Abstract:

The aim of this article is to research educational leadership in Finnish liberal adult education from the perspective of transactional, transformational, and transformative leadership theories. Empirical research is conducted owing to great research gaps concerning this specific school form that has always played an important role in the Finnish educational system. The research objective is also relevant because the recent educational decentralization policy together with neoliberal thinking based on economic efficiency and competition, are bringing along new requirements for educational leadership. This being the case, knowledge must be generated about how educational leadership is currently practiced in liberal adult education. The article explores which theoretical leadership approaches educational leaders are applying in liberal adult education to maintain high educational quality. Liberal adult education differs from formal education as for its organization, ownership, methods, and its focus on social inclusion, democracy, equality, and humanitarian ideology. Given this, the assumption is that liberal adult education requires leadership that addresses the characteristics of liberal adult education. Based on the aim and the above reasoning, the overarching research question is: How do principals lead liberal adult education in the Finnish educational context? and the more specific research question is: What leadership approaches do principals apply to meet the requirements of liberal adult education, and those of the changed educational context? The research is based on qualitative empirical interview data that are analysed with the help of qualitative text analysis in the light of transactional, transformational, and transformative leadership theories. These theoretical approaches were chosen because they are frequently applied in educational leadership research. The results indicate that principals tend to apply most transformational leadership theory because the theory seems to help the principals to meet the current educational needs. Nevertheless, also transactional and transformative leadership theories are applied. This research has both theoretical and empirical implications. It adds to research about educational leadership, in general, while generating new knowledge about educational leadership from the perspective of transactional, transformational, and transformative leadership theories, and it fills research gaps in educational leadership in liberal adult education with new knowledge generated by the empirical research.

Keywords:

Educational leadership, liberal adult education, transactional, transformational, and transformative leadership theories, Finland.