Enhancing Teacher Leadership in Malaysian Secondary Schools: Do Collaborative School Culture and Principal Support Matter?

Abstract

Despite the impact of school culture on teacher leadership was well-theorised in literature, the extent to which the principal support strengthening the relationship between school culture on teacher leadership remains unknown. This study aims to examine the influence of collaborative school culture on teacher leadership with the four dimensions of principal support (professional support, emotional support, instrumental support and assessment support) as moderators. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. Three hundreds and sixty teachers were the samples from 45 secondary schools in the states of Kedah, Perlis and Penang. Meanwhile, 18 secondary teachers participated in the semi-structured interviews. The quantitative findings revealed a significant influence of collaborative school culture on teacher leadership. The relationship between collaborative school culture and teacher leadership was stronger when the principal’s instrumental support was higher compared to its counterpart. However, there was no moderating effect of professional support, emotional support, and assessment support on the relationship between collaborative school culture and teacher leadership. The qualitative findings informed the impact of collaborative school culture on teacher leadership could be enhanced with support from the local social community, effective communication between leaders and teachers, and teacher engagement in academic and non-academic activities. Implications of the study and future studies are presented.