Abstract

• This study aimed to study school leaders’ participatory management and school improvement. A mix-method design was used. The survey questionnaire was developed by the review of literature. Fifty-six school leaders and four hundred and eighty-one teachers from 56 Basic Education High Schools in Yangon Region were selected as samples by using simple random sampling The content validity for the questionnaire was 0.95. The Cronbach’s alpha was used to measure the reliability of the questionnaire. The internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) for the level of practice was 0.96, the level of school improvement was 0.95 and the factors affecting school leaders’ participatory management was 0.86 For the qualitative study, interview, observation and documentation was employed. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, and multiple regression were used to analyze the quantitative data. The result of the study showed that school leaders practiced participatory management to a moderate extent. Moreover, the level of school improvement was moderate. Leadership process, motivational forces, communication process and goal-setting process appeared to be predictors of school improvement. School leaders’ attitudes towards participatory management, school leaders’ workload, and school climate appeared to be predictors of participatory management. Qualitative study appealed that the level of school improvement would be higher when school leaders practiced more participatory management. Keyword: participatory management, school improvement