ethical leadership practices of school
TRANSCRIPT
ETHICAL LEADERSHIP PRACTICES OF SCHOOL HEADS IN FIJIAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS: TEACHERS’
PERSPECTIVES
by
Ashlin Yaswini Singh
Supervised research project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Education
Copyright © 2020 by Ashlin Yaswini Singh
School of Education Faculty of Arts, Law and Education The University of the South Pacific
July, 2020
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DEDICATION
This mini thesis is dedicated to my family, firstly my parents, Mr. & Mrs. Kishore,
secondly, my supportive husband, Sushil Kumar Chetty, my two children, Arav
Aadidev Chetty and Bhavini Ishanvi Chetty and to all the primary teachers in the Fijian
education system.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge the individuals mentioned below for providing support
and inspiration in accomplishing this achievement. Firstly, I thank almighty God for
the wisdom and good health bestowing upon me to successfully finish this study.
Secondly, I wish to convey my sincere gratefulness to Professor Govinda Ishwar
Lingam for supervising, checking, correcting, providing ongoing professional
guidance and help. He was very approachable and steered me in the right path by
providing continuous feedback for further amendments and improvements.
Thirdly, I wish to convey my sincere gratitude to scholars Karianne Kalshoven,
Deanne Hartog and Annebel Hoogh of University of Amsterdam, Netherlands for
granting me with the permission to use multi-dimensional Ethical Leadership Work
Questionnaire (ELWQ) based on seven dimensions of ethical leadership which was
adapted in this study.
I also wish to convey my sincere appreciation to the Ministry of Education, Heritage
and Arts for consenting permission to carry out the study in the selected Fijian primary
schools. I would also like to thank study respondents for agreeing to contribute and
without them this study would not have been possible.
Finally, I wish to thank my families: my husband, Sushil Kumar Chetty, my two
children, Arav Chetty and Bhavini Chetty, my parents, Mr. & Mrs. Nand Kishore, my
in laws, Mrs. Latika Devi, only brother- in- law, Ravi Chetty, and my only brother
Jagjivan Singh Sivam and sister in law, Nikita Lata, niece, Jiyanshi Singh, also most
importantly my paternal grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. Latchman Prasad and maternal
grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. Chand for encouraging me constantly with their blessings
during study phase. This achievement is possible through their motivation, blessings
and compassion. Also, would like to thank my friends and colleagues for the words of
inspiration and being there in times of assistance.
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ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to measure the extent to which school heads exhibited
ethical leadership practices in the four case study schools in the Fijian education
system. The four primary schools from Western Education Division were selected as
the study sites. The data for the study were collected through Ethical Leadership Work
Questionnaire, semi structured interviews and document analysis.
The explanatory sequential mixed method data collection was used to explain
quantitative results with qualitative data to gain more in-depth understanding of the
study. Thus, in this sequential design, the qualitative data collection was the second
phase conducted when the quantitative data results were analysed. The descriptive
statistics was used to analyse the quantitative data and the relevant themes were used
to analyse the qualitative data which was further supported with documentary analysis.
Both methods were integrated to show the extent of seven ethical dimensions: fairness,
people orientation, power sharing, concern for sustainability, ethical guidance, role
clarification and integrity that were exhibited by the school heads in the study schools.
The analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data showed that the school heads
exhibited seven dimensions of ethical leadership but at moderate level. The teachers
divulged that school heads lacked in certain areas of ethical leadership and suggested
ways which could be used to improve school heads ethical leadership practices. This
study has value for policy makers who intend to work towards school improvement
and development. The study implications, limitations and recommendations for future
research on ethical leadership practices of school heads have been presented in the
final chapter.
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ABBREVIATIONS
ELWQ Ethical Leadership Work Questionnaire
FEMIS Fiji Education Management Information System
FESSDP Fiji Educational Sector Strategic Development Plan
FHEC Fiji Higher Education Commission
MEHA Ministry of Education, Heritage & Arts
MoE Ministry of Education
N Sample Size
PSC Public Service Commission
SSA SSA Primary School 1
SSB SSB Primary School 2
SSC SSC Primary School 3
SSD SSD Primary School 4
SD Standard Deviation
USP The University of the South Pacific
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS Page
DEDICATION ............................................................................................................. i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... iii
ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................... iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................. v
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................... viii
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................... ix
CHAPTER ONE: Overview of the study ..................................................................... 1
1.0 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background to the study ................................................................................. 2
1.2 Statement of the problem ................................................................................ 3
1.3 Context of the study ........................................................................................ 4
1.4 Significance of the study ................................................................................. 5
1.5 Research aim ................................................................................................... 6
1.6 Research objectives ......................................................................................... 6
1.7 Research questions .......................................................................................... 6
1.8 Assumptions .................................................................................................... 7
1.9 Key concepts ................................................................................................... 7
1.10 Research methodology .................................................................................... 8
1.11 Organisation of the study ................................................................................ 9
1.12 Summary ....................................................................................................... 11
CHAPTER TWO: Literature review .......................................................................... 12
2.0 Introduction ................................................................................................... 12
2.1 Concept of ethical leadership practices ......................................................... 12
2.2 Justification of using ethical leadership work questionnaire and establishing framework ..................................................................................................... 15
2.3 Seven dimensions of ethical leadership ........................................................ 19
2.4 Strategies to develop ethical leaders ............................................................. 30
2.5 The role of stakeholders in ethical leadership development ......................... 38
2.6 Conceptual framework of ethical leadership practices ................................. 38
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2.7 Summary ....................................................................................................... 40
CHAPTER THREE: Fiji context ...................................................................................... 41
3.0 Introduction ................................................................................................... 41
3.1 Geographical context .................................................................................... 41
3.2 Cultural context ............................................................................................. 41
3.3 Economical context ....................................................................................... 42
3.4 Political context ............................................................................................. 42
3.5 Fijian education system ................................................................................. 43
3.6 Roles and responsibilities of school heads .................................................... 48
3.7 Public Service Commission (PSC) ................................................................ 48
3.8 Summary ....................................................................................................... 49
CHAPTER FOUR: Research methodology ............................................................... 50
4.0 Introduction ................................................................................................... 50
4.1 Research methodology .................................................................................. 50
4.2 Mixed methodologies .................................................................................... 51
4.3 Research design ............................................................................................ 52
4.4 Methods of data collection ............................................................................ 53
4.5 Data analysis ................................................................................................. 56
4.6 Population and sampling ............................................................................... 58
4.7 Ethical consideration ..................................................................................... 60
4.8 Summary ....................................................................................................... 61
CHAPTER FIVE: Findings of the study .................................................................... 62
5.0 Introduction ................................................................................................... 62
5.1 School demographic data .............................................................................. 63
Research method one: Quantitative data ............................................................. 65
5.2 People orientation dimension ....................................................................... 66
5.3 Fairness dimension ........................................................................................ 67
5.4 Power sharing dimension ............................................................................... 68
5.5 Concern for sustainability dimension ............................................................ 69
5.6 Ethical guidance dimension ........................................................................... 70
5.7 Role clarification dimension .......................................................................... 71
5.8 Integrity dimension ........................................................................................ 72
5.9 Teachers perception on the major dimensions of ethical leadership practices ........................................................................................................................ 73
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Research method two: Qualitative data ................................................................ 76
5.10 Document analysis ......................................................................................... 76
5.11 Semi structured interview .............................................................................. 76
5.12 Summary ........................................................................................................ 82
CHAPTER SIX: Discussion of the results .................................................................. 83
6.0 Introduction ................................................................................................... 83
6.1 Extent of the seven dimension of ethical leadership practices by school
leaders ............................................................................................................ 83
6.2 Most challenging dimension of ethical leadership ........................................ 90
6.3 Least challenging dimension of ethical leadership ........................................ 92
6.4 Proposed strategies to develop ethical school leaders .................................. 96
6.5 Summary ..................................................................................................... 100
CHAPTER SEVEN: Conclusion ................................................................................ 101
7.0 Introduction ................................................................................................. 101
7.1 Summary of the main findings of the study ................................................ 101
7.2 Recommendations ....................................................................................... 103
7.2 Implications of this study ........................................................................... 104
7.4 Limitations of the study ............................................................................. 105
7.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 106
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................... 107
APPENDICES ....................................................................................................... 121
Appendix A Permission to use ELWQ ................................................................ 122
Appendix B Information sheet ............................................................................. 123
Appendix C ELWQ survey questionnaire .......................................................... 126
Appendix D USP ethics clearance........................................................................ 129
Appendix E Ministry of Education, Heritage & Arts research approval ........ 131
Appendix F Participant consent form ................................................................. 132
Appendix G Request for approval from study schools ....................................... 134
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 School demographic data ......................................................................... 63
Table 2 Summary for teachers’ perception for the people orientation dimension ................................................................................................... 66
Table 3 Summary for teachers’ perception for the fairness dimension ............ 67
Table 4 Summary for teachers’ perception for the power sharing dimension .. ...................................................................................................................... 68
Table 5 Summary for teachers’ perception for the concern for the sustainability dimension ........................................................................... 69
Table 6 Summary for teachers’ perception for the ethical guidance dimension.
...................................................................................................................... 70
Table 7 Summary for teachers’ perception for the role clarification dimension ...................................................................................................................... 71
Table 8 Summary for teachers’ perception for the integrity dimension .......... 72
Table 9 Summary of overall teachers’ perception for each dimension ............ 73
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Conceptual framework of ethical leadership practices ......................... 39
Figure 2 Ethical guidance dimension based on standard deviation and overall mean ............................................................................................................ 75
Figure 3 Fairness dimension based on standard deviation and mean ................ 75
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CHAPTER ONE
Overview of the study
1.0 Introduction
Ethical leadership has been recognised as one of the important dimensions of
leadership to be demonstrated by all school heads. This has created an expectation of
leaders to be role models and as such their leadership practices should be at highest
ethical standards (Brown, Trevino & Harrison, 2005). Ethical practices on the part of
school leaders are important for school improvement and development. According to
Duignan (2011) ethical leaders develop people’s skills, manage human resources and
ensure they get the best out of them.
Thus, a school’s ability to be successful would depend on the school leadership
demonstrated by the school head. There is a growing expectation on the head of school
on how they lead and manage schools. School head is one of the important assets of a
school system because they are agents of change for school improvement and
development (Lingam & Lingam, 2014). School head is considered as the most
important human resource for the success of a school (Duignan, 2011). In any
education system including the Fijian education system, head of school play a critical
role in decision making, financial planning and management (School Management
Handbook, 2017). As future productive workforce, these school heads are expected to
accomplish the education ministries vision and mission. Education systems need
leaders who are highly ethical and can bring about positive changes in their respective
schools. It is important to find out whether head of schools have what it takes to lead
and manage schools ethically. Therefore, it is imperative to know the extent of ethical
leadership exhibited by school heads to ensure greater efficiency and effectiveness of
the education system. This chapter presents an overview of the study on ethical
leadership. It looks at the background to the study, context of the study and statement
of the problem. Also, presented in this chapter is the aim, objectives, the research
questions posed, assumptions, explanation of key concepts, significance of the study
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and a brief outline of the research methodology adopted for the study as well as
presented is an outline of the remaining sections of this study.
1.1 Background to the study
The initial phase of development of measurement of ethical leadership is by Brown et
al. (2005) with seven interlocking studies to better understand the characteristics of
ethical leadership. They suggested that ethical leadership predicts outcome such as
perceived leader effectiveness, employees job satisfaction and commitment. On the
other hand, according to Kalshoven, Hartog and Hoogh (2011) leader effectiveness,
job satisfaction and improved work commitments could be achieved if the leader and
subordinates’ relationship are healthy. They developed the theory based on multi-
dimensional ethical leadership work questionnaire which measures fairness, role
clarification, ethical guidance, people orientation, power sharing, integrity and concern
for sustainability. This study is based on the trait theory of Kalshoven and her
colleagues (2011). As such, examining and including these dimensions in Fijian
education system will promote and enhance leader effectiveness which in turn could
contribute to school improvement and development.
Although there have been many studies of ethical leadership done internationally, no
studies have been carried out to determine the extent of ethical leadership practices in
Fijian education system. Thus, this becomes the reason to undertake studies on ethical
leadership in Fijian schools. The impact of technology and global reforms have not
only increased expectations that school heads should bring in more changes but also
should be focused on ethics as well (Ehrich, Harris, Klenowski, Smeed & Spina, 2015).
The Fijian education system is in a multicultural setting in terms of ethnicity with
diverse ethnic backgrounds of stakeholders (Lingam, 2011). Thus, for the leaders to
become more successful with diverse stakeholders at workplace, they need to develop
strong ethical practices in the different areas of school work (Leithwood & Riehl,
2003). However, school leaders may involve in unethical practices in their schools due
to financial, expected performance pressures and scandals (Castro & Moore, 2015).
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1.2 Statement of the problem
It is important to conduct study on ethical leadership as ethics is an important element
itself in leadership and in teaching profession (Ozan, Ozdemir & Yirci, 2017). School
leadership plays an essential part in enabling teachers to provide quality education to
children in contemporary times (Duignan, 2011). Several studies have shown stronger
link between leadership styles and increased teachers’ commitments to the schools
(Duignan, 2011). Thus, when school leaders perform ethically, functional teachers are
developed who work towards school goals (Ozan et al., 2017). As such, ethical school
leaders make schools operate successfully which guarantees positivism in education
system (Ozan et al., 2017).
The good management practices are required for the effective administration of
educational organisations. However, recent reports in the newspapers indicate some
bad practices such as, elements of racism and divisive politics in education
(Sauvakacolo, 2020, January 15). The Honourable Minister for Education, Heritage
and Arts, Ms Rosy Akbar highlighted to heads of schools the need to work together
and to treat everybody equally with respect for the betterment of the children’s
education (Sauvakacolo, 2020, January 15). Also, reports in the newspapers indicate
that the budget allocation for MEHA was $450.6 million in the 2020-2021 national
budget to ensure with the continuation of free education grant and bus fare subsidy, a
decrease of $17.1 million from last year’s allocation and education ministry was happy
with the budget allocation ensuring that young people will have access to high quality
education at all levels (Tadulala, 2020, July 18). However, the MEHA has warned
schools not to waste any resources allocated to education. In addition, the Honourable
Prime Minister, Mr. Voreqe Bainimarama stated that “sound leadership do not dictate
their own agenda to people under their command, however, they need subordinate’s
full commitment to help them access the opportunities made available by the
government” (Vakasukawaqa, 2020, July 14). Such comments appear to demonstrate
some scandals in the education system and the present study therefore, attempts to
explore and shed light on the extent of ethical leadership practices exhibited by the
school heads.
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1.3 Context of the study
The Fijian education system intends to modernise its education system and provide
quality education like other developed countries. In contemporary times, all
educational institutions are subjected to rapid changes aiming to improve teaching and
learning service delivery through high levels of productivity. However, sometimes
these changes are rapid and quick which may lead to heavy workloads, decrease in
teacher performance output, and other school issues.
In light of this, the Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts (MEHA) strategic plan
(2019-2023) was developed and it outlined expectations of reform programme for the
Fijian education system. The mission of MEHA is to prepare all Fijians to contribute
to a sustainable and progressive nation through holistic and empowering education that
appreciate and embraces the unique values of all the citizens (MEHA, 2019-2023).
According to MEHA strategic plan (2019-2023) it mainly focused on four goals: stock
take, positioning for change, developing and implementing systems for change and
future proofing. The four goals are further distributed to desired outcomes and key
performance indicators. The plan is more focused for stock take and positioning for
change. Currently, MEHA recommends all schools to be aligned with five-year
strategic plan focusing mainly on stock take, positioning for change, developing and
implementing system for change and future proofing with desired outcome (MEHA,
2019-2023).
School leaders are considered as one of the most important contributors towards school
improvement and development (Lingam & Lingam, 2014). Since 2016, the Fijian
education system has experienced a lot of reforms and initiatives (MEHA, 2016-2017).
The Fijian education system is designed in such a way that espouses a child’s education
holistically through effective leadership. Fiji is a multicultural country; it is important
to have ethical leaders who are multifaceted to the different work ethics and people.
Thus, ethical leadership dimensions could be relevant to develop school leaders to
manage and lead schools effectively.
In Fiji, to control the growing challenges of teacher performances, leadership plays an
important role which needs to be developed at the school level (Lingam & Lingam,
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2014). Thus, leadership is the most multifaceted task which is embarked on
professional leaders. However, the vision of MEHA is to provide education for
empowerment and sustainable development for all (MEHA, 2019-2023). Therefore,
there is need to develop ethical school leaders by prioritising dimensions as sound
practices of ethical leadership. This study explored the extent of ethical leadership
practices in Fijian primary schools. Further, the detailed discussion of the context of
the study are presented in Chapter Three.
1.4 Significance of the study
This study is significant for various reasons. Literature review indicates that there has
not been any study undertaken specifically in the area of ethical leadership in Fiji
(Lingam & Lingam, 2014). As such, it is anticipated that this study would add to the
dearth of literature in the developing countries including Fiji in the area of ethical
leadership practices. The literature would be relevant for all stakeholders including
education ministry officials, existing and aspiring principals and head teachers, and
even those students doing postgraduate studies on the leadership strand.
Based on the findings of this study, the hub of the Fijian education system, namely,
MEHA could strengthen ethical practices of school heads as this study also informs on
certain strategies that could be employed to further develop ethical practices of school
leaders for the benefit of high-quality education for children. Since there was no
research on ethical leadership practices conducted in the Fijian context formerly, this
study provides signification contribution in towards some large-scale studies to
address any gaps identified in ethical leadership practices of school heads.
Also, the findings of this study could become useful to MEHA and policy makers as
it provides a tool to measure ethical leadership practices based on the seven ethical
dimensions which in turn could inform policy makers on what is existing in terms of
ethical leadership in schools. Added to this, the study could act as a catalyst for similar
research in the area of ethical leadership at different leadership roles within the Fijian
education system. In addition, on the basis of the findings of the study, the Kalshoven
and her colleagues (2011) ethical leadership work questionnaire could be more
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contextualised. Hence, the findings of this pilot study based on Kalshoven et al. (2011)
ELWQ would help inform all interested stakeholders on the extent of ethical leadership
practices which are exhibited by the school leaders in the Fijian context.
1.5 Research aim
The main aim of this study is to find out the extent to which each dimension of the
ethical leadership practice was exhibited by the school leaders. Kalshoven et al. (2011)
ELWQ was used to show seven dimensions as good ethical leadership characteristics
which contributes to good ethical practices in leading and managing schools.
1.6 Research objectives:
The objectives of this study therefore are to:
i. Indicate the extent to which each dimension of the ethical leadership as
advocated by Kalshoven et al. (2011) is exhibited by the school leaders in
the selected schools in Fiji.
ii. Discuss the ways in which school leaders could be encouraged to use
Kalshoven et al. (2011) seven dimensions of best ethical leadership
practices.
iii. Identify implications, future research areas and recommendations on
ethical leadership.
1.7 Research questions
This study explored the perceptions of a group of primary school teachers on the seven
dimensions of ethical leadership practices advocated by Kalshoven et al. (2011).
Specifically, it explored teachers’ perceptions on the extent the seven dimensions of
ethical leadership practices which were exhibited by the school leaders.
Given the aim of the study, the following main research question is posed to help guide
the research: To what extent are the seven dimensions of ethical leadership
demonstrated by school leaders?
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In addition, the following underlying questions are used to further guide the study. The
questions are:
a. Which dimensions are noted to be the most challenging for the leaders?
b. Which dimensions are noted to be the least challenging for the leaders?
c. What strategies could be used to encourage school leaders to use Kalshoven et
al. (2011) seven dimensions of best ethical leadership practices?
1.8 Assumptions
The assumptions outline the expectations of the participants and the findings (Leedy
& Ormrod, 2010). Teachers for example, may perceive school leaders to be negatively
associated to the seven dimensions of ethical leadership. Some stakeholders may
perceive that their school head lack sustainability practices, lack fairness skills, lack
people orientation skills, lack power sharing ability, lack integrity, deficient of role
clarification, deprived ethical guidance, avoiding responsibility, being favourable to
highly committed teaching leaders, hence creating “survival of the fittest” pressure and
many more listings. However, some may identify school heads with good moral traits.
Thus, this study is set out to determine the extent of seven dimensions of ethical
leadership practices exhibited by school heads in Fijian primary schools.
1.9 Key concepts
The following explanations will help readers to have a better understanding of the concepts used in the study.
Ethical leadership: As defined by Brown et al. (2005) ethical leadership is the
“demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and
interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through
two-way communication, reinforcement and decision making” (p. 120). Simply, it is
school leader’s good role modelled behaviour in developing teachers and others by
promoting themselves with good behaviour at all times.
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Ethical leadership work questionnaire (ELWQ): It is a tool used to measure
perceptions of teachers on their school leaders ethical leadership practices. The
questionnaire consists of seven dimensions “fairness, integrity, ethical guidance,
people orientation, power sharing, role clarification, and concern for sustainability”
with thirty - eight behavioral traits which are validated and standardized (Kalshoven
et al., 2011).
Ethical leadership development: Özan, Özdemir and Yirci (2017) highlights the
training needs of school leaders on ethical leadership. In view of this, proper training
will develop school leaders who can lead as an exemplary and improve school’s ethical
standard. Likewise, this study uses that notion as proposed by Özan et al. (2017) that
school heads need to keep on upgrading skills via various mean such as proper
trainings in order to be an ethical leader throughout their professional career in order
to be an exemplary leader to everyone including teachers, children and communities.
1.10 Research methodology
This section discusses briefly the methodology adopted for the study. The study
involved an integration of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods which
is called mixed method research for this study (Creswell, 2012). In this case study
research design, the explanatory sequential mixed methods design was employed to
answer the main research question. The research participants of this study were the
teachers of the four selected case study schools in Western Division of Fiji.
This research is based on work previously carried out by Kalshoven et al. (2011), who
suggested that ELWQ is a useful multi-dimensional measurement tool that could be
used to have a better understanding on the antecedents of ethical leadership practices.
However, in the first phase of the current study, the ELWQ instrument was used collect
the quantitative data (Appendix C). Secondly, after quantitative data analysis, the
research involved qualitative phase of data collection which responded to the
subsidiary questions using purposeful sampling. This involved semi structured
interviews whereby the two short and specific predetermined set of questions were
used on which teachers reflected on their daily basis of school work and suggest ways
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to improve school heads ethical leadership practices based on the seven dimensions of
ethical leadership.
This was further supported by document analysis which enabled triangulation of the
findings. All ethical protocols were considered to maintain professionalism, respect,
privacy, confidentiality, ownership, intellectual property requirements, research
permit requirements and human rights for their trade and each other (USP, Human
Research Ethics Handbook, 2009). Also, in order to ensure safety from harm, informed
respondents, right to confidentiality and honest practices (Mertler, 2019). Further, the
details of the methodological aspects used in this study are presented in Chapter Four.
1.11 Organisation of the study
This study is organised and presented under seven chapters which are briefly discussed
below:
Chapter One – Overview of the study
This Chapter has provided the background to the study, the context of the study,
statement of the problem, research aim, objectives, research questions, key concepts,
significance of the study and also a brief presentation on the research methodology
adopted for the study. Also, covered in this chapter is the organisation of the remaining
sections of the study.
Chapter Two – Literature review
The next chapter, Chapter Two reviews important literature concerned with ethical
leadership practices. It discusses the seven dimensions of ethical leadership practices as
advocated by Kalshoven and her colleagues (2011). It also discusses that these
dimensions could be encouraged and practised by all school heads for the purpose of
improving and developing schools. Finally, the chapter presents a conceptual
framework derived from the literature review for the purpose of guiding the current
study.
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Chapter Three – Fiji context
Chapter Three provides a brief background information pertinent to the context of the
study, namely, Republic of Fiji on salient aspects related to its education system.
Chapter Four – Research methodology
Chapter Four discusses the relevant information about the research methodology that
was adopted for this study. The chapter provides details of the research instruments with
justifications for using each instrument for the purpose of collecting data required for
this study apart from other essential elements relating to the present study.
Chapter Five – Findings of the study
This chapter presents the results of the study based on the data gathered and analysed
from the ELWQ, document analysis and semi structured interview. Basically, this
section reports the findings of this study arranged in a logical sequence based on the
data collected as a result of methodologies applied in the study.
Chapter Six – Discussions of the findings
Chapter Six discusses the findings of the study based on the seven dimensions of ethical
leadership practices. It deliberates on the most challenging and least challenging
dimensions of ethical leadership practices demonstrated by the school heads. In
addition, based on the analysis of the data, the chapter discusses some of the strategies
that could be used to improve ethical leadership practices of the school leaders.
Chapter Seven – Conclusion
The final chapter presents the summary of the study followed by recommendations,
implications, limitations and conclusions based on the research findings.
