Abstract
This study determined the transformational leadership, resource allocation, and teachers’ performance in the Hinterland Schools of the Dumanjug District II for the school year 2025-2026 as a basis for crafting a structural model. This study is anchored in the Transformational Leadership Theory, the Resource-Based View, and the Human Capital Theory. This study used an explanatory mixed-methods research design. The research design for the quantitative data was descriptive-correlational, while Descriptive Phenomenology was used for the qualitative data, grounded in the thematic analysis of Braun and Clarke. The study was conducted in Dumanjug District II, with 42 respondents, including five school heads and 37 teachers. This study used an adapted questionnaire instrument from Alzoraiki et al. (2023) for transformational leadership, a questionnaire instrument from Tarigan and Nurmiati (2024) for resource allocation, and a researcher-developed qualitative instrument that experts validated. The findings revealed that all indicators under transformational leadership showed significant correlations with the teacher’s performance. In contrast, only financial resources allocated to the teacher showed a significant relationship with the teacher’s performance. The teachers' narratives are very optimistic, summarized as RISE, in which the real picture of education is unfolding in the hinterland, with school heads facing unique challenges in managing their schools. However, they still see the light at the end of the tunnel. This study recommends continuous participation in leadership workshops for school heads to become engaged in innovative strategies for managing and leading a school.
