Date of Award

2004-05-01

Degree Name

EdD Doctor of Education

Dissertation Committee

Fred J. Galloway, EdD, Chair; Daniel M. Miller, PhD, Member; Ron W. Germaine, EdD, Member

Keywords

British Columbia (Canada), grievances, labour disputes, Leadership studies, leadership styles, principals, public schools, school administration

Abstract

For the last decade, adversarial relationships between teachers' associations and district administrators in the British Columbia public school system have been commonplace, frequently resulting in formal grievances and arbitration. Since dealing with these issues imposes enormous costs on both teachers' unions and school boards, this study used hierarchical regression analysis to explain why some schools have fewer grievances filed than other schools in the province. Specifically, this study used data gathered from 160 principals in the British Columbia public school system to examine the extent to which school demographics and principal leadership style helped explain variation in the rate of filed grievances per one hundred teachers. Results suggest that both demographic factors and principal leadership style were key determinants of filed grievances. Specifically, two aspects of principals' leadership styles were important—those that reported engaging in Charisma/Inspirational leadership had more grievances files against them, while those with higher levels of Individualized Consideration had fewer grievances filed against them. Three demographic factors were also found to be important, with the most significant being that K–9 and K–12 schools had approximately 18 more grievances filed per one hundred teachers than elementary schools. In addition, those schools with a considerable number of office referrals (92–225) tended to have more filed teacher grievances, as did schools that had a comparatively large percentage of their student population from lower income families.

Document Type

Dissertation: Open Access

Department

Education

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