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1.12 Summary
This chapter has provided relevant information about the study. It has discussed the
background to the study, statement of the problem, significance of the study and the
context of the study. Then, it has stated the research aim, objectives and research
questions. It has also provided the assumptions, explanation of key concepts and
briefly about the research methodology adopted in the present study. The organisation
of the remaining sections of the study is also presented towards the end of this chapter.
The next chapter, Chapter Two provides literature review based on ethical leadership,
its practices and strategies that could be used to develop ethical school leaders.
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CHAPTER TWO
Literature review
2.0 Introduction
Ethical leadership practices in schools is needed to effectively lead and manage
schools. This chapter focuses on ethical leadership practices. On the basis of the review
of literature especially the dimensions linking to ethical leadership, a theoretical
structure for this study is developed and presented towards the end of this chapter. It
emphasises that if ethical leadership practices are encouraged and promoted, it could
lead to institutional improvement and development.
2.1 Concept of ethical leadership
There are many definitions of ethical leadership in the literature. In this section, few
definitions are reviewed to have a better understanding of the concept of ethical
leadership. Starrat (2004) defined ethical leadership as instructions, politics,
expectations and standards that regulate the bounds of an ethical life in an organisation.
Starrat (2004) explains that ethical leadership in school is important in order to help
educationist to perform according to guidelines, principles and standards set by an
education system. According to Hester (2010) school leaders confess that by following
the guidelines are basis of ethical leadership practices. Therefore, in school, head of
school should be ethically abided and have sound knowledge on the following ethical
guidelines set by an education system. Ethical leadership is defined as:
Ethical leadership is the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two - way communication, reinforcement and decision making. The authors of the study suggested that leaders who are perceived to be ethical leaders makes the leader sincere and are sound role model (Brown, Trevino & Harrison, 2005, p.120).
The authors explained that “…. normatively appropriate conduct through personal
actions and interpersonal relationships” is context - based culture of an organisation.
For example, in Fiji schools’ teachers speaking against their school head would be
13
considered inappropriate. The authors further explained the second part of definition
which is “…. promotion of such conduct to followers through two - way
communication” which is not only whereby head of school talking to the teachers but
also allowing them to express their views and address issues with justifiable grounds
and processes. Finally, “… reinforcement and decision making” which is very
essential in school education system and this requires school leaders to set ethical
standards and can be encouraged by rewarding those ethical conduct or by disciplining
misconduct for behaviour development purposes.
Furthermore, Brown and Trevino (2006) stated that ethical leaders need to provide
followers with opportunities by challenging followers thinking, supporting and
encouraging ethical decision making. As stated:
The followers of ethical leaders should be more likely to focus on ethical implications of their decisions and make more ethical decision as a result (Brown et al., 2006, p. 607).
Thus, above definition suggests that head of school play an important role in terms of
guiding their teachers by demonstrating and being proactive role model for ethical
conduct at their workplace. Brown et al. (2005) explained that ethical leaders are
supposed to be honest, considerate behaviour, trustworthy and fair. According to
Brown and his colleagues (2005), a lot more studies are needed to better understand
about the dimensions of ethical leadership. The authors of the study developed and
tested an instrument to measure ethical leadership practices. They examined the
connections of ethical leadership with other nomological network and demonstrated
the concerns about ethics and leadership have dominated many headlines and more
research is needed to reduce unethical practices. As stated:
An organisation that lacks a strong ethical context or supports unethical behaviour, leaders who choose to remain in organisations will have to match their styles to fit the environment (Brown et al., 2006, p. 602).
Brown and his colleagues (2006) concluded in their study that the organisations should
know how to select, develop and retain ethical leaders by using a standard framework.
Thus, in these contemporary times of education, ethics are important concern in order
to maintain school standards and at the same time addressing internal and external
pressures on the schools. An effective leadership is equally associated with ethical
14
leadership mainly aiming at improvement and development of a school (Brown et al.,
2006). Head of school should make it clear to the teachers that maintaining and
displaying ethical practices is important for school improvement and development.
Therefore, head of school need to demonstrate high ethical standards in order to show
ethical practices by enforcing policies, procedures and practices that maintains high
standards of ethical behaviour at workplace (Mayer, Kuenzi, Greenbaum, Bardes &
Salvador, 2009). An ethical leader is one who influences subordinate’s behaviour by
demonstrating own ethical behaviours at all times (Brown et al., 2006). Moreover,
Mayer et al. (2009) examined relationship between top level and supervisory ethical
leadership and made following comments:
An ethical leader communicates the importance of ethics to subordinates, use rewards and punishments to encourage desired behaviour and serve as ethical role models for followers (Mayer et al., 2009, p. 3).
According to Mayer et al. (2009) leaders’ behaviours are observed by followers, trust
and fairness are important aspects to understand social exchange processes which is
very relevant for ethical leadership. The researchers found out that role modelling
needs to exist at the top level so that ethical behaviours flow to lower levels. As
mentioned:
Given that ethical leaders seek to live their lives in ethical manner and set appropriate examples, it is likely that ethical leaders will be deemed credible and attractive role models (Mayer et al., 2009, p. 4).
Ethical leadership and its practices are very important for effective and efficient
functioning of an educational organisation. According to Kar (2014) ethical leadership
focuses on influencing subordinates to behave ethically. Ethical leadership is based on
social learning processes (Brown et al., 2006). Kar (2014) concluded that ethics play
an important role especially in organisations which mainly emphasises good
governance practices and this could be achieved by nurturing ethical practices in order
to create an ethical culture through effective leadership practices. Kalshoven, Hartog
and Hoogh (2011) viewed ethical leadership as a multidimensional concept and stated
that studies should avoid making matters relating ethical leader behaviour
complicated. As stated:
15
The definition and measurement of ethical leadership should not be complicated by debates about which social issues deserves to be included in the definition (Hassan, Mahsud, Yukl & Prussia, 2013, p. 40).
Thus, based on the scholar reviews, it can be noted that nearly most concepts of ethical
leadership are constructed based on the work of Brown et al. (2005) and also on the
works of Kalshoven et al. (2011). In addition, reviews have shown the significance of
ethical leadership practices by all school heads.
2.2 Justification of using ethical leadership work questionnaire and establishing framework
An abundance literature were examined related to ethical leadership scales and it was
found that most of the studies were conducted in developed countries, however, very
few researches were based on ethical leadership was undertaken in developing
countries hence, there is a necessity to conduct research in developing country such
as, Fiji. Hassan et al. (2013) reviewed on measures of ethical leadership. These
researchers explained that different measures had been developed and all had strengths
as well some limitations. The authors assessed the validity of new questionnaire and
also examined how employees are related to workplace performances. The authors
reviewed the research on the measures of ethical leadership by describing the
development of each instrument and limitations of it. According to Hassan et al. (2013)
three instruments were designed to directly measure ethical leadership which included
the Ethical Leadership Survey (ELS) by Brown et al. (2005), the Perceived Leader
Integrity Scale (PLIS) by Craig and Gustafson (1998), and the Ethical Leadership
Work Questionnaire (ELWQ) by Kalshoven, Hartog and Hoogh (2011: 51). As
described by Kalshoven and her colleagues:
Combining different behaviours into a single undifferentiated construct could make it harder to uncover the different mechanisms through which ethical leadership develops and may be effective (Kalshoven, Hartog & Hoogh, 2011, p. 51).
Hassan et al. (2013) reviewed and argued that ELS had two limitations. Firstly, the
relevant aspects of ethical leadership such as honest, communication, behaviour
consistency, fairness, espoused values and rewards were not included in the scale.
16
Secondly, the scale had two negatively worded phrases and positively worded phrases
would be impacting on ethical leadership factors (Hassan et al., 2013). Hassan et al.
(2013) further reviewed that the PLIS had only one major drawback that the
questionnaire had negatively worded phrases with vague wordings which would be
less likely answered by participants due to fear of adverse consequences from their
leaders. Furthermore, Hassan et al. (2013) reviewed ELWQ and limitations were
argued on the basis of support from other deep-rooted scholarly literatures. However,
the authors also provided review on followed up research (Kalshoven et al., 2011) and
argued that the definition and measures of ethical leadership were suitable and should
not be further complicated by arguments.
However, Hassan et al. (2013) explained that there are several reasons why an
improvement in unit performance may not occur as such due to categories of
leadership influencing performance. Moreover, as stated:
Three broad categories of leadership behaviour relevant for influencing performance include task-oriented behaviour (example, clear roles, challenging goals, coordination, efficient use of resources), relations - oriented behaviours (example, empowering, coaching, praise and recognition), and change - oriented behaviour (example, strategy formation enhancing collective learning) (Hassan et al., 2013, p. 41).
As stated earlier, the study is enclosed according to Kalshoven et al. (2011) ELWQ of
ethical leadership basically deals to seven dimensions described into 38 traits as
practices to determine the overall ethical leadership practices. The seven major
dimensions of ethical leadership are people orientation, fairness, power sharing,
concern for sustainability, ethical guidance, role clarification and integrity. These
dimensions are further spelled out into 38 practices, which are for example, leader
interested in how I feel and how I am doing, holds me accountable for problems over
which I have no control, allows subordinates to influence critical decisions, would like
to work in an environmentally friendly manner, clearly explains integrity related codes
of conduct, indicates what the performance expectations of each team member are and
keeps his/her promises.
According to Hassan et al. (2013) leader effectiveness is a multi-dimensional construct
with an important aspect of how leaders influences on work unit performances. Thus,
the present study chose the ELWQ scale because the scale is comprehensive:
17
The ELWQ measure could give an organisation an idea of the levels of ethical leaders’ behaviour shown by mangers. Based on this more specific trainings and development opportunities can be provided. So far, the results on the extent of ethical leadership is positive, thus it may be worthwhile for organisations to invest in the development of ethical behaviour in the global economic crisis (Kalshoven et al., 2011, p. 67).
The researchers also argued that different ethical leadership scales have different
conceptions of ethical leadership in different cultures. The researchers found out that
ethical leadership makes an important contribution to the explanation of leader
member exchange and leader effectiveness. Moreover, on the bases of the study on
ethical leadership of school head from teachers’ perceptions, a multi - dimensional
construct is needed in order to measure leader effectiveness and thus the use of ELWQ
scale. Several studies have reported positive association between ethical leadership
and perceived leader effectiveness (Brown et al., 2005; Hartog & Hoogh, 2008;
Kalshoven et al., 2011). However, as yet no study has been conducted to examine the
extent of ethical leadership practices of school heads in the Fijian context.
Moreover, Langlois, Lapointe, Valois and de Leeuw (2014) conducted a study from a
sample of six hundred and sixty - eight North Educational American school leaders.
The authors in their literature argued that ELWQ is in line with Brown et al. (2005)
model from which Kalshoven et al. (2011) questionnaire could be used to gain a better
understanding on ethical leadership. Likewise, Steinmann, Nübold and Maier (2016)
presented an evaluative study in Germany and showed that ELWQ has sound
properties of ethical leadership which was extensively reviewed and theorized on its
dimensions by merging different existing concepts and by conducting experts’
interviews. The researchers argued that ELWQ does not only focus on leaders but also
captures leaders and followers’ professional interactions. The authors summed up that
ELWQ represents a precise and more comprehensive measure of specific ethical
leadership behaviour which needs to be slightly adapted to suit the different and
diverse contexts. In the Germany, the ELWQ was adapted and it was found to be an
effective tool which is considered and used to measure ethical leadership in Germany
at educational organisational levels.
Furthermore, Özan, Özdemir and Yirci (2017) conducted a study to determine the
degree of ethical leadership behaviours of school heads according to teachers’
18
viewpoint in elementary schools in Turkey. The study by these researchers used ethical
leadership questionnaire developed by Langlois and Lapointe (2007). The researchers
concluded that establishing written ethical codes for school administrators might help
them behave ethically. At the moment, there is an abundance of literatures on ethical
leadership practices of school administrators which clearly presents global perspective
about ethical leadership of school leaders. Ethical leadership is one of the approaches
which attempts to explain the leaders’ behaviour using an ethical framework and also
indicated that there is a need to enhance leader effectiveness in order to improve
educational institutions by further examining the school heads ethical behaviour in
different educational contexts.
Kalshoven et al. (2011) developed ELWQ as a measure with seven dimensions
(fairness, power sharing, role clarification, people orientation, integrity, ethical
guidance and concern for sustainability). This is in line with Brown et al. (2005)
behavioural perceptions and suggested by Hartog and Hoogh (2008) as ethical
leadership is a dimensional construct. The authors found out that ethical leadership is
positively linked to leader effectiveness in their context of study and further
recommended for future research and its application to different contexts in order to
measure and improve ethical practices of leaders. Kalshoven (2011) and her colleagues
also highlighted the issues that leadership is mostly measured using reflective
measurement model and encouraged future research to use formative method.
However, the authors encouraged that future research should determine the ELWQ
scales’ validity in different contexts in order to expand its nomological network.
Therefore, using this measure can give organisations an idea of the extent of ethical
leader behaviour demonstrated by school heads. Also, by investing in the development
of ethical behaviour can lead to productive school leaders as such this leads to further
improvement opportunities in the education sector in all countries including Fiji.
Additionally, Kgomo and Plant (2015) argued that there are many studies which
focused on ethical leadership but its application on dimensions in assessing ethical
leadership within organisations is very less noticeable. The authors further argued that
it is important to assess ethical leadership of an organisation in order to have an
operative system of internal control which needs toning starting from top level. The
authors concluded that ethical leadership dimension is needed to be included in the
assessment tool for ethical leadership in order to improve leader performance.
19
However, the authors stated that further consideration, testing and inclusion of ethical
leadership dimensions will add to better ethical framework which in turn can
contribute to an effective assessment of the school leaders and at the same time
evaluating the current ethical leadership practices for future enhancement of school
organisations.
A study conducted by Castro and Moore (2015) based on examining perceptions of
three elementary principals based on their ethical preparedness. They found out that
the unethical practices affect the educational settings. Castro and Moore (2015)
explained that such unethical practices may impact teachers and defame the leadership
profession. Also, stated that the school district in their study did not provide tools to
the school principals to be the agents of ethical practice. Thus, this present study
explores the extent of ethical leadership practices of school heads based on Kalshoven
et al. (2011) seven dimensions, in order to expand the literature on ethical leadership
from a developing context. Many studies in developing contexts have shown reliable
results and the current study which explores the extent of ethical practices among
schools’ heads in Fiji may yield similar findings.
2.3 Seven dimensions of ethical leadership
In this section, the seven dimensions of ethical leadership practices will be discussed
based on the available literature.
2.3.1 Fairness dimension
Kalshoven et al. (2011) reviewed ethical leadership literature and suggested numerous
behavioural dimensions of ethical leadership. According to the researchers, fairness
was considered as most important dimension and stated that ethical leaders need to
treat stakeholders fairly. This dimension was reflected in the works of Trevino,
Hartman and Brown (2000), Brown et al. (2005, 2006) and this behaviour was further
connected by Hartog and Hoogh (2008). Thus, the researchers described that fair
leaders who make principled and just decisions, are trustworthy and honest, do not
favour people and take responsibility of their own actions (Kalshoven et al., 2011).
20
Moreover, the idea put forward by Seppälä, Lipponen, Pirttilä-Backman and Lipsanen
(2012) suggested that fairness builds leaders relationship with their subordinates which
in turn motivates leaders to act fairly. Thus, it can be said that fairness is an important
dimension of ethical leadership which can be used to develop a leader as well as
subordinates relationship skills. Seppälä et al. (2012) presented a trust focused model
based on leader’s fairness performance. Thus, trust model considered fairness as an
instrument with four trust related mechanisms: begetting subordinates trust in the
leader, showing that subordinates are trusted, an outcome of leaders’ trust in the
subordinate, and reciprocating the trust received from the subordinates by the leaders
(Seppälä et al., 2012).
Furthermore, Seppälä et al. (2012) considered fairness as a way to maintain or build
relationship with subordinates and further argued that fairness might be an important
goal for leaders but it is difficult for leaders to act fairly and gain trust from less trusted
subordinates. However, authors also conducted a survey based on three dimensions
scale and subordinates rated their supervisors on those three dimensions (distributive
justice, procedural justice and interactional justice) of fairness. The authors found out
that leaders act fairly when they gain subordinates trust, to show subordinate trust and
take responsibility to the actions of cooperative colleagues. Similarly, Zehir and
Erdogen (2011) emphasised that employees when treated fairly and motivated by their
supervisors might develop trust, sense of obligation to stay and give full commitment
at workplace.
Likewise, Ren and Chadee (2017) explained that ethical leaders who are perceived to
treat employees fairly are most likely to enhance employees’ level of commitment
towards organisations vision and mission. Fairness is the most important dimension of
ethical leadership and has strong connection with subordinate’s organisational
commitment which in turn develop leaders to address issues associated with
employees and not directly blaming employee that issue is the employees’ fault. The
leader pursues success at his own cost and should focus mainly in reaching goals by
not obtaining advantage of power and by using subordinates to fulfil own achievement.
Also, not realising realities and circumstances of when others are engaged in activities
delegated.
Dijke, Cremer, Mayer and Quaquebeke (2012) examined fairness interaction with
leadership. The researchers state that leadership can be empowered based on two types
21
which could be through encouraging self-development and encouraging independent
action. The researchers’ found out that empowering leadership explicitly allows
employees respond fairly to enacted procedures. Gao, Janssen and Shi (2011) explored
how employees trust in their interactions on the basis of empowering leaders’
behaviors’ in promoting employees voice. The researchers’ found out that when
leaders are empowered highly, it creates positive relationship between leaders’ trust
and employee voice which is achieved through different types of empowering leaders’
behaviors’ which are participation in decision making, informing and coaching.
2.3.2 Power sharing dimension
According to Kalshoven et al. (2011) power sharing is also considered as an important
dimension of ethical leadership practices. This dimension was proposed by Brown et
al. (2005). They explained that an ethical leader provides subordinates with a voice.
Hartog and Hoogh (2008) further distinguished this dimension from other dimensions
and argued that this component allows subordinates to take part in decision making
and ethical leader listens to subordinate’s ideas and concerns. Resick, Hanges, Dickson
and Mitchelson (2006) argued that this dimension is an empowering characteristic of
ethical leadership. Power sharing is an important aspect of leadership that encourages
followers and makes them less dependent on their leaders (Northouse, 2013).
Moreover, Carvalho (2016) critically reviewed, power sharing aiming to show that
power sharing with the intention that it is another way to avoid and manage conflict.
The theories reveal that power sharing was originally made to resist justification and
conflict management (Carvalho, 2016). Carvalho (2016) believes that power sharing
is being directly linked to the concept of democracy. However, the author argues that
very little attention is given to this dimension due to the dynamic process with its set
back and transition but then again power sharing seeks its inclusion in decision making
at the school level in order to avoid any conflicts from arising in any setting. As such,
power sharing is an empowering aspect of ethical leadership which influences critical
decisions, allows subordinates to participate in decision making, allows leader to seek
advices from subordinates concerning any suspect of the organisation play a key role
in all operations and functions of a school organisation (Hartog & Hoogh, 2008;
Kalshoven et al., 2011).
22
Sorm and Gunbayi (2018) emphasises that school leaders are faced with problems
when exercising legitimate power which creates conflict in organisations. The authors
conducted a study to find out challenges faced by school principals in exercising
legitimate power and strategies used for exertion. The authors used multiple case
designs of qualitative research and selected five high school principals and five high
school teachers from Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia. The authors found out that
there had been issues of power abuse and power struggle. The authors concluded that
legitimate power is complex due to its combination of influence and authority which
should be balanced by the leader to avoid power distance which limits subordinates
from participating in decision making at the school level. When the school leader
allows subordinates to participate in decision making, it increases organisational
obligation for employees (Kalshoven et al., 2011). An authentic ethical leader can
reconsider decisions on the basis of the subordinate’s recommendations and delegates
responsibilities to all to further allow subordinates to play a key role for example, in
setting their own performance goal (Kalshoven et al., 2011).
Rincon and Fullan (2016) state that professional learning network enhances
professional capital of teachers and leaders and this becomes a positive force for the
development of the school and in turn the entire education system. The researchers
identify eight features of effective networks from existing research which leaders can
establish for the benefit of his colleagues and these are 1. Students learning outcomes
linked to effective pedagogy, 2. Developing strong relationship 3. Continuously
improve practice via collaborative inquiry, 4. Using deliberate leadership and skills to
flat power structures, 5. Frequently interacting and learning inward, 6. Connecting
outward to learn from others, 7. Forming new partnership among teachers and 8.
Securing adequate resources to sustain the work. The researchers argue that school
leaders are lead learners and suitable networks must be led by leaders to facilitate
leadership in their colleagues (Rincon & Fullan, 2016).
2.3.3 Role clarification dimension
According to Kalshoven et al. (2011) role clarification is another dimension of ethical
leadership. The authors explained that it is very important for leaders to clarify
responsibilities, expectations and goals, so that subordinates know and understand
23
what is expected from them. Khalid and Bano (2015) conducted a study to find out the
influence of role clarification dimensions of ethical leadership practices on employee
in higher educational sector in Pakistan. The researchers collected data from four
hundred and two faculty members from twenty-six different universities in Rawalpindi
and Islamabad. Apart from the other statistical tools, the researchers used descriptive
statistics to analyse the data. They found out that role clarification had a significant
and positive effect on employee’s initiative in higher education sector of Pakistan. The
researchers concluded that it is very important for the leader to enhance motivational
level of employees by focusing more on this dimension in order to increase employee’s
performance. When ethical leaders clarify goals to subordinates and explains
expectation to improve employees’ performances then it contributes to an increase in
an organisations’ overall performance and productivity (Kalshoven et al., 2011).
On the other hand, Brault, Kilpatrick, D’Amour, Contandriopoulos, Chouinard,
Dubois and Beaulieu (2014) conducted a study based on role clarification processes
for better integration of nurse’s practitioners into primary health care teams. The
researchers used a multiple case study based on six cases of primary health care nurse
practitioners and collected data by means of semi- structured interviews. The
researchers discussed that roles poorly defined leads to conflict and reduces
effectiveness of care and services given to any individual or group. The researchers
found out that role clarification is an important dimension which needs to be mastered
by explaining, indicating and clarifying clearly to increase collaboration at an
organisational level and also at the professional level. Similarly, school leaders need
to integrate role clarification in education context as such school leaders are involved
in indicating and explaining performance expectation to teachers by clarifying
priorities and responsibilities which are delegated to them.
Furthermore, Magnasofa and Najib (2019) conducted a study based on leadership role
for a successful change management. The authors explain that school organisations
need leaders who can response to inevitable changes and keep the school going in the
right direction via culture of change within organisation and effective communication
between leaders and subordinates. This in certain cases is difficult to achieve due to
lack of role clarity. The authors suggest for policy makers to design policy that
enforces leaders to improve their leadership skills especially in the area of role
clarification.
24
2.3.4 People orientation dimension
Kalshoven and her colleagues (2011) based on their theoretical work also suggested
another ethical leadership dimension as people orientation which means having true
concern for stakeholders at workplace. The researchers built this dimension based on
the work of Brown et al. (2005). They explained that ethical leaders should genuinely
care, respect and support subordinates and ensuring at the same time that their
professional needs are met. This dimension was also further highlighted by Resick et
al. (2006) to indicate that ethical leaders should have true concern for people at
workplace.
Furthermore, Ismail and Daud (2014) conducted a study to identify the influence of
people orientation dimension of ethical leadership towards commitment in the school.
The researchers used cross sectional survey which involved three hundred and twenty-
four secondary school teachers. The researchers used ELWQ instrument to measure
organisational commitment in school. The researchers found out that people
orientation was the most significant dimension which influenced organisational
commitment. The authors also related to other findings which had people orientation
dimension as the most influential one (Cuellar, 2010; Fu & Deshpande, 2012; Weiss,
2017; Mo & Shi, 2017; Wang, Feng & Lawton, 2017; Xu, Loi & Ngo, 2016). The
researchers explained that leaders who are good at this dimension that is people
orientation not only influence teachers’ commitment but also sustains the cultural
autonomy of the teachers. The researchers concluded that school leaders in Malaysia
were weak in the people orientation dimension and should be provided enough
exposure and trainings to improve this dimension in order to effectively manage
organisational commitment in schools. Thus, it can be noted that people orientation
dimension plays an important role in improving school commitment and achieving the
goals of educational reforms. Hence, people orientation should be given the attention
it deserves (Ismail & Daud, 2014).
Leaders who care about subordinates’ such as those facing problems can contribute
towards subordinate’s personal development by encouraging subordinates
progressively (Kalshoven et al., 2011). This allows feeling in subordinates that the
leader is interested in how they are doing since leader takes time to make an individual
25
interaction. Also, this allows subordinates personal development since the needs are
considered. The ethical leader takes time to talk about work related issues by showing
genuine concern about subordinates’ personal development and sympathizes to show
care for subordinates.
