School leadership matters: Evidence from TIMSS on teacher job satisfaction and students’ academic outcomes

This study investigates the relationship between school leadership support and educational outcomes, focusing on student academic achievement and teacher job satisfaction, utilizing a meta-analytic approach with data from the TIMSS 2015 survey. The dataset comprises responses from eighth-grade mathematics and science teachers across 45 countries. Meta-analytic integration reveals that leadership support has a small-to-moderate positive effect on teacher job satisfaction, with pooled effect sizes of 0.20 (95 % CI: [0.18, 0.22]) for mathematics teachers and 0.22 (95 % CI: [0.19, 0.24]) for science teachers. However, leadership support demonstrates a small negative association with student achievement in both mathematics (-0.05, 95 % CI: [-0.07, -0.03]) and science (-0.04, 95 % CI: [-0.05, -0.02]). These findings highlight the complex interplay between leadership practices, teacher well-being, and student performance, underscoring the need for nuanced strategies that address these dynamics to enhance both teacher satisfaction and student outcomes.