Assessing the influence of head teachers’ transformational leadership practices on teacher job commitment a case study of Kwadaso Municipality

Abstract

Leadership is very necessary in an organization to shape the goals, coordinate efforts, motivate employees and monitor their performances. Therefore, this study assessed the influence of headteachers’ transformational leadership practices on teacher organizational commitment. Descriptive survey design was used in this research. The target population for the study was all the teaching staff in all public basic schools in the Kwadaso circuit of the Kwadaso Municipality of which a sample size of 200 teachers and 4 head teachers was taken for the study. Descriptive statistics, percentages, tables, graphs were used to present the data analyzed from the field. The analysis of data collected revealed that teachers who perceived their headteachers as not able to meet their individual needs were also not intellectually stimulated. Head teachers who serve as role models also inspire and motivate their teachers. Headteachers’ openness and sincerity in dealing with their subordinate teachers led to teachers accepting their vision of what could be achieved academically. When leaders are open and sincere, it also elicits trust from their followers. It was also revealed by the study that teachers placed higher premium on the social and economic benefits above personal satisfaction and loyalty values when inspired by their headteachers. The study further found weak but positive and statistically significant relationships between transformational leadership practices and teacher’s affective, and continuance commitments in that, heads who serve as role models and inspire their teachers are somewhat positively related to teacher's emotional attachment or feeling towards their educational institutions. It was recommended among others that headteachers should do everything they can to arouse their teachers’ emotions and identification with them so that they can mentor and coach them to meet the challenges of the profession. Head teachers must also, provide opportunities for teachers to interact and collaborate with each other to build strong professional ties that will promote high level of affective commitment among the teachers.