THE INFLUENCE OF PRINCIPAL LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR ON TEACHER SELF-EFFICACY IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN SELANGOR, MALAYSIA

Abstract

It is important to observe factors that affect teachers' self-efficacy as they play a crucial role in students’ achievements. Many factors are involved in teachers’ self-efficacy, with one of them being principal leadership behaviour which plays an important role. This study aims to identify the level of principal leadership behaviour, the level of teacher self-efficacy and the relationship between them. This study adopted a quantitative method based on questionnaires and the data were obtained from 382 primary school teachers from Selangor, Malaysia. Descriptive data analysis was used to study the level of principal leadership behaviour and teacher self-efficacy meanwhile Pearson product moment the correlation to understand the relationship between both variables. Based on the data, the level of principal leadership behaviour and level of teacher self-efficacy is very high and there is a moderate relationship between both these variables (r=.420). These results hopefully will be helpful for the Ministry of Education and departments in implementing courses and programmes for both principals and teachers in improving the education quality. Furthermore, the findings are helpful for policymakers in mapping development courses that emphasise principal leadership behaviour and teacher self-efficacy. The researcher also suggested that further research can be done based on the behaviour of other school leaders and the effect on teachers’ self-efficacy. This research can also be furthered to secondary schools to observe the influencing factors.