Research question:  What characteristics of leadership do teachers and principals consider important in their school?

Leadership is recognised as significant characteristic influencing school effectiveness. The devolution of decision-making responsibility has resulted in changes in leadership provision in New Zealand schools. Consequently school restructuring has created new expectations of those in leadership positions to rethink the leadership paradigm, to develop effective and purposeful leadership, and to promote learning communities based on collaborative models.

This paper will discuss how teachers and leaders in primary and secondary schools in the Otago region of New Zealand perceive relational trust as a critical factor in building strong relationships and high impact educational leadership. The paper will consider the characteristics of leadership that teachers and principals considered as important and given emphasis in their schools.

The relevance of the paper lies in the importance of relational trust as a key component of effective school leadership, the perceived differences in relational trust between primary and secondary schools and how relational trust cultivates the conditions that encourage individuals to initiate and maintain the kinds of activities necessary to influence school improvement.

The study has important implications for both policy and practice. For example in leadership preparation and the importance of emphasising that collective capacity is a greater driver of performance than individual capacity, and the implications of this for developing school leaders/teachers.

European / International Dimensions and Significance

The significance of the research in the European/international dimension relates closely to the International Successful Schools Principals Project (ISSPP) in schools across Denmark, England, Norway, Sweden, the United States, China, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. ISSPP research undertaken in New Zealand notes that relationships, connections and trust building were overwhelmingly key factors in successful schools. The international ISSPP research thus far notes that collaboration and inclusivity are essential as well as a culture of care, rigour and trust. My research findings show that the level of relational trust is significantly higher in primary schools than secondary schools.

Theoretical Framework

Because of the personal and individual nature of relational trust an interpretivist approach was selected as the theoretical framework for this study. The basic assumption of the interpretivist framework lies in the view that there are multiple truths. Interpretivism seeks to understand and explain human and social reality, an understanding that is different for every individual person. According to Crotty (2005), “truth, or meaning, comes into existence in and out of our engagement with the realities in our world. In this understanding of knowledge, it is clear that different people may construct meaning in different ways, even in relation to the same phenomenon” and, they view their experiences through their own personal lenses, which will reveal truths that are unique to that individual.

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