Headteacher characteristics, management style and attitudes towards the acceptance of commercial sponsorship by state‐funded schools

Headteachers in Greater London’s 401 state‐funded secondary schools were sent a questionnaire designed to relate their personal characteristics to, inter alia, their attitudes towards educational sponsorship, the levels of their schools’ marketing orientation, the demand for commercial sponsorship of school activities, and whether their schools possessed formal policies in connection with external sponsorship. In line with earlier research in the educational management area, the major personal characteristics examined (in addition to age, length of service, etc.) related to the individual headteacher’s management style; specifically whether he or she was particularly autocratic, consultative, democratic or innovative. Responses to the questionnaire were factor analysed and tested for construct reliability. A stepwise regression procedure was then applied to assess the influences of various sets of variables on attitudes and behaviour. The results indicated that within Greater London the commercial sponsorship of schools is widespread and expanding. Extreme democrats were less likely to desire large amounts of additional sponsorship for their schools than were autocrats. Schools located in prosperous areas were far more proactive in their approaches to sponsorship and employed headteachers with more positive attitudes towards marketing and sponsorship than schools in poorer neighbourhoods.