In addition, Josanov and Pavlovic (2014) conducted a study on relationship between
the school principal leadership style and teachers job satisfaction in Serbia. The
researchers found out that leaders who are people oriented optimistically influences
teacher’s satisfaction in the areas of school development, management, relationship
with colleagues and teamwork. However, leaders who are only task oriented
negatively stimulates teacher’s satisfaction in areas of working skills and
communication. The authors conclude that growing teachers’ dissatisfaction is the
result of falling concern for colleagues at workplace. However, leaders should
positively influence job satisfaction and be a great motivator for teachers and this can
be promoted on a daily basis of supervisory network that integrates concern for task
and concern for people which can contribute towards leader effectiveness.
Agih (2015) states that supervision is an important component of educational
administration but fundamentally goals of the education system needs to be realised.
The author advocates that school leaders need to have the necessary qualifications
especially in the area of educational administration and also experience to function
optimally via refresher courses in school administration to keep abreast with the best
practices. As such, school leaders should not be feared upon seeing as constituting
threat to teachers as most teachers still fear at the visit of school leaders in their
classrooms. The school leaders should help teachers to become co-supervisors. This
will slowly result in change in teacher’s behaviour and when this happens teachers and
school leaders will realise that they have a common responsibility as colleagues that
is, basically focusing on teaching and learning which is the core business of a school
organisation (Agih, 2015).
2.3.5 Ethical guidance dimension
This dimension of ethical guidance involves communication about ethics, explanation
of ethical rules and promotes or rewards positive ethical conduct of subordinates
26
(Kalshoven et al., 2011). The researchers found this dimension from earlier work of
Brown et al. (2005) who explains that ethical leaders use rewards and punishments for
ethical conduct of subordinates. Brown et al. (2005) described that ethical leaders
guide subordinate in ethical dilemmas experienced and sets appropriate priorities for
them. Brown and Trevino (2014) suggested that leaders at a conformist level are
mostly like models for ethical guidance. As such, when the organisations ethical
climate is unpleasant then the subordinates will look upon their leaders for their ethical
guidance (Guerci, Radaelli, Siletti, Cirella & Shani, 2015). Katuramu, Byarugaba and
Wilson (2016) conducted a study on ethical leadership and academic staff retention in
the public universities in Uganda. They found out that the ethical leadership helps to
retain employees at workplace. Navarro, Johnston, Frugo and McCauley (2016) stated
that effective school leaders are committed to the moral development of teachers in
their school. As such, to transform schools, leaders need to be good at ethical guidance.
Moreover, Lingam and Lingam (2015) examined the leadership practices of school
leaders in Niue. The authors stated that the most important role of school leaders in
this era is to be good role models and further stated that effective school leaders always
upholds integrity to their individual staff to change, grow and improve in order to get
things done. They found out that the school leaders did not engage much in the
leadership behaviours. The authors concluded that having better knowledge and skills
in leadership practices will certainly help school leaders in leading and managing
school organisations.
Furthermore, Fritz, Neil, Popp, Williams and Arnett (2013) conducted a study on the
employees’ behavioural integrity on intent to comply with organisational ethical
standards and organisational commitment. The authors stated that the power of
communication shapes perceptions in organisational settings with a goal for
employees adhering to an organisational expectation and standards. As such,
employees must be aware of those standards (Fritz et al., 2013). The authors found out
that the supervisory behavioural integrity aligned with organisational standard of
conduct operates directly with employees’ intent to comply with organisational
expectations. The authors concluded that employees whose leaders’ expresses
consistency with the organisations’ expectations are likely to foster trust and
confidence in employees which in turn increases employee’s commitment at
workplace.
27
According to Kalshoven et al. (2013) it is very important to demonstrate ethical
guidelines in schools in order to enhance ethical culture as well as good conduct of
employees. This is also supported by Wu, Kwan, Yim, Chiu and He (2015). Steinmann
et al. (2016) explains that ethical leadership ensures that ethical standards are
maintained, by rewarding subordinates behaving ethically and punishing those who
break or misuse mandatory guidelines set. However, Kalshoven et al. (2011) explains
that ethical leaders encourage ethical guidance by explaining codes of conduct and
expectations of employees in terms of codes of conduct. As such, this allows
subordinates to seek clarification on guidelines to ensure codes of conduct is adhered
at all times. Thus, an ethical leader clarifies consequences of unethical behaviour by
subordinates and colleagues as part of ethical guidance dimension.
2.3.6 Concern for sustainability dimension
Kalshoven et al. (2011) included environment orientation as important dimension
which incorporates leaders paying attention to sustainability issues and showing
considerable care about the welfare of the society in the long - run. The researchers
included this dimension from work of Brown et al. (2005) that ethical leaders need to
demonstrate care, protect, develop and promote the welfare of the society (Ferdig,
2007; Nichols, 2014 & Hargreaves & Fink, 2012).
According to Kacmar, Andrews, Harris and Tepper (2013) this dimension is profound
in view of the damages done to the environment (Kalshoven et al., 2011). Ethical
leaders care about their environment and encourage eco - friendly work processes
(Kalshoven et al., 2011). Brunstein, Sambiase and Brunnquell (2018) argues that
sustainable leaders are considerate of their behaviour on the environment, inclusive of
society and financial status of an organisation. The researchers explain that these
leaders act sustainably. The researchers argue that the people must use resources
without finishing or running out of resources. The researchers found out that the
concern is true and also finance is mismanaged with improper plans designed and for
some situations with no available plans at all. However, in order for organisations to
run efficiently, finance is the most important resource. Therefore, a leader should be
efficient enough to address sustainability challenges in using resources wisely and not
abusing the use of resources.
28
Moreover, Tushar (2017) used three-legged stool model to explain the link between
good ethical leadership practices and organisational sustainability, leg representing
environment, the other leg representing the economic conditions and another leg
representing the society in an organisation. In case any leg is shorter, longer or missing,
the stool would be difficult to use (Tushar, 2017). According to Tushar (2017) the
ethical leadership practices incorporates ethical culture throughout in the work
environment. Hence, a strong organisational culture with positivism is an important
prerequisite for sustainability (Ponce, Cancio & Sánchez, 2018). Thus, the role of an
ethical leader is to make sure that an ethical culture is sustained by decreasing negative
influences such as, mismanagement of resources, financial thefts and unhealthy
employee treatment (Tushar, 2017).
In a study conducted by Lingam (2012) on the principles of sustainable leadership
practices of school leaders in the Fiji Islands and found out that the most principles of
sustainable leadership were present but relatively at low level. In another study by
Lingam and Lingam (2013) on making learning and teaching a richer experience with
respect to experience of children in a rural Fijian primary school. They found out that
that resources not only impacts children but also influences teachers’ professional
work. The authors concluded that without the use of suitable resources it becomes
difficult for teachers to implement curriculum effectively. The authors further stated
that poorly resourced school will have negative impact on children’s learning. In this
regard, school leaders need to ensure availability of adequate resources as well as
sustainable use of resources for school work.
Furthermore, an ethical leader needs to work in an environmentally friendly manner,
should show concern for sustainable issues and encourage recycling of items and
materials at workplace (Kalshoven et al., 2011). Some school leaders would work in
an environmentally friendly manner especially when dealing with people or human
resource but others may be least concerned with materialistic resources such as for
charts old calendars can be used, for counters, bottle tops can be used, to encourage
reading, old newspapers can be used which does not necessarily mean to buy expensive
books. However, an ethical leader stimulates recycling of items and materials in the
school in order to show concern for sustainability issues by engaging in sustainable
29
practices which can be acquired through suitable training programmes (Kalshoven et
al., 2011).
2.3.7 Integrity dimension
Kalshoven et al. (2011) state that integrity is exhibited when leaders keep their
promises and act consistently. Salleh and Tiyunin (2014) conducted a study to
investigate best practice of ethical leadership among the administration staffs’
perceptions in Islamic Tertiary Education institution in Malaysia. The result showed
that integrity scored the second highest. Engelbrecht, Mahembe and Heine (2015)
stated that integrity promotes positive work engagement and this allows trust in leaders
to increase as well and vice versa.
Monahan (2012) reviewed literature concerning ethical leadership in organisations
further elaborates of how leader influences followers under contemporary challenges.
The author selected thirty-eight articles focusing mainly on four topics of which one
of the topics was personal integrity of a leader. The author argued that an ethical leader
is comfortable during difficult times by being true to own self. Thus, the author
concurred that the inner development of ethical leader is very important as application
of values is reinforced through practice. Monahan (2012) further argued using
supporting evidences from the literatures that ethics derives from faith and those
leaders who integrate faith at workplace are considered as ethical leaders. An ethical
leader with integrity is one who leaves no gap between actions and words (Shareef &
Atan, 2019). The authors argued that even a small gap creates problems. Thus, it is
very important for leaders to strategically equip leaders with integrity to avoid trust
crisis at work place and leaders challenge in implementing ethics (Monahan, 2012).
According to Özan and his colleagues (2017) employees trust the leader for the
guidance during ethical dilemmas, however, increasing deficiencies in teacher
performance shows that teachers’ may not be ethically guided in school. This creates
a need for honest leaders who align themselves with integrity practices at all times to
deal efficiently with various challenges in order to further develop teachers
professionally. Darcy (2010) indorses that current situation of organisation is worrying
regarding ethics. He discovered that there has been a “crisis of trust” (p. 200). His
30
study revealed the biggest challenges of ethical leadership in organisation and
employees is sixty per cent is dearth of trust.
Leaders’ keeping promises and being trusted can advocate teacher’s efficiency and
increase commitment leading to institutional productivity. However, according to
Monahan (2012) lack of trust ascribed negative influences such as “authority, freedom,
dishonesty, discrepancy, negligence, and inappropriate allegiances”. Unfortunately,
the staffs become unprotected to these challenges, behaviours, and lose confidence in
the integrity of a leader. According to Mihelic, Lipicnik and Tekavcic (2010) ethical
leader is one who encourages honesty and reflects his/ her actions with suitable values
and beliefs. For instance, the Fiji Education Management Information Systems
(FEMIS) are supported by data collection processes. The quality of data collected is
based on integrity. According to Saraogi, Mayrhofer and Abdul-Hamid (2017) that
policies and practices in education circulars are guided by ethical standards. The
authors reported that integrity is at an emerging level and deserves a more attention in
contemporary times (Saraogi et al., 2017, p. 39).
Therefore, it is important to keep ethics alive by embedding them in school work which
could assist in developing leaders and other colleagues with integrity. An ethical leader
keeps his/her promises and can be trusted to what he/she says and this is dependent on
leader’s integrity shown on that commitment which in turn shows that the leader is
able to keep his/her words (Kalshoven et al., 2011). Through continuous trainings
leader integrity can be developed (Castro & Moore, 2015; Yilmaz, 2010).
The review of literature on ethical leadership dimensions suggest that school leader’s
knowledge, skills and values on the seven dimensions is important to ensure
effectiveness and efficiency in the school.
2.4 Strategies to develop ethical leaders
According to Kalshoven et al. (2011) school organisations need ethical leaders who
can achieve the vision and mission of a school in a responsible way. They further
suggested that multi-dimensional tool could be used to measure the extent of ethical
leadership practices. Also, this too could give an organisation some insights on the
level and types of ethical behaviour demonstrated by the school leaders. On the basis
of the outcome, organisations can make provisions for specific trainings and other
31
development opportunities. This will then be a useful investment in the development
of ethical behaviour leaders in school organisations. In the subsequent section,
discussion on strategies to encourage school leaders to apply the seven dimensions of
ethical leadership practices is presented.
2.4.1 Empowering on ethical leadership practices by coaching
Augustine-Shaw and Hachiya (2017) conducted a study on strengthening decision
making skills of new school leaders through mentoring and induction. The study
indicated that school heads participation in planned programme grew them
professionally and builds leadership capacities. As specified:
…education board when hiring a new principal or superintendent must recognise that mentoring and induction for a new school leader is a priority investment and ensured to be provided with support in the first years of service (Augustine et al., 2017, p. 33).
Augustine et al. (2017) contends that mentoring programmes are most of the time not
allocated with enough funds and also the programmes were not of a high quality. The
authors indicated that mentoring helps leaders to acquire skills and knowledge.
Similarly, Laughlin and Moore (2012) states that dedicated mentoring can lead to an
individual’s development in leadership. Augustine et al. (2017) highlight that leading
schools in contemporary times is complex and this requires adaptive approach with
innovative programmes to improve leader’s decision-making processes in challenging
times successfully. The authors concluded that school leaders face a range of
challenges and if supported by experienced mentors with quality mentoring allows
professional development of head of school and this can strengthen their decision-
making skills as well.
Also, coaching on seven dimensions of ethical leadership can help school leaders to
improve all school affairs including learning and teaching. Coaching is a powerful
technique which could turn dialogues with employee into opportunities (Duignan,
2011). Furthermore, Robertson (2008) explains that coaching builds leadership
capacity via encouraging professional practice and this needs on-going commitment
in order to reach maximum potentials by having experienced leaders coaching novice.
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Coaching has been one of the best approaches in leadership development with a
purpose to achieve excellence and this has become a priority in some organisations
(Neves, 2014). The author found out that coaching contributes to positive development
of ethical leadership behaviour. The author concludes by presenting a coaching model
with seven stages and they are: establishing trust between coach and coaches with
coaching contract; analysing leader context and diagnosing on areas of improvement;
establishing performance standards and goals; planning developmental activities of
ethical leader behaviour; defining actions needed for implementing goals; revising
action and transfer of skills and lastly assessing plan with evaluating coaching process.
The author suggests that effective coaching model produces effective outcomes. Thus,
coaching can be an effective strategy in encouraging school leaders to develop on the
Kalshoven et al. (2011) seven dimensions of ethical leadership.
2.4.2 Involving seven dimensions of ethical practices in strategic planning
A strategic plan is a significant official document that guides an organisation with
directions and path to achieve goals set. As well-defined:
It is a living document that includes policy direction, implementation strategies, actions and bench marks for implementation with inclusive of expenditure framework that modifications during implementation phase (Wyk & Moeng, 2014, p. 139).
Allison and Kaye (2011) explains that strategy is an aspiration to an organisation since
it sets directions based on important choices whereas planning entails putting the
strategy into action with an expectation of improving an organisation. Kotter and
Cohen (2014) states that strategy is a collection of action that assist in understanding
the current situation addressing future needs. Basically, all organisation aims for
improvement and that necessitates well planned strategic plan.
Moreover, Allen, Grigsby and Peters (2015) contends that involving best practices in
plans ensures that the organisations to become more efficient and could be
accomplished via inclusion of best ethical practices. Lingam and Lingam (2014) stated
that there should be more relevant professional development for school leaders to
avoid organisations spiralling downwards. Papke-Shields and Boyer-Wright (2017)
examines study on the application of strategic planning and suggested that strategic
33
planning can be effective if prepared based on best ethical practices. Thus, the seven
dimensions of ethical leadership can assist in achieving goals set and this would also
ensure that all staff are productive at work place through sound ethical practices.
Leadership is a way of providing and encouraging ethical practices (Leithwood &
Levin, 2011).
Leaders need to adopt the seven dimensions of sound ethical practices in order to create
an ethical culture at workplace, holding high ethical standards to provide improvement
and development in schools. Thus, this could be achieved if strategic plan is aligned
with seven ethical dimensions to achieve school improvement and development.
Lingam and Lingam (2015) claimed that different leaders adopt different styles of
leadership which is based on culture of the school and the setting in which it operates.
Thus, it is very important to increase opportunities on skills and knowledge
development on ethical leadership which in turn allows head of school to demonstrate
these to promote capacity building of their staff on ethical practices (Ren & Chadee,
2017). In the long term this can reduce havoc in schools and increase job satisfaction.
The primary goal of central educational leaders is to empower all in the school with
best practices.
2.4.3 Providing specific trainings for head of school
According to Aleta (2010) school leaders lack the skills to efficiently exhibit best
practices because of lack of professional preparation and training for the position.
Likewise, Lingam (2012) contends that the appointment of school leaders is at the
moment not based on leadership preparation but on experience and seniority. With
respect to ethical leadership, professional development and training of school leaders
is necessary.
Additionally, ethical leadership develops human resources. Moreover, ethical
leadership with its seven dimensions will help head of school to realise their full
potential. Lingam (2012) states that head of school play key role in achieving the
expected performance of the school. Thus, ethical leaders make an immense difference
in school setting by helping teachers to achieve curriculum standards and also to ensure
that teachers behave with integrity. If high level integrity is demonstrated by the head
34
of school will eventually allow teachers to behave likewise. For instance, in Fiji head
of school are selected and recruited by MEHA to ensure daily running of schools and
also ensures that teachers behave with integrity. Thus, head of school need to be well
informed on ethical behaviour that influences their own work and also teachers work.
However, head of school should not overload their staff to gain own benefit but to
provide support and ensure their welfare as well. Thus, it is important to train and
develop school leaders to behave ethically.
Moreover, Ozan, Ozdemir and Yirci (2017) argues that the principal stakeholders need
to take heed of the training needs of school leaders. Through, proper training will
develop school leaders who can lead and manage schools efficiently. Kalshoven et al.
(2011) highlight that ethical leadership is a growing concern in many contexts and
appropriate ways need be used to develop school leaders on ethical practices. This
cannot be achieved overnight for it needs to be modelled, keeping in mind the
recipient’s traits or attitude to adapting and adopting best ethical leadership practices.
School leaders need to be trained adequately on various aspects of leadership such as
ethical leadership by relevant higher profile personnel and this will then ensure them
to participate actively during their day to day professional work (Lingam, 2011).
Castro and Moore (2015) argued that there must be continuous training of school
leaders on all leadership issues including ethical leadership practices.
Furthermore, De and Moore (2019) suggests that organisations need to train their
leaders on specific behaviors such as on ethical behavior. Arar, Haj, Abramovitz and
Oplatka (2016) suggests that school leaders become successful when leadership
programmes include ethical skills. Consequently, inclusion of continuous and
specified trainings can be a realistic strategy in encouraging school leaders to use
Kalshoven et al. (2011) seven dimensions as best ethical leadership practices.
2.4.4 Investing in the development of ethical leader by establishing evaluative
assessment for head of school.
As mentioned earlier, leadership is critical for school improvement. Therefore,
identifying current leadership programmes and practices which act as a catalyst in
contributing towards school improvement (Leithwood & Levin, 2005). According to
35
Leithwood and Riehl (2003) states that leaders need to stay abreast of best professional
practices and help create conditions for professional growth. The authors categorised
practices in three categories which are setting directions, developing people and
developing the organisations. This suggests that leadership is a function more than a
role. The authors also argued that leaders do not impose goals on followers but work
together with and through people and this enables others to become effective and
productive. The researchers conclude that leadership takes different forms in different
context which can be understood through different mechanisms.
Moreover, according to Leithwood and Levin (2005) the importance of measuring
leadership practices and states that some leadership instruments tested are well
developed and they can provide vital information about the leaders. Assessing school
heads practices based on ethical dimensions can improve and develop schools. Ali
(2017) conducted a research on development and standardized a scale to assess school
heads instructional supervision in Tanzania Secondary schools. The author found out
that very little is known on relevant instrument that can be used to assess skills and
practices exhibited by school heads. The author claims that standard scale could be
used to assess school heads provided the instrument used is reliable and valid.
Furthermore, Condon and Clifford (2012) explain that assessing leaders is important
and challenging. It is necessary to reinforce best practices (Condon & Clifford, 2012).
The researchers argue that this cannot be simply based on diagnostic measures which
is intended for different use, however, practices could be identified and transferred into
professional settings for instance management rating scales can be designed. Elliot
and Clifford (2014) discusses that evaluating work of principal’s practices enables
identification of areas of strength and areas needing attention. However, many systems
fail due to measures lacking evidence of reliability and validity (Elliot & Clifford,
2014). A leader’s performance is assessed based on review of practice measures. Elliot
and Clifford (2014) suggest that assessment of leadership in education must be focused
to measure performance and guide professional practice founded with informed
evaluations. It is very important to know leadership behaviors with sound measure put
in place to determine the quality of practices exhibited by leaders. Additionally, Orr,
Hollingworth and Beaudin (2019) state that performance assessment for leaders are
helpful for preparing leaders who demonstrates effectiveness of performance. For
example, the ELWQ is an assessment tool which can be used by school leaders to self-
36
assess or obtain teachers perceptions and consider feedback as for self-improvement.
Thus, the above discussed strategy can be employed to develop school leaders on
Kalshoven and her colleagues (2011) seven dimensions ethical leadership practices.
2.4.5 Framing policies for better ethical practices
Sawitri, Suyono, Sunaryo and Tamara (2018) states that an ethical school leader act as
a role model and inspires teachers to maintain high ethical standard at workplace. The
researchers found out that ethical leadership reduces unethical issues at workplace by
empowering an ethical climate at work place which includes framing suitable policies.
Thus, the most effective way to encourage effective implementation of these
dimensions of ethical leadership is by allowing head of school to know their
significance through sufficient awareness of these seven ethical dimensions. Shapiro
and Stefkovich (2016) discusses that educational leaders develop professional codes
that guides their ethical behaviors.
As such to raise awareness of these dimensions, the education ministry should put in
place policies and on ethical practices by including these seven dimensions of ethical
leadership (Toytok & Kapusuzoglu, 2016). A study was by undertaken Teo, Nguyen,
Grover and Pick (2017) found out that policies on ethics improves ethical leadership
practices and working condition of employees. They further suggest that by creating
an ethical environment is by putting in places and implementing ethical system through
incorporating policies and procedures, ethical codes and seven ethics audit which can
help improve school organisations.
Obiekwe and Ezeugbor (2019) explain that policy makers and educational leaders are
facing problems because they are seeking best practices from other places and this
makes educational leaders to operate based on outside policies. As stated:
Policies try to motivate for measurable outcomes whereas professional stresses motivation for improved learning and policies stress on individuals whereas professionals stress on collaboration; policies tend to focus on improving competencies whereas professional focus on practice because professionalism emerges from practice (Bush, Bell & Middlewood, 2010, p. 125).
Bush et al. (2010) explain that professionalism requires expertise who got knowledge
on ethical dimensions since ethical leadership is important and this necessitates for it
37
to be incorporated into leadership policies and frameworks and this can be an effective
strategy in encouraging school leaders to use the seven dimensions as best ethical
leadership practices.
2.4.6 Including suitable courses for ethical skill development
Wright (2013) stresses that unstable economic challenges leaders and this makes it
difficult in maintaining ethics. However, ethics need to be emphasised during
education courses to enable future leaders to exhibit ethical practices. Therefore,
reinforcement of the skills is needed with ongoing trainings enabling leaders to become
ethical leader who is able to avoid scandals at workplace. Toit (2015) suggests that
organisations can benefit by addressing ethical awareness within the organisation via
reinforcement of ethical conduct in education courses. Arar et al. (2016) suggest that
helping school leaders to become successful via relevant leadership programmes
which includes ethics would be a step in the right direction. School leaders need ethical
skill development and this can be achieved by paying attention to all ethical
dimensions (Arar et al., 2016).
Bush et al. (2010) discusses that leadership preparation is becoming a need for school
leaders especially aspiring school leaders. The ethical based component of the training
programmes can help leaders demonstrate ethical leadership practices at all times
(Bush et al., 2010). As emphasised:
Level 1 is focused on developing knowledge and leadership skills; Level 11 courses are focused leadership practices defined as leadership framework and Level III focusses on capacity building at the school level (Bush et al., 2010,p. 175).
As such, Fiji national policy could be strengthened via universities collaborating to
develop professional development programmes for school leaders based on above
levels. For example, preparation of school leaders who can support the school
improvement networks based on ethical dimensions; preparation of mentor school
heads to work in the induction programmes based on ethics; and the increasing
significance of school ethical leadership and management needed for school
improvement. However, above practices need to be understood before
institutionalized (Bush et al., 2010). As such, courses based on ethical leadership skill
38
development can be an effective strategy in encouraging school leaders to use
Kalshoven et al. (2011) seven dimensions of ethical leadership practices.
2.5 The role of stakeholders in ethical leadership development.
According to Engelbrecht, Heine and Mahembe (2017) the development of ethical
leadership can decrease unethical practices and issues at workplace. The organisational
leader must take key role in inspiring ethical dimensions via ethical leader traits. This
can be promoted by developing ethical vision for the organisation via ethical policy
implementation and reinforcement. Rajbhar, Khan and Puskar (2017) state that human
resources is an important resource for any organisations. Through their cooperation
more could be achieved at workplace. Thus, building an organisational ethics could
help develop professional relationship among leaders and employees and ultimately
contribute towards increasing organisation’s productivity.
