The Impact of Transformational School Leadership on School Staff and School Culture in Primary Schools—A Systematic Review of International Literature

Abstract

The purpose of this review is to examine transformational school leadership, responding to the question: ‘What is the research evidence in the international literature pertaining to the impact of transformational school leadership in primary schools on school staff and school culture?’. This review presents a synthesis of 15 studies performed between 2012 to 2022. The data are presented within a framework constructed from the dimensions and characteristics of transformational school leadership. They show transformational school leadership as a positive leadership style with a close interconnection between positive impact of transformational school leadership for school staff and for an enhanced school culture. An increased motivation in staff and the fostering of more positive school culture were found to be the leading impacts of transformational leadership on school staff and culture in this systematic literature review.

Enactment of Transformational School Leadership—Insights from Primary School and System Leaders

“…At the core of transformational leadership is that it is relational and social, embodying a human-centred approach that involves followers in the change process [19], and it can arguably be considered a highly effective form of leadership to lead change, develop collaborative and organisational cultures, and set vision and direction. Retrospectively, in the 1990s, transformational leadership had become the model of choice for research and application of leadership theory [20], whereby a leader inspires, motivates, and enables followers with a solid vision, encouraging engagement [21][22][23].…”

“…A transformational school-leadership framework [19] is expanded in this paper below, with the components of transformational school leadership in Table 1, followed with further details of the components, based on the sets of elements of transformational leadership and transformational school leadership from Bass [35]; Bass and Riggio [20], Bennis & Nanus [51]; Kouzes & Posner [52]; Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman & Fetter [45], Sun and Leithwood [42], and Leithwood [7,27,53]. The framework is relevant to current transformational school-leadership behaviours, with supporting evidence from the extant literature [19,[54][55][56][57].…”

“…A transformational school-leadership framework [19] is expanded in this paper below, with the components of transformational school leadership in Table 1, followed with further details of the components, based on the sets of elements of transformational leadership and transformational school leadership from Bass [35]; Bass and Riggio [20], Bennis & Nanus [51]; Kouzes & Posner [52]; Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman & Fetter [45], Sun and Leithwood [42], and Leithwood [7,27,53]. The framework is relevant to current transformational school-leadership behaviours, with supporting evidence from the extant literature [19,[54][55][56][57]. Proposing transformational school leadership as a leadership model for a whole school community contrasts with the traditional approach, where it has been considered as leadership behaviour by the school principal, in line with the widespread belief that the principal is primarily responsible for implementing endless school reforms [58][59][60].…”

“…Data were collected via carefully formulated semi-structured interviews to ensure data were gathered in the relevant key areas, while encouraging interviewees to express their personalities and flexibility of expression [74]. An interview schedule was formulated, with the design influenced by a systematic review of international literature on transformational school leadership [19]. Participants were recruited for interview using a proactive and targeted method, purposive sampling.…”

Investigating the Interplay of RAAT Leadership Qualities in Shaping School Leadership Competence in the Bani Landscape

“…The statistical significance of the model indicates that, while the predictors collectively explain a limited amount of variance in leadership style, at least one of the predictor variables has a significant impact. This underscores the complexity of leadership style within the educational context and highlights the need for further research to explore additional factors that may have a more significant influence(Wilson Heenan et al, 2023).…”