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school leadership, especially in the context of globalization. They have put forward five propositions to map the direction of future cross cultural research into educational leadership and management. The essence of these propositions is that there is a need to develop “a systematic, robust, comparative branch of educational leadership and management” (Dimmer and Walker, 2005:198). The concept of culture must be clearly defined in order to avoid an over-simplified portrayal of societal differences as Western/Asian. Moreover, it could be difficult to successfully apply transformational leadership styles across different cultures, while a transactional approach that is based upon a simple system of incentives and rewards for the production of certain specific educational outcomes that are measured through tests, is much easier to apply.

Bush has outlined different kinds of preparatory programs that principals are expected to take up. Daresh and Male (2000) carried out a comparative study of first year principals in Britain and the United States and point out that a significant culture shock is associated with moving into being the head of an institutional institution. “Nothing could prepare the respondents..... For the change of perceptions of others or for the intensity of the job. (Daresh and Male, 2000:95). The major differences between leadership programs for principals in different countries is that some of them require a formal qualification for the position, while in others, this qualification is not mandatory and extensive teaching experience is used as the criterion for appointment.

Conclusions:

The research question that has been posed in this study is whether a transformational educational leadership style is really effective in educational leadership. In order to assess the efficacy of transformational leadership in education, the literature review above has also shown the need to incorporate cultural perspectives and the level of formal training principals receive. This aspect is especially relevant because not all administrators are able to inspire staff and students or fully understand their concerns. An approach to leadership that is derived purely on the basis of past experiences may also not be effective in the present day content. The transactional style of leadership may be effective in terms of applying measurable incentives in achieving the desired outcomes. Theoretically, a transformational approach should be more effective in providing a more successful educational leadership, but as shown above, in actual practice this might not necessarily be the case. The vision and direction of the transformational approach must necessarily be participative if it is to be truly effective. If the vision for the school is purely the principal’s, then it is not likely to be successful in securing the commitment of the staff and students and may actually produce negative outcomes, especially when it fails to incorporate the cultural perspective.

The Leadership for learning model appears to be the most relevant in the school context and it does incorporate a transformational approach in that it focuses on the context of learning; however most importantly, it also provides for a shared leadership. This indicates that the schools would need to develop a common vision and goals based upon the active participation of the principal, teachers and the students. This is the