Teacher Leadership Style in Physical Education and Its Relationship with Student Engagement and Sport Participation
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Teacher leadership style is an important part of the physical education learning climate because students experience teacher communication, feedback, authority, and support while they are moving, cooperating, competing, and being observed by peers. This study examined the relationship between perceived teacher leadership style in physical education and student engagement and sport participation among male and female secondary school students. The study used a quantitative, cross-sectional field design with 384 students aged 13-16 years, including 192 females and 192 males. Students completed questionnaires measuring transformational, democratic, autocratic, and laissez-faire leadership styles, behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement in physical education, and weekly sport participation outside regular physical education lessons. We used descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-tests, Pearson correlations, and multiple linear regression, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05. Results showed that transformational and democratic leadership were positively related to total student engagement and weekly sport participation, whereas laissez-faire leadership was negatively related to engagement and participation. In the adjusted regression model, transformational leadership was the strongest predictor of student engagement (beta = 0.33, p < 0.001), followed by democratic leadership (beta = 0.24, p < 0.001). Engagement also significantly predicted sport participation (beta = 0.30, p < 0.001). Male students reported slightly higher sport participation than female students, but engagement scores were similar by sex. The findings suggest that physical education teachers who combine clear direction, encouragement, student voice, fair organization, and supportive feedback may strengthen engagement during lessons and may also support students' broader involvement in sport.
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