Seeking the Ideal School Leader: A Qualitative Study about Greek Teachers’ Point of View

The voluntary and willing participation of followers is a necessary prerequisite for the emergence of the leadership phenomenon. However, followers' view about leaders and leadership is usually overlooked in research. The present study therefore aims to explore teachers' opinions about the ideal school leader and the effect of leadership in education. Data for this study were collected using free text as a research tool and qualitative content analysis as a research method. Findings reflect the leadership models that participants preferred for education, the qualifications that -in their opinion- the ideal leader possesses in a school unit, as well as the influence that they estimated that leadership has in the educational field.