A female advantage? Gender and educational leadership practices in urban primary schools in Chile

What differences are there, according to teachers’ opinions, in school leadership practices between male principals (MPs) and female principals (FPs) in urban primary schools in Chile? A national survey has been done to address this topic, which was answered by the principal and five teachers in 381...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEducational management, administration & leadership Vol. 51; no. 5; pp. 1105 - 1122
Main Authors Weinstein, José, Sembler, Matías, Weinstein, Marisa, Marfán, Javiera, Valenzuela, Paulina, Muñoz, Gonzalo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.09.2023
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Administrator Characteristics
Educational leadership
Elementary Education
Elementary School Teachers
Elementary Schools
Females
Foreign Countries
Gender
Gender Differences
Institutional Characteristics
Instructional Leadership
Leadership Styles
National Surveys
Predictor Variables
Principals
School principals
State Surveys
Teacher Attitudes
Urban Schools
Chile
Leadership
gender
Chile
schools
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Summary:What differences are there, according to teachers’ opinions, in school leadership practices between male principals (MPs) and female principals (FPs) in urban primary schools in Chile? A national survey has been done to address this topic, which was answered by the principal and five teachers in 381 urban primary schools. Following Leithwood’s school leadership four-category model, 14 practices were considered and measured. Data were analysed by statistical procedures, including the decision tree technique, chi-squared automatic interaction detection (CHAID). Findings showed that in 9 out of 14 practices, FPs have a significantly more favourable evaluation from teachers. Data confirmed that, when compared to other personal traits of principals or school features, gender is the strongest independent variable related with leadership practices. Nonetheless, this advantage occurs in an overall scenario in which both FPs and MPs engage unevenly with the leadership practices across the dimensions of the model. This study does not aim to explain the female advantage, but to show the shape of leadership differences by gender regarding theoretically relevant practices. Nevertheless, its data allow ruling out some possible hypotheses for interpreting those differences. The article suggests that further research is needed to theoretically explain the reasons behind differences in leadership practice by FPs and MPs.
ISSN:1741-1432
1741-1440
DOI:10.1177/17411432211019407