Using mindfulness to build a transformative school culture: A phenomenological study of elementary school principals who create an atmosphere of academic rigor and teacher effectiveness

This study focused on the motivations and discernment leading to the transformational leadership approach and showed there is continuing momentum in the area towards mindful engagement to build trust in a school culture. The purpose of the study was to investigate how transformational leaders build a culture through trust and commitment within a social network of the school. Once established, how do principals use research based practices to model a rigorous academic culture. This qualitative study identified ten elementary school principals’ attitudes about transformational leadership. The principals were given two survey instruments and interviewed about how they developed academic rigor and teacher effectiveness. The results revealed a consensus of the emerging transformational leaders towards the necessity for risk-taking to build staff trust and commitment. By respecting the whole person and monitoring individual growth, the principals modeled rigorous academic expectations based on research-based practices. The emerging transformational leaders demonstrated how a proactive approach to building relationships with staff allowed teachers to model the same relationship building with their colleagues and students. This model of mindfulness proceeds from personal relationship skill building to professional skill building. Further research exploring how to translate mindfulness consciousness to best practice was recommended.