The Extent of Practicing Ethical Leadership by Public Secondary School Principals in Amman

The present study aimed to identify the extent of practicing ethical leadership by public secondary school principals in Amman from the teachers’ perspective. A descriptive analytical approach was adopted. Through the random sampling method, the researcher selected a sample consisting from 80 teachers. Those teachers were selected from 10 public secondary schools located in Amman, Jordan. Questionnaire forms were distributed to those teachers by hand. All the forms were retrieved. However, three forms included missing data. Thus, 77 forms were analyzed statistically. SPSS program was used. It was found that the extent of practicing ethical leadership by public secondary school principals in Amman is high from the teachers’ perspective. It was found that those principals are honest and deal kindly with others. It was found that those principals keep their promises and support teachers. However, they do not engage the teachers in the decision making process. The researcher recommend developing a code of ethics by the Jordanian Ministry of Education for regulating the conduct of the administrative staff at schools

Ethical leaders play a significant role in institutions, including in education institutions. For instance, they positively affect their subordinates' prosocial and citizenship behaviors (Bandura, 1986). They increase their subordinates' productivity, satisfaction and motivation to make achievements at work. They seek creating an ethical organizational climate. They positively affect the ethical quality of their subordinates' decisions (Brown, and Treviño, 2006). They participate in making the world a better place (Mohiuddin, 2016). Due to the significance of ethical leadership, the present study aimed to explore the extent of practicing ethical leadership by public secondary school principals in Amman from the teachers' perspective.

Objective
The present study aimed to: -Identify the extent of practicing ethical leadership by public secondary school principals in Amman from the teachers' perspective

Question
The present study aimed to answer the following question: What is the extent of practicing ethical leadership by public secondary school principals in Amman from the teachers' perspective?

Significance
The results of the present study shall provide policy makers and officials at the Jordanian Ministry of Education with knowledge about the extent of practicing ethical leadership by public secondary school principals in Amman from the teachers' perspective. Such knowledge shall enable those policy makers and officials to develop policies and make decisions for promoting an ethical conduct among those principals. The present study shall provide public secondary school principals in Amman with knowledge about the significance of practicing ethical leadership. The results of the present study shall be positively reflected on the leadership practices and the work environment in the public secondary schools in Jordan. Thus, they shall positively affect the quality of the education delivered in these schools.

The Study's Limits
The study's limits are shown below: -Spatial limits: This study was conducted in public secondary schools located in Amman, Jordan -Temporal limits: This study was conducted during the first semester of the academic year 2019/2020 -Human limits: This study sampled several teachers working in public secondary schools in Amman, Jordan.
-Thematic limits: This study aimed to identify the extent of practicing ethical leadership by public secondary school principals in Amman from the teachers' perspective 6. Definition of Terms 6.1. Theoretical definitions -Leadership: It's the art of persuading a follower to do the things, and the activities that meet the leader's goals (Mihelič et al., 2010). It involves the intentional decision-making process that aims at making changes. It involves determining the things that must be changed and the means to be used for making the required changes (Vogel, 2012).
-Ethical leadership: It may be defined as the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through interpersonal relationships, personal actions. It also involves promoting such conduct among followers through two-way communication, decision-making and reinforcement (Brown et al., 2005: 120).

Operational definition
Ethical leadership: The extent of complying with ethics by public secondary school principals in Amman when practicing leadership. It's measured from the teachers' perspective. It includes: honesty, accepting criticism, engaging teachers in the decision making and etc..

