The level of principals' practice in leading change and its relationship to their level of administration from the perspective of teachers in public schools in the Northern Governorates

Abstract

The study aims to determine the level of school principals' practice in leading change and its relation to the level of their practice in administrative duties from the teacher's perspective at public schools in Palestine, in lightof the independent variables (gender, educational qualification, years of experience, and directorate).The study employed both quantitative and qualitative correlational approaches .The study population consisted of all teachers in the northern governorates, who numbered (16370) male and female teachers, where the study scales were applied to members of a stratified cluster random sample that included (500) male and female teachers. Furthermore, it employed the survey and the monitoring card as tools for collecting information regarding the study problem.The study findings showed that the level of school principals’ practice of leading change from the teachers’ point of view in public schools in the northern governorates was medium, with the arithmetic average reaching (3.65). The study's findings also showed that the level of school principals' practice of administrative duties from the teachers' point of view in public schools in the northern governorates was medium, with an arithmetic average of (3.60). Moreover, the study's findings indicate that differences in practice between school principals for leading change and its domains due to the directorate variable were present but were not statistically significant due to the variables of gender, educational qualification, years of experience, or directorate. The differences came in favor of (Birzeit, Hebron, and Bethlehem), and it was realized that the variables of gender and years of experience had no effect on how well school principals performed their administrative duties. However,the educational qualification variable had a statistically significant impact on master's degrees and higher degrees. The existence of differences in the school principal’s practice of administrative duties came due to the directorate variable in the fields of (planning tasks) in favor of Hebron, and in the fields of (Organizing tasks) in favor of Hebron, and (Evaluation tasks) in favor of both Hebron and Bethlehem.The findings indicated that there is a positive, satisfactory correlation between the practice of school principals to lead change and their practice of administrative duties, where the Pearson correlation coefficient reached (.818). It was also found that there was a statistically significant effect of the practice of school principals to lead change in predicting their practice of administrative duties from the teachers' point of view. In light of the study's findings, the researcher suggests that training courses for school principals be held in order to help them perform their roles and school duties more effectively. In addition to building up a systems to prepare school principals, particularly new ones, to carry out their administrative duties within the various fields at the beginning of each academic year. Specialists chosen by the Directorate of Education should prepare these systems.