Abstract

• The purpose of the study is to explore the effects of principals’ transformational leadership on teachers’ commitment to change in the curriculum reform at Basic Education Primary Schools in Sinkaing Township. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were executed to gather the data. The sample for quantitative study consisted of 213 teachers from 60 Basic Education Primary Schools in Sinkaing Township. The teachers completed two survey instruments: “Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire” developed by Leithwood (2012, as cited in Liu, 2013) and “Organizational Change Process Survey” developed by Leithwood, Dart, Jantzi, and Steinbach (1993, as cited in Liu, 2013). Furthermore, the qualitative data were gathered by interviewing 10 principals and 30 teachers from 10 selected primary schools. The findings showed that all teachers perceived that their principals highly performed all dimensions of transformational leadership in their schools. Moreover, they performed their work with a high level of commitment in the curriculum reform. Results of correlation testing indicated that principals’ transformational leadership was significantly and highly related with teachers’ commitment (r=.800, p<0.01). Besides, the result of multiple regressions showed that one dimension of “Setting Direction” was a positive predictor for changing the teachers’ commitment. According to linear regression, the adjusted R squared value (R 2 = .638, p<.001) indicated that 64% of the variance in teachers’ commitment can be predicted from principals’ transformational leadership. In conclusion, the more principals practiced the transformational leadership at schools, the more teachers performed their tasks with higher commitment (Liu, 2013). Furthermore, principals’ transformational leadership can be effective when the principals guided a clear direction and created a good cooperation among teachers, students, and all stakeholders (Rutledge, 2010).