School Leadership Styles and Teacher Innovation in Business Education in Secondary Schools in Ogun State

This study examined the relationship between school leadership styles and teacher innovation in Business Education in secondary schools in Ogun State, South West Nigeria. Teacher innovation, encompassing the adoption of novel instructional approaches, curriculum adaptations, and classroom technology use, is a key driver of educational quality improvement. The leadership style of school principals plays a pivotal role in creating the institutional climate that either encourages or suppresses teacher innovation. This study adopted the Full Range Leadership Model as its theoretical framework. A cross-sectional survey design was employed. The population comprised 480 Business Education teachers in public and private secondary schools across three senatorial districts in Ogun State. A stratified sample of 240 teachers was selected. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and the Teacher Innovation Scale, both adapted and validated for the Nigerian context, were used for data collection. Multiple regression and path analysis were employed for data analysis. Findings reveal that transformational leadership is the strongest positive predictor of teacher innovation, while laissez-faire leadership has a significant negative association. Transactional leadership had a conditional effect, promoting compliance-based performance but not creative instructional innovation. The study fills a research gap on leadership-innovation dynamics in Business Education and recommends that the Ogun State Teaching Service Commission should incorporate transformational leadership competencies into its school principal training curriculum to foster a culture of instructional innovation. Keywords: leadership styles, teacher innovation, business education, secondary schools, Ogun State