According to Coldwell (2017) ethical leadership consists of moral, sensitivity,
judgement and character. The author found out that ethics courses improves ethical
and moral reasonings and these can help solve issues of crisis management. For
instance, head of school must have necessary skills to manage team bonding in order
to enhance sustainable practices and accomplish mission of the organisation. It is
recommended that the organisations build relationship with many stakeholders and
positive relationship with each one of them will help contribute towards organisational
success. Therefore, it is suggested that all stakeholders play a critical role in ethical
leadership development.
2.6 Conceptual framework of ethical leadership practices
The conceptual framework demonstrates a number of key aspects related to ethical
leadership (Figure 1). The framework illustrates the seven dimensions of ethical
leadership which can positively contribute towards school improvement and
development and in turn provide quality education to the children. Thus, the seven
dimensions of ethical leadership practices are professionally sound and as such
through ethical leadership development a lot can be achieved as these practices
39
enhances school improvement and development and in turn contribute towards
producing high quality education for the children.
Figure 1: Conceptual framework of ethical leadership practices
Major dimensions of ethical leadership practices
People orientation Fairness Power
sharing Concern for
sustainabilityEthical
guidanceRole
clarification Integrity
Sound ethical practices
Enhances school improvement and development
High quality education for children
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2.7 Summary
This chapter focused on the review of literature on ethical leadership practices. It has
provided important literature concerned with ethical leadership practices. The seven
dimensions of ethical leadership as advocated by Kalshoven and her colleagues (2011)
are significant. These dimensions of leadership could be encouraged and practised by
all school heads for the purpose of improving and developing schools. In case, head of
school lack ethical leadership qualities, appropriate strategies can be used to develop
them. Some of these strategies to develop leaders on ethical leadership practices are
canvassed in this chapter. Finally, derived from the literature review, the chapter
presented a conceptual framework for the purpose of guiding the current study. This
leads to the next chapter, Chapter Three which provides an overview of the context of
the study, namely, Fiji.
41
CHAPTER THREE
Fiji context
3.0 Introduction
The preceding chapter looked at the review of literature on ethical leadership practices.
This chapter briefly outlines the context of the study, namely, Fiji Islands which is a
small island developing state in the Pacific. The following important aspects are
covered in this chapter to give readers some insights about the context of the study:
geographical, cultural, economic, political and the education system.
3.1 Geographical context
The Republic of the Fiji Island is a small developing island state located in the South
Pacific Ocean. Fiji is located in the midway between the Equator and the South Pole
at longitudes 174º and 178º West of Greenwich and latitudes 12º and 22º South. It
consists of three hundred and thirty islands with a third occupied. The total population
is approximately 884,887 with an increase of 47,616 compared to 2007 census (Fiji
Bureau of Statistics, 2017). It has a total land mass of 18,333 square kilometres with
two main islands, namely, Viti Levu which covers an area of 10,429 square kilometres
and Vanua Levu which covers an area of 5.556 square kilometres. The main islands
make up nearly 87 % of land mass. The scattered nature of the islands pose challenges
to the Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts (MEHA) in terms of school
supervision and as such MEHA relies heavily on school heads on effective operations
of all functions of the school.
3.2 Cultural context
Fiji is a multicultural society with a constitution that guarantees religious freedoms,
and all religions and people are treated equally. Its population are descendants of
people from many parts of the world including the Pacific Island countries such as
42
Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Samoa and Tonga. Due to the multicultural nature
of Fiji’s population, school leaders mainly those with sound ethical practices are
needed in the education system. This was echoed recently by the Honourable Minister
for Education, Heritage and Arts, Ms Rosy Akbar for all heads of school to work
closely with all communities and treat everybody equally with respect that they all
deserve and she further highlighted that school heads were appointed on merit to
deliver high quality learning (Sauvakacolo, 2020, January 15). Thus, heads of schools
are required to take responsibility for the diverse school population in order to move
forward and this requires them to demonstrate ethical leadership practices with all
educational leaders in the diverse Fijian community. In fact, good management
practices are required for the effective administration of schools since they are owned
and run by different denominations. Also, with the passage of time school population
could become more diverse and school leaders will be required to ensure they satisfy
the diverse groups of learners and parents.
3.3 Economical context
Tourism industry is the largest revenue earner for Fiji and education budget like
budgets for the other sectors is dependent on government revenue. However, the recent
pandemic, namely, COVID-19 has further impacted the economy leaving many people
unemployed. In the 2018 budget, more than $1 billion was allocated for education
because the government believes that education is the most effective pathway to
growing economy. In the recent budget, that is, for 2020 -2021 it was reported that
MEHA was allocated $450.6 million to enable the ministry to continue with the
initiatives such as free education grant and bus fare subsidy. In such an economic
situation, heads of schools are to ensure the wise use of resources and this calls for
high level of ethical leadership practices from each one of them.
3.4 Political context
Fiji achieved independence in 1970 from the British colonial rule. After a long period
of political stability, the country experienced political crisis caused by the military
coups of the late 1980’s and later in the early part of 2000. Due to the political turmoil,
43
the country suffered major setback in all areas of the economy including education.
The experienced teachers and school leaders including other well qualified workers
left the country for greener pastures.
At the moment the country is politically stable and the current government is trying its
best to uplift the quality of life for all citizens. However, the COVID-19 is another
natural disaster not only for Fiji but the world over. This has adversely affected all
sectors of the economy including the education sector. The present government has
been paying adequate attention to the education sector and school leaders can play a
key part in its service delivery by demonstrating commitment to work and other
essential ethical practices.
3.5 Fijian education system
According to (MEHA) (2016-2017) Fiji’s education system comprises of early
childhood, primary, secondary and higher education. Fiji uses English as an official
language as well as Hindi and I-Taukei are taught as part of curriculum. Moreover,
Bacchus (2000) states the importance of exploring strategies that could improve
administrative efficiency at the school level is essential for schools and other
educational institutions in Fiji. The MEHA is the hub of educational administration in
Fiji which is responsible for providing professional support to school leaders so that
they possess effective leadership practices especially those concerning ethical
leadership practices. Bacchus (2000) explains that the lack of clear policies often leads
to confusion about the educational strategies employed by MEHA however, the major
function of MEHA is to continue review existing policies or practices in education
system for its successful implementation.
Moreover, Bacchus (2000) states that not all decisions are to be made at the top levels
of hierarchy as such responsibility for educational management should be
decentralised to the district offices as they better understand the ground realities. For
example, to determine the areas of trainings needed in that particular district to
improve the delivery of educational services. The head of school in Fiji is appraised
by an education officer, their vice and assistant principal, assistant head teacher, two
randomly selected staff and the school manager (Chand, 2019, October 8). When heads
of school are assessed, it will help to identify the ethical gaps and the need for more
44
trainings. Thus, the quality of school headship is very important as they play a critical
role in the overall performance of any school.
Furthermore, currently the key reform programmes for the Ministry of Education is to
improve teacher – to – student ratios in schools and restructure management system to
better the administrative services that support school-based operations in order to raise
the standard of services offered by the ministry (Sayed – Khaiyum, 2017, September
20). The efficient school leaders should not buckle under the demands of education in
21st century, but rather use that to strengthen their work ethics to meet the desirable
standards by adopting a better role model to educational leadership (Reddy, 2017,
April 21). Heads of school can meet the demands of education in 21st century by
employing ethical leadership practices in order to lead and manage schools effectively.
According to Bacchus (2000) to meet the demands of education, the heads of school
need to demonstrate good management practices. When the system of school
administration is reviewed, it could help to explore strategies that could improve
ethical leadership practices of head of school. Hence, reviewing performance of heads
of school through teachers is very crucial as it helps to identify areas which needs
improvement. As such, the hub of education system can work on those identified areas
to improve the head of school practices by providing them with professional guidance
to improve on those areas in order to better the educational service delivery.
According to Cava (2017, September 16) the MEHA had received misconduct reports
about teachers and students. This was shared by the ministry’s acting director of human
resources during the Fiji Principal’s Association conference that teachers would be
taken to court for their involvement in misconducts under the criminals or crime decree
or the Public Service Act for disciplinary processes. The conference reminded heads
of school of their roles, especially in ensuring productive outcome (Chand, 2019,
October 26). During the conference it was reported that two teachers were investigated
on the alleged tampering of external examination papers and which also included the
head of school. The head of school was warned and told to adhere to policies set by
the Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts in order to protect integrity of
examinations in Fiji. When heads of school behave with integrity, they can be relied
on their commitments. This integrity is one of the dimensions of ethical leadership
practices.
45
On the other hand, Chambers (2020, March 14) indicated that the MEHA urged all
head of school around the country to deal with serious issues and not to hide them and
this was reiterated during the Sangam Fiji Conference at the Tanoa Waterfront Hotel
in Lautoka. Heads of school are expected to highlight the importance of values and
they are to role model in terms of being fair and were reminded to lead by examples.
Also, head of schools were told to spend time with teachers, spend time in the
classroom and ensure that the wellbeing of every student and teacher is maintained
(Chambers, 2020, March 14). Thus, heads of school play an important role in solving
school problems related to teachers or students. When heads of school pay attention to
teachers’ personal needs and work-related emotions, they become genuinely
concerned about teacher’s development in school. The ethical school leader is one who
is able to deal with serious issues which in turn can help teachers and students to reach
full potential through inclusivity, accessibility and equitable education thus allowing
to achieve the vision of Fijian education system.
Moreover, Naidu (2020, February 8) reported that Minister for Education highlighted
that Fijian education system is facing a major challenge in encountering discipline
issues. Naidu highlighted one development by the Fijian education system which
includes engaging 30 counselors in schools. MEHA has the highest number of civil
servants with 13,727 teachers employed. Student’s enrollment stand at 148,048 for
primary schools, 66,127 secondary schools, 3287 vocational, 38 tertiary and early
childhood education students at 19,109. The Fijian education system also informed
that some school heads bully their teachers and warn them by saying that they will not
be assisted for transfers or get transfer somewhere else (Naidu, 2020, February 8). The
Fijian education system told school heads to work with teachers and management to
form a good bonding and some schools have existing cultures which need to be
respected. Thus, head of school play a significant part in helping teachers with
problems over which they had no control. When head of school help teachers with
problems, they care about their teachers. This allows head of school to pursue school
success by mainly focusing on reaching school goals through working with teachers.
The head of school can work with teachers by being fair and people oriented in order
for them to lead and manage schools effectively. Fairness and people orientation are
also dimension of ethical leadership which can in turn help in addressing and reducing
46
teacher problems and this can be achieved through school heads ethical leadership
practices in Fijian education system.
According to Prasad (2019, August 9) the MEHA is losing its trained teachers because
of breach of conduct and disciplinary issues. A total of 88 cases were reported against
teachers and education officers in 2019 and 50 of these cases were related to corporal
punishment, 31 for unprofessional conduct and 4 for sexual harassment and 3 for
forging qualifications and the cases are pending investigation and if proven true, the
teachers could have their contracts terminated. In the previous year 2018, 39 teachers
were terminated, out of 199 cases reported. Also, now the qualification upgrading team
is looking after 13000 individual teachers file and they found out three forged
documents and are waiting for verifications from teachers training institutions (Prasad,
2019, August 9). Thus, educational leaders play a critical role to ensure teachers
behave according to the integrity guidelines related to codes of conduct to reduce the
likely consequences of possible unethical practices by teachers in areas of all school
aspects.
When educational leaders guide teachers well by indicating what the performance
expectations of each teacher and takes time to talk about their personal needs, they
retain quality teachers and make them feel happy. As mentioned earlier, Naidu (2020,
February 8) reported that Minister for Education highlighted that Fijian education
system is facing a major challenge in encountering discipline issues. The key reform
programmes for the Ministry of Education is to improve teacher – to – student ratios
in schools and restructure management system (Sayed – Khaiyum, 2017, September
20). An ethical leader keeps his/ her promises, can be trusted to do things he/ she says
and always keeps their words. The integrity is one of the dimensions of ethical
leadership which can in turn help retain and destress teacher through key reform such
as improved teacher - student ratio and allowing provision of high-quality education
for children.
The primary schools are scattered all over the Fiji Islands including interior parts of
the main islands. According to MEHA (2016-2017) there are 737 primary schools,
6121 teachers and 148,048 students in the primary schools. The success of these
schools depends on many stakeholders including the heads of school. Therefore, it is
very important for heads of school to demonstrate quality leadership such in the area
of ethical leadership meeting the standards set by the education ministry (FESSDP,
47
2015-2018). For sustainable ethical leadership practices there should be enough on-
going trainings programmes conducted for heads of school in order for them to transfer
the training into sound ethical practices (Lingam & Lingam, 2014).
In the Fiji context, the schools originated through Christians missionaries, particularly
in the British colonial phase after 1874 (Coxon, 2000). Currently, the primary schools
are managed by School Committees. Coxon (2000) recommended that the school
committee system should be phased out and the Government should meet the full cost
of primary education which means primary education should be fee free and
compulsory. The report of the Fiji Island Commission (2000) is now used as a
blueprint for future improvement and development in education. The MEHA is
responsible for administering and managing educational policies. The curriculum
framework, polices, educational directives, qualified teachers and textbook
prescriptions are provided by MEHA. This centralisation is seen as some quality
control over education provided to the nation’s children. The MEHA is operated
through four Education Divisions each managed by the Director of Education, and
nine Education Districts which are managed by District Senior Education Officer
(MEHA, 2016-2017). As mentioned earlier, the schools are managed by school
committees who are elected by the parents and the committees use grants received
from the government to run the schools.
The distribution of schools has a profound impact on the provision of quality education
in Fiji. Due to geographical constraints, the MEHA faces difficulty in providing
supervision, administration and on-going evaluation of schools. In this regard, the
education ministry depends on head of school to effectively lead and manage schools
and at the same time provide further professional guidance to teachers in school.
Lingam and Lingam (2014) stated that schools in Fiji need competent, professional
head of school who can ethically provide quality services to schools. Thus, MEHA
needs to ensure that adequate leadership training programmes in place and assessments
for school heads are conducted more frequently to help school heads to exhibit quality
leadership.
48
3.6 Roles and responsibilities of school heads
According to MEHA’s School Management Handbook (2017) heads of school play an
essential role in decision making at the school level. The heads of school must provide
opportunities for staff, the school committee, parents and other stakeholders to
participate in developing, implementing and reviewing the schools mission, vision,
goals and priorities. It is important for heads of school to provide stakeholders with
information that enables them to partake in decision making. The head of school must
clarify with staff, parents and other stakeholders on the nature and extent of decision
making concerned with school educational plans and programmes by communicating
the information about the school and MEHA policies, regulations and expectations.
This can be done effectively by fostering professional relationship with stakeholders.
The school head must involve staff in all processes to review and develop educational
plans, priorities, programmes and budgets (MEHA Handbook, 2017, p. 15).
The role of school head in planning is also very significant. They need to work in
partnership with all stakeholders while developing and implementing strategic plan
basically focusing on achieving school vision, mission and goals. The school head
must report on school performance to staff, parents and committee in timely manner,
monitoring school attendance of children and teachers and ways to improve in order
to foster productive and professional relationship with staff and parents based on
mutual respect and understanding (MEHA Handbook, 2017, p. 16). Thus, school heads
are involved in many roles and this requires them to demonstrate ethical leadership
practices in all areas of their roles.
3.7 Public Service Commission (PSC)
The Fijian education system is supported by the Public Service Commission (PSC)
which plays strategic and developmental role in human resource matters such as
leadership development, monitoring, evaluation, promotion of service excellence,
capacity building in recruitment and human resource management practices and
bringing about continuous improvements to promote service excellence at highest
ethical standards (Chand, 2014, February 14).
49
The Public Service Commission drafts important documents to guide the civil service
including the teaching profession. The documents contain relevant decrees and
legislations basically focused in improving effectiveness and service delivery. The
document elaborates on appointments, discipline, salaries and performance appraisal
systems, allowances and transport, accommodation and housing, leave conditions,
examinations, courses of instructions, attachments and visits, medical, communication
and correspondence and miscellaneous together with Public Service Values and Public
Service Code of Conduct (PSC, 2011). Some of these documents contain written
directions issued under Public Service Act 1999 which includes terms and conditions
of employment of public officers, the administration of justice. As such those not
complying or disobeying general orders may face disciplinary charge (PSC, 2011).
Furthermore, PSC (2011) states that all officers in the service must display a standard
of discipline and conduct that upholds the Public Service Values (14 written values)
and Public Service Code of Conduct (15 conducts). The first value states that the public
servant must respect the constitution. On the other hand, the first public service code
of conduct states that an employee must behave honestly and with integrity in the
course of employment in the public service. The integrity dimension is one of the
dimensions set out also under the seven dimensions of ethical leadership by Kalshoven
and her colleagues (2011).
3.8 Summary
This chapter has discussed the brief background information pertinent to the context
of the study, namely Republic of Fiji Islands. Specifically, it has provided aspects
related to the past and ongoing reforms in its education system. This leads to the next
chapter; Chapter Four which discusses the research methodology used in this study to
measure the extent of ethical leadership practices exhibited by the school heads.
50
CHAPTER FOUR
Research methodology
4.0 Introduction
This chapter discusses the research methodology adopted in this study. The study
focussed on ethical leadership practices. Specifically, the study is set out to determine
the extent of ethical leadership practices exhibited by school heads in the four case
study schools based in the Fijian education system. The chapter discusses the choice
of research design and justification on the selection of instruments for data collection.
Basically, the discussion focuses on the three techniques of data collection used in this
study which are, namely, questionnaire, interviews and document analysis to respond
to the research questions posed in this study. In addition, the chapter discusses
pertinent information on sampling and ethical considerations applied in this study.
4.1 Research methodology
Research methodologies are fundamental principles of using scientific or systematic
ways to collect information to generate new information (Creswell, 2012). With
reference to educational research, Martella, Nelson, Morgan and Martella (2013)
explain that it is scientific in nature purposively exploring aspects of the education
system to obtain information to help address problems faced. Like other research
endeavours, educational research adds on to the existing literature with aim of
improving practices and informing policy makers when addressing educational
concerns (Creswell, 2014). Creswell further explained that qualitative and quantitative
are distinguished research methodologies which can be effectively used in any
research initiative. The next section discusses about mixed methodologies.
51
4.2 Mixed methodologies
Literature demonstrates that research can include both qualitative and quantitative
methods to explore a phenomenon (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). Creswell (2014)
defines mixed methodology as an approach whereby the researcher researches and
gathers information on both quantitative and qualitative methods and integrates the
data from the two to provide explanations on the basis of combination of strengths of
both sets of data collected to better understand the research problem. Furthermore,
according to Leedy and Ormrod (2010) the mixed methodology is collecting and
analysing the qualitative and quantitative data while effectively responding to a
research problem. In this study, the researcher chose mixed methodology in order to
obtain data sufficient enough to gain deeper understanding of the phenomenon under
study and in this case about ethical leadership practices of school heads. As such, the
use of quantitative or qualitative method alone doesn’t deeply probe experiences or
perceptions of individuals. The mixed method approach is employed in this study
incorporating quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques to adequately
address the research questions posed. When approaches are used together, it gives a
comprehensive knowledge about the phenomenon under study (Blackstone, 2012).
Furthermore, Price (2016) defines quantitative research method as a means of
collecting numerical data that examines mathematically based tactics which involves
deductive approach. Quantitative research is a method of research that uses numbers
in both the collection and analysis of information (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010). The study
also relies on numeric data as the basis for accepting or rejecting propositions being
made about the study. The data collection method such as survey used to produce
number and producing generalizable knowledge is the main intent of quantitative
research. According to Leedy and Ormrod (2010) this research is also called “The
Scientific Method” and when correctly used would reveal knowledge that can be
applied to other settings and populations.
The main reason for employing mixed method design in this study is that the
quantitative data may be not enough to inform complicated behaviour and knowledge
on ethical leadership practices. As such, in this study needed further explanation on
ethical practices of school heads which can be obtained through qualitative data
52
(Blackstone, 2012). For example, the quantitative result in this research only measured
extent of ethical leadership practices and did not investigate strategies that can be used
to encourage and develop school leaders on the seven dimensions of ethical leadership
practices. This study dealt with both numbers and words thus used both inductive and
deductive reasoning (Blackstone, 2012). Several studies on leadership also employed
mixed method design. For example, Black (2010) conducted a study on servant
leadership and school climate in order to perceive the relationship between principals
and teachers based on servant leadership practices. His study used mixed method
approach, firstly, by administering two validated quantitative instrument and after
quantitative data analysis followed an interview with 10% of the sample and found out
significant correlation between servant leadership and school climate. Creswell and
Plano Clark’s (2011) sequential design notation system indicate that if quantitative
approach is dominant and qualitative is less dominant then the terminology used is
Quan qual. Given that this study is explanatory and quantitatively driven, a mixed
method (Quan qual) approach was adopted. In this study quantitative data was
collected in the first phase followed by qualitative data in the second phase. The
quantitative data was used to choose the sample for the qualitative phase of the study.
Moreover, Saeed and Ali (2018) conducted a study exploring authentic leadership in
relation to work engagement in public and private sector universities measuring
relationship between authentic leadership attributes and work engagement at
university level. The study used mixed method approach to collect information from
the sample using authentic leadership questionnaire and interview. The researchers
found out significant level of correlation between authentic leadership attributes and
work engagement at university level suggesting positive activities for more leadership
opportunities for the achievement of organisational goal and personal development.
In light of the views of the scholars and on the basis of their suggestions, this study
used mixed method approach to explore the extent of ethical leadership practices of
the school heads of the case study schools.
4.3 Research design
As mentioned earlier, this study focused on thoughts and opinions of individuals on
school heads ethical leadership practices. Thus, the study was specifically set out to
53
explore a particular phenomenon and gaining more understanding on it from the
viewpoint of the teachers. Hence, using a case study research design was a convenient
way of gaining more insights and understanding about the phenomenon. In light of
this, a mixed method of case study approach was used for this study in investigating
the perceptions of teachers on the ethical practices of school heads. As stated by
McLeod (2009) a case study is an in-depth investigation of a single person, group,
event or community. Typically, data are gathered from a variety of sources and by
using several different methods such as questionnaire survey, interviews and
documentary evidence. Furthermore, case study is considered to be very much used in
social science research including education. On this view, Yin (1994) states that case
study are useful in practice-oriented fields such as education. Since this study was
situated within an existing educational organisation, a case study approach was seen
as most appropriate to study the ongoing practices and perceptions of teachers based
on school heads ethical leadership practices. As outlined by McLeod (2009), some of
the strengths of case studies are as follows:
Provides detailed (rich qualitative) information.
Provides insight for further research.
Permitting investigation of otherwise impractical (or unethical) situations.
In addition, literature has also highlighted that because of their in depth, multi sided
approach case studies often shed light on aspects of human thinking and behaviour that
would be impractical to study in other ways. It is also elaborated that case study is not
itself a research method, but researchers select techniques of data collection and
analysis that produce resources appropriate for case studies, because the nature of this
research was focused on gathering views of teachers, it was conducive to choose case
study approach as it fitted well with the nature of the present study.
4.4 Methods of data collection
Data is a piece of information found in the setting chosen which can be either be
concrete or measurable (Creswell, 2014). Creswell (2014) further points out that:
For quantitatively oriented fields, the explanatory sequential approach seems to work well because the study begins by the quantitative phase of the research. In qualitative oriented fields, the exploratory sequential approach may be more appealing because it begins with an exploration using qualitative research.
54
However, in this approach, an outcome may be a measurement instrument that is tested so that the outcome is the quantitative outcome (p. 232).
In this study, the data collection methods employed were ELWQ survey questionnaire
(Appendix C), semi structured interviews and document analysis. These methods of
data collection enabled a process called triangulation. Triangulation is applied to check
and establish validity in studies by analysing a research question from multiple
perspectives in order to arrive at consistency across data sources or approaches, and
also provide an opportunity to uncover deeper meaning in the data (Thurmond, 2001;
Heale & Forbes, 2013).
4.4.1 Questionnaires
In order to carry out any research, the research tool must be effectively used in order
to collect appropriate data. Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2013) states that research
tools should not be so broad but the choice of tool to be such that steers the research
effectively. These researchers further explain that survey questionnaires encounter
major difficulty, especially in securing enough response rate to give credibility and
reliability to data. Thus, the design, layout and presentation of the survey to be in such
a way that influences better response rate (Cohen et al., 2013). Other possible ways to
increase survey questionnaire completion is by making survey easy to read and
understand; advance notification, making instructions about return very clear, avoid
open ended questions, provide research information via a covering letter and making
hand delivery of questionnaires instead of posting and many more (Cohen et al., 2013).
