What is the Relationship Between Teacher-Perceived Leadership Practice (as measured by the Leadership Practices Inventory Total Score) and Teacher Morale Levels (as measured by the Purdue Teacher Opin

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between leadership practices and teacher morale among five high schools within a suburban community in Southern California.

METHODOLOGY
The sample included 170 teachers from five high schools in San Bernardino Country (CA), who completed the Leadership Practices Inventory-Observer (about their principal) and the Purdue Teacher Opinionnaire (Bentley & Rempel, 1972).

KEY FINDINGS
The most frequently reported leadership practices were Inspire, followed by Enable, Challenge, and then Encourage. The five leadership practices, using multiple regression analysis, accounted for 41.8 percent (R2) of the variance around teacher morale levels; however, there was no significance to teacher morale levels reported when each of the five leadership practices were evaluated individually. As the author concludes: “The study results also indicated that transformational leadership practices and teacher morale levels were affected in a positive or negative manner, depending on principal leadership practices” (p. 57) and goes on to say:  

This researcher supports the concept that educational leaders may want to consider training high school principals in Kouzes and Posner’s (2003) leadership practices to enhance the working environment and successfully achieve goals within the workplace. Since a combination of the five teacher-perceived leadership practices contributed to positive overall teacher morale, those practices should be used for future training of principals within the realm of transformational leadership (p. 64).