Abstarct: The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of ethical leadership style on the innovative work behaviors of physical education teachers in Kirkuk Province, Iraq, considering the moderating role of job engagement. In terms of objective, this research is applied, and in terms of data collection method, it is descxriptive-survey of the correlational type. The statistical population consisted of all physical education teachers in public schools of Kirkuk Province in the academic year 2025. baxsed on calculations using G-Power software, considering an error level of 0.05, test power of 0.95, and effect size of 0.1, a sample size equivalent to 157 individuals was selected through convenience sampling. For data collection, three standardized questionnaires were used: the Ethical Leadership questionnaire by Brown, Treviño, and Harrison (2005), the Innovative Work Behavior questionnaire by Janssen (2000), and the Job Engagement questionnaire by Schaufeli et al. (2006). The face and content validity of the instruments were confirmed by experts in sports management, and their reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (values between 0.74 and 0.95). Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling and the partial least squares approach in SmartPLS software. The findings of the research showed that ethical leadership style has a positive and significant effect on the innovative work behaviors of physical education teachers (β = 0.381, t = 7.602). Furthermore, job engagement acted as a moderating variable in this relationship and strengthened it (β = 0.198, t = 2.49). The results of this study emphasize that the effectiveness of this leadership style is contingent upon the level of teachers' job engagement. Therefore, achieving maximum effectiveness in educational innovation necessitates the adoption of a dual-pronged strategy that focuses both on the development and promotion of ethical leadership among administrators and on designing interventions to increase job engagement among teachers.