the European context for over 30 years. A recent legislation implied great changes in the collegial nature of educational management in Portugal. These changes brought Portuguese school management closer to other European countries' models, especially because the collegial and elected nature of management was lost. In order to understand this context, we shall present a brief history of the Portuguese school management in the last 35 years and the changes it has suffered in attempts from several governments to move towards international policies and trends in educational management 2 .

Management model, leadership and autonomy in Portuguese and Spanish public schools: A comparative analysis

Cogent Education, 2022

The organisation of K-18 schools and the management function are similar in Portugal and Spain, although, in recent years, Portugal has surpassed Spain’s educational results. Based on the last international reports, this article compares the educational systems of both countries considering some variables related to the management model: (i) the general organisation of education in these stages, (ii) the characteristics of the teaching profession, including the process of recruitment and selection of teachers and principals, and (iii) the level of school autonomy and the type of management and leadership. Findings corroborated the existence of structural proximity in the governance of schools within the framework of a management model that is both centralized and participatory. However, there are differences in the permanency of educational laws, the duration of compulsory education, the grouping of schools, and the requirements to be a teacher. We conclude that the policies undertaken by Portugal to improve education (such as the extension of compulsory schooling, legislative stability, or the rethinking of the internal organization of schools) are succeeding and can serve as an example for Spain. Both countries could help principals become leaders for learning and improve their autonomy to favour changes in education.

The leadership of schools in three regions in Portugal based on the findings of external evaluation

School leadership has significant effects on the learning, development and academic success of the pupils and on the quality of educational organisations, so, to a large extent, the effectiveness of the school depends upon the way in which leadership is carried out. It is on this basis that we undertook our study which led in this article. In it we sought to characterise the leadership of schools and school clusters in the regions of the Algarve, Alentejo and Lisbon and Tagus Valley, globally and specifically, based on the analysis of the content of external evaluation reports produced by teams from the General Inspectorate of Education during the 2006/2007, 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 academic years. This analysis was carried out as part of the research project FSE/CED/83489/2008 under the responsibility of the Centre for Sociology Research and Studies from the Lisbon University Institute, the University of the Algarve and the Barafunda Association, and we were part of the respective r...

Giving voice to problems faced by school leaders in Portugal

School Leadership and Management, 2020

ABSTRACT Worldwide, leadership stories are narratives of principals facing very different problems. The purpose of this study was to identify the current problems faced by Portuguese school principals, through these actors’ voice. Nineteen public school Portuguese principals participated in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed, coded, and categorised using Nvivo11 Pro. The analysis revealed that Portuguese principals have the same problems as their colleagues worldwide, but there are problems specifically related to the Portuguese educational system: problems from the process of school clustering and the leader-centred system of school management of this country. A framework to analyse the emerged problems and practical recommendations are proposed for school leaders, researchers, and policymakers to improve educational leadership.

School leadership in Portugal: The role of the director's intervention project

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2011

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The Need for Leader Creation Amongst Romanian School Principals – Educational Policy Analysis

International Journal of Social and Educational Innovation, 2020

Many theories of leadership and organisational climate gave been formulated over the years. This paper focuses both on transformational and transactional management and on supportive organisational climates. The theory of transformational educational management was developed as a response to the need for reform in educational systems in the 1970s and 1980s. The central convincing argument for educational staff was the assumption that a transformational leader motivates both teachers and students through increasing their consciousness regarding operational objectives and inspiring them to forego personal interest in favour of the organisational 'greater good' (Marks and Printy , 2003, p. 375). This strand of theory attributes certain leadership factors to the transformational leader like idealising influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualising consideration amongst others. The transformational leader came about as a response to the need for...

Educational Leadership in Latin Europe: A European Perspective

ECPS - Educational, Cultural and Psychological Studies, 2015

Much of the contemporary literature and theory of leadership has, as its starting point, the image of governance and public school leadership, an image that is very close to the vision proposed by the OECD. This view is strongly influenced by the way the neo-liberal Anglo-American approach analyzes and outlines the political and administrative characteristics of school organization. However, you cannot apply the same practices and policies all over the world, such as in the countries of Latin America. This general introduction is put forward with a framework in which we can reflect their own situation. It cannot be realistic to have a «one size fits all» policy such as the method of governance the OECD implies. An important addition to the traditional Anglo-American perspective presented in these pages is the discussion on the fact that strong leadership from above can be replaced by a perspective of distributed leadership, inserting the concepts of leadership within social contexts and a broader policy.