Principals’ Transformational Leadership Practices and their Relationship with Teacher Blended Teaching in Rural Schools

Abstract

The increasingly challenging world of education requires educational leaders to re-evaluate their leadership approaches to improve teacher teaching, especially in rural areas. This study aims to identify the level of transformational leadership practices of principals and its relationship with teachers' blended teaching in secondary schools. Blended teaching, although effective, is still at a low level in rural schools. This study used an online questionnaire with a quantitative approach involving 132 respondents from 210 teachers. The findings show that the level of transformational leadership of principals is very high (mean=4.30, SD=0.10) and the level of teacher commitment is high (mean=4.13, SD=0.07. The analysis found a significant relationship between transformational leadership practices of principals and blended learning teachers in SMK Pensiangan district, Sabah (r=0.516, p<0.01). This study provides new insights into educational management, especially blended learning that requires the use of technology. The implications of the study suggest effective programs, leadership training, and well-planned educational policies and guidelines to empower blended learning. For future studies, a qualitative approach with a larger sample is recommended to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the relationship between transformational leadership and the effectiveness of blended learning.