An Analysis of Principal Leadership and Its Influence on School Culture in Two Primary Schools in Trinidad and Tobago

Education in Trinidad and Tobago is undergoing significant changes with a greater emphasis on principal leadership and introduction of new teaching methods to reform the ‘old school’ of thought which impacts on deeply rooted school cultures. Whilst there may have been several research studies on principal leadership, there is yet to be one which links principal leadership to school culture. This study addresses a gap in literature and focuses on Principal Leadership and its influence on School Culture in two selected primary schools in Trinidad and Tobago within a particular Educational District - Victoria. The focus is on the two top performing schools within this district as reflected in the school’s API scores. The literature review identified a series of effective leadership practices that enable school leaders to influence a positive school culture. It also describes the theoretical framework which emerged from the literature view leaning heavily towards two main concepts – principal leadership, particularly transformational leadership and school culture. A case study methodology incorporating a mixed methods design is used, availing both quantitative and qualitative research methods to understand and explain the reality/realities in this research context. In the quantitative phase, the researcher used two instruments, namely the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ, Short form) developed by Bass (2000) to measure the leadership behaviour of principals, and the School Culture Survey developed by Gruenert (1998) to measure school culture. The qualitative data collection tools included participant observations of the principals and semi structured interviews. The case study of each school is presented and provides insights on the principal leadership style as perceived by the staff members. The quantitative findings provided descriptive evidence that transformational leadership exists in the schools of Almond Tree Primary and Rainbow Primary and the dominant culture of the schools was an emphasis on Professional Development. In addition, the findings also revealed that there was a significant relationship between leadership behaviour and school culture. This study helps provide guidance and direction to principals who wish to exercise their leadership in a more appropriate and relevant way particularly in a context of change. This research also provides an interesting point for reflection and discussion amongst school leaders who want to raise the standard of education in Trinidad and Tobago thereby improving student learning indirectly through a positive and collaborative school culture. This is an original work which has sought to establish possible linkages between principal leadership and school culture and can therefore encourage further studies on these two critical factors in shaping primary school education in Trinidad and Tobago.