AN EVALUATION OF HEADTEACHERS LEADERSHIP STYLE AND ITS EFFECT ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF PUPILS IN BECE IN ASOUGYAMAN DISTRICT, GHANA
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- 1-5 Chapters
- Quantitative
- Chi-Square
- Abstract : Available
- Table of Content: Available
- Reference Style: APA
- Recommended for : Student Researchers
- NGN 3000
Background Of The Study
Over the years, there have been a lot of concerns over the effectiveness of leadership in the various educational institutions in Ghana. In recent times, this has become more crucial than before as stakeholders of education have developed keen interest in the administration and leadership of educational institutions. This has resulted in the establishment of supervisory bodies like the Parent-Teacher Association, School Management Committees, Boards of Governors, District Education Oversight Committees, National Inspectorate Board and even Alumni Associations at all levels of education, particularly basic school level, nationwide to evaluate the activities of teachers, especially the headteachers.
Headteachers are the executive head of an educational institution and therefore the success or failure of the institution largely depends on the leadership behaviour and other mechanisms that they displays. Dinham and Scott (2010) states that, “leadership is vitally important in developing effective, innovative schools and in facilitating quality teaching and learning” to show the indispensable nature of the heads role in any educational institution. Knezevich (1984) also postulated that the headteacher is the educational leader and executive of the management team at the building level, who influences, to a large degree how well teachers perform, how well students learn, and how easily and rapidly innovations are introduced into the college. Teachers are arguably the most important group of professionals for nations’ future. Therefore, it is disturbing to find that many of today’s teachers are dissatisfied with their jobs. Many factors have been examined in an attempt to find which ones promote teacher motivation. It seems, however, that many headteachers have not considered their supervisory skills and styles of leadership as determinants of teachers’ and pupils’ performance in their respective schools. Hence, some of them seem to find it difficult to effectively administer their schools (Adeyemi, 2010).
The issue of job satisfaction among workers is not only a factor in industry and business, but it is also a concern among headteachers and teachers alike. Satisfaction has been described as an effective state that is influenced by interactions between workers’ personal characteristics, values and expectations of employees, and organisational environment (Muellar & McCloskey, 1990 cited in Dinham (2010). however, It is no longer news that job satisfaction anchors employee performance. One of the most important goals of an organisation is to maximise employee performance in order to accomplish those goals (Leech, Barrett, & Morgan, 2005). In doing this, the organisation needs not only highly motivated, but also satisfied and psychologically balanced employees to increase performance and productivity in the organisation. Headteachers’ satisfaction, performance and retention have always been very important issues in Educational Human Resource Management literature especially in developing countries like Ghana.
In the educational system, indicators of effective leadership include rate of staff turnover, good academic performance of students, students comportment, and head-staff relationships and how diligent teachers and students work toward the achievement of institutional goals required in today’s complex educational organisations (Knezevich, 1984). There seems to be a general concern by the entire society on the mediocre type of results that are produced in recent years at the Basic School level. To a very great extent, the performance of pupils may be attributed to so many factors. It is worth asking a rhetorical question that, can one of these factors be as a result of the kind of influence that the culture of the school has on them? If that is so, then the culture of the school is also as a result of the kind of leadership being practiced by the head of the institution. According to the Review of Teaching in Teacher Education (2003), the role of leadership has been found to be particularly important in creating positive, innovative and productive learning cultures and the facilitation of quality teaching and learning.
Leadership is, therefore, the ability to persuade others to seek defined objectives enthusiastically. It is the human factor that binds a group together and motivates it towards goals. It is, indeed, the ultimate act that brings to success all the potentials that are in an organisation and its people (French, Kast & Rosenzeig, 1985). Thus, leadership is the process of influencing the activities and behaviour of an individual or a group in efforts towards goals achievement in a given situation (Musaazi, 1982). It is both a science and an art which is an interactive process between the leader and members of the group. The type of interaction between them is responsible for the success or failure of the organisation. Leadership as a science, develops concepts, principles and processes to guide the everyday practices of leaders to generate expected results while these processes do not in themselves offer solution to an organisation’s problems, they provide a logical and analytical approach to planning, decision-making and problem-solving. Leaders who go by these principles and processes are at an advantage when it comes to problem solving. The art of leadership, on the other hand, lays great stress on the skill of leadership such as how knowledge and experiences are applied to achieve desired results.
Lussier (1999) asserted that leadership qualities can propel a person to a successful and bright career. He adds that job satisfaction stems from the leadership skills of the employee’s manager. Strong leadership is needed in educational institutions because of the nature of work that the head particularly does. The job of the headteacher has conflicting goals, objectives, purposes and expectations. Teachers expect that the head should be fair and firm, students expect that the headteacher ensures that teaching and learning go on well in conducive atmosphere, while parents and the entire society expect the head to see to the proper development of students for the achievement of national goals and objectives. Non-teaching staff want fair treatment from the head, the old students want to see their alma-mater growing from strength to strength in terms of academic and disciplinary matters, while the officials of the District Education Office, Regional Education Office, Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education demand total compliance with the laid down rules and regulations.
The different expectations from these groups call for the tactical running of the school by the head and this automatically leads to the kind of leadership style that may be adopted by the head and how effective the style might be in the running of the institution. Since these leadership styles are presumably linked to the academic performance of pupils, it is worth investigating into.
1.2 Statement Of The Problem
There are antithetical perspectives on the impact of leadership style on students' academic performance. Headteachers are perceived to have various strategies for managing the affairs of their respective educational establishments. Some stakeholders have accused headteachers of relying on traditional leadership styles such as autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire, which has resulted in poor organisation and, as a result, poor academic performance of pupils.
While the researcher believes there is a strong correlation between the two variables, others disagree, including Ross and Gray (2006) and Kruger, Witziers, and Sleegers (2007). According to Ross and Gray (2006), school leadership has little direct influence on student achievement. Kruger et al. (2007) agreed that leadership is no longer regarded as having a direct influence on students' academic achievements. Leadership is a central theme in the literature of Organizational Improvement and Educational Reform at the school level. The critical nature of leadership has given rise to a variety of ideas about what leadership should and should not entail, as well as who is and is not a leader.
Her experience as the Asuogyaman District School Health Education Programme Co-ordinator influenced the researcher's position. For example, a school that had consistently scored nearly zero percent in the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Basic Education Certificate Examinations saw its performance improve after the headteacher was replaced. As a result, district stakeholders blamed the situation on the headteacher's leadership style.
As a result, the purpose of this study is to investigate headteachers' leadership styles and their impact on pupils' academic performance in the BECE in Asougyaman District, Ghana.
1.3 Objective Of The Study
The purpose of the study was to evaluate the headteacher's leadership style and its effect on the academic performance of pupils in BECE in Asougyaman District, Ghana. Specifically, the study sought to;
- Ascertain the leadership styles employed by headteachers of junior high schools in Asougyaman.
- Examine the relationship between headteachers’ leadership styles and the academic performance of pupils.
- Examine the factors that influence headteachers' choice of leadership style.
1.4 Research Question
The study will be guided by the following questions:
- What are the leadership styles employed by headteachers of junior high schools in Asougyaman?
- Is there any relationship between headteachers’ leadership styles and the academic performance of pupils?
- What are the factors that influence headteachers' choice of leadership style?
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