School Heads’ Transactional Leadership as a Driver of Teacher Professional Development and Competence

Abstract

This study examined the level of transactional leadership, teacher professional development, and teacher competence, as well as the significant relationships among these variables. Using quantitative research design, data was collected from respondents and analyzed through weighted mean and Pearson-r correlation coefficient. The respondents consisted of 200 Secondary School teachers from selected public schools in Zamboanga City Division. A descriptive-correlational research design was employed, and data were gathered using a validated and adapted questionnaire utilizing a 5-point Likert scale from Bass and Avolio (1995) for Transactional Leadership Dimension, Bozkus (2019) for Teacher’s Professional Development, and Tschannen-Moran & Hoy (2001) for Teacher’s Competence. Findings revealed that transactional leadership, teacher professional development, and teacher competence were all rated at a high level, with overall interpretations falling under “Strongly Agree.” This indicates that respondents perceive strong implementation of leadership practices, effective professional development initiatives, and a high degree of teaching competence. Furthermore, correlation analysis showed significant and strong positive relationships among the variables, with coefficients ranging from 0.72 to 0.78, with p-value of <0.001. These results suggest that transactional leadership is closely associated with both teacher professional development and competence, while professional development demonstrates the strongest link to teacher competence. The study concludes that leadership practices and continuous professional development play a vital role in enhancing teacher competence. It underscores the importance of aligning school leadership strategies with sustained professional growth opportunities to improve instructional effectiveness. Future research may explore causal relationships and additional factors influencing teacher performance to further validate and expand these findings.