Home⇛Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives⇛vol. 4 no. 7 (2026)

School Leaders’ Leadership Styles and Teachers’ Motivation in Remote Public Elementary Schools

Lovely T. Aportadera | Benjie B. Juan | Librado Dacula | Joel Sarno

Discipline: Teacher Training

 

Abstract:

School leadership is critical in sustaining teacher motivation, particularly in geographically challenging environments where educators face professional isolation and resource constraints. This conceptual gap remains largely underrepresented in mainstream educational literature. Anchored in Bass’s Full Range Leadership Theory and Deci and Ryan’s SelfDetermination Theory, this study aimed to determine the leadership styles of school leaders, assess the level of teachers' motivation, and investigate the correlation between these variables in mountainous public elementary schools in Esperanza District III, Division of Sultan Kudarat, for the School Year 2025-2026. A descriptive-correlational research design was utilized. Through stratified random sampling with equal allocation, 85 teachers from 17 mountainous schools (5 teachers per school) were selected as respondents. Data were collected using a theoretically grounded, expert-validated, and highly reliable (reliability coefficient = .921) researcher-made Likert-scale questionnaire. Following rigorous assumption testing (normality and linearity) to ensure methodological validity, statistical tools, including the weighted mean, Pearson correlation (r), and t-tests, were employed to analyze the data. Findings revealed that school leaders prominently exhibit transactional (Mean = 4.25, Strongly Agree) and transformational (Mean = 4.20, Strongly Agree) leadership styles, alongside laissez-faire practices (Mean = 4.17, Agree). Correspondingly, teachers demonstrated high levels of both intrinsic (Mean = 4.28, Strongly Agree) and extrinsic (Mean = 4.29, Strongly Agree) motivation. Correlational analysis established a strong, highly significant positive relationship between school leaders' leadership styles and teachers' motivation (r = 0.740, t-computed = 11.57, p = 0.000). The leadership styles employed by school heads, particularly active approaches such as transactional and transformational leadership, significantly drive both teachers' internal fulfillment and external motivation in remote settings. The study concludes that providing clear direction, recognizing performance, and offering individualized support are essential for maintaining high teacher morale in geographically challenged areas.



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