A Review of Transformational School Leadership Research 1996–2005

“One could see much of the current differences revolving around ‘transformational’ leadership (see, for example, Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005) and ‘distributive’ leadership (see, for example, Spillane, 2005) as cases in point.”

“Previous research on school reform indicates that transformation puts the spotlight on organizational processes (eg, supporting staff) and employing effective methods to make the school and its members (staff, students, families, community agents) more productive (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005 ; Marzano, Waters, & McNulty,…”

“Transformational leaders manage structures but, at the same time, they seek to impact upon the school cultures in order to change them (Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005).”

“The school leadership questionnaire was adapted from the Principal Leadership Questionnaire (PLQ) which is developed by Leithwood & Jantzi (2005).”

“However, research of principals’ impact on schools’ outcomes is scarce (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005).”

“…conditions (Sun and Leithwood, 2012) including increased participation in decision making and commitment to school improvement as well as increased teacher motivation to implement — for example — accountability policies (Geijsel et al. 2003; Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005; Leithwood et al. 2002).”

“Lastly, Leithwood and Jantzi (2005) reported that recent evidence about the effect of transformational leadership on student engagement was uniformly positive, but was limited by the small number of existing studies.”

“…2) fostering the acceptance of group goals, 3) providing individualized support, 4) intellectual stimulation, 5) providing an appropriate model, and 6) high performance expectations (Leithwood, 1994; Geijsel, Sleegers & Van Den Berg, 1999; Jantzi & Leithwood, 1996; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005).”

“Theorists have emphasized building collaborative structures as one of the essential components of principal transformational leadership (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2000, 2005) that have been proved to foster teacher empowerment (Griffith, 2004; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2000).”

“In their systematic review, Leithwood and Jantzi (2005) concluded that most studies used test results or academic scores to measure student performances while some used student engagement as the indicator of student outcomes.”

“An extended line of transformational leadership research specifically in school contexts also incorporates these capacity-developing practices (e.g. Day et al. 2011; Geijsel et al. 2003; Leithwood and Jantzi 2000, 2005, 2006; Leithwood, Jantzi, and Steinbach 1999; Yu, Leithwood, and Jantzi 2002).”

“…with the results of studies conducted by Garvin, Edmondson, and Gino (2008), Slater and Narver (1993), Kurland, Peretz and Hertz-Lazarowitz (2010), Leithwood and Jantzi (2005), Silins and Mulford (2002), thus evolutionary leadership style can predict the processes of organizational learning and…”

“Though the impact on student achievement seemed mixed, Leithwood and Jantzi (2005) did not elaborate on the reasons behind such disparate fi ndings and conclusions.”

“During the first period, transformational leadership in education has been a subject of research mainly in Western countries (see Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005); in the latter period, there has been growing interest in transformational leadership in non-Western countries.”

“His focus on creating a positive learning environment for students and staff members is supported by strong empirical evidence (Gurr et al., 2003; Jacobson et al., 2005; Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005).”

“In this sense, Leithwood and Jantzi (2005) conclude that the evidence on the effects of leadership on organisational effectiveness, on the results of the students and on their engagement in school is positive.”

“These practices have been organized around four sets of core practices found in a model developed from recent reviews of evidence about effective leadership (e.g., Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005; Leithwood & Riehl, 2005).”

“Journal of Research on Leadership Education October 2010, Volume 5, Number 12.5 Special Issue”

“One core leadership behavior is to establish rigorous goals for student learning ( Leithwood & Janzi, 2005 ).”

“Principals who foster a culture of trust and collaboration within the school significantly enhanced teachers’ sense of belonging and responsibility which increased their instructional commitment (Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005; Morris et al., 2020).”

“A number of studies (e.g., Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005; Ngang, 2011) have demonstrated the PLQ’s high reliability, consistently achieving alphas of.70 and higher.”

“According to Leithwood and Jantzi (2005), leadership in schools are able to improve the spirit of teachers when teachers show high commitment to their work.”

“In their most recent review of transformational school leadership research from 1996 to 2005, Leithwood and Jantzi (2005) also conclude that transformational leadership had significant indirect effects on student academic and school engagement outcomes.”

“…setting and communicating the educational goals (Heck and Marcoulides, 1990), holding parents to high expectations (Aburizaizah et al., 2019), scheduling different times for meetings (Erdener, 2016) and promoting structures to collaboration in school decision making (Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005).”

“The goal of the teaching leader is create and sustain a competitive school, empower others to make significant decisions, provide instructional guidance, and develop and implement strategic and school- improvement plans (Leithwood & Jantizi, 2005).”

“To further improve the relevance of this review to the field of transformational leadership research as a whole, several past reviews on the topic of transformational leadership (Leithwood and Jantzi 2005; Wang et al. 2011; Leithwood and Sun 2012) were compared with our research.”

“Transformational leadership involves creating the conditions that facilitate changes in pedagogy, curriculum and assessment (Leithwood and Jantzi 2005).”

“…argues that learning is one of the primary areas of agreement between researchers who have investigated successful principals’ leadership and it concerns their crucial role in the creation of a learning environment for teachers and students (e.g. Hallinger & Heck, 1998; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005).”

“For example, Leithwood and Jantzi (2005) conducted a meta-analysis in which they concluded that transformational leadership is significantly and indirectly related to student achievement and engagement.”

“In fact, an extensive review of the evidence of leadership effects on student learning, including the LOLSO project, has concluded ( Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005; Leithwood, Seashore Louis, Anderson, & Wahlstrom, 2004):”

“The status quo of an organization is maintained through transactional leadership (Geyer and Steyrer, 1998; Leithwood et al., 2004; Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005; Nsubuga, 2008).”