Theoretical Framework 7.1. Significance of ethical leadership
Ethical leadership is very significant in institutions. For instance, it plays a vital role in guiding the staff. It enables the institution to fulfil its mission, goal and vision (Kanungo & Mendonca, 1996). It enables employees to acquire new skills and work-related knowledge (Zhu et al., 2004). It raises the subordinates' job dedication levels. It promotes satisfaction among subordinates with their leaders' performance (Brown et al., 2005). Practicing ethical leadership positively affects the subordinates' compliance with ethics. It promotes positive behaviors among employees. It provides the subordinates with opportunities to learn how to make ethical decisions.
Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.11, No.15, 2020 59 It positively affects the quality of the relationship between the leaders and their subordinates. It plays a significant role in fighting against the subordinates' deviance, misbehavior, and antisocial and counterproductive behaviors (Brown and Treviño, 2006). It increases the degree to which the employees trust the leader. It increases the employees' commitment (Berrone et al., 2007).
Practicing ethical leadership enables employees to realize their impact on the institution. It positively affects the employees' work behaviors and performance. It raises the employees' intrinsic motivation and willingness to report problems. It raises the employees' willingness to exert more effort and promotes autonomy among the employees. It makes the employees value and appreciate their leaders. It positively affects the long term performance of the institution (Mohiuddin, 2016).
Practicing ethical leadership promotes ethical conduct among the employees. It encourages the employees to collaborate with their leaders. It promotes respect for the leader. It adds credibility to the leader. It promotes ethical conduct in society (Mohiuddin, 2016). It promotes creativity among subordinates and meets the best interest of the employees. It raises the employees' affective commitment and job satisfaction levels (Elqassaby, 2018).

Traits and Acts of Ethical Leaders
Ethical leaders are tolerant, accountable, honest, loyal and fair. They seek achieving perfection, and showing respect to others. They adopt citizenship values and keep their promises (Guy, 1990). They serve as sources of guidance for their subordinates. That is because they serve as role models, and enjoy much attractiveness and credibility. In addition, their power and status attracts their subordinates' attention to their modeled behavior (Bandura, 1986). Ethical leaders seek holding discussions with subordinates about their identity and who they are. They seek holding discussions with subordinates about their future, the way they live and the way they could live better (Freeman & Stewart, 2006).
They seek utilizing their job to make the life of other better and enable others to pursue their dreams and hopes. They seek achieving the organizational goals and success rather than showing off. They seek developing the staff and recruiting the ones who are highly qualified. They take responsibility for their own actions and mistakes. They seek making the world a better place. They are open to learning new things (Freeman & Stewart, 2006). They aim at serving subordinates, showing respect and promoting justice. They are honest and seek developing their community (Northouse. 2010).
Ethical leaders are objective and adopt citizenship values. They seek achieving social justice and adopt democratic values. They seek serving the public. They also seek developing the staff professionally. That is because they want to achieve national development. They comply with the legislation, policies and laws. Thus, they make their decisions based on the relevant policies, laws and their own expertise. They take responsibility for the mistakes they commit (Vogel, 2012).
Ethical leaders seek providing support to subordinates and seek making their subordinates trust them. They seek building good relationship with their subordinates. They are optimistic and loyal. They forgive themselves and others. They adopt a life-long learning approach. That's because they want to develop themselves professionally. Ethical leaders realize that they can't carry out the work alone. Thus, they are highly cooperative with others. They seek communicating with subordinates and providing them with care. They treat people with dignity. In crisis, they are calm and in control (Vogel, 2012). Karaköse (2007) aimed to explore the extent of practicing ethical leadership by high school principals in Turkey from the teachers' perspective. The sample consists from 339 high school teachers in Kütahya, Turkey. Data was collected from those teachers through using a questionnaire. The latter researcher found that high school principals are honest and protects their teachers' rights. In addition those principals behave courageously and accept the ideas of the subordinates. They also seek evaluating themselves (Karaköse, 2007).

