Students’ and staff perceptions of vocational education institution heads’ virtues

Abstract

Purpose The relevance of institution leaders’ personal qualities for providing quality education is widely recognized. The purpose of this paper is to explore vocational education and training (VET) institution leaders’ character features. The research question was twofold: What are the features of the character of the pedagogical leaders of three Latvian VET institutions according to students, teachers and institution board members? What are the differences between respondents’ groups regarding their perceptions of leaders’ virtues? Design/methodology/approach Six members of the institution board, five teachers and six students participated in structured qualitative interviews collected in 2013 in three high-quality VET institutions from different fields (tourism, sports and maritime education). Secondary analysis of latent content was used to explore respondents’ perceptions of leaders’ virtues, using software AQUAD 7 for qualitative data analysis. Findings The results revealed significant differences between students’ and staff (teachers’ and institution board members’) perceptions: the staff members appreciated particularly leaders’ performance virtues (“teamwork orientation”) and intellectual virtues (“critical thinking”), whereas, for students, heads’ moral virtues were more relevant, especially “magnanimity”. Respondents also showed concern about VET institution leaders’ civic virtues (“neighborliness,” “community awareness,” and “communicability”). Practical implications The results suggest that different perspectives, and in particular students’ voices, should be integrated in VET leaders’ assessment process and that their continuing professional development should also address their intellectual, moral and civic virtues. Originality/value This study represents an innovative methodological trial for investigating educational institution heads’ leadership from the lens of virtue ethics.

Incidence of Pedagogical Leadership in Students’ Performance in Higher Education

“…However, not all the agents involved always have the same perception of the characteristics of leadership. As can be seen from the results of the study carried out by Fernández-González et al (2020), there are significant differences between the perceptions of the leadership characteristics of students and university staff. While staff members particularly appreciate the performance and intellectual virtues of leaders, to students, the moral virtues of the directorial staff are more relevant.…”

Difficulties in implementing “Ki Hadjar Dewantara's Tamansiswa teachings” on vocational education

“…Other studies also confi rm the low character quality in other aspects by revealing that students' independence in learning has not been maximally encouraged (Wiyati, 2021). It is also followed by the integrity of students who are also low during the learning process (Fernández González, Pīgozne, Surikova, & Vasečko, 2020). Meanwhile, even though the students' cooperation is good enough, it needs to be reformed (Wiyati, 2021).…”

School Leaders’ Attitudes, Expectations, and Beliefs Starting a Character Education Training in Latvia

“…These findings echoed the importance of school leaders' ethical stance and personal example stressed in recent research (Boydak Özan et al, 2017;Chan et al, 2019;Walker et al, 2017). Recent research has found that the principal's moral role model seems to be particularly relevant for students (Fernández González et al, 2019).…”