Emotional labour has been demonstrated to play a critical role in teaching and leading in the past decade. This study explored the relationships between leadership practices, emotional labour and teacher self-efficacy, with a focus on the mediating role of emotional labour strategies. A sample of 1026 teachers from 3 provinces in China participated in a questionnaire survey. The results show that leadership practices had a negative effect on surface acting and positive effects on deep acting, expression of natural felt emotion and all three aspects of teacher efficacy. Mediation analysis indicates that surface acting and expression of natural felt emotion significantly mediate the effects of leadership practices on teaching efficacy. Implications for school leadership and teacher development are discussed.