Abstract
In this study, the impact of principals’ leadership styles on teachers’ motivational needs in rural schools was investigated. Teacher motivation is seen as a driving force for the success of a school, teaching, and learning. It is a core task of the principal and leadership in the school to ensure that teachers are motivated to achieve excellence in their school. The manner in which a principal leads can have an effect on how motivated teachers at the school are. Previous research has focussed mainly on single leadership styles, while a comparison between leadership styles and the effect on teacher motivation have not gained much attention. Literature about leadership, success at schools, motivation, and the relationship between the two concepts have been utilised to conceptualise these concepts. This study was done from a positivist perspective and a path-goal framework. A quantitative research approach was followed with a quantitative survey design. A demographic questionnaire, a leadership style questionnaire and motivational questionnaire were utilised. Targeted sampling was used, and data were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings in this study show discrepancies, as the results in this study were not statistically significant; yet a very large amount of the variance seen in teacher motivation could be explained by principals’ leadership styles, while a strong negative relationship was found between the two variables under investigation. These findings contradict and correspond with findings of previous research studies in the same area of interest. Accordingly, further investigation into this area of research is necessitated. Yet, doing this study also made contributions, as it was found that a strong, negative relationship exists between principals’ leadership styles and teacher motivation, while 41.4% of the variance in teacher motivation depends on the principal’s leadership style.
M.Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management)