The School Principal's Motivating Discourse and Its Implications: Some Insights into Leader-Followers Relations

Year 2025, Volume: 10 Issue: 3, 627 - 670, 28.09.2025

Orit Gamerman İzhar Oplatka

https://doi.org/10.30828/real.1608161

Abstract

The current study sought to identify the characteristics of "motivational language" and the roles of this language used by successful school principals, and its effect on teachers' organizational commitment. The research was based on semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis in ten elementary school principals (the "cases"). Participants were selected through "Purposeful sampling in which a large amount of rich data was collected on a single case, which helped in understanding the phenomenon being studied revealed unique characteristics and roles of the motivational discourse: Characteristics such as listening, the principal's expression of respect and gratitude to his teachers, an emphasis on partnership and dialogue, and a personal example. In addition, roles were revealed that are not mentioned in the research literature on the motivational discourse of school principals with their teachers: visible roles (such as training, guidance, documentation, and feedback) and hidden roles (e.g., empowerment, interest in teachers, understanding, inclusion - as a respectful, non-demeaning discourse). That is, this motivational discourse has consequences that help educational work, such as eliminating objections and spreading positive feelings and a relaxed atmosphere to promote the educational work. On the applied level, research insights may contribute to the primary education system, to school principals, to institutions for training school principals, and to the supervision and professional development system of the Ministry of Education. Also, they can expand and deepen the definition of the role of the school director, as well as the training and guidance required for this complex leadership management position.

Keywords

Principalship , Leader-Teachers relations , Motivation , communication , discoursge

Ethical Statement

The work has been approaved by the institutional committee of ethics in research

Project Number

The paper is based on the doctoral disseration of the first author. The second author is the supervisor of this work.

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