All these suggestions were considered in this study with the inclusion of a covering
letter that explained the research clearly and also introduces the researcher (Appendix
F).
Questionnaires are generally used in survey study because its capacity to access large
number of participants’ (Creswell, 2012; Leedy & Ormrod, 2010). Edmonds and
Kennedy (2012) suggest that a rating scale seeks to indicate the extent to which
participants, think and feel about a certain trait. In light of these views, a questionnaire
survey with a Likert scale was used for gathering data for the present study. The
questionnaire used in this study is adopted from a study carried out by Kalshoven,
Hartog and Hoogh (2011). Permission was sought from them to use the questionnaire
55
(Appendix A). It is divided into two major sections whereby the first part gathers
biographical data such as gender, age, qualification, teaching experience and
information on teachers’ school. The second part of ELWQ included 38 traits as
practices of ethical leadership based on seven dimensions of ethical leadership which
include: fairness, people orientation, power sharing, ethical guidance, role
clarification, concern for sustainability and integrity. The ELWQ instrument was
administered to the teachers of each case study school. The ELWQ was a six-point
Likert scale that teachers used to rate their responses based on school heads ethical
leadership practices. The questionnaires were hand delivered to the participants and
they were given a week to respond to it. The questionnaires were personally collected
from the participants and analysed accordingly.
4.4.2 Semi structured interviews
Interviews are another effective tool in data collection. Qualitative researchers are
always engaged in interviews whereby in-depth insights are congregated from a
particular topic of theme being studied or researched on (Patton, 2002). As McNamara
(1999) highlights that interviews are particularly useful for getting the story behind a
participants’ experiences whereby the interviewer can pursue in-depth information
around the topic.
On the other hand, it can be said that in depth interviews sometimes can be time
consuming where by participants may give uncluttered options if they are given open
ended questions. Some interviews can also be expensive if participants have demands
that have to be met in accordance of the information they are agreeing to provide. As
Steber (2017) points out in-depth interviews are quite time consuming, as interviews
must be transcribed, organised, analysed, reported and participants must carefully be
chosen to avoid bias which can result to longer vetting process.
In this study, three teachers were engaged in face-to-face interview sessions. The
interviews lasted for an hour, with the participants’ choice of time and venue. With
the participants consent all the interviews were recorded using a digital recorder and
later transcribed from which it was analysed and meaningful themes were drawn. In
accordance to the ethical principles of research, coding such as “teacher one” and
56
“teacher two” were used in describing the participants. Assurance was given to the
participants that their input towards the research will be kept confidential and their
identity will not be relayed to anyone.
For this study, MEHA Annual report, PSC code of ethics and FESSDP plan were used
for document analysis as this provided objective source of data making it reliable and
this can be used to further connect the results (Creswell, 2014). However, for this study
data from these sources were reviewed and consolidated into themes. Thus, content
analysis was adopted to synthesize and linked to research questions for this study
(Cohen et al., 2013).
Moreover, Bulck, Puppis and Donders (2019) suggested ways to promote effective
usage such as document analysis needs data examination and interpretation to gain
deeper understanding to develop empirical knowledge. These documents are organised
and systematically evaluated. The analysis process includes such as, findings,
choosing, making meanings, synthesizing information present in the document.
Document analysis is a qualitative research method as a mode of triangulation drawn
upon two sources of proof. Literature reveals that researchers have used document
analysis to identify leadership competencies and roles used to support school
programmes (Bulck et al., 2019). According to Bulck et al. (2019) document analysis
contextualises information and is a mode of tracking modifications and also verifies
results and proof from other sources. Thus, document analysis has both advantages
and limitations. It is an efficient method, since; it focuses on selection rather than
collection. The documents are available and data is already contained on the document
which only needs to be evaluated as such this study used document analysis for
triangulation and validation of quantitative and qualitative results.
4.5 Data analysis
According to Blackstone (2012) the aim of data analysis is to condense big amounts
of data obtained into practical and knowledgeable pieces. However, this study used the
explanatory sequential mixed method design and this required researcher to collect and
analyse data at different stages. As mentioned earlier, that quantitative data is dominant
aspect over qualitative data (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011) as such quantitative data
57
analysis was done first followed by qualitative data analysis. The next section
discusses data analysis.
4.5.1 Analysis of quantitative data
As stated earlier, the quantitative stage employed the ELWQ survey questionnaire to
measure ethical leadership practices of school heads on a six-point Likert scale
(Appendix C). The five-point rating scale in the survey are as follows: 5 represents
“strongly agree”, 4 represents “agree”, 3 represents “neutral”, 2 represents “disagree”,
1 represents “strongly disagree” and 0 represents “not observed” (Kalshoven et al.,
2011). The data was also calculated at dimensional level in order to calculate total
mean for each dimension and this explained ethical leadership practices exhibited by
school heads of the case study schools. Based on, teachers’ responses from each school
the mean was calculated for each dimensional trait. The trait for each dimension with
a mean of 2.5 or more shows frequent exhibition of ethical practices and a mean less
than 2.5 shows not often or least ethical leadership practices demonstrated by the
school leaders.
4.5.2 Analysis of qualitative data
In this study the interviews conducted were analysed and themes were generated
whereby meaningful views were reasoned out from which it gave a clear picture of the
findings of the research. As Sutton and Austin (2015) state qualitative research
analysis is used to gain in-sights into people’s feelings and thoughts, which may
provide the basis for a future stand-alone qualitative study or may help researchers to
map out survey instruments for use in quantitative study. For this study, all the
transcripts were browsed, as whole. The notes were made based on first impression
linked to strategies which can be used to develop ethical school leaders. The transcripts
were read again and again very carefully line by line to label relevant phrases
responding to underlying question three. Thus, these labels were on teachers’ opinions
on strategies which could be used to encourage school leaders to use Kalshovens’ and
her colleagues (2011) seven dimensions of best ethical leadership practices at school
level. On the basis of coding, the following strategies were decided and proposed
58
because of it was repeated by teachers several times at several places during interview.
They explicitly stated that particular strategy is very important. For this study, the
interviews was transcribed and themes were generated to gain deeper understanding
of the phenomenon under study.
Both qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis was employed as it gave
room for triangulation where by both data being collected and analysed can be
compared and even differentiated. Thurmond (2001) elaborates that the benefits of
triangulation include the increasing confidence in research data, creating innovative
ways of understanding a phenomenon, revealing unique findings, challenging or
integrating theories and providing a clearer understanding of the problem under the
study. In light of these ideas, both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed
for data collection and analysis in this study.
4.5.3 Document analysis
Patton (2002) describes document analysis as qualitative methodology. Document
analysis can also connect and can figure out inconsistencies during information
analyses. Document analysis has been used in many scholarly work as a research
instrument. For instance, Owen (2014) in his study points out that document analysis
is done to gather data which is not a tranquil effort but involves descriptive and
evaluative coding of all gathered data which is considered and modified in order to
bring improvements. Descriptive coding involves summarising data by using
conceptual frame work whereas evaluative coding is appropriate for policies derived
from documents. The document was selected to produce more information about the
singularity that guided ethical leadership practices which arouse from ELWQ
instrument connected to the research questions.
4.6 Population and sampling
Price (2016) explains that population is a group of people, events, items or any
phenomenon that the researcher is interested which is associated with mainly who and
what the researcher want to speak something about at the end of the research. In this
study, the researcher wants to speak about the ethical leadership practices of school
59
heads based on the teacher’s perceptions. In this regard, sampling is an important
component. Burns (1997: 75) states that:
…it’s almost impossible to carry out everyday life and business if we did not employ sampling in our decisions. A customer examines the fruit on display and using this as a sample, decides whether to buy or not. A teacher samples the increase in learning among the students by an examination, which only tests a part of that learning.
Marshall and Rossman (1995) states that the notion of sampling involves taking a
portion of the population, making observations on this smaller group and then
attempting to generalise the findings to a larger population. They further state that
“generalisation” is a necessary scientific procedure, since it is impossible to study all
the members of the defined population. However, in this study the interview is not to
generalise the findings of the study.
Moreover, quantitative and qualitative method uses different sampling strategies: non
probability and probability (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). However, this research
employed both sampling techniques. Quantitative research entails a larger sample in
order to get statistical significance, thus this research used probability sampling
technique to select the participants. However, Blackstone (2012) states that researcher
chooses a sample which enables deeper knowledge on phenomenon to be studied. Non
probability sampling is a part of an evaluative research (Blackstone, 2012) as such non
probability sampling was also administered in this study. The sampling in this study
happened two times and at two different stages (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). For
example, this research involved ELWQ questionnaire survey (Quantitative) which was
administered first and then followed by qualitative data collection (Qualitative) via
semi structured interview and document analysis. With respect to the questionnaire,
the head of school and teachers were informed of the purpose of the research and
information sheet was enclosed with each questionnaire in an envelope. The teachers
who verbally consented to participate were given consent forms to be signed thus,
teachers of the four schools consented to participate in the study.
Nevertheless, the major challenge that arouse was selecting the sample for the
qualitative stage. As Patton (2002) stated:
There is no rule for sample size in qualitative inquiry. Sample size depends on what you want to know, the purpose of the inquiry, what’s at stake, what will be useful, what will have credibility, and what can be done with available time and resources (p. 244).
60
Therefore, in this study, the researcher purposefully selected three teachers from each
study school. Creswell and Plano Clark (2011) state that with a small number rich and
dense information can be obtained. However, Creswell and Plano Clark (2011) further
state that in the quantitative stage to overcome issues of participants discrepancy, the
researcher can select the best participants purposefully to collect qualitative data.
Thus, in the study quantitative data collection stage the researcher considered it
appropriate to use three teachers from each school to provide relevant insight of the
ethical leadership practices. Thus, the quantitative stage provided way to measure
ethical leadership practices whereas the qualitative stage provided justification on the
extent of ethical leadership practices exhibited by school heads whilst at the same time
responding to underlying questions posed in this study.
As such, sampling as mentioned above is getting data from a population and in this
study purposeful sampling was used to include the teachers of the four-case study
school. Patton (2002) states that purposeful sampling is a technique widely used in
research for the identification and selection of information-rich cases for in-depth
study. Furthermore, Creswell and Plano Clark (2011) state that purposeful sampling is
widely used in research to gather information related to the phenomenon of interest or
groups of individuals that are especially knowledgeable about or experienced with a
phenomenon of interest. In this study, teachers provided the information need on
ethical leadership practices of the school heads.
4.7 Ethical consideration
Ethical issues while doing research is considered to be very important. Ethical
considerations in research are critical thus it prevents against the fabrication or
falsifying of data and therefore, promote the pursuit of knowledge and truth which is
the primary goal of any research (Mertler, 2019). Smith (2003) have outlined five
principles for research ethics. Given below are the five principles for research ethics
which is being were considered for the present study.
Discuss intellectual property frankly.
Be conscious of multiple roles.
Follow informed consent rules.
61
Respect confidentiality and privacy.
Tap into ethics resources.
This research was undertaken in accordance with the ethical guidelines set out by the
University of the South Pacific’s Ethics Committee (Appendix D). The official
approval was also taken from the Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts in seeking
permission to conduct research in Fiji (Appendix E). In this research, a consent letter
was given to the school head that had the details of the research being conducted
(Appendix G) and further explaining the research protocols and its purposes through
the use of information sheet (Appendix B). While gathering data through questionnaire
and interviews all the participants were given the assurance that all data being collected
will be kept confidential and no names of the participants’ will be revealed in the
reporting section of this study (Appendix F).
4.8 Summary
This chapter provides relevant information about the research methodology that was
adopted for this study. The chapter has provided details of the research instruments
with justifications for using each instrument for the purpose of collecting data required
for this study. The ELWQ instrument, semi structured interviews and document
analysis were regarded as best methods for addressing the main research and sub
research questions posed in this study. The chapter concluded by providing
information on the samples, ethical guidelines and procedures followed throughout the
course of the research. The next chapter, Chapter Five provides the information on
the findings of the study.
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CHAPTER FIVE
Findings of the study
5.0 Introduction
This chapter presents the analysis of the data which focused on teachers’ perceptions
of their school heads ethical leadership practices. As mentioned earlier, this study
specifically focused on school heads ethical leadership practices using Kalshoven and
her colleagues (2011) ethical leadership work questionnaire (ELWQ) which comprises
of seven major dimensions with three to seven questions or traits for each dimension.
As stated earlier, the seven dimensions include: people orientation, power sharing,
fairness, concern for sustainability, role clarification, ethical guidance and integrity. In
total there were thirty - eight questions and the respondents upon critical reflection of
their school heads ethical leadership practices were asked to rate each trait on a Likert
scale ranging from 0 (Not Observed) to 5 (Strongly agree). As reported earlier, the
analysis of the quantitative data gathered from the use of ELWQ used simple statistical
calculation such as, mean and standard deviation. The qualitative data which were
gathered by means of semi structured interviews and document analysis were analysed
on thematic basis. The findings of the study are presented in three parts. Firstly, the
demographic information about the schools. This is followed by the presentation of
the analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data.
5.1 School demographic data
Heads of four primary schools located in the Western Division of Fiji, namely SSA,
SSB, SSC and SSD were included in this study. The demographic data collected from
these schools comprised of information on gender, years of service and level of
qualifications of teachers. The demographic data obtained from the completed ELWQ
from the four study schools are presented in Table 1.
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Table 1: School demographic data
Demographic SSA SSB SSC SSD
Gender
Male 4 2 4 5
Female 14 9 9 13
Years of
service
1-10 years 5 3 1 7
11-20 years 6 5 8 7
21 years more 7 4 4 4
Education level
High School 0 1 0 0
Certificate 3 2 10 4
Bachelors 13 7 2 12
Master’s
Degree
1 0 0 0
School SSA
School SSA has a male head of school. The head of school has been serving in the
headship position for 5 years. He holds Masters in Educational leadership
qualification. SSA is a school situated in a rural setting and is managed by the School
Committee that is, a non – government organisations elected by the parents of SSA.
The students benefit from the grant subsidized by Ministry of Education, Heritage &
Arts (MEHA) such as free text books and bus fare assistance. It is a multicultural
64
school. SSA has a school student roll of 896 and is classified as Primary 3C. The rate
of the return of completed questionnaires was 100 per cent.
Based on gender, SSA had more females than male teachers. With respect to years of
service, most of the teachers have served in the school for more than 10 years. In terms
of qualification, majority of the teachers at SSA were qualified teachers with
Bachelors’ degree. One of the teachers had a Master’s degree. Also, there were
teachers with Certificate in Teaching (Primary).
School SSB
School SSB has a male head of school. He has been serving in the headship role for 5
months. He holds a Bachelors’ degree in primary teaching. SSB is an urban school.
This school is managed by a school board. The students of this school too benefit from
the grant subsidized by MEHA such as, free textbooks and bus fare assistance. SSB is
a multi-racial school. SSB has a school student roll of 1106 and is classified as Primary
1B. The rate of the return of completed questionnaires was 75 per cent.
Table 1 provides details of gender, years of service and education level of teaching
staff. In terms of gender, this school too had more females than male teachers. With
respect to years of service, most of the teachers have served for more than 10 years. In
terms of qualification, majority of the teachers were qualified teachers with Bachelor’s
degree but none of them had a Master’s degree. Unfortunately, the school had one
untrained teacher with a high school qualification.
School SSC
School SSC has a female head of school. She has been serving in the headship role for
5 years. She holds a Bachelors’ degree in primary teaching. SSC is a catholic school
located in an urban area. Likewise, the students of this school benefit from the grant
subsidized by MEHA such as, free text books and bus fare assistance. The school is
managed by a School Committee. SSC has a school roll of 700 and is classified as
Primary 3C under the MEHA classification for primary schools. The rate of the return
of completed questionnaires was 70 per cent.
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Based on gender, this school too had more females than male teachers. With respect
to years of service, most of the teachers have served in the teaching profession for
more than 10 years. In terms of qualification, majority of the teachers hold Certificate
in Teaching (Primary) and only two teachers had a Bachelor degree.
School SSD
SSD has a male head of school. He has been serving in this school in this position for
4 years. He holds a Bachelors’ degree in primary teaching. SSD is an urban school.
The school is manged by the school management who are elected by the parents. The
students of this school too benefit from the grant subsidized by MEHA such as, free
textbooks and bus fare assistance. SSD has a school roll of 929 students and is
classified as Primary 2C. The rate of the return of completed questionnaires was 95
per cent.
SSD too had more females than male teaching staff. With respect to years of service,
most of them have served for more than 10 years. In terms of qualification, majority
of the teachers had Bachelor’s Degree and four teachers had a Certificate in Teaching
(Primary).
The demographic data show that majority of the teachers teaching in these schools
were qualified. It is also interesting to note that some teachers the primary school level
hold Masters’ degree and this is very encouraging. Also, these schools have more
females than male teachers that may be the reason why some label primary teaching
as female profession.
Research method one: Quantitative data
The ELWQ consisting of 38 traits was used to determine the extent of ethical
leadership practices exhibited by the four school heads. The respondents who were
teachers of their respective schools completed the questionnaire by circling the rank
that best demonstrates their head of schools’ ethical leadership practices relating to
each dimensional trait. This was based on a six-point Likert scale: 5 (Strongly agree)
to 0 (Not observed). A total of eighty questionnaires were distributed to the four
primary schools and sixty-eight (85%) completed questionnaires were returned.
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Blackstone (2012) suggested that the returned questionnaire rate higher than 75% is
recognised as good enough for a survey. As such, the number of returned
questionnaires for this study is useful and valuable for making informed decisions.
After collecting the completed questionnaires, the responses from the questionnaires
obtained were analysed to determine the frequency of ranking for each trait and then
simple statistical analysis such as, means and standard deviations were calculated to
gauge the extent of school heads ethical leadership practices for each major dimension
and their corresponding dimensional traits. The mean scores above 2.5 show positive
perceptions towards the dimensional traits and the means below 2.5 show that those
leadership practices were less frequently exhibited by the school heads. Field (2013)
stated that if scores are skewed then the mean is a better measurement to be used to
determine the phenomena under study and in this case the ethical leadership practices
of the school heads. In this study, the mean was also used to compare the data collected
based on the seven dimensions and their respective dimensional traits for the school
heads of the four study schools.
In the sections which follow the results are presented for the analysis of the quantitative
data. The results are presented under the headings derived from the major dimensions
of ethical leadership. These dimensions include: people orientation, fairness, power
sharing, concern for sustainability, ethical guidance, role clarification and integrity.
5.2 People orientation dimension
There are seven traits in this dimension. The summary of teachers’ perception for the
people orientation dimension is presented in Table 2.
Table 2: Summary of teachers’ perception for the people orientation dimension (N=68)
Dimension Name
Traits School SSAMean
School SSBMean
School SSCMean
School SSDMean
People Orientation
1. Interested in how I feel and how I am doing.
4.07 3 3.2 3.93
2. Takes time for personal contact. 3.6 3.67 3.93 3.273. Pays attention to my personal needs.
3.33 3.2 3.93 3.2
4. Takes time to talk about work related emotions.
3.8 3.73 3 3.67
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5. Is genuinely concerned about my personal development.
3.73 3.47 3.8 3.4
6. Sympathizes with me when I have problems.
4.2 3.73 3 3.87
7. Cares about his/her followers. 3.07 3.07 3.73 3.2
Table 2 illustrates that teachers of SSA perceived highly of their headteacher on traits
1, “Interested in how I feel and how I am doing” and 6 “Sympathizes with me when I
have problems”. The two traits received a mean of 4.07 and 4.2 respectively (Table 2).
SSB recorded the lowest mean of 3 for trait 1, that is, “Interested in how I feel and
how I am doing”. On the other hand, teachers of SSC recorded the lowest mean on
trait 4: “Takes time to talk about work related emotions” and trait 6: Sympathizes with
me when I have problems. The teachers of SSD rated their Headteacher lowly on trait
3: “Pays attention to my personal needs” and trait 7: “Cares about his/her followers”.
Overall, Table 2 illustrates that all the teachers (100%) perceive their headteachers
positively on all the traits of the people orientation dimension of ethical leadership
practices. As seen from Table 2, all the traits under the people orientation dimension
are rated above the mean of 2.5.
5.3 Fairness dimension
There are six traits in this dimension. The summary of teachers’ perception for each
one of the traits in the fairness dimension is presented in Table 3.
Table 3: Summary of teachers’ perception for the fairness dimension (N=68)
Dimension Name
Traits School SSAMean
School SSBMean
School SSCMean
School SSDMean
Fairness 1. Holds me accountable for problems over which I have no control.
3.87 2.13 2.93 3.33
2. Holds me responsible for work that I gave no control over.
3.8 2.47 3 3.27
3. Holds me responsible for things that are not my fault.
3.33 2.27 2.6 3.33
4. Pursues his/her own success at the expense of others.
2.6 1.47 2.27 3.07
5. Is focused mainly reaching his/her own goals.
3.07 1.93 3.07 3.47
6. Manipulates subordinates. 3.27 2 1.73 2.93
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Of the four schools, teachers of SSA perceived highly of their headteacher on traits 1,
“Holds me accountable for problems over which I have no control” and 2 “Holds me
responsible for work that I gave no control over”. The two traits obtained a mean of
3.87 and 3.8 respectively (Table 3). School SSB noted the lowest mean of 1.47 for trait
4, that is, “Pursues his/her own success at the expense of others”. Furthermore,
teachers of School SSC recorded the lowest mean on trait 6: “Manipulates
subordinates”. Also, the teachers of SSD perceived lowly of their headteacher on trait
6, that is, “Manipulates subordinates”. Overall, Table 3 shows that teachers of SSA
and SSD perceived positively for all 6 traits under the fairness dimension. However,
teachers of SSB perceive their head of school negatively for all 6 traits on the fairness
dimension of ethical leadership practices. As can be observed from Table 3, the ratings
for the headteachers of SSB and SSC on fairness dimension are lower than compared
to the ratings for the headteachers of SSA and SSD. Generally, the teachers rated their
headteachers moderately on each one of the fairness dimensional traits except for
School SSB.
5.4 Power sharing dimension
There are six traits in this dimension. The summary of teachers’ perception for the
power sharing dimension is presented in Table 4 and the details are briefly discussed.
Table 4: Summary of teachers’ perception for the power sharing dimension (N=68)
Dimension Name
Traits School SSAMean
SchoolSSBMean
School SSCMean
School SSDMean
Power Sharing
1. Allows subordinates to influence critical decisions.
3.53 2.73 3.4 3.27
2. Does not allow others to participate in decision making.
3.4 1.93 3.6 2.87
3. Seeks advice from subordinates concerning organisational strategy.
3.47 3.67 3.67 3.27
4. Will reconsider decisions on the basis of recommendations by those who report to him/her.
3.33 3.87 3.6 3.4
5. Delegates challenging responsibilities to subordinates.
4.27 3.53 3.8 3.13
6. Permits me to play a key role in setting my own performance goals.
4.07 3.93 3.33 3.2
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Based on the analysis of the data for the four schools, teachers of SSA perceived highly
of their headteacher on traits 5, “Delegates challenging responsibilities to
subordinates” and 6 “Permits me to play a key role in setting my own performance
goals”. The two traits received a mean of 4.27 and 4.07 respectively (Table 4). The
headteacher of SSB and SSD recorded the lowest mean of 1.93 and 2.87 respectively
for trait 2, that is, “Does not allow others to participate in decision making” (Table 4).
On the other hand, the headteacher of SSC recorded the lowest mean on trait 6,
“Permits me to play a key role in setting my own performance goals”. Table 4 shows
that the teachers of SSA, SSC and SSD perceive their headteachers positively on the
power sharing dimension of ethical leadership practices. However, teachers of SSB
expressed negative perception for trait 2. Teachers of SSB found this trait challenging
under power sharing dimension as it received a rating below the mean of 2.5. Table 4
shows that the ratings for the headteachers of SSB and SSD on power sharing
dimension are lower than compared to the ratings for the headteachers of SSA and
SSC.
5.5 Concern for sustainability dimension
There are three traits in this dimension. The summary of teachers’ perception for the
concern for sustainability dimension is presented in Table 5 and the details are
provided below.
Table 5: Summary of teachers’ perception for the concern for sustainability dimension
(N=68)
Dimension Name
Traits School SSAMean
School SSBMean
School SSCMean
School SSDMean
Concern for sustainability
1. Would like to work in an environmentally friendly manner.
4.87 3.73 3.73 4.47
2. Shows concern for sustainability issues.
4.2 3.8 3.73 3.47
3. Stimulates recycling of items and materials in our department.
4.4 3 3.73 3.93
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Of the four schools, teachers of SSA perceived highly of their school head on traits 1,
“Would like to work in an environmentally friendly manner”; 2 “Shows concern for
sustainability issues” and 3 “Stimulates recycling of items and materials in our
department”. The three traits received a mean of 4.87, 4.2 and 4.4 respectively. School
SSB recorded the lowest mean of 3 for trait 3, that is, “Stimulates recycling of items
and materials in our department”. On the other hand, the headteacher of SSC obtained
a repetitive mean of 3.73 for all three traits. The teachers of SSD rated their
headteacher lowly on trait 2, that is, “Shows concern for sustainability issues”. Overall,
Table 5 demonstrates that all the teachers (100 %) perceive their headteachers
positively on the concern for sustainability dimension of ethical leadership practices.
