SCHOOL HEADS’ LEADERSHIP STYLES AND TEACHERS’ ABILITY TO MANAGE STRESS: A CORRELATIONAL STUDY

Abstract

The study examined the correlation between the leadership style of school heads and teachers stress manage at the secondary level. It employed two instruments including Leadership Styles Scale adapted using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ Form 5X) and Teacher Stress Management Scale (TSMS) which were based on the use of five-point Likert scale. The secondary school teachers were surveyed to collect data. The results indicated that transactional leadership was a little more predominant than transformational leadership among school heads. Among the strategies teachers indicated using somewhat frequently in managing stress were stress management techniques. Findings revealed that leadership practices have strong positive relationships with stress coping mechanisms in teachers and that transactional leadership has an especially strong impact. The two leadership styles had an important influence in the prediction of training teacher capabilities in managing stress with transactional leadership being a better predictor. The conclusion of the study is that school leadership is key to increasing the stress management ability of teachers, and leadership development program should be designed to embrace both transactional and transformational style of leadership to enhance teacher well-being and a better educational outcome.