“…the principals’ work the relevant literature describes a shift from a bureaucratic and transactional leadership style towards a more entrepreneurial, instructional and transformative style (Griffith, 2004; Huber, Saravanabhavan, & Hader-Popp, 2010; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005; Marks & Printy, 2003).”

“Later, Leithwood and Jantzi (2005) added a fourth dimension to their TSL model: managing the instructional program.”

“Since then, several authors have tried to assess this conceptualization to measure its impact into the academic outcomes (Bass & Avolio, 1994; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005; Leithwood, Louis, Wahlstrom & Anderson, 2010; Day & Sammons, 2013: Day et al., 2010, 2011).”

“This is especially the case with student achievement (Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005; Leithwood and Sun, 2012).”

“The evidence demonstrating the principal’s role in improving teaching, school effectiveness, and student achievement continues to grow (Hallinger & Heck, 1996; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2000, 2005, 2008; Leithwood et al., 2004; Robinson et al., 2008; Supovitz et al., 2010; Waters et al., 2003).”

“This implies that when leaders have a clear transformational vision and goal, as well as carry their subordinates along in the new direction using appropriate communication and networking skills, soon, they will build trust in their organizations (Ravazadeh and Ravazadeh, 2013; Nilakant and Ramnarayan, 2006; Leithwood…”

“Leithwood and Jantzi (2007) highlight this barrier to change-making in their review of the leadership literature, reminding researchers of the subtlety required to introduce programmes that seek to change professional and personal structures of schools.”

“The fourth category refers to principals ’ developing people, which encompasses modeling highly ethical behaviors, offering intellectual stimulation, and ensuring authentic support (Kwan, 2020; Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005).”

“Researchers who state that in recent years the transformational leadership approach is more realistic and effective than other approaches underscores sensitivity to environmental impacts and adapting to changing issues(Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005, p.194).”

“…and empower and encourage them to be creative and improve their capabilities, while transactional leaders are characterized by emphasizing the exchange of rewards and monitoring group members’ performance for mistakes (Avolio, 1999; Bass, 1985, 1998; Eagly et al., 2003; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005).”

“A close examination of our set of combined factors shows no contradictions with existing findings on leadership for learning (Barth, 1990; Robinson, Lloyd, & Rowe, 2008) or transformational leadership (Leithwood & Jantzi, 1999, 2005; Marks & Printy, 2003; Mulford & Silins, 2003).”

“To understand leadership in the literature (Alimo-Metcalfe, 2013; Avolio, Walumbwa and Weber, 2009; Grint, 2011; Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005) it is also necessary to examine the types that are frequently mentioned.”

“More recently, they reviewed an additional 32 (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005) and concluded that “given such progress, expanding and refining transformational conceptions of leadership seems likely to be more productive than adopting an excessively narrow conception of such leadership” (p. 194).”

“…the need for instructional leadership (Hallinger, Gümüş, and Bellibaş 2020), offering personal growth opportunities through mentorship and creating an environment that supports innovation and risk-taking emphasise the role of principals as transformational leaders (K. Leithwood and Jantzi 2005).”

“Many studied about the relationship between leadership and performance show that is a strong relationship exist between transformational leadership and performance (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005).”

“Empirical evidence from Deal and Peterson (1990, 1999) and Leithwood and Jantzi (1997, 2000, 2005) has suggested that school leaders can have an impact on the school learning culture. a number of studies provide empirical evidence consistent with a causal pathway that leads from professional…”

“School leaders establish the mood and vision of the school (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005), and they impact school ethos (Teasley, 2017).”

“Thus, transformational professors have high academic performance expectations from students, provide an appropriate model, offer intellectual stimulation, provide individualized support, foster group goal acceptance, and identify and articulate a shared vision [46,50].”

“…one or, rarely, a few specific leadership models (e.g. Instruc-tional, Distributed, Transformational) in detail (Bennett et al., 2003; Hallinger, 2003, 2005; Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005; Neumerski, 2013; Tian et al., 2016) rather than looking at research trends in many different leadership models.”

“A significant strand of this literature concerns specific leadership behaviors (most particularly transformational leadership behavior) and their effects on school conditions which support teaching and learning (Geijsel et al., 2003; Hallinger, 2003; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005; Leithwood & Sun, 2012).”

“…lacunae?. Methodological insights into a specific quantitative measure (e.g., Hallinger, Emerging Research Field 5 2011), construct (e.g., Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005), or national context (e.g., Eyal and Rom, 2015; Walker and Qian, 2015) may be primarily functional because the scope was…”

“…10; e.g. Boyce and Bowers, 2018; Ng et al., 2015), teacher leadership ( n = 9; e.g. Wang and Ho, 2020; York-Barr and Duke, 2004), transformational leadership ( n = 7; e.g. Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005; Sun and Leithwood, 2012) and distributed leadership ( n = 6; e.g. Mifsud, 2024; Tian et al., 2016).”

“…signi fi cance of transformational leadership (TL) in in fl uencing TJS due to its explicit focus on enhancing the capacity of the school staff (e.g. Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005; Nguni et al., 2006), the educational leadership literature is almost silent about whether and how cultural factors or…”

“…educational leadership for decades and have proposed several leadership models, distributed leadership, transformational leadership and instructional leadership are the three most widely acknowledged models (Hallinger 2003, 2005; Leithwood and Jantzi 2005; Neumerski 2013; Tian, Risku, and Collin.”

“While the research on the importance of antecedent virtues and character are relatively thick in both business and other helping professions, they are thin in education, where the emphasis has been on leader behaviors (Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005).”

“Betielle et al. (2009), Heck and Hallinger (2009) and Leithwood and Jantzi (2005) argue that the goal of principal professional development is to direct and promote effective action towards improving teaching and learning effectiveness and addressing problems negatively impinging on student…”