Review of Empirical Studies
Al-Otaibi (2013) aimed to explore the extent of practicing ethical leadership and adopting organizational values by secondary school principals in Kuwait from the teachers' perspective. He conducted the study during the academic year (2013/2012). He used a questionnaire. He distributed the questionnaire forms to 275 teachers who were randomly selected. 260 forms were retrieved. However, 256 questionnaire forms are valid for statistical analysis. SPSS program was used. It was found that the extent of practicing ethical leadership and the extent of adopting organizational values by those principals are high (Al-Otaibi, 2013).
It was found that the principals make administrative decisions in an objective manner. Those principals treat teachers fairly. They have good social relationships with the school staff. They are democratic, tolerant and patient. They assess their subordinates in an objective manner. They engage teachers in the decision making process. They allocate tasks to subordinate in a fair manner. They accept criticism and hold the ones who show negligence accountable. They keep the work-related information confidential. They provide teachers with opportunity to express their opinions. They promote cooperation in school and forgive the ones who apologize. They provide help and support to teachers. In addition, there isn't any statistically significant difference between the respondents' Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.11, No.15, 2020 attitudes which can be attributed to gender (Al-Otaibi, 2013).
Al-Ejaithny (2017) aimed to explore the extent of practicing ethical leadership and the extent of carrying out organizational citizenship behaviors by primary school principals. The sample consists from 450 female and male teachers working in primary schools in Gaza. Those teachers were selected through using the simple random sampling method. A questionnaire was used. It was found that the extent of practicing ethical leadership and the extent of carrying out organizational citizenship behaviors by primary school principals are very high. It was found that there is a positive relationship between the extent of practicing ethical leadership and the extent of carrying out organizational citizenship behaviors by primary school principals. In addition, principals take responsibility for their mistakes and keep their promises. They deal kindly with others and serve as a good model for others. They adopt clear standards for assessing teachers and develop teachers professionally (Al-Ejaithny, 2017).
It was found that the principals engage teachers in the planning and decision making processes. Those principals seek providing teachers with the resources they need. They encourage teachers to show creativity. They benefit from others' comments to raise their performance. They comply with the laws and work-related regulations. They allocate tasks to teachers based on their capabilities. They seek resolving the problems between teachers. They promote a sense of responsibility and commitment among teachers (Al-Ejaithny, 2017).
Al-Khresha (2018) aimed to explore the extent of practicing ethical leadership and the extent of adopting organizational values by secondary school principals. He aimed to explore the relationship between these variables. The sample consists from 300 academic supervisors who were selected through using the random stratified sampling method. Data was collected from the sample through using a questionnaire. It was found that the extent of practicing ethical leadership and the extent of adopting organizational values by those principals are moderate. It was found that there is a positive relationship between the extent of practicing ethical leadership and the extent of adopting organizational values by those principals. It was found that the principals' honesty, and integrity are moderate. The extent of principals' objectivity when making decisions is moderate. The degree to which principals engage teachers in the decision making process is moderate. Principals accept others' criticism and aren't bias. They are clam and in control over their emotions (Al-Khresha, 2018).

Methodology 9.1. Approach
The researcher adopted a descriptive analytical approach.

Instrument
The researcher developed a five point Likert questionnaire. This questionnaire includes a cover page. The cover page identifies the goals of the questionnaire. It suggests that the collected data shall remain confidential and used for researcher-related goals only. The questionnaire consists from two sections. The first section collects data about gender. The second section collects data about the extent of practicing ethical leadership by public secondary school principals in Amman. It consists from fourteen statements. It was developed based on the works of the following researchers: Al-Ejaithny (2017), Al-Khresha (2018), Al-Otaibi (2013), Karaköse (2007), and Freeman & Stewart (2006).

Validity of the Instrument
The validity of the instrument was measured through passing the initial version of the questionnaire to several experts. To be specific, the initial version of the questionnaire was passed to two faculty members working at Jordanian universities. Those faculty members are specialized in educational sciences. They were asked to provide a full assessment for the questionnaire in terms of its language, relevancy and clarity. After conducting such assessment, the experts suggested that the questionnaire is relevant to the study's goal. They suggested that the questionnaire is clear and free from language mistakes. However, they recommended re-drafting two statements. Changes were made in the light of their recommendations to produce the final version of the questionnaire.

Reliability of the Instrument
The reliability of the instrument was measured through calculating Cronbach alpha coefficient value. The latter value is 0.81. This value indicates that the questionnaire is highly reliable.

Population
The population consists from all the teachers who work in public secondary schools in Amman, Jordan 9.6. Sample Through using the random sampling method, the researcher selected a sample consisting from 80 teachers. Those teachers were selected from 10 public secondary schools located in Amman, Jordan. Questionnaire forms were distributed to those teachers by hand. All the forms were retrieved. However, there is missing data in three forms.

