Abstract:

The paper presents the initial results of a research on the leadership profile of the directors of public basic education group of schools, in Continental Portugal, and it has been produced within the framework of the seminar for the presentation and discussion of data, as part of the Doctorate in Education program, specialised in Educational Leadership (Universidade Aberta). For the purpose of the research, it has been assumed the study of certain aspects of leadership, as an adequate form to characterize of a leadership profile in the universe under study.

The data collection phase took place from April 16 to July 8, 2012. The universe had an estimated size of n = 555 and with a simple random obtained sample of size n = 233 (response rate of 41.98%). The maximum error of the sample is less than 5% for a confidence level of 95%. The degree of correlation between the distribution of the universe and the distribution of the sample either by Regional Education Direction and by District, was 0.97, which attests to the high degree of representativeness of the obtained sample.

The data collection instrument (questionnaire online) used SurveyGizmo software. In addition to a section that allowed the sample demographic characterization, also included the following sections: Leadership versus management; Transactional leadership vs. transformational leadership; Situational Leadership styles; Leadership and management skills; Leadership training and/or related areas.

Actual results show a moderate tendency of the respondents to lead (67.14%) rather than manage (32.86%). On the other hand, considering the transformational and transactional leadership styles, the results show that respondents use more transformational leadership (67.93%) than transactional leadership (32.07%).

As to the suitability of the leadership styles, according to the Model of Situational Leadership II, the results show an inadequate use of the various styles, with the style S2 (Coaching) revealing itself as the favorite in all circumstances, which means a reduced flexibility in the application of situational leadership styles.

Considering the various areas of Management and Leadership skills defined for the purposes of the study, 4 of the 5 investigated areas presented results at the level of "Very Good" (Change successfully: 86.00%; Getting results: 86.50%; Leadership and management of the organization: 87.75%; Performance management: 89.50%) and 1 (Teamwork) at the level of "Excellent" (93.00%).

Of those surveyed, only 18.0% have never attended any kind of leadership training and/or similar, and 62.7% already did so two or more times. Among those who attended this training type, 67.4% did it on their own initiative and 37.4% already during this school year. As to the duration of this training, 60.5% had duration equal to or more than 6 days. 93.5% of those polled revealed to have already experienced some kind of difficulty in its function of direction, but only 28.6% assigned that to the lack of leadership training and/or related areas. As to the nature of the difficulties experienced by respondents include the restrictions placed by the law "(83.4%), the" limitations on autonomy of the Schools' Group "(82.0%) and the" restrictions placed by the central/regional administration"(65.4%). As the areas in which they would like to have additional training, stand out "legislation" (52.6%), "leadership" (47.8%), "communication" (33.2%) and "teamwork" (26.7%).

Keywords:

Schools' Group, Directors, Public Basic Education, Leadership Profile and Portugal.