The modeling of moral character by high school teachers through transformational leadership and emotional competence

This associational descriptive study explored the nature of modeled moral character and created a conceptual framework for understanding the components that lead to modeling action. Seven key attributes of modeled moral character were identified from an extensive literature review and were applied specifically to high school teachers to create a seven-item attribute questionnaire. All teachers at a single large high school (N = 166) were invited to participate. However, only 23% of those eligible chose to participate. Due to the low response rate as well as various permissions requirements that made it exceptionally difficult to enroll participants, the final number participating was 13. Despite this low N there was a range of scores on the seven attribute questionnaire that enabled a median split into "high" moral character modelers (MCMs) and "non" moral character modelers (NMCMs).;The study linked transformational leadership and emotional competence to the construct of modeled moral character, proposing that MCMs would exhibit greater degrees of both transformational leadership and emotional competence. Participating teachers rated themselves and had their students rate them on three assessment questionnaires: the seven attribute questionnaire, The Leadership Profile (TLP) (Sashkin & Rosenbach, 1998), and the Emotional Competence Inventory 2.0 (ECI 2.0) (Boyatzis, Goleman, & Hay/McBer, 1999).;Statistical analysis showed that teachers placed into the Moral Character Modeler (MCM) group, based on student attribute questionnaire scores, scored significantly higher than did Non-Moral Character Modelers (NMCMs) for seven of the eight TLP transformational leadership scales. Similarly, the MCMs scored significantly higher than did NMCMs on all four cluster areas of the ECI 2.0. Significant correlations were found between the ECI 2.0 and each of the two factors that were found to comprise the seven attribute questionnaire. Correlations for MCMs and NMCMs between TLP and ECI 2.0 were less clear, but for the entire sample there were large and consistent positive correlations between each (TLP and ECI 2.0) and the seven-item attribute questionnaire.;This study was conducted in a large multi-cultural high school in a mid-Atlantic state. While the sample size was small, the results clearly show that teachers who are perceived by students as modelers of moral character have specific characteristics and actions. It was notable that most of the teachers who participated, whether MCMs or NMCMs, saw themselves quite differently from how their students saw them on the various questionnaires. Participating teachers were in agreement with student ratings approximately 32% of the time. This seems especially important as in order for teachers to be influential modelers of moral character, teachers must have an accurate understanding of how their students perceive their actions.;The findings of this study may be useful for future confirmatory research, particularly with larger samples. Most important, these findings form a foundation for the development of an assessment questionnaire that may be used by teacher educators, administrators, and teachers themselves to better understand how well teachers' actions match attributes of good moral character modelers.