Data collection methods:
Two types of data were collected. These types are displayed below: -Primary data: It was collected through using the questionnaire which is developed by the researcher.
-Secondary data: It was collected through reviewing the relevant studies 9.8. Statistical analysis and criteria SPSS program was used. The researcher used descriptive statistics. For instance, he calculated standard deviations, percentages, and frequencies, and means. He presented the ranks and the levels of the means. The criteria adopted for classifying means are shown below:

Discussion and Results Related to the Study's Question
The study's question: What is the extent of practicing ethical leadership by public secondary school principals in Amman from the teachers' perspective?  (4), it was found that the extent of practicing ethical leadership by public secondary school principals in Amman is high. That is because the overall mean is 4.14. The overall standard deviation is 0.52. It was found that principals don't seek providing teachers with the resources they need, because the mean is 2.22 which is low. The latter result is inconsistent with the result concluded by Al-Ejaithny (2017). It may be attributed to the poor budget of public schools.
It was found that principals accept the criticism made by teachers, because the relevant mean is 4.57 which is high. The latter result is consistent with the result concluded by Al-Khresha (2018). It indicates that those principals are open minded and have willingness to change themselves. It was found that principals aren't objective when making decisions, because the relevant mean is 2.16 which is low. The latter result is inconsistent with the result concluded by Al-Khresha (2018).
It was found that principals seek resolving the problems between teachers, because the relevant mean is 4.89 which is high. The latter result is consistent with the result concluded by Al-Ejaithny (2017). It indicates that principals seek creating a positive work environment. It indicates that principals want teachers to have good social relationships with each other. It was found that principals forgive the ones who apologize to them, because the relevant mean is 4.63 which is high. The latter result is consistent with the result concluded by Al-Otaibi (2013). It indicates that those principals are forgiving and willing to give chances to the ones who commit mistakes.
It was found that principals provide help and support to teachers because the relevant mean is 4.75 which is high. The latter result is consistent with the result concluded by Al-Otaibi (2013). It indicates that principals want to improve the quality of the education delivered in Jordanian schools. It was found that principals engage in discussions with the teachers, because the relevant mean is 4.69, which is high. The latter result indicates that principals would like to listen to the ideas of teachers.
It was found that principals seeks protecting the teachers' rights, because the relevant mean is 4.51. The latter result is consistent with the result concluded by Karaköse (2007). It indicates that principals want teachers to enjoy a high job satisfaction level in order to deliver education of high quality. It was found that principals deal kindly with others, because the relevant mean is 4.57. The latter result is consistent with the result concluded Al-Ejaithny (2017). It indicates that principals have good social skills and enjoy a high emotional intelligence level. For instance, if the principals don't deal kindly with others, they shall be rejected socially. In such a case, it shall be difficult for them to convince teachers to comply with the rules.
It was found that principals keep their promises, because the relevant mean is 4.64 which is high. The latter result is consistent with the result concluded Al-Ejaithny (2017). It may be attributed to the fact that principals' refrainment from keeping their promises shall negatively affect the degree to which the teachers trust them. It was found that principals don't engage the teachers in the decision making process, because the relevant mean is 2.21. The latter result is inconsistent with the result concluded Al-Khresha (2018). It indicates that principals don't take the teachers' opinions into consideration when making decisions.
It was found that principals benefit from others' comments to raise their performance level, because the relevant mean is 4.81. The latter result is consistent with the result concluded by Al-Ejaithny (2017). It indicates that principals are willing to develop themselves and address their weaknesses. It was found that principals comply with the laws and work-related regulations, because the relevant mean is 4.93. The latter result is consistent with the result concluded by Al-Ejaithny (2017). It may be attributed to the principals' fear of being punished by the Ministry of Education or getting prosecuted in case of violating the laws or work-related regulations. It was found that principals are honest, because the relevant mean is 4.47. The latter result is consistent with the result concluded by Karaköse (2007). It indicates that principals are keen to acquiring the trust of teachers.

Conclusion
Through analyzing the collected data statistically, several results were reached after analyzing data. It was found that public secondary school principals in Amman accept the criticism made by teachers. That indicates that those principals are open minded and willing to change themselves. In addition, those principals seek resolving the problems between teachers in order to promote a positive environment. That indicates that teachers want Those principals forgive the ones who apologize, and seek providing help and support to teachers. They keep their promises. That's because they don't want to lose the teachers' trust in them. However, those principals don't seek providing teachers with the resources they need. That may be attributed to the poor budget. The latter principals are not objective when making decision.

Recommendations
In the light of the study's results, the researcher recommend the following: 1) Providing principals in Jordanian schools with courses that develop them professionally.
2) Developing a code of ethics by the Jordanian Ministry of Education for regulating the conduct of the administrative staff at schools 3) Holding courses and workshops for principals in Jordanian schools in order to provide them with knowledge about the significance of complying with ethics 4) Conducting similar studies in Jordan with having a bigger sample size.