Do teachers need to be leaders? Perceptions of educational leadership and management in the Israeli secondary educational system

The study explored the perceptions of student-teachers of educational leadership and management with regard to the roles of homeroom teachers and subject teachers in secondary schools. The participants of the study are students in the biggest College of Education in Israel. The analysis was conducted on the students’ posts in an online forum of an academic course using qualitative and quantitative methods. The students’ posts indicated a differentiation between the perceptions of the two roles on the level of ideology as opposed to the practical level. The most prevailing leadership model that emerged from the findings is transformational with four other models, all of which are congruent with the humanistic approach to teaching. Further research should focus on the gaps between school reality and teacher education programmes in order to facilitate the induction phase for novice teachers.