In times of increasing new challenges for schools, a greater focus is being put on school leaders, also in relation to promoting teacher health. Scientific interest towards the relationship between leadership and health has increased in recent years, especially with regard to fields outside the school context. In this regard, the concept of transformational leadership (cf. Bass & Avolio, 1994) is frequently used as it includes, on the one hand, basic factors of mental health such as individual support or appreciation and on the other hand, their influence on e.g. teachers’ self-efficacy, which are considered as highly important for well-being (Franke & Felfe, 2011). Findings on the relationship between leadership and health in general are inconsistent as to whether there is a direct or an indirect effect of leadership on health. The focus of this research is therefore the question of which impact school leadership has on teachers’ health. For that reason, the analyses take into account teachers’ perception of transformational leadership as well as the frequency of contact between teachers and their school leader. Teachers’ health is measured by self-reporting of well-being and emotional exhaustion. The analyses refer to online questionnaire data of about 3000 teachers from schools in the German federal state North Rhine-Westphalia. In order to answer the research question, a structural equation model approach was conducted with Mplus. The results show that, in particular, the transformational leadership dimension “Individual Consideration” has a positive effect on teachers’ health. Furthermore, there is a positive total effect of the frequency of contact between the teachers and their school leader on teachers’ health. The findings are discussed in relation to the importance of leadership for teacher health in times of change as well as in regard to practical implications for school leaders.

Bass, B. M. & Avolio, B. J. (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Franke, F. & Felfe, J. (2011). How does transformational leadership impact employees´ psychological strain? Examining differentiated effects and the moderating role of affective organizational commitment. Leadership, 7 (3), 295-316.