As can be seen from Table 5, all the traits under the concern for sustainability
dimension are rated above the mean of 2.5.
5.6 Ethical guidance dimension
There are seven traits in this dimension. The summary of teachers’ perception for the
ethical guidance dimension is presented in Table 6 and the details are discussed below.
Table 6: Summary of teachers’ perception for the ethical guidance dimension (N=68)
Dimension Name
Traits School SSAMean
School SSBMean
School SSCMean
School SSDMean
Ethical guidance
1. Clearly explains integrity related codes of conduct.
4.93 3.4 3.87 4
2. Explains what is expected from the employees in terms of behaving with integrity.
4.87 3.27 3.8 4.07
3. Clarifies integrity guidelines. 4.67 3.27 3.93 3.73
4. Ensures that employees follow codes of integrity.
4.47 3.2 3 4.07
5. Clarifies the likely consequences of possible unethical behavior by myself and my colleagues.
4.27 3.93 3.6 3.47
6. Stimulates the discussion of integrity issues among employees.
4.2 3 3.07 3.47
7. Compliments employees who behave according to the integrity guidelines.
4.33 3.6 3.87 4.07
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Table 6 shows that the teachers of SSA perceived highly of their headteacher on trait
1, that is “Clearly explains integrity related codes of conduct”. SSB recorded the
lowest mean of 3 for trait 6, that is, “Stimulates the discussion of integrity issues
among employees”. On the other hand, SSC recorded the lowest mean on trait 4,
“Ensures that employees follow codes of integrity”. The teachers of SSD rated their
headteacher lowly on traits 5, “Clarifies the likely consequences of possible unethical
behavior by myself and my colleagues” and 6, “Stimulates the discussion of integrity
issues among employees”. Overall, Table 6 shows that all the teachers (100%) perceive
their headteachers positively on the ethical guidance dimension of ethical leadership
practices. Table 6 also shows that the teachers of SSA perceived highly of their
headteacher for seven traits and scored mean of above 4.0 for all seven traits. As can
be observed from Table 6, all the traits under the ethical guidance dimension are rated
above the mean of 2.5.
5.7 Role clarification dimension
There are five traits in this dimension. The summary of teachers’ perception for the
role clarification dimension is presented in Table 7 and the details are discussed below.
Table 7: Summary of teachers’ perception for the role clarification dimension (N=68)
Dimension Name
Traits School SSAMean
School SSBMean
School SSCMean
School SSDMean
Role clarification
1. Indicates what the performance expectations of each team member are.
4.53 3 3.93 4.13
2. Explain what is expected of each team member.
4.33 3.93 3.6 4.2
3. Explain what is expected of me and my colleagues.
4.4 3.2 3.73 3.73
4. Clarifies priorities. 4.2 3.93 3.8 3.875. Clarifies who is responsible for what.
3.93 3.87 3.6 4.13
Based on the analysis of the data for the four schools, teachers of SSA perceived lowly
of their head of school on trait 5, “Clarifies who is responsible for what” which
received a mean of 3.93. The headteacher of SSB recorded the lowest mean of 3 for
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trait 1, that is, “Indicates what the performance expectations of each team member
are”. On the other hand, School SSC recorded the lowest mean on traits 2, “Explain
what is expected of each team member” and 5 “Clarifies who is responsible for what”
which received a similar mean of 3.6 respectively. The teachers of SSD rated their
headteacher lowly on trait 3, “Explain what is expected of me and my colleagues”.
Overall, Table 7 shows that all the teachers (100%) perceive their headteachers
positively on the role clarification dimension of ethical leadership practices. As can be
seen from Table 7, the ratings for the headteachers of SSB and SSC on role
clarification dimension are lower than compared to the ratings for the headteachers of
SSA and SSD.
5.8 Integrity dimension
There are four traits in this dimension. The summary of teachers’ perception for the
integrity dimension is presented in Table 8 and the details are included below.
Table 8: Summary of teachers’ perception for the integrity dimension (N=68)
Dimension Name
Traits School SSAMean
School SSBMean
School SSCMean
School SSDMean
Integrity 1. Keeps his/her promises. 3.73 3.93 3.67 3.4
2. Can be trusted to do the things he/she says.
4.27 3.07 3.8 3.8
3. Can be relied on to honor his/her commitments.
4.4 3.27 3.6 3.8
4. Always keeps his/her words. 4 3.2 3.73 3.67
The above table illustrates that the teachers of SSA perceived highly of their school
head on traits 2, “Can be trusted to do the things he/she says”; 3 “Can be relied on to
honor his/her commitments” and 4 “Always keeps his/her words”. The three traits
received a mean of 4.27, 4.4 and 4 respectively. The headteacher of SSB recorded the
lowest mean of 3.07 for trait 2, that is, “Can be trusted to do the things he/she says”.
The teachers of SSC rated their headteacher lowly on trait 3, “Can be relied on to honor
his/her commitments” and teachers SSD rated their headteacher lowly on trait 1,
“Keeps his/her promises”. Overall, Table 8 shows that all the teachers (100%) perceive
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their head of school positively on the integrity dimension of ethical leadership
practices. As can be seen from Table 8, all the traits under the integrity dimension are
rated above the mean of 2.5.
Generally, the analysis of the data obtained from the ELWQ questionnaire reveal that
majority teachers perceived positively on the ethical leadership practices of their head
of school. However, for most of the dimensional traits the ratings are moderate.
5.9 Teachers perception on the major dimensions of ethical leadership practices
On the basis of the analysis of the data, the findings of this study showed that the
teachers of the four schools SSA, SSB, SSC and SSD perceived positively about their
school heads ethical leadership practices. However, the mean scores for each
dimensional trait indicates that teachers hold different perceptions of their school
heads ethical leadership practices. The next table, Table 9 provides a summary of
teachers’ overall perception of their school heads stand on each one of the major
dimensions of ethical leadership.
Table 9: Summary of overall teachers’ perception for each dimension (N=68)
Numbers Dimension Mean
SSA
Mean
SSB
Mean
SSC
Mean
SSD
1. People orientation 3.69 3.41 3.51 3.51
2. Fairness 3.32 2.05 2.6 3.23
3. Power sharing 3.68 3.28 3.57 3.19
4. Concern for
sustainability
4.49 3.51 3.73 3.96
5. Ethical guidance 4.53 3.38 3.59 3.84
6. Role clarification 4.28 3.59 3.73 4.01
7. Integrity 4.1 3.37 3.7 3.67
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The overall analysis of the data based on each dimension for each school collected
from the survey questionnaire on the ethical leadership practices of head of school
showed that the teachers perceived favourably and moderately on their school heads
ethical leadership practices. Teachers from SSA perceived very favourably about their
head of school on the people orientation dimension which obtained a mean of 3.69
whereas the head of school of SSB scored the least mean of 3.41. With respect to the
fairness dimension, the head of school of SSA received the highest mean of 3.32
whereas the head of school of SSB received the lowest mean score of 2.05.
For the power sharing dimension, it was found that the school head of SSD obtained
the lowest mean of 3.19 whereas for the school head of SSA obtained the highest mean
of 3.68. Thus, the head of school of SSA was exhibiting this dimension of ethical
leadership very frequently. In regards to concern for sustainability dimension, the head
of school of SSA was perceived very favourably and the obtained the highest mean
4.49 whereas the head of school of SSB had the lowest mean of 3.51. For the ethical
guidance dimension, the head of school of SSA was rated very favourably with the
highest mean of 4.53. On the other hand, the head of school of SSB received the lowest
mean of 3.38.
The analysis of the data based on role clarification dimension, illustrates that the
teachers of SSA perceived very favourably about their head of school exhibiting the
associated traits and recorded the highest mean of 4.28 whereas the head of school of
SSB obtained the lowest mean of 3.59. With respect to the integrity dimension, the
head of school of SSA achieved the highest mean of 4.1 whereas the head of school of
SSB obtained the lowest mean of 3.37.
Overall, the findings show that the highest mean of 4.53 belongs to ethical guidance
dimension and as such this dimension appears to be the least challenging dimension
for school leaders. The fairness dimension had the lowest mean of 2.05 and it illustrates
that this is the most challenging dimension for school leaders for the study schools.
These two dimensions are respectively illustrated below in a normal distribution curve
based on standard deviation and mean.
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Figure 2: Ethical guidance dimension based on standard deviation and overall mean.
Figure 2 shows that teachers’ responses based on each trait of the ethical guidance
dimension is thin, showing that their responses are similar. Basically, Figure 2 explains
that there were few traits under ethical guidance dimension which had higher standard
deviation showing less spread from the mean due to the respondents’ consistency in
perception. This appears to be the least challenging dimension for the school leaders
of the four case study schools. On the other hand, perceptions of the teachers on the
fairness dimension indicate a spread of views and this is illustrated in Figure 3. This
seems to be the most challenging dimension for the school leaders of the four case
study schools.
Figure 3: Fairness dimension based on standard deviation and mean.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
SD
Mean
Ethical Guidance
00.10.20.30.40.50.60.7
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
SD
Mean
Fairness
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Research method two: Qualitative data
In the sections which follow, the analysis of the qualitative data are presented. This
includes the data obtained from the document analysis and semi-structured interview.
5.10 Document analysis
The analysis of the Ministry of Education Heritage and Arts (MEHA) General Order
based on ethical standard stipulates that the public service must demonstrate highest
ethical standards, specifically for integrity and honesty with fair, effective and
courteous deliverance (Public Service Commission (PSC), 2011). The document also
emphasises that the development and maintaining of leadership should be of highest
quality focusing on achieving best results and managing performances of teachers
effectively. The ethical dimensions such as honesty and integrity are also stipulated in
the Public Service Code of Conduct and is supposed to be adhered by all civil servants
including school heads and teachers.
Also included in the MEHA General Orders are other conducts such as acting with
care, treating everyone with respect, complying with acts, legislations and laws,
maintaining confidentiality, avoiding conflict at workplace, using governments
resources and assets wisely, not misleading information, not to use authority, power or
status to gain benefit or advantage and not to disclose official knowledge on public
businesses (PSC, 2011). Thus, analysis of the document, General Orders shows that
the public service employees must have highest ethical standard, specifically for
integrity and honesty at all times otherwise their job could be at risk (PSC, 2011).
These documents from the principal stakeholder, the PSC and MEHA also provide
necessary guidance to the school heads on their ethical leadership practices in their
day-to-day professional work.
5.11 Semi structured interview
Semi structured interview sessions were conducted with three teachers selected from
the four primary schools. Likewise, the teachers were asked to reflect on their school
heads ethical leadership practices based on the seven dimensions and make
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suggestions for improvement. The underlying research question formed the basis of
the interview questions. The same question was asked to each teacher. In what follows
the analysis of the qualitative data is presented with suitable quotes to illustrate
teachers’ perceptions on their school heads ethical leadership practices.
5.11.1 People orientation dimension
Teachers conceded that people orientation dimension is lacking and this could be
further improved by the head of school through professional development so that they
allow teachers to develop and upgrade themselves to ensure they meet the new
demands of work and other new initiatives in education. Included below is a typical
response from a teacher:
I think people orientation is lacking in my school head. At times when I want to attend to extension courses, school head doesn’t allow me and says to attend those things after school hours and when I reach the campus, it is already closed. I think this stops my personal development. Either wise, the school head pays attention to my personal work-related concerns and cares for those problems (SSC T2, 2020).
I think people orientation dimension is lacking in my school head. Before last year, we had a school head who always helped teachers with concerns. I raised my concern regarding student ratio with previous school head and he/ she divided two streams into three and took the third stream of students by himself/herself in the staffroom. I found that students enjoyed learning and teaching that year most when compared to last year. I also noticed that students’ disciplinary issues decreased too. Last year a new school head was appointed to the school and upon same request denied to consider the concern. The school head needs to pay attention to teachers’ concern. The school head can be helped through developing their communication skills, being openness to education districts and being innovative to address concerns raised by teachers (SSB T3, 2020).
The analysis of the interview data shows that there is still room for improvement to
professionalise people orientation dimension of the school heads.
5.11.2 Fairness dimension
Teachers expressed that fairness dimension is lacking in their head of school. They
also pointed out that school heads can be helped through trainings, special designed
programmes and short courses. Some of the responses from the teachers are as follows:
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I have noted school head genuinely committed towards his/her work. This has improved my work attitude compared to last year under different leadership. I have observed as well that school head gives responsibilities to teachers who are very good at that particular activity so that the activity is completed on time without any problem. At times, held me responsible for issues raised regarding me, however, solved quickly to avoid further problems. The school head can be helped to improve fairness through continually upgrading themselves based on short courses offered at universities and also, they can be assessed by teachers at the end of the year to ensure they keep with the good work in school following year. More trainings can also help them to develop skills however, trainings should be practical based so that school heads can refine their skills thus comes up with new innovative skills to help them be fair at all times. (SSD T2, 2020).
I feel that school heads lack skills to tackle challenges and they fear to lose their positions. When school heads are not able to tackle challenges, they develop fear in teachers too as they are not able to provide professional guidance to teachers. They favour decisions to keep things flow smoothly at workplace. When these are experienced at school, the level of ministerial complaints against teachers also increases in school due to school heads inability to provide professional guidance to teachers. The school head can be helped to improve on this dimension through attending enough trainings, short courses and organisation to design a programme for school head based on ways to help teachers with problem (SSD T3, 2020).
The analysis of the interview data shows that there is much room for improvement to
professionalise fairness dimension of the school heads in order to support current
school leaders and future recruitment.
5.11.3 Power sharing dimension
There were some positive comments about the power sharing dimension. Some of the
teachers interviewed mentioned that their school head is good at power sharing
dimension by giving them opportunities to participate in decision making. Others
explained that their school head considers recommendations from each team leader
and this enables sharing of important school responsibilities. Teachers also mentioned
that more mentoring and specific trainings can help develop the head of school’s skills
to ensure greater teacher participation which could contribute positively towards
school improvements. They also indicated that this can be further strengthened by
formulating policies or guidelines that includes power sharing in ways which can
enable head of school to lead and manage schools through cooperation and
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collaboration with all staff. Some common examples of their views are included
below:
I feel comfortable during staff meetings as we are allowed to participate in decision making and this at times generates good discussion (SSA T3, 2020).
The school head discusses the challenges but at times doesn’t work out good solution for it. This also makes meeting to be lengthy as well. I think meeting are not planned properly and carried out accordingly. At times, discourages teachers to participate in decision making and cannot make self-decision as well. The school head can be helped to improve in this area through more trainings from organisation level (SSB T2, 2020).
I think school head is narcissistic leader as well as bossy too and lacks empathy towards teachers as well. The school head mainly makes decision by himself/herself. He/ she exaggerates feeling of self-importance and delegates challenging responsibilities of whom he/she thinks is capable or person of calibre as such does not allow other teachers to play key role in school. The student free days can be very enjoyable only if when teachers are given time to prepare classroom teaching and learning resources. The school head should avoid reading things from paper and prepare in advance to make session lively. I think school heads are not creative in terms of planning. The formal planning professional development sessions can be organised but for an hour or two hours only. The forum can be set up during student free days to allow teachers to participate in sessions. At times, he/she takes recommendations however doesn’t finds it important to reconsider (SSD T1, 2020).
The analysis of the interview data shows that there is still room for improvement to
strengthen power sharing dimension of the school heads.
5.11.4 Concern for sustainability dimension
In the interview teachers reported that their school heads based on concern for
sustainability dimension is lacking and can be further improved through trainings on
ways to manage resources wisely. Through professional development at the school
level they can let the teachers know all the planning required. For example, strategic
plan, school plan and individual plan which needs to be monitored frequently for
school development. Head of school can also make school resource policies, review
resources needed for students leaning to supplement school resources coming from the
ministry of education headquarters. Teachers stated that school head can be improved
on this dimension of ethical leadership through continuous skill-based short courses.
Some of the responses from the teachers are, for example:
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There should be rigid measures and budget allocation to sustain school-based activities. For example, calendar events to be marked properly to make it educational and memorable learning for students. However, some activities exist in school plan but funds are not available for that activity as such for 3R programmes in school. The school head can be helped to improve by upgrading themselves through attending as many trainings as possible and coming up with latest ways to address sustainable issues (SSA T2, 2020).
During lesson observation, I was told to improve on use of resources in my teaching and use recyclable items however, recycling item is good but may not be appealing to students learning. In the beginning teachers are given some basic stationaries to use in classroom activities. However, head of schoolshould help teachers with classroom resources to improve academic performances (SSB T1, 2020).
Effective leadership is an important pillar of the MEHA strategic plan in order to push
the frontiers of education sectors (MEHA, 2015-2018 pp.26). Currently, MEHA
encourages ethical guidance and sustainability practices a lot and it has enhanced the
management and administration performances. The analysis of the interview data
demonstrates that there is much room for improvement to expertise concern for
sustainability dimension of the school heads.
5.11.5 Ethical guidance dimension
Teachers expressed that their school head is very good at ethical guidance dimension.
Teachers also pointed out that this dimension can be further strengthened through more
trainings and keeping school policies in place to help teachers organise work quickly
and have uniformity at workplace. Some of the responses from the teachers are as
follows:
I have to ensure that things are submitted on timeline so that we are in par to MEHA requirements. The school heads ethical leadership practices can be further strengthened through following proper leadership trainings. However, at times activities are planned but not conducted as per plan due to committee being not formed or same committee repeating activities again or teachers unaware of how to coordinate as there is no guideline from school head. The head of school has to make teachers know what has to be achieved clearly and to be written but not organising things within a day to just get rid of task. Sometimes teachers are victimised through poor leadership which is result of poor planning from school head. The head of school has to be very advanced in term of ideas and suggest lot of ways to teachers to ensure student learning is achieved at highest level or be a lively event organised for students (SSB T2, 2020).
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My school head is very office confined and hardly comes around to meet students in class. If school heads go and talks to children around in school will solve many behavioural issues of students. Any concern regarding students get depressed quickly and is not able to solve issues. I have a student in my class who has disciplinary issues. I raised a concern regarding his/her behaviour and he/she said that the parent is problematic and easily contacts ministerial level which school head fears. The school heads should embrace complaints or work out solutions and not fear to put teachers at risk. I strictly follow the guidelines to meet requirements of reporting to school head especially official records however, at times I need more time for preparation due to engaged with many school activities. This dimension can be further strengthened through more trainings for school heads (SSC T3, 2020).
The analysis of the interview data illustrates that there is considerable room for
improvement to support ethical guidance dimension of the school heads.
5.11.6 Role clarification dimension
There were positive and negative views from the teachers about role clarification
dimension. For example, a teacher stated that role clarification is lacking in the school
head.
My school head delegate roles but doesn’t clarify responsibilities. For example, the school head delegates task to the team coordinator and assumes further to be organised by team coordinator and if that task is not progressed at an efficient level, the coordinator gets blamed.
If roles are delegated and clarified of what is expected from each teacher through school head can make teachers more responsible. Role clarity enhances each teacher knowledge on activities taking place. School heads can improve on this by attending leadership courses (SSA T3, 2020).
The analysis of the interview data demonstrates that there is ample room for
improvement to reinforce role clarification dimension of the school heads.
5.11.7 Integrity dimension
Teachers stated that their school heads lack integrity. They also cited some examples
to illustrate this and provided suggestions as to how this dimension of ethical
leadership can be improved through teachers assessing head of school to develop their
ethical practices. Some of their typical responses are, for example:
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I think integrity is the dimension which is lacking in the school head for instance, there are certain decisions over ruled and at times the blame is placed on someone else however, a leader should take their own blame and further elaborated that teachers rely on school leaders and trusts of what they say. This could be enhanced through proper policies based on integrity (SSA T1, 2020).
My school head lacks integrity dimension. I have noticed that at times school head makes promises but keeping to the words of promises it is bit difficult especially on the practicality of the work that has to be carried out. The school head can be helped to improve this dimension through attending various leadership courses and proper trainings and this can be achieved via self-commitment. The school head is a role model and teachers look upon them to behave likewise (SSC T1, 2020).
The analysis of the interview data demonstrates that there is much room for
improvement to brace integrity dimension of the school heads.
In general, the analysis of the interview data illustrates that there is room for
improvement on the ethical leadership practices of the school heads.
5.12 Summary
The study focuses on teachers’ perceptions of ethical leadership practices of school
heads in the four case study schools. This chapter has presented the findings of the
study based on the data gathered and analysed from the ELWQ survey questionnaire,
document analysis and semi structured interviews.
Generally, teachers’ responses (N=68) show varying views about ethical leadership
practices of their school heads. The findings of the study are discussed in the next
chapter, Chapter Six.
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CHAPTER SIX
Discussions of the findings
6.0 Introduction
As mentioned earlier, the study focused on the perceptions of teachers on ethical
leadership practices of their school heads. The study was guided by one primary
research question which is: To what extent are the seven dimensions of ethical
leadership demonstrated by the school leaders? In addition, three subsidiary questions
were derived from the primary research question to further guide the scope of this
study and these are:
a. Which dimensions are noted to be the most challenging for the leaders?
b. Which dimensions are noted to be the least challenging for the leaders?
c. What strategies could be used to encourage school leaders to use Kalshoven and
her colleagues seven dimensions of ethical leadership practices?
In this chapter, the findings of the study are discussed. The discussion is presented
under four main headings:
(i) Extent of the seven dimensions of ethical leadership practices,
(ii) Most challenging dimension (s) of ethical leadership,
(iii) Least challenging dimension of ethical leadership, and
(iv) Proposed strategies to develop ethical school leaders.
6.1 Extent of the seven dimensions of ethical leadership practices by school
leaders.
The quantitative findings of the study indicate that the school heads demonstrated
ethical leadership practices at different levels. The qualitative findings of this study
also suggest that school heads in four case study schools demonstrated ethical
leadership practices at different levels. As stated earlier, the seven dimensions of
ethical leadership include ethical guidance, role clarification, concern for
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sustainability, people orientation, integrity, power sharing and fairness. Each one of
these dimensions is discussed in what follows.
6.1.1 People orientation dimension
An ethical leader always will always demonstrate true concern for all stakeholders at
workplace (Kalshoven et al., 2011). Ethical leaders are people oriented who genuinely
care, respect and support subordinates and ensuring at the same time that their
professional needs are met (Brown et al., 2005). When head of school have true
concern for teachers, they develop teachers professionally and teachers will feel cared
at workplace. The quantitative data showed that SSA teachers perceived highly of their
head of school on seven practices of people orientation dimension. While school SSB,
SSC, and SSD had positive perceptions but they were displayed at a moderate level
(Table 2). A leader who demonstrates people orientation practices sustains the cultural
autonomy of the teachers (Cuellar, 2010; Fu & Deshpande, 2012; Mo & Shi, 2017;
Weiss, 2017; Wang, Feng & Lawton, 2017; Xu, Loi & Ngo, 2016).
School leaders need to take time to talk about work related issues by showing genuine
concern about their teacher’s personal and professional development (Kalshoven et al.,
2011). When head of school take time to talk about work related issues with teachers,
they gain full support of their teachers on school work. The qualitative data showed
that people orientation dimension needs further improvement in school heads and
teachers mentioned that head of school need to be considerate of teachers’ welfare and
should take time to make individual contact with teachers. The documentary analysis
showed that public service employee must act with care and treat everyone with
respect (PSC, 2011). When teachers find head of school to be sympathetic and caring,
they support their leaders in school work and this ultimately help the school to improve
and develop (Josanov & Pavlovic, 2014).
6.1.2 Fairness dimension
An ethical leader is fair with work practices which include for example, principled and
just decisions, are trustworthy and honest, do not favour any one and take
responsibility of their own actions (Kalshoven et al., 2011). Ethical leaders help
subordinates with problems through making best possible decisions for them (Seppälä,
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Lipponen, Pirttilä-Backman & Lipsanen, 2012). When school leaders are morally fair,
teachers tend to develop full confidence and shares any consequences encountered
comfortably. The quantitative data showed that the teachers of SSA and SSD had
highly positive perceptions of their head of school on fairness dimension. The teachers
of SSB had some negative perceptions on the fairness dimension while teachers of
SSD had a negative perception for traits 4 and 6 (Table 3). An ethical school leader
must treat everyone fairly at workplace in order to enhance everyone’s level of
commitment towards organisations vision and mission (Zehir & Erdogen, 2011). The
presence of fairness practices by the head of school naturally solves problems at
workplace.
