The effect of paternalist leadership style of principals on the professional burnout of special education teachers

Abstract

This study was applied to determine whether the paternalist leadership of school principals affected the burnout levels of special education teachers. The research was carried out with mixed method. 192 teachers participated in the quantitative dimension and 25 teachers and 25 principals participated in the qualitative dimension. Paternalist Leadership Scale, Maslach Burnout Scale and Semi-Structured Question Set were used. In the research, it was determined that teachers' perception of paternalist leadership is high and their burnout levels are low.  It was determined that variables of gender, age and working year did not make a significant difference on teachers' paternalist leadership perception. However, these variables cause a significant difference on teachers' professional burnout. It was determined that there was a moderately negative relationship between teachers' paternalist leadership perceptions and their burnout. As the paternalist leadership levels of the principals’ increase, the burnout of the teachers decreases. It was revealed in qualitative findings that teachers define their principals just like a paternalist leader using father and boss metaphors, and the benevolent attitudes of the principals reduce teachers' burnout. A supportive result in qualitative findings is this; it was determined that the paternalist leadership style of principals prevented insensitivity from burnout dimensions in teachers.