Teachers’ Perceptions of Headmasters’ Transformational Leadership Practices in Malaysian Primary Schools

Abstract

Transformational leadership has been widely recognised as an effective leadership approach in educational settings, particularly in fostering teacher motivation, organisational commitment, and school improvement. In Malaysia, primary school headmasters are expected to navigate increasing administrative demands, accountability pressures, and concerns related to teacher well-being and retention. Despite the relevance of transformational leadership in this context, empirical evidence examining headmasters’ leadership practices from teachers’ perspectives remains limited, especially at the primary school level. This study aims to empirically examine teachers’ perceptions of headmasters’ transformational leadership practices in Malaysian primary schools using the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI). A quantitative survey design was employed, involving 103 primary school teachers from both urban and rural schools in Malaysia. Data were collected using a Malay version questionnaire adapted for the primary school context. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the level and distribution of transformational leadership practices, while Pearson correlation analysis explored relationships among the five LPI dimensions. Independent-samples t-tests and one-way ANOVA were conducted to examine differences in teachers’ perceptions based on gender, school location, and years of teaching experience. The findings indicated that headmasters’ transformational leadership practices were perceived to be at a moderate to high level overall. Model the Way and Enable Others to Act emerged as the most prominently enacted leadership practices, whereas Encourage the Heart was perceived as the least dominant. Strong and positive correlations were observed among all five leadership practices and between each dimension and the overall leadership score, supporting the internal coherence of the LPI framework. Inferential analyses revealed no statistically significant differences in perceptions based on gender, school location, or teaching experience. The study provides preliminary empirical evidence on leadership practices in Malaysian primary schools and highlights important implications for leadership development, teacher support, and future research.