5.2 DESARROLLO MOTOR
5.2.1 Reflejos y Reacciones posturales
Participants’ stories lead to the notion that they demonstrated a level of moral consciousness in their leadership. Their descriptions also emphatically confirmed they are more altruistic (moral) in their leadership approach. What also emerged from these and other responses was that their moral purpose shaped their attitude, which then influenced their moral leadership actions. At the heart of participants’ attitudinal form of leadership was a tenacious sense of purpose, which positively influenced the leader to be internally driven and committed towards a core purpose. This characterised many of the participants’ stories. Social justice, student rights, and the aim of creating a more humane society were all powerful ‘drivers’ from their moral purpose, which influenced their moral leadership. Day (2004), Day et al. (2001) and Notman and Henry’s (2011) research supports this claim.
Furthermore, participants’ attitudinal leadership style appeared to demonstrate they were committed to their moral purpose. They sought greater meaning to their leadership role, while enhancing followers’ understanding of their role as citizens. Participants also displayed moral purpose where they removed any sense of egotistic motivation, which Bruce directly described in his leadership self- construct. Avolio and W.L. Gardner (2005), West-Burnham (2009) and Zohar and Marshall (2004) support this statement. As a result, it can be suggested that attitudinal leadership sits within an authentic moral leaders self-construct.
5.7 Silences
Rigorous exploration of the data improves the validity of any findings presented by the researcher. Throughout this discussion, the researcher has revealed participants social reality in relation to their moral purpose and moral leadership. However, research also requires critical evaluation of the silences. Silences occur when theory has been identified in the literature review but does not appear through the findings. An interpretation of the findings enabled the researcher to uncover an authentic view of a moral leaders’ self-construct, which was rooted in theory and supported by the findings of this research. Consequently, there appeared to be no notable silences in the data when compared with the literature that was reviewed.
CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION
6.1 Introduction
The undertaking of this research has had a significance influence on my own understanding of moral purpose. I have gained a far deeper insight into the moral purpose that shapes other school principals who lead their community in a moral way. In this concluding chapter, I will describe how I have fulfilled the aim of my research. I will also acknowledge the limitations of this study and next steps, where research on the topic of ‘principals leading with moral purpose’ can add further knowledge to the field of educational leadership in New Zealand.
6.2 Outcomes and possible future actions
The aim of this research was to explore moral leadership, where the research question focused on the question:
What are the personal attributes, dispositions and capacities of principals who lead with moral purpose within their schools?
This research has illustrated how principals who lead with moral purpose have a deep conviction towards valuing human relationships within their school community. They model and communicate their personal and professional values through the daily interactions they have with people within their community. The research has shown that moral purpose influences a principal to be driven by a social justice belief that every person in a community is entitled to a meaningful education and reasonable life. This understanding is further shaped by an ethical belief that the moral purpose of education is to ensure the rights and aspirations of every community member, especially their students, is protected and enhanced. Moral principals ultimately believe this will enhance the wellbeing of a more humane society.
The research has clearly shown that principals who lead with moral purpose are more likely to be moral leaders. This appears to be because moral leaders value
relationships. They model and communicate ethical beliefs through their moral actions, which imbue a culture of high trust, collective responsibility and shared moral purpose. This has led to an authentic view of moral leadership that is influenced by their moral purpose.
Furthermore, a moral leader’s self-construct has also been identified as within a form of authentic moral leadership, which enhances their ability to lead in a moral way. Authentic moral principals have the capacity to reflect in a critical way due to their developing ethical and moral intelligences. Their moral leadership actions were based on how they perceived themselves and how they saw themselves in relation to others. Participants in this research were able to apply moral reasoning and moral imagination focused on a more humane society. In addition, the combination of self-reflection, theory and attitudinal leadership significantly contributed to the development of their personal self-construct. As a result, findings illustrated how a moral leaders’ self-construct enhances their resilience, where their moral purpose energises them.
It was also tentatively suggested in this research that an area for future development is where principals who lead with moral purpose apply the same level of moral purpose to external communities, as they do to their own school community. The findings also noted that principals could benefit from further engagement with the literature to develop their theoretical understanding of the important processes of building moral purpose within their school communities, such as dialogue and praxis.
6.3 Limitations of the study
Results from the research provided insightful information for the field of educational leadership. The semi-structured interview process highlighted this as participants intuitively shared stories of how they led with moral purpose. However, the size of this study dictated that only six principals participated from a pool of over a few thousand current primary and secondary principals in New Zealand. While the study contributes to the field, there is highly limited scope for any extrapolation or generalisations from the findings. As Cohen et al. (2011) noted early in the methodology chapter, sample size is one of five key strategies
facing researchers when they begin identifying potential participants for their research.
In the case of this research, the limitations of the study can be attributed to a number of key factors. For example:
- The sample size was small in nature.
- Participants were only interviewed on one occasion.
- The geographical location of the participants was focused on the western region of the North Island.
- All the participants were experienced principals as opposed to interviewing less experienced principals.
- No participants were Maori.
- There were no overseas trained principals in the sample.
6.4 Areas for further research
The study has demonstrated opportunities for further research.
The sample could be extended substantially to include multiple ethnicities. This may influence the findings. Similarly, the sample could be extended so a stratified sample that includes various categories or levels of participant experience. I suggest that the small differences noted between genders in this study could be more significant in a larger study that compares perspectives of male and female participants.
As New Zealand begins to draw on a more global pool of professional educators, extending this research to principals who received their initial teacher education in different countries might well highlight further differences.
6.5 Final comment
Principals in New Zealand are increasingly facing higher expectations and complexities in their role as the educational leader of their community. They are expected to lead their school community’, while also being faced with additional administrivia and managerial responsibilities. However, participants in this research have illustrated how moral purpose can enable principals to overcome
these issues. In essence, moral purpose provided greater meaning to participants’ leadership role as they came into being leaders with moral purpose.
As Carl stated in answering the question ‘how does your understanding of moral purpose influence your leadership’:
“I think it is probably the key to leadership and my credibility as a leader”.
APPENDIX A Interview questions
1. What do you understand by the term ‘moral purpose’?
2. How does your understanding of moral purpose influence your leadership? a. How do ethical and moral perspectives influence your leadership and
moral purpose?
b. What values underpin your (moral) leadership?
3. What is your moral purpose as the leader in your school community? a. What activities or occurrences in your school make you aware that
you are acting with moral purpose? Give examples.
b. During these times/episodes, what do you perceive to be your strengths that you bring to the context?
4. The literature tells us that relationships are important in developing a pervasive (pervading/widespread) sense of moral purpose. How do you develop and sustain positive relationships within your school?
5. What is the place of emotional intelligence in leading with moral purpose? 6. How do you cope with the complexities of your role? How do you
continue to adapt and grow as a person and leader?
7. When you consider the future and the vision you have for your school community, what keeps ‘you’ hopeful, resilient and optimistic about achieving your moral purpose?
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