Leadership Transforms Education:Leadership Style and Local Authorities' Involvement in Education

Given the conceptual continuum between new localism and transformational leadership, this study examined the relationship between the leadership style of educational policy makers in local authorities and the involvement of the local authorities in issues pertaining to education within their jurisdictions. Leadership style and involvement in education were assessed through 107 questionnaires submitted by local authority heads (mayors) and directors of local education affiliated with 100 different local authorities in Israel. As predicted, a positive relationship was found between transformational leadership and local authority involvement in education, but only for relatively sound local authorities. In contrast, among relatively less sound local authorities, an inverse relationship was found between transformational leadership and the involvement of the local authority in education. Implications of the findings are developed and discussed.