The qualitative data showed that school heads were lacking in certain traits related to
the fairness dimension. School heads level of fairness practices must be displayed to
all stakeholders. For example, when parents find head of school to be fair, they also
engage with school activities which ultimately helps school to achieve greater success
(Ren & Chadee, 2017). The analysis of the document showed that all employees of
public civil service including teachers should avoid providing misleading information
and they need to be fair to everyone at workplace at all times (PSC, 2011).
Overall, in order to enhance improvement and development in all aspects of the school
organisation, head of school need to possess and demonstrate the seven dimension of
ethical leadership practices. Thus, school improvement and development are closely
connected to ethical leadership practices of school leaders (Kalshoven et al., 2011).
6.1.3 Power sharing dimension
An ethical leader provides subordinates with a voice (Brown et al., 2005). Ethical
leaders allow subordinates to take part in decision making and ethical leader listens to
subordinate’s ideas and concerns to address issues at school (Hartog & Hoogh, 2008).
The quantitative data showed that school head of SSA held a highest positive
perception on power sharing dimension. The school head of SSD had positive
perceptions while school heads of SSB and SSD held negative perceptions for trait 2
“does not allow others to participate in decision making” only (Table 4). An ethical
leader allows subordinates to participate in decision making and the leaders should
obtain advices from subordinates concerning improving any aspect of the organisation
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as they all play a key role in all operations and functions of a school organisation
(Hartog & Hoogh, 2008; Kalshoven et al., 2011). The presence of power sharing
practices in school heads behaviour inherently motivate teachers to take part in school
activities and this help teachers to be realistically be part of school family.
The qualitative data showed that the school heads were good at power sharing
dimension. However, teachers mentioned that school head at times discourages
teachers to participate in decision making. When school leaders demonstrate power
sharing practices, they allow shared decision making and teachers will appeal to head
of school for more positive changes in school (Carvalho, 2016; Sorm & Gunbayi,
2018). The documentary analysis showed that all public servants should not use
authority, power or status to gain benefit or advantage in any way (PSC, 2011). This
information circulated to all public servants including teachers may have helped them
to make act accordingly.
6.1.4 Concern for sustainability dimension
An ethical leader pays attention to sustainability issues and shows considerable care
about the welfare of the society including all teachers and children in the long run
(Kalshoven et al., 2011). When head of school pay attention to the sustainable issues
and shows considerable care about the teachers and the students, they create an
environmentally friendly workplace and teachers teach resourcefully through use of
recyclable items. The quantitative data showed that teachers of SSA held a highest
positive perception based on three practices of concern for sustainability dimension.
The teachers of SSB, SSC and SSD held positive perceptions but they indicated that
the school heads exhibited them moderately (Table 5). An ethical leader who
demonstrates concern for sustainability dimension will care, protect, develop and
promote the welfare of the all while maintaining financial performance (Ferdig, 2007;
Nichols, 2014; Hargreaves & Fink, 2012).
The qualitative data showed that concern for sustainability dimension is lacking in
school heads and teachers mentioned that recycling item is good but may not be
appealing to students learning. When head of school manage school resources
strategically, finance and treats teachers’ requisites as a priority, they will prioritise
pedagogy and will make school resourceful by being strategic with resource
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management. Resources not only impacts children but also influences teachers’
professional work and the school leaders need to ensure availability of adequate
resources as well as sustainable use of resources for school work (Lingam & Lingam,
2013). The documentary analysis showed that public service employees must use
government’s resources and assets wisely (PSC, 2011). Head of school must ensure
that ethical culture is sustained by decreasing negative influences such as,
mismanagement of resources, financial thefts and unhealthy employee treatment
(Tushar, 2017). In small developing states, financial resources are scarce and they need
to be used wisely and prudently.
6.1.5 Ethical guidance dimension
As stated in the literature, an ethical leader uses rewards and punishments for ethical
conduct of subordinates (Brown, Trevino & Harrison, 2005). Ethical leaders also guide
subordinate in ethical dilemmas experienced and sets appropriate priorities for them
(Brown et al., 2005). When head of school set rewards and punishments for teachers
on unethical conduct, they must ensure teachers to follow codes of integrity and this
reduces the consequences of unethical issues at workplace. The quantitative data
showed that SSA teachers perceived their school head highly for ethical guidance
dimension. While, the SSB, SSC and SSD held moderate but positive perceptions
based on seven practices of ethical guidance dimension (Table 6). This demonstrates
that these leaders are effective school leaders who are committed to the moral
development of teachers in their school (Navarro, Johnston, Frugo & McCauley,
2016).
Similarly, the qualitative data showed that school heads were good at ethical guidance
dimension. The teachers commented that they were guided ethically in terms of
integrity related codes of conduct but teachers also mentioned that at times head of
school need to help teachers organise work quickly and have uniformity at workplace.
A role of school leaders in this era is to be good role models who should always explain
integrity to their individual staff to change, grow and improve in order to get things
done well at school (Lingam & Lingam, 2015). When head of school are good role
model, teachers experience less unethical issues at workplace in terms of school work.
An ethical leader encourages ethical guidance by explaining codes of conduct and
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expectations of employees in terms of codes of conduct and this helps teachers acquire
ethical practices too. The documentary analysis showed that the public service
employees must have highest ethical standard at all times (PSC, 2011) and the
documents from the principal stakeholder may have also contributed towards ethical
guidance dimension of the school heads.
6.1.6 Role clarification dimension
An ethical leader always clarifies responsibilities, expectations and goals so that
subordinates know and understand what is expected from them (Kalshoven, Hartog &
Hoogh, 2011). When head of school clarifies responsibilities with expectations and
goals, they develop strong confidence in teachers and teachers follow preparedly of
what the school head expects of them. The quantitative data showed that the head of
school of SSA was perceived highly positive for role clarification dimension. While
school SSB, SSC and SSD held positive views but were moderate in terms of
exhibiting the traits (Table 7). The teachers showed that their school heads indicated
performance expectations of each teacher by clarifying priorities and responsibilities.
School leaders need to indicate and explain the performance expected from each
teacher to improve teachers’ performances at workplace. The presence of role
clarification dimension practices in head of school intrinsically allows teachers to
contribute to school activities for overall school organisation performance and
productivity.
It appeared that the school leaders of the case study schools’ have clearly explained
roles and responsibilities to the teachers to reduce conflict and increase effectiveness
of care and services (Brault, Kilpatrick, D’Amour, Contandriopoulos, Chouinard,
Dubois & Beaulieu, 2014). When head of school properly define roles to teachers, they
understand the roles and achieve what head of school plan or decides for the school.
The qualitative data showed that teachers required their head of school to clarify
responsibilities in all dimensions of their work to enhance performance in different
areas of school work (Brault et al., 2014). School leaders need to continue to explain,
indicate and clarify to their staff at workplace to avoid facing role clarity problems
(Brault et al., 2014). The analysis of the documents also showed that the public
servants including teachers must know about their roles and responsibilities to
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demonstrate good performance at work (PSC, 2011). These documents may be
available in those schools for teachers to refer and align themselves with workplace
expectations.
6.1.7 Integrity dimension
Leaders with ethical dimensions such as integrity have trusting relationship with
teachers (Salleh and Tiyunin, 2014). When head of school are unbiased, they do things
of what they say and this make teachers have full confidence of what head of school
plan or decide. An ethical leader with integrity is one who leaves no gap between
actions and words (Shareef & Atan, 2019). The quantitative data showed that teachers
of SSA held the highest positive perception based on the four practices of integrity
dimension. While the teachers of SSB, SSC and SSD held positive views but their
school heads demonstrated integrity dimension moderately (Table 8). When integrity
is at its highest, it avoids trust crisis at work place (Monahan, 2012).
The qualitative data showed that the school heads could further improve on integrity
dimension so that the teachers fully trust of what they say. The teachers become
unprotected when school leaders are ascribed to negative influences such as “authority,
freedom, dishonesty, discrepancy, negligence, and inappropriate allegiances”
(Monahan, 2012). When head of school ascribe with positive integrity practices such
as keeping promises, they influence teachers’ performances and commitments
positively. Teacher’s performance and school heads ethical practices often correlate
very closely (Saraogi, Mayrhofer & Abdul-Hamid, 2017). The documentary analysis
showed that in the public service everyone must have highest ethical standards,
specifically for integrity (PSC, 2011). Overall, the analysis of the data showed that the
school heads demonstrated traits of integrity dimension but more improvement is
needed to establish a trusting relationship with teachers in order to bring about lot of
positive changes in schools in the contemporary times.
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6.2 Most challenging dimension of ethical leadership
As stated earlier, the main purpose of the study was to determine the extent of ethical
leadership practices exhibited by the four school heads. Overall, the results indicate
that the school heads of all the four schools exhibited the seven dimensions of ethical
leadership practices but at varying degrees (Table 3). The previous discussions showed
that some dimensions were rated more positively than others by the teachers. In the
section which follows the most challenging dimension of ethical leadership as
perceived by teachers is discussed.
6.2.1 Fairness
In this study the most challenging dimension was the fairness dimension which
received the lowest rating than compared to the other dimensions of ethical leadership
(Table 3). This indicates that the school heads of the study schools were less frequently
exhibiting the traits as spelled out under the fairness dimension. This dimension had
six traits such as, holding teachers accountable for problems which they had no control,
holding teachers responsible for work that they have no control over, holding teachers
responsible for things that were not their problems, pursuing own success at expense
of others, is focused mainly reaching own goals, and manipulates subordinates.
Kalshoven and her colleagues (2011) stated that school leaders should be exhibiting
fairness at the highest level and also at all times in order to achieve optimum support
for the school from all stakeholders.
Fairness means treating staff justly depending on the specific situation and the staff’s
participation in all affairs of the school. The school leaders are expected to use good
judgment when making decisions regarding their staff concerning any area of their
professional work. Like other dimensions of ethical leadership, the fairness dimension
of ethical leadership is extremely important. It is not good enough for school leaders
or anyone holding leadership position in any organisation to be exhibiting fairness
occasionally, sometimes or rarely. Leaders should be fair to all colleagues if they are
really concerned about commitment and productivity (Ren & Chadee, 2017). Also,
fairness should be exhibited not only in the school premises but also beyond the school
boundaries at all times by the head of school. Head of school must demonstrate fairness
and earn credibility, trust and establish healthy relationship with children, teaching
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staff, parents and other stakeholders for the purpose of school improvement and
development (Seppala et al., 2012) These qualities such as trust and credibility are
earned based on the school leader’s level of fairness. Such qualities are not granted
because one holds the leadership position. In fact, the head of school must preach and
practice fairness always and not in a modest way.
The school heads actions, for example, demonstrate a lot to the followers in terms of
decision -making and other forms of treatment. If the school head is not exhibiting
fairness to the level expected then this could lead to a decline in performance and
productivity of staff and in turn adversely affect all aspects of the school organisation’s
operations and functions (Zehir & Erdogan, 2011). For example, “Holding someone
accountable for problems over which someone has no control” is unethical and in so
doing will lead to treating staff unjustly. Over time this can negatively impact staff
morale, relationship and performance at work. Likewise, “Holds me responsible for
work that I gave no control over” can lead to conflicts amongst the staff and in turn
adversely impact school work. In the same vein, “Holds me responsible for things that
are not my fault” if this happens then again trust decreases and relationships can
become bitter. Similarly, the head of the institution should not “Pursue his/her own
success at the expense of others”. Also, the head of school should not focus mainly on
reaching his/her own goals but encourage others to achieve their goals. In any
educational organisation, the head of the organisation such as, the school head should
promote staff development and ensure suitable strategies, processes and mechanisms
are put in place to ensure staff achieve their goals. When we manipulate subordinates,
we put a lot of strain on how people are connected to each other. In essence, we are
manipulating the relationship on our own terms and also for our own benefit. The long-
term effect of this type of behavior is that it weakens relationships and can also lead to
the downward spiral in the operations and functions of the school. Even when used
with good intentions, dishonesty contributes to the breakdown of relationships.
However, treating their staff unfairly can contribute to relationship conflicts or other
unethical outcomes which are not going to be good in the long-term for the schools
and in turn children’s education. When leaders are not fair then staff will see them as
undependable and unreliable. Staff will not have faith in what the leaders say and stand
for, and their respect for leaders is going to be diminished. When the leaders
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manipulate (Table 3), in essence they are telling lies about the reality. The long-term
effect of this behavior is that it contributes to breakdown of relationships even when
used with good intentions. As a result, the leader’s impact on the staff is severely
compromised because staff will no longer trust and believe in the leader. Thus, treating
staff unfairly is unacceptable.
Treating staff fairly is an important and desirable characteristic of school leaders and
they need to uphold this at all times (Kalshoven et al., 2011; Mayer, Kuenzi,
Greenbaum, Bardes & Salvador, 2009). Educational leaders who are fair matters.
Otherwise, such scandals can affect the school in achieving its vision and mission, and
ultimately adversely impact children’s education. Fair leaders are supposed to be
honest, trustworthy and principled decision-makers who cares about all staff in the
school organisation and not a selected few. However, in this study the school heads
were lacking in the fairness dimension as they were exhibiting behaviors of fairness at
the modest level. The findings of the study demonstrate that more is expected of them
as perceived by the teachers. School leaders who exhibit fairness at the highest level
are going to be liked by everyone and are likely to receive optimum support towards
managing and leading the school organisation. Furthermore, by exhibiting fairness,relationships become stronger and trust increases amongst all in the school and through
combined effort of all staff a lot more can be achieved in the school. Thus, head of
school need to play fair with all partners in education including teaching staff to inspire
trust and to encourage teachers to be committed to their professional roles and
responsibilities. By treating all fairly can enhance effective leadership practices and
contribute towards school improvement and development (Brown et al., 2005).
6.3 Least challenging dimension of ethical leadership
In the section which follows the least challenging dimension of ethical leadership as
perceived by the teachers is discussed.
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6.3.1 Ethical guidance
In this study the least challenging dimension was the ethical guidance dimension which
received the highest rating than compared to the other dimensions of ethical leadership
(Table 9). This indicates that the school heads of the study schools were most
frequently exhibiting the traits as listed out under the ethical guidance dimension. This
dimension had seven traits such as, clearly explaining integrity related codes of
conduct, explaining what is expected from the employees in terms of behaving with
integrity, clarifying integrity guidelines, ensuring that employees follow codes of
integrity, clarifying the likely consequences of possible unethical behaviour by myself
and my colleagues, stimulating the discussion of integrity issues among employees
and complimenting employees who behave according to the integrity guidelines.
Kalshoven and her colleagues (2011) stated that the school leaders should be raising
subordinate’s awareness of such guidelines through communicating about ethics,
explaining ethical rules and promoting also rewarding ethical conduct among
subordinates.
Ethical guidance means keeping school policies in place to help guide teachers work
so that there is uniformity at workplace. The school leaders are expected to clearly
explain integrity related codes of conduct in school to their staffs on guidelines
concerning consequences of ethical and unethical behavior at school. Like other
dimensions of ethical leadership, the ethical guidance dimension of ethical leadership
is extremely important. Kalshoven and her colleagues (2011) stated that under the
ethical guidance dimension, ethical leaders guide followers in setting priorities and
ethical dilemmas which they may encounter, thus the school leaders in the four case
study schools were found to be exhibiting ethical guidance quite well. School leaders
should be considerate of their staff member’s behavior. Subordinates too look upon
their leaders for their ethical guidance for them to control ethical problems (Guerci,
Radaelli, Siletti, Cirella & Shani, 2015). Thus, ethical guidance should be exhibited
not only to control ethical dilemmas but also to build ethical leadership capacities in
schools. Head of school must demonstrate ethical guidance as such to transform the
school organisations through strong ethical practices such as explaining expectations
and integrity (Katuramu, Byarugaba & Wilson, 2016; Navarro, Johnston, Frugo &
McCauley, 2016). These qualities such as explaining expectations and integrity helps
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to change, grow and improve individual staff and these are established based on school
leaders’ level of ethical guidance. This appears to be the case in the study schools and
the head of school of the study schools seem to practice ethical guidance always to
ensure their staff adhere to the school’s expectation and standards.
The school heads behaviour, for instance, demonstrates consistency with the
organisation’s expectations in terms of integrity guidelines. If head of school
communicate integrity guidelines to the staffs then this could lead to increase in
employees’ awareness of those codes of conduct and in turn it becomes easier for staffs
to be an ethical practitioner (Fritz, Neil, Popp, Williams & Arnett, 2013). For example,
“clearly explaining integrity related codes of conduct” is ethical and so in doing will
assist in achieving organisation’s ethical standards. Overtime this can certainly
develop teachers in being committed ethically towards school organisations.
Likewise, “Explains what is expected from the employees in terms of behaving with
integrity” can lead to healthy and professional relationships amongst the staff and in
turn positively enhance team work at school. In the same vein, “clarifies integrity
guidelines” if this happens then again trust increases and relationship becomes strong.
Through healthy relationship the school can achieve a lot. Similarly, the head of
institution should “ensure that employees follow codes of conduct”. Also, the school
head should clarify the likely consequences of possible unethical behavior by staff and
colleagues through relevant policies and procedures are put in place to ensure staff are
safe at workplace. The school head should stimulate the discussion of integrity issues
among employees and this allows staff to comply with organisational ethical standards
and organisational commitment. In any school organisation, the head of the
organisation such as, the school head should praise employees who behave according
to the integrity guidelines in order to motivate others to change, grow and improve.
The long-term effect of this type of behaviour is that it strengthens relationship and
can also lead to foster trust and confidence in employees and this increases
subordinates’ commitment at workplace. Even when prioritised with good motives,
behaving according to integrity guidelines contributes to the development of healthy
partnership at workplace.
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However, guiding staff ethically can contribute to enhance ethical culture at workplace
as well as conduct of employees which are going to be moral in the long term for the
schools. When leaders ethically guide employees then staff will see them as good role
models (Lingam & Lingam, 2015). Staff will follow codes of integrity in what the
leader says and their respect for leaders is going to be increased. When the leaders
stimulate the discussion of integrity issues among employees (Table 6), in essence they
are expressing certainty that school leaders unveil integrity issues among employees.
The long-term effect of this behaviour is that it contributes to the awareness of
unethical behaviour even when issues are unveiled. As a result, the leaders influence
staff on the consequences of possible unethical behaviour and this will foster trust and
confidence in the employee at the workplace. Thus, guiding staff ethically is very
important in order to achieve organisational goals. Guiding staff ethically is very
important and a needed skill in school leaders and they need to sustain this at all times
(Kalshoven et al., 2011; Lingam & Lingam, 2015). Educational leaders who explains
integrity related to codes of conduct are ethical leaders. As such ethical behaviours can
enhance the school development through accomplishing school goals and in turn
improving students’ academic performance. Ethical leaders are supposed to explain
codes of conduct if they care about staff in the school organisation and not in favour
for few selected staff.
In this study, the school heads of the four study schools were exhibiting ethical
guidance at the highest level when compared to the other dimensions of ethical
leadership. Despite exhibiting ethical guidance at the highest level, the findings of the
study demonstrate that more is expected from the school heads in this dimension as
perceived by the teachers. School leaders who exhibit ethical guidance are going to
make staff feel safe at workplace and are likely to receive maximum support from
staffs when leading and managing school organisations. Furthermore, by exhibiting
ethical guidance, partnerships become stronger and increases confidence amongst all
in the school and through collaborative effort of all staff a lot more can be
accomplished in the school. Thus, head of school need to guide stakeholders in
education including teachers to inspire trust and to build confidence in teachers’ who
will be committed to their professional roles and responsibilities. By ethically guiding
staffs and explaining integrity guidelines can help accomplish plans set and transform
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an organisation in an ethical way for the long-term benefit of children’s education
(Trevino, Hartman & Brown, 2000 & Brown et al., 2005).
6.4 Proposed strategies to develop ethical school leaders
The analysis of this qualitative data suggests that school heads in the four case study
schools demonstrated ethical leadership practices but at a moderate level. The seven
dimensions of ethical leadership include: people orientation, power sharing, fairness,
role clarification, concern for sustainability, integrity and ethical guidance.
The ethical dimensions such as honesty and integrity are also stipulated in Public
Service Code of Conduct (2011) and this document provide relevant guidance to
school heads on how they need to operate on daily basis.
6.4.1 Professional development
The school heads were considered by the teachers to be people oriented but also
suggested that they can further improve on this. Ethical leaders allow teacher
development (Trevino et al., 2000). Head of school participating in any planned
leadership programme can help them grow professionally and build leadership
capacities (Augustine-Shaw & Hachiya, 2017). When leaders are provided with
relevant professional development, such leaders become knowledge-based leaders.
Dedicated mentoring can lead to an individual’s development in leadership and
leadership professional developments programmes are important to the long-term
success of any organisation (Laughlin & Moore, 2012). Augustine et al. (2017) while
exploring ways to strengthen decision making skills, found that school leaders face a
range of challenges and if supported by experienced mentors with quality mentoring
allows professional development of school heads and can strengthen their decision-
making skills as well.
6.4.2 Special designed programmes and short courses
Head of school plays an important role in achieving the school goal (Lingam, 2012).
Ethical leaders mainly focus on organisational goals (Wright, 2013). Aspiring school
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leaders with leadership trainings and programmes can prepare them with skills to
achieve organisational goals (Wright, 2013). When school leaders are adequately
trained, such leaders know how to communicate with teachers. They drive teachers to
work towards school goal which makes teachers become responsible. The qualitative
data showed that school heads lack fairness dimension and teachers mentioned that
this could be improved through trainings, special designed programmes and short
courses. School leaders becomes successful when helped with relevant leadership
programmes (Arar, Haj, Abramovitz & Oplatka, 2016).
Ethical leaders address economic challenges stably as such it easy for them to manage
ethics. However, to manage ethics, it is important to emphasise ethical skills in
leadership courses (Wright, 2013). Reinforcing ethics in education courses allow
sustainable practices (Toit, 2015). The qualitative data showed that the concern for
sustainability dimension is lacking and this could be improved through continuous
skill-based short courses. The reinforcement of ethics is needed in leadership courses
(Wright, 2013). When head of school are trained on ethics courses, they become
aspiring leaders who would be able to avoid scandals at workplace. The presence of
ethics in head of school can help schools to address sustainable issues. The ethical
training programmes based on ethical practices can develop leaders to demonstrate
ethical leadership practices in school at all times (Bush, Bell & Middlewood, 2010).
6.4.3 Mentoring and other specific trainings
Head of school demonstrating power sharing ethical practices give teachers
opportunities to participate in decision making. There must be continuous specific
trainings of school leaders on ethical leadership practices (Castro & Moore, 2015).
When school heads are provided with experienced mentoring, they gain morale
support and are able to clarify on issues which may provide strategic direction to the
teachers. A positive change is embraced at school level through shared decision
making (Brown & Trevino, 2006). When school leaders are provided with mentoring,
they become empowered to make decisions through experienced gained from mentor.
The qualitative data analysis showed that school heads were good at power sharing
98
dimension and teachers mentioned that this could be further strengthened through
mentoring and other specific trainings.
Educational leaders develop professional codes that guides their ethical behaviors
(Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2016). Head of schools strong ethical practice include codes
of conduct with teachers (PSC, 2011). The qualitative data analysis showed that the
school heads were very good at ethical guidance dimension and teachers said that this
could be further strengthened through more trainings to help teachers organise work
quickly. When school head possess strong ethical guidance dimension practices,
teachers behave with integrity and follows codes of integrity. Thus, this reduces
consequences of possible unethical behaviour at workplace (Kalshoven et al., 2011).
6.4.4 Leadership courses
An ethical leader demonstrates ethical leadership practices at all times (Bush et al.,
2010). When head of school indicate the performance expectation from each teacher,
clarifies priorities and responsibilities, they motivate teachers to partake in school
activities intrinsically which allows school planned activities to be successful. The
qualitative data analysis showed that heads of four case study school neutrally
demonstrated role clarification dimension and teachers mentioned that this could be
improved through leadership courses. When school leaders undertake leadership
courses, they understand the role of a leader, the activities involved and what it takes
to be an effective leader. This helps school leaders to develop themselves with skills
enhancing productivity of school. Thus, leadership courses is a way of equipping skills
and improving ethical practices which in turn prevents unethical practices at workplace
and as result school leader sets realistic goals, develops strategic work plans and makes
decisions quickly (Leithwood & Levin, 2011).
6.4.5 Assessing head of school on ethical practices
An ethical leader stays abreast with best professional practices (Leithwood & Riehl,
2003). Ethical leaders do not impose goals on followers but work together with and
99
through people and this enables others to become effective (Leithwood & Riehl, 2003).
