A Qualitative Case Study Examining Teacher Perceptions of Servant Leadership in Private K-12 Schools

Teachers’ values and beliefs are a key motivation to how teachers will perform in the classroom, interact with students and their colleagues, and influence the culture of a school (Borg, 2015; Davis, 2018; Finley, 2016). However, teachers do not always instruct students based on their personal values and beliefs (Fives & Gill, 2015; Diehl & Golann 2023). In this qualitative case study, the theoretical framework of servant leadership was used to understand teachers’ values and beliefs and how those beliefs influenced the culture of a school. Thirteen teachers from three private religious schools in the southeastern part of the United states were asked to describe their values and beliefs regarding servant leadership. Findings indicate that the teachers in this study valued servant leadership but were not always able to act on their values and beliefs. The study also found that teachers felt over-worked, a lack of support from school leaders, and failed to see similar values modeled by leaders but believed leadership demonstrated the traits of servant leadership in the culture of the schools was positively influenced. While this study confirms the benefits of servant leadership in schools for students and school culture, implications of the study require consideration for additional teacher support in servant leadership participation, deliberation on the possibility of burnout for servant leadership requirements, and reinforce the importance of community in guiding and supporting servant leadership.