SCHOOL PRINCIPALS’ LEADERSHIP STYLE AND TEACHERS’ SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING AT SCHOOL

There is a widely recognized concern over the poor reputation of the teaching profession and lack of attractiveness of the school as a workplace. The aim of this study is to ascertain to what extent the leadership style of the school principal is related to the set of variables describing different aspects of teachers' wellbeing at the school - teachers' burnout, job insecurity, teachers' emotional and cognitive identification with the school and turnover intentions. 305 teachers working in 12 public schools in Estonia were surveyed. Results indicate that the more transformational leadership style prevails over transactional leadership style, the stronger affective and cognitive identification with their school teachers perceive, while the level of teachers' job insecurity and burnout is lower and they consider the likelihood of leaving their school smaller. Thus, the school principals' leadership style can be considered as a factor shaping the teachers' wellbeing at school as well as their emotional attachment to the school as a workplace.