Abstract

• The general objective of the study is to examine the relationship between principal support and teacher academic optimism in Basic Education High Schools. In this study, both quantitative and qualitative research methods were applied. A total of 15 high school principals were selected by using the purposive sampling method and 336 teachers from these schools were selected by using the proportional stratified sampling method. There are two sets of questionnaires: the first one is the questionnaire for principals and the second one is for teachers. The reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) was 0.982 for principal support and 0.925 for teacher academic optimism. Descriptive Statistics, and Pearson product-moment correlation were used for analyzing the collected data. Frequencies analysis was also used to know the number and percentage of the participants showing the level of each variable. It was found that high school principals provided support to a great extent and the level of teacher academic optimism was high. There was a positive and strong significant relationship between principal support and teacher academic optimism (r=.687, p<0.001). As the correlation between the principal support and the components of teacher academic optimism, it was found that there was a positive and moderate significant relationship between principal support and teacher sense of self-efficacy (r=.614, p<0.001), and also teacher trust in students and parents (r=.573, p<0.001). However, a positive and strong significant relationship was found between principal support and teacher academic emphasis (r=.661, p<0.001).