Leadership Style of School Heads and Its Moderating Impact on Work Stress of Teachers in a District

This study sought to examine the significant relationship between the leadership style of school heads and teachers’ stress levels. This research used the descriptive method of analysis. A closed-ended researcher-modified survey questionnaire was employed to collect quantitative data from Sta's 232 elementary and secondary teachers. Cruz District, Sta. Cruz, Zambales. To determine the significant relationship between school heads' leadership styles and teachers' work stress levels in Sta. Cruz district, Pearson product-moment correlation with an alpha of 5% was used. Other statistical tools used in this study were frequency count, percentage, and weighted mean. The study yielded a few noteworthy results—most teachers in Sta. Cruz district is female. Furthermore, most teachers were in their young adulthood stage or from 31-40. For the years in service and position at the Department of Education, the study found that most teachers have 1 to 10 years in service and occupy the Teacher I position. While more than half of the teachers at Sta. Cruz district already has master’s degrees, and only a few finished their doctorate. Not very surprising, teachers in Sta. Cruz district is experiencing moderate stress at work. Furthermore, most of the respondents strongly agree that school heads of Sta. Cruz district is authoritative. Half of the respondents agree that school heads are democratic or participative, and most strongly agree that school heads are laissez-faire/ delegative leaders. In addition, this study also revealed that gender and length of service have no significant variations in teachers' work stress levels. However, age, highest educational attainment, and position considerably vary with work stress. Finally, the study found that an increased authoritative leadership style contributes to a higher level of work stress. In comparison, democratic/participative and laissez-faire/delegative leadership contributes slightly lower work stress to the teachers. The study proved that the leadership style of the school head, either authoritative, democratic/participative, or laissez- faire/delegative has a significant relationship to the level of work stress