When head of school work together with teachers, they help teachers to perform well
and as a result children’s learning is improved. The qualitative data analysis showed
that head of school are lacking integrity in school and teachers expressed that this could
be improved through teachers assessing head of school to develop their ethical
practices. Assessment of leadership in education is important as it focuses to measure
performance, guide professional practice founded with informed evaluations (Elliot &
Clifford, 2014). When education hub assesses school leaders, they build school leaders
capacity for professional learning and change and as a result improve school leadership
and promote school progress. Assessment not only make career decisions about
salaries or promotions but it also creates a culture of learning and improvement in
organisations (Elliot & Clifford, 2014).
6.4.6 Framing policies
An ethical leader reduces unethical issues at workplace by empowering an ethical
climate at work place which includes framing suitable policies (Sawitri, Suyono,
Sunaryo & Tamara, 2018). An ethical environment is created through incorporating
policies, procedures and auditable ethical codes to help improve school organisations
(Teo, Nguyen, Grover & Pick, 2017). When head of school incorporate good policies,
procedures and auditable ethical codes for teachers, they provide guidance to teachers,
teachers comply with laws and regulations and this protect teachers from unethical
issues such as conflict for the school resources at workplace. Also, when suitable
policies are put in place, head of school become more alert and try their best to practice
sound ethical practices helping to create a productive learning environment. Head of
school by preventing unethical behaviors, tries to develop school conducive
organisation. The qualitative data showed that the teachers reported that their head of
school based on concern for sustainability dimension is lacking and mentioned this
could be improved through making school resource policies. Policies maintain
professionalism at workplace, professionalism emerges from practice (Bush et al.,
2010).
100
6.5 Summary
This chapter discussed the findings of the study based on the seven dimensions of
ethical leadership practices. All the seven major dimensions of ethical leadership were
exhibited by the school heads, some more frequently than others. The chapter also,
discussed the most challenging and least challenging dimensions of ethical leadership
practices. In addition, based on the analysis of the data, the chapter discussed some of
the strategies that can be used to improve ethical leadership practices of school leaders.
The next chapter, Chapter Seven, concludes the study, makes recommendations and
draws implications based on the findings of the study.
101
CHAPTER SEVEN
Conclusion
7.0 Introduction
The previous chapter discussed the research findings of the study on ethical leadership
practices. In this final chapter, the research findings are summarized and this is
followed by recommendations and implications of the study.
7.1 Summary of the main findings of the study
The study used mixed method design to measure the extent of ethical leadership
practices exhibited by school heads in the four case study schools. The study was
guided by the principal research question: To what extent are the seven dimensions of
ethical leadership demonstrated by the school leaders?
This research employed the ELWQ developed by Kalshoven, Hartog and Hoogh
(2011). This was a validated and also a multidimensional ethical leadership work
questionnaire (ELWQ) and have been tested in various work organisations in
Netherlands. They found out that the scales had sound physio metric features and good
construct validity. Thus, the first phase of the current study involved quantitative data
collection method, that is ELWQ questionnaire which was used to collect the
quantitative data to determine the extent of ethical leadership practices exhibited by
the school heads in the four case study schools.
The findings of the quantitative data showed that the teachers of four case study
schools held different perceptions for each one of the seven dimensions of ethical
leadership practices (Tables 2-8). For example, for power sharing dimension, most of
the teachers of SSA held a positive perception based on trait 1 “Allows subordinates
to influence critical decisions” and had mean of 3.53 whereas SSC obtained a mean of
3.4 and urban School SSD got a mean of 3.27 but SSB obtained a lowest mean of 2.73
(Table 4). The teachers of SSA held highly positive perception indicating that their
102
head of school frequently exhibited ethical leadership practices. While the teachers’ of
SSB, SSC and SSD held a moderate but all held positive perceptions based on ethical
practices of seven dimensions of their head of school indicating that more is expected
as perceived by the teachers (Table 9).
Furthermore, the quantitative data showed that the fairness dimension received the
lowest mean which is noted to be most challenging for school leaders and the ethical
guidance received the highest mean which is noted to be least challenging for school
leaders when compared amongst the four case study schools in this study (Table 9).
Thus, this answered the underlying research questions one and two.
In the second phase of study qualitative data was collected by means of semi structured
interview and document analysis. The teachers were asked to reflect on their head of
schools’ ethical leadership practices based on the seven dimensions and make
suggestions for improvement. The underlying research question that is, What
strategies could be used to encourage school leaders to use Kalshoven et al. (2011)
seven dimensions of best ethical leadership practices? formed the basis of the interview
questions. The qualitative data showed that teachers expressed that head of school
were good at ethical guidance dimension and head of school were somewhat lacking
in people orientation dimension, fairness dimension, concern for sustainability and
integrity whereas teachers held neutral opinion for power sharing dimension and role
clarification dimension. The teachers of four case study schools mentioned the
following suggestions for improvement which can be used to develop ethical school
leaders:
Professional development
Special designed programmes and short courses
Mentoring and specific trainings
Leadership courses
Assessing head of school on ethical practices
Framing policies
As mentioned earlier, the above strategies are expressed by teachers that could be used
to develop ethical school leaders and this minimises current unethical issues.
103
However, teachers perceive that more ethical practices is expected from the heads of
school. The documentary analysis showed that the public service employees must have
the highest ethical standards at all times. Overall, these seven dimensions have been
identified as sound ethical leadership practices in school that directly or indirectly
touches the processes of school development as it influences teacher effectiveness and
leader effectiveness (Kalshoven et al., 2011). Teachers, students, parents and other
stakeholders look upon heads of school as role models. As such, there is a need for
ethical leaders in school organisations who can lead and manage schools effectively
and efficiently. Thus, this study provided some insights on the extent of ethical
leadership practices exhibited by school leaders in the selected Fijian primary schools.
7.2 Recommendations
The following recommendations are proposed to help head of schools increase their
ethical leadership practices in schools. In order to increase ethical practices in heads
of school, the Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts should encourage all the head
of schools to exhibit high standard of ethical leadership. Some suggested ways forward
to improve current ethical leadership practices or actions that needs to be taken are:
committing to ethical dimensions;
leadership ethics;
sustaining ethical dimensions;
regular communications on ethical dimensions and significance of ethics and
measuring ethical practices from time to time.
1. The principal stakeholder of education plays a significant role. The principal
stakeholder can use its network in order to provide support and development of ethical
leadership practices of school heads. Thus, principal stakeholder can create ethical
assessment for school heads based on seven dimensions for effective leadership and
management of the school. For example, teachers’ ethical performances could decline
due to the lack of ethical practices of school heads. As such, to increase ethical
practices of school heads, create ethical assessment for school heads so that the school
goals are achieved.
104
2. Review educational policies and incorporate the seven dimensions in educational
policies to allow school heads to improve ethical practices at workplace in order to
improve teacher job productivity and performances. For example, fairness dimension
to allow ways to solve problems encountered by teachers, people orientation to allow
teacher development, power sharing to allow teachers to participate in decision
making, concern for sustainability by making school resource policies, review
resources needed for students leaning to supplement school resources, ethical guidance
to ensure teachers to behave with integrity at all times and integrity to allow teachers
to trust head of schools’ promises.
3. The tertiary educational institution expertise could be considered as they are
pioneers of programmes and courses and they can be involved to organise short
courses on ethical leadership practices of school heads in Fijian education system.
4. Undertake more studies on ethical leadership. Large scale qualitative and
quantitative studies can be conducted on ethical leadership and these studies can
provide more and better insights on ethical leadership issues in the Fijian education
system.
7.3 Implications of this study
The study adds to the field of school leadership and change in many ways. First, it
contributes to the current literature on ethical leadership in the Fijian education system.
This research argues that the Kalshoven et al. (2011) seven dimensions of the ethical
leadership are sound practices and through the use of various strategies, it can enhance
schools to improve and develop better leaders. Successful school leaders, demonstrate
fairness, power sharing, people orientation, role clarification, ethical guidance,
concern for sustainability and integrity while leading and managing school to increase
performance and productivity at workplace. This study implies in the Fijian context,
the MEHA and PSC could design programmes based on ethical leadership in order to
increase head of schools’ ethical practices as they are the core stakeholders at school
level for change and reform in the education system. The continuous trainings focused
on ethical leadership is important (Castro & Moore, 2015). The findings of the study
show that teachers perceived positively but moderately and this indicates that more is
expected in terms of head of schools’ ethical leadership practices. The interviews with
105
the teachers showed that head of schools lacked in some dimensions of ethical
leadership and there was room for improvement.
All educational leaders need professional development on ethical leadership to create
an ethically oriented environment for learning and teaching. Special designed
programmes and short courses would make school leaders become more reflective and
be able to demonstrate ethics in their day-to-day professional work in schools.
Mentoring and specific trainings would make leaders prevent unethical behaviors at
workplace. When ethics is emphasised during education leadership courses, it would
help heads of school demonstrate ethical leadership practices at all times. Assessment
of school head on ethical leadership practices is important and as such, this would
identify performance level which could be guided through professional practice. These
strategies have implications for possible changes in terms of development of ethical
school leaders.
This study implies that current and future head of schools can benefit from the findings
of the study. Thus, the findings of this study may provide an insight to the head of
schools, teachers and other stakeholders on the importance of ethical leadership and
its role in leading and managing schools successfully. The findings of the study may
also help policy makers to design policies that enforces school leaders to improve their
ethical leadership practices.
7.4 Limitations of the study
There was one limitation in this study in terms of data collection. The challenge was
encountered when administering the second phase of data collection. The impact of
COVID–19 affected the face-to-face mode of having interviews. All schools were
temporarily closed in an attempt to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The
ELWQ data was collected before the pandemic but the semi structured interview had
to be done through phone calls to the participants in order to facilitate the research and
ensure compliance to safety measures put in place by the government. The face-to-
face interviews with the teachers would have been a worthwhile experience and at the
same time more rich data could have been collected.
106
7.5 Conclusion
The purpose of the study was to determine the extent of ethical leadership practices
demonstrated by the school heads in the four case study schools in the Fijian education
system. To be an effective leader, head of school should demonstrate ethical practices
in relation to Kalshoven et al. (2011) seven dimensions of ethical leadership practices
which are: people orientation, fairness, power sharing, concern for sustainability,
ethical guidance, role clarification and integrity. Through the exhibition of these
dimensions of ethical leadership practices, school heads can effectively contribute
towards school development and in turn can ensure the provision of quality education
to the nation’s children.
In general, it can be concluded that the extent of ethical leadership practices of school
heads in Fiji is at a moderate level. However, there is still time to nurture to develop
leaders especially in the challenging dimensions to bring in more improvement and
development in schools. Through the efficient application of the seven dimensions of
ethical leadership by the school leaders, more could be gained in all areas of school
for the benefit of all stakeholders and most importantly for the school children.
107
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APPENDICES
Appendix A Permission to use ELWQ ................................................................... 122
Appendix B Information sheet ................................................................................. 123
Appendix C ELWQ survey questionnaire ............................................................... 126
Appendix D USP ethics clearance .......................................................................... 129
Appendix E Ministry of Education research approval ............................................ 131
Appendix F Participant consent form ..................................................................... 132
Appendix G Request for approval from study schools ............................................ 134
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Appendix A: Permission to use ELWQ (E-mail permission) Re: Permission for using kalshoven et al. 2011 questionnaire for student research under topic ethical leadership. HD
Hartog, Deanne den <[email protected]> Tue 7/30/2019 2:36 AM
You
You have our permission to use the questionnaire for your scientific research. Sincerely Deanne Den Hartog
Verstuurd vanaf mijn iPhone Op 29 jul. 2019 om 12:49 heeft ashlin singh <[email protected]> het volgende geschreven:
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Appendix B: Information sheet
1. Information SheetGive project title.Research Project Title: THE ETHICAL LEADERSHIP PRACTICES OF SCHOOL HEADS IN FIJIAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS: TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES
2. Researcher(s)
Give the names of the researcher(s), affiliations, supervisors (if student researcher), and relevant experience and qualifications. Researcher: Ashlin Yaswini Singh (M.E.D student at University of the South Pacific and Fully Qualified Teacher (Ministry of Education) supervised by Professor Govinda Ishwar Lingam: Professor of Teacher Education and Head of School of Education at University of the South Pacific.
3. Project Description and Invitation
Give a brief summary of the project, and an invitation to participate in it.
Research description
The research is about the ethical leadership practices which according to many researchers is one of the emerging aspects in improving and developing schools. The main aim of this research is to determine the extent of ethical leadership practices exhibited by the head of school in Fijian primary schools.
The responses will be used to decide the effectiveness of the seven dimensions of ethical leadership demonstrated by the school leaders as under good practices for school improvement. The information collected through this survey will be treated with utmost confidentiality and will only be used for academic purposes. It should take approximately 20 minutes to complete the given closed questionnaire however; 2 weeks’ time frame is set for returning the completed questionnaire.
Invitation
I am conducting a research to gauge the in-service teachers’ perceptions on ethical leadership practices of school head thus extending a formal invitation for teachers to participate in the study on voluntary basis. The research is conducted as part of the requirements for my MED programme in education from the University of the South Pacific. The research has been approved by the post graduate research committee, University Research Ethics and Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts.
4. Participant Role
Give details of the number of participants and whether or not identities will be collected. Give details of any discomforts or risks involved. Give details of any compensation offered to participants for their participation.
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The teachers will rate their head of schools’ ethical practices using ELWQ Likert scale. The number of participants targeted is 80 and participants identities will remain anonymous together with schools’ name. Participants may experience psychological discomfort could be experienced by participants. The inner, mental and emotional disturbances can be associated with participant’s experiences which could lead to risk of harm. For example, the researcher would hand survey questionnaire to head of school for distribution and collected again by head of school. Participants are assured that all information obtained will remain completely confidential and information sheet attached would confirm the purpose to avoid any risk. Name is an optional choice of the teacher and teacher is free to write or not to write the name on the survey questions and at any time the participants have right to withdraw from the project participation, as well as withdraw any information that they have provided.
5. Project Procedures
Describe what will the participants be expected to do, the time involved, and other pertinent details.
The three methods of data collection in this study are ELWQ survey by Kalshoven et al. (2011), semi structured and document analysis. The teachers will rate their head of schools’ ethical practices using ELWQ Likert scale. The main aim of this ELWQ is to measure the extent of head of schools’ ethical leadership practices. The ELWQ will be distributed to the teachers of four case study schools and upon completion will be completed by the researcher. The semi structured interview will be carried out once the ELWQ survey instrument is administered. The three teachers purposively chosen will participate in the semi structured interviews for an hour. The interviews will be conducted after the teaching hours to avoid disruptions and disturbances to school hours. The teachers will identify the most and least challenging seven dimensions ofethical leadership and identify ways to improve head of schools’ ethical practices.
The primary school teachers with informed consents are required to fill survey the questionnaire based on ethical leadership practice which may take 20 minutes time to complete given questionnaire on voluntary basis keeping in mind their cooperation will be advantageous in securing their job security when performing under varied challenging leadership in future.
6. Data Management
Explain how the data gathered will be used, stored and disposed. Explain how participants will be able to access the project findings after the project is complete.The data will be analysed using quantitative data analysis and qualitative data analysis. The data will be coded to maintain identity of schools and participants name will be kept confidential. The data gathered will be stored in my personal computer and disposed completely after the study is completed. The teachers (participants) will be able to access the project findings after the project is completed and when approved for publication.
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7. Participant’s Rights
Where participants will be identified, the following Statement of Rights must be included. “You are under no obligation to accept this invitation. If you decide to participate, you have the right to:
• decline to answer any particular question; • withdraw from the study (specify timeframe); • ask any questions about the study at any time during participation; • provide information on the understanding that your name will not be used unless you give permission for this to the researcher; • be given access to a summary of the project findings when the project is concluded.”
If recording interviews, include the statement: • “ask for the recorder to be turned off at any time during the interview.”
If an anonymous questionnaire is being used, replace the above Statement of Rights with the following:
• Completion and return of the questionnaire implies consent. You have the right to decline to answer any particular question.
Primary school teachers (main participants) identified, the following Statement of Rights is applied. “You are under no obligation to accept this invitation. If you decide to participate, participants have the right to:
• decline to answer survey questionnaire; • withdraw from the study (1 week ); • ask any questions about the study at any time during participation;• provide information on the understanding that your name will not be used unless you give permission for this to the researcher; • be given access to a summary of the project findings when the project is concluded.” If recording interviews, include the statement: • “ask for the recorder to be turned off at any time during the interview.” If an anonymous questionnaire is being used, replace the above Statement of Rights with the following: • Completion and return of the questionnaire implies consent. You have the right to decline to answer any particular question.
8. Project Contacts
Include the names and contact details of the researcher.Name of the researcher: Ashlin Yaswini SinghContact details of the researcher: 9645643
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Appendix C: ELWQ survey questionnaire
Questionnaire: Primary School Teachers
ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AT WORK QUESTIONNAIRE (ELWQ): CLOSED QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Name : ____________________________(Optional)
2. Gender: Male Female
3. Years of service: 1-10 YEARS 11-20 YEARS 21 YEARS MORE
4. EDUCATIONAL LEVEL: Tick accordingly. A. HIGH SCHOOL: ____ B. CERTIFICATE ___ C. BACHELORS ___ D. MASTERS DEGREE: ____
STRONGLY AGREE: 5 AGREE: 4 NEUTRAL: 3 DISAGREE: 2 STRONGLY DISAGREE: 1 NOT OBSERVED: 0
Please consider the following dimensions and circle appropriately to show how much you agree or disagree with each one of the traits.
DIMENSIONS Traits: To what extent my head of school
Stro
ngly
ag
ree
Agr
ee
Neu
tral
Dis
agre
e
Stro
ngly
di
sagr
ee
Not
ob
serv
ed
People Orientation
1. Interested in how I feel and how I am doing?
5 4 3 2 1 0
2. Takes time for personal contact?
5 4 3 2 1 0
3. Pays attention to my personal needs?
5 4 3 2 1 0
4. Takes time to talk about work related emotions?
5 4 3 2 1 0
5. Is genuinely concerned about my personal development?
5 4 3 2 1 0
6. Sympathizes with me when I have problems?
5 4 3 2 1 0
7. Cares about his/her followers?
5 4 3 2 1 0
Fairness 8. Holds me accountable for problems over which I have no control?
5 4 3 2 1 0
9. Holds me responsible for work that I gave no control over?
5 4 3 2 1 0
10. Holds me responsible for things that are not my fault?
5 4 3 2 1 0
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11. Pursues his/her own success at the expense of others?
5 4 3 2 1 0
12. Is focused mainly reaching his/her own goals?
5 4 3 2 1 0
13. Manipulates subordinates?
5 4 3 2 1 0
Power sharing
14. Allows subordinates to influence critical decisions?
5 4 3 2 1 0
15. Does not allow others to participate in decision making?
5 4 3 2 1 0
16. Seeks advice from subordinates concerning organisational strategy?
5 4 3 2 1 0
17. Will reconsider decisions on the basis of recommendations by those who report to him/her?
5 4 3 2 1 0
18. Delegates challenging responsibilities to subordinates?
5 4 3 2 1 0
19. Permits me to play a key role in setting my own performance goals?
5 4 3 2 1 0
Concern for sustainability
20. Would like to work in an environmentally friendly manner?
5 4 3 2 1 0
21. Shows concern for sustainability issues?
5 4 3 2 1 0
22. Stimulates recycling of items and materials in our department?
5 4 3 2 1 0
Ethical guidance
23. Clearly explains integrity related codes of conduct?
5 4 3 2 1 0
24. Explains what is expected from the employees in terms of behaving with integrity?
5 4 3 2 1 0
25. Clarifies integrity guidelines?
5 4 3 2 1 0
26. Ensures that employees follow codes of integrity?
5 4 3 2 1 0
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27. Clarifies the likely consequences of possible unethical behavior by myself and my colleagues?
5 4 3 2 1 0
28. Stimulates the discussion of integrity issues among employees?
5 4 3 2 1 0
29. Compliments employees who behave according to the integrity guidelines?
5 4 3 2 1 0
Role clarification
30. Indicates what the performance expectations of each team member are?
5 4 3 2 1 0
31. Explain what is expected of each team member?
5 4 3 2 1 0
32. Explain what is expected of me and my colleagues?
5 4 3 2 1 0
33. Clarifies priorities. 5 4 3 2 1 034. Clarifies who is
responsible for what?5 4 3 2 1 0
Integrity 35. Keeps his/her promises?
5 4 3 2 1 0
36. Can be trusted to do the things he/she says?
5 4 3 2 1 0
37. Can be relied on to honor his/her commitments?
5 4 3 2 1 0
38. Always keeps his/her words?
5 4 3 2 1 0
Adapted from Kalshoven et al. (2011).
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Appendix D: USP ethics clearance
130
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Appendix E: Ministry of Education, Heritage & Arts research approval
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, HERITAGE & ARTSQuality Education for Change,Peace and Progress
Marela House, 19 Thurston Street, Suva, Fiji Islands, Private Mail Bag, GovernmentBuildings, Suva. Ph: (679) 3314477 Fax: (679) 3303511
Our Reference: RA6/20 Date: 21 February 2020
Ms Ashlin Singh
University of the South Pacific
Lautoka Campus Lautoka
RE: Official Approval to Conduct Research in Fiji
Dear Ms SinghWe are pleased to inform you that your request to conduct research in Fijihas been granted on the topic “Ethical Leadership Practices of school heads-Teachers’ Perspectives”The approval is granted from 21 February 2020 to 31 July 2020 as specified inyour request.It is also noted that in this research, you will work in collaborationwith the Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts, who will be assistingwith all the work that will be carried out during this study. Please liaisewith the relevant personnel and organisations with regards to the logisticsand the conduct of your research and be further advised that theGovernment of Fiji’s legislations, procedures, policies and protocols mustbe unreservedly adhered to.As a condition for the research approval, a copy of the final researchreport must be submitted to the Ministry of Education, Heritage andArts (MEHA) through this office upon completion, before thecommencement of any publication. The report will be reserved in theMEHA Research Library and will be available for reference by Senior Ministryand Government officials.Moreover, it is important to note that the Ministry of Education reserves aright to publish the final report or an edited summary of it.We wish you success in your research study.
Metuisela Gauna (Mr)for Permanent Secretary for Education, Heritage and Arts
cc. MEHA Research File
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Appendix F: Participant consent form Participant Consent Form
The University of the South Pacific and Faculty of Arts, Law and Education
ASHLIN SINGH PO BOX 295, NADI
CONSENT FORM ETHICAL LEADERSHIP PRACTICES OF SCHOOL HEADS IN FIJIAN
PRIMARY SCHOOLS: TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES I have read and understood the Information Sheet describing the above-named project. I agree to participate as a subject in the project. I consent to publication of the results of the project/the information given to me on the understanding that my anonymity is preserved. I understand that at any time I may withdraw from the project, as well as withdraw any information that I have provided. I note that this project has been reviewed and approved by the University Research Ethics Committee at the University of the South Pacific. Name (please print)
Signature Date
(where appropriate) I am signing this Consent Form on behalf of
whom I represent in the capacity of
(where appropriate) I am signing this Consent Form as parent/caregiver on behalf of
Age ( years)
to allow her/him to participate in this project.
133
Confidentiality Agreement
(The University of the South Pacific and Faculty of Arts, Law and Education)
Ashlin Yaswini Singh P.O.BOX 295, NADI
15/11/2019 CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT
ETHICAL LEADERSHIP PRACTICES OF SCHOOL HEADS IN FIJIAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS: TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES I agree to keep confidential all information concerning this project. I shall not retain or copy any information about this project. Name Ashlin Yaswini Singh
Signature Date
11/15/2019
134
Appendix G: Request for approval from study schools
P.O.Box 295,
Nadi.
________________
________________
Dear Sir/ Madam,
I am currently conducting research for my masters on the topic “ETHICAL LEADERSHIP PRACTICES OF SCHOOL HEADS IN FIJIAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS: TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES ”at the University of the South Pacific. I would like to kindly seek your approval to carry out the research at your school.
The research would basically consist of questionnaires being given to the teachers at your school to elicit the information needed for the study.
You are assured that complete confidentiality would be maintained of the data collected in this project. Only my supervisor (Professor Lingam) and I will be able to view the raw data and identity of teachers will not be made public.
I will be pleased to discuss any issues that you may have concerning participation in this project. I can be easily contacted on the mobile number: 9645643.
Your approval to my request is very much appreciated. I am looking forward to your favorable response and consideration in taking part in this project.
Sincerely,
_________
Ashlin Yaswini Singh
Please indicate with a tick in the box provided below.
I, the head of school of _______________
give do not give
permission to Ashlin Singh to conduct research at my school according to the guidelines stated in this letter above.
___________________
Head of school