The Leadership Style of Public-School Principals and its Relationship to job Immersion Among Teachers of Schools Affiliated with the Education Directorates in the Suburbs of Jerusalem, Ramallah and Al-Bireh from Teachers Views

Abstract

The study aimed to find out the relationship between the leadership style of public school principals and job immersion among school teachers affiliated with the directorates of education in the suburbs of Jerusalem, and Ramallah and Al-Bireh. It also aims to explore the differences in the averages of leadership styles and dimensions of job immersion according to the demographic variables (gender, educational qualification, age, and years of educational experience), the study adopted the descriptive correlation approach ; the sample was chosen by a stratified random method, the population includes (1200) teachers in Jerusalem suburbs, and (4020) in Ramallah and Al-Bireh directorates, the study sample includes (520) male and female teachers, the sample consists of (10%) of the population size. A questionnaire was applied for the purposes of the study. The results show that the total average of the leadership styles among the principals of public schools affiliated in the governorates of the Suburbs of Jerusalem, and Ramallah and Al-Bireh from the teachers’ point of view is medium, while the percentage of the democratic style is )78%( whith high level, and the percentage of the autocratic and dictatorial leadership styles are )39%) with low level. The results of the study show that the total average of job immersion for school teachers affiliated with the directorate of education in the suburbs of Jerusalem, and Ramallah and Al-Bireh was high, as the total percentage of emotional immersion equals )77.6%(, cognitive immersion )77.2%(, and behavioral immersion )77.4%). The result shows that there was a positive correlation between the leadership style of the public-school principals and the job immersion among public school teachers, moreover, there are no statistically significant differences at the significance level (α≤0.05) between the average responses of public school principals in the directorates of education in the suburbs of Jerusalem, and Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorates towards the leadership styles, due to the variables (gender, educational qualification, years of educational experience), while there was differences attributed to the variable age, in addition there was no statistically significant differences at the level of (α≤0.05) between the average responses of teachers of public schools affiliated with the directorates of education in the suburbs of Jerusalem, and Ramallah and Al-Bireh towards the degree of immersion job due to the variables (gender, educational qualification, age, and years of educational experience). In the light of the results, the researcher suggested a set of recommendations, including the adoption of democratic style leadership style by the principals of government schools affiliated with the directorates of education, taking into account flexibility in the instructions that set by school principals for teachers.