The Relationship between Teachers' Training Transfer and their Perceptions of Principal Leadership Style

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between teacher training transfer, perceptions of principal leadership, and specific principal behaviors among 62 teachers who participated in one district's new teacher induction program. A mixed methods design was employed. A sub-group of 19 participants reported statistically significantly greater training transfer than the other 40 participants; chi-square tests revealed no significant differences between these two groups in terms of demographics or conditions of their supervision. The 19 high-training-transfer participants also reported that their principals demonstrated certain behaviors at a statistically significantly greater level than was reported by the other 40 participants. These principal behaviors were categorized as promoting a culture of accountability and promoting a culture of professional learning. The participants in the high-training-transfer group also were more likely to perceive their principals as strong in both transactional and transformational leadership. However, in the entire sample, leadership style was not found to be significantly related to teacher training transfer, nor were any significant interaction effects revealed between perceived leadership style, teacher demographic variables, and teacher training transfer. The results indicated that specific instructional leadership behaviors were effective in promoting teacher training transfer, and that leadership style made a difference only when applied in the context of these instructional leadership behaviors.