Principal-Teacher School Climate Perception Gaps and Their Association With Teaching Practices: A Multilevel Analysis

School climate is widely treated as a shared organisational property, yet principals and teachers often perceive it differently. This study examines whether increasingly principal-favourable gaps in principal and teacher climate perceptions are associated with three teaching practices—perceived innovation culture, teacher collaboration, and self-efficacy for instruction—and integrates organisational climate theory, Leader–Member Exchange theory, and social exchange theory to interpret the patterns observed. Data are drawn from the 2018 U.S. Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS); 2,351 lower-secondary teachers nested within 159 schools were analysed using multilevel regression models estimated by full information maximum likelihood. Climate scores were derived from a one-factor confirmatory factor analysis estimated separately for teachers and principals. Principals rated climate more positively than teachers. After adjusting for teacher gender, experience, and school sector, the within-school perception gap was negatively associated with all three outcomes: perceived innovation culture (β = −.37), teacher collaboration (β = −.25), and self-efficacy for instruction (β = −.16). Coefficient comparisons confirmed the ordering. A cross-level Sector × Gap interaction indicated that associations were stronger in private than in public schools for innovation culture (γ = −0.27) and collaboration (γ = −0.21). Because mechanisms were not directly measured and the design is cross-sectional, the proposed framework is interpretive rather than empirically tested. By treating cross-role differences in climate perceptions—rather than either party’s rating alone—as the focal construct, the study contributes a climate-strength account of how leader–teacher (mis)alignment is linked to the collective and individual conditions for instructional improvement. Implications for leadership are discussed.