The Role of School Principals’ Leadership Style in Students’ Psychological Development: The Mediating Role of Psychological Safety and Academic Engagement
Keywords:
School leadership, psychological development, psychological safety, academic engagement, students, qualitative research, TehranAbstract
This study aimed to explain how school principals’ leadership style contributes to students’ psychological development through the mediating mechanisms of psychological safety and academic engagement in schools in Tehran. This study employed a qualitative design using thematic analysis. Participants included 24 principals, teachers, school counselors, and secondary school students from Tehran, selected through purposive maximum variation sampling. Data were collected exclusively through semi-structured interviews. Data collection continued until theoretical saturation was reached; saturation occurred at the twenty-second interview, and two additional interviews were conducted to confirm data adequacy. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using NVivo software through open, axial, and selective coding. Credibility and trustworthiness were enhanced through member checking, peer review, audit trail documentation, and thick contextual description. Data analysis led to four main categories: “supportive-transformational leadership,” “psychological safety as a safe climate for voice, error, and learning,” “active and meaningful academic engagement,” and “students’ psychological development.” The findings indicated that principals who practiced trust-based, fair, communicative, and student-centered leadership indirectly strengthened students’ psychological development by creating psychologically safe school climates and enhancing behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement. Participants emphasized that students became more confident, emotionally regulated, responsible, and academically motivated when they felt respected, heard, and protected from humiliation or punitive responses. School leadership is not merely an administrative function; it is a developmental force shaping students’ psychological growth. Psychological safety and academic engagement operate as two central mediating pathways through which principals’ leadership behaviors are translated into students’ self-confidence, sense of belonging, responsibility, emotional regulation, and academic motivation.
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