DOI: https://doi.org/10.36347/sjahss.2026.v14i03.006

Pages: 130-138

Teachers expect and desire their principals to enact leadership in certain ways. Naturally, every school or teacher could have a list of desirables they wish to find in their school leadership. This study was not about a whole list of possibilities. It was positioned to explore the conditions that principals set their teachers for them to work optimally and feel appreciated on a day-to-day basis. Thus, the connection between leadership and working conditions created an inquiry into the kind of leadership teachers desired. Twelve teachers from a high and a primary school provided qualitative data using semi-structured interviews. The research questions facilitated a discussion of the contextual understanding of leadership, how leadership was enacted and what leadership teachers wished to have. Contextually, both set of participants had a general consensus of what leadership was. They saw the influence of leadership through resource provision, support, communication and motivation to varying degrees. The leadership desired emanated mostly from the resultant gaps. Consequently, teachers wished to have a more collaborative and participatory decision-making, more communicative and action-oriented leadership. This study recommends, a school leadership that promotes a feeling of worth, positive motivation